I
n
previous (unorficial)
tests,
former
World
I Superbike Champion Troy
Bay'iss wenr ar
near outright beit
pace
on his xerox
Ducati, and although he
continued his ma.-
terfiil
of eady-season
pace
with the fastest
lap
of the first day of terting
at
Valencia
on
Monda,
Mar€h 27, he
didn't
quite
reach
the
same speed. Then again,
he had two
more
days of testing s(heduled,
along with
the other
27 .ide6 in the Superbike
class,
His be6t lirst-day
time of l:35.220
was
fully .860 of a
second
faster
than the next-
quickest
rider - Alstare
Corona Suzuki's
Troy Corser - as the battle for
Aussie and
global
supr€macy cominues
on.
Corser believed that
he had a
possible
hairline oa
treenstick
fracture
of
his
ritht
little llngel., as it hun when he wore
his
heavily armored racing gloves, but
bruising
on his back - after Alex Barros'
unavoidable
hit in race two at Phillip lsland -
was not a
maior hindran.e.
A
bizarre experience in the aftemoon
was
not enough to stop the charge of
the
red-and-white
faction, and even with early-
se.rson uncertainty,
Lorenzo lanzi show€d
the speed we all know
he ir capable ol fin-
ishinS sixth, and second-fastest
Ducati rider
According to Ducati Xerox
team manag-
er Davide Tardozzi, some
debris
picked
up
on the track by Bayliss' rear
tire cut through
an oil line and spread
the slippeq/ stuff
around the last corner.
The
red {lag
came
out
to halt the session, but
after track
