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With Kawasaki testing both WP and Ohlins suspension back-to-back, Akira Yanagawa and Gregorio Lavilla had a busy time, so Yanagawa could have done without breaking his right ankle on the opening day. Cutting off the plaster, Yanagawa attacked the track on each subsequent day, despite the pain. "I think that the X-rayon my ankle found an old fracture because it feels not so painful now, one day after," Yanagawa said. "It was a big highside. Up and up and up and then splat when I landed. As far as the bike is concemed, I have not found the WP suspension much different from the Ohlins units." The WP forks, of all alloy construction and a massive 50mm diameter, with front wheel spindles to match, were tested in Eastern Creek the week before Phillip Island, but even after all that testing team boss Harald Eckl is undecided on which is best. "Right now there is not that much difference according to the riders, and what I want is an advantage," Eckl said. "As a racer you are always looking for an advantage. These tests have been very positive for us, and this year we have a very strong rider line up. I made sure that Gregorio (Lavilla) felt his job was under threat in the winter and that has given him a much stronger mental attitude than last year." The object of all this psychology certainly gave a good account of himself in his first taste of semi-real regular Colin Edwards II on a fully liveried Castrol Honda twin. Edwards' teammate Aaron Slight fared less well, finishing sev- race action this year. "This last day of testing was a much better day for me," Lavilla said. "The main trouble is those *f,%$#@% Hondas! I think over the winter I identified what the problem was for me on the bike and we have been experimenting with different length swingarms. At our recent Eastem Creek tests the short swingarm was better, but here the longer one works well. There are no major engine changes yet, but they are coming - I hope. The main idea now is to find a better base setting for all enth fastest but as he was quick to point the circuits." lems in the very hot conditions which out, it was mostly because he has yet to reach the limits of the machine, having spent his whole career on four-cylinder motorcycles. Pier-Francesco Chili, performing well on the final day after having found tire probplagued the afternoon sessions, proved to A bout of illness halted Troy Corser's progress toward the top half of the time sheets, but he is pleased at least that the setup of the machine is still progressing in the right direction in what is still his first real test of the machine. "I started to feel a bit unwell in the morning on Monday," Corser said. "Even when it was cooler, I was hot inside my leathers. I started to get really fuzzy in the head in the aftemoon so I decided it was better to stop than carryon and go slower or crash. It's not such a big problem because the engines in both bikes were needing changing anyway. They've both done a lot of testing miles with Antonello this year. "Even after all that, the changes we made overnight that night were a big success because our lap time has come down a fair bit and it's coming much more consistently. We've changed a load of stuff, from pivot points to engine positions, springs, dampers - the works. I felt a lot better on the second day, but I'm not worried about the lap times because the bike's got real potential. I'm sure we can run inside the top 10 from the off and get podium finishes before the end of the year. Getting used to the Dunlops has been the biggest thing because the last time I raced on them was in '94 on a Ferracci Ducati in America. The biggest problem I had was knowing how soon and how much to pull the throttle with the rear Dunlop fitted, but the front I had no problems with at all. The main thing I've found out about the motor is that getting the gearing right is going to be far more critical on this than it was on the THE FIRST REAL TEST Ducati." Only two personnel from the 1999 Aprilia effort have been retained for this year's championship campaign, with the new mechanics having been hand picked from Aprilia's various GP teams. 22 FEBRUARY 23, 2000' eye • e n e vv s