VOL. 50 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 29, 2013
Marco Melandri had his first ride
on the factory Aprilia during a
test day at Jerez last week.
weeks after breaking his femur
and having structural surgery
to strengthen it. He knew it was
not quite ready to withstand a big
crash again, but he lapped in any
case. The team had new electronics expert, Massimo Neri, on
board and his presence brought
almost instant rewards, although
no times were given for the two
Honda riders.
"My leg is quite tired and if
you can imagine sitting on the
motorbike seat, particularly with
the way I ride, which is quite
physical, so I am basically in a full
squat the whole way round," said
Rea. "I would not say it is difficult,
but it is something I am not used
to, that particular body movement [because of his leg injury].
Darren Roberts [his physical performance manager during his
recovery period] set me up with
a Biodex scan, and I was 40 percent weaker on my left side than
my right, so I have a lot of work to
do. When I got off the bike and
walked to the chair there was
one point today where I thought
it would just be easier to pee myself rather than walk to the toilet
because I was that tired."
Toni Elias and his Red Devils
Roma squad made the best use
of the track and set what was
regarded as the best time of the
test, a 1:41.8.
Ducati fielded only Xavi Fores
on their Panigale as they made
testing towards 2014, but they
used mostly their 2013 material.
Leon Camier proved that his
grit and determination were still
running at a high level when he
lapped on his GSX-R1000 in testing, with three specifications of
machine and engine character to
try out and only two days after his
comeback races.
Brembo were out with a new
set of discs that will cost the
teams less, in line with the 2014
cost reduction rules, but largely
the same calipers as in 2013.
Gordon Ritchie
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
But it is important to have famous
names to increase the public. In
Italy now they are pushing hard
for Superbike. It is going to be a
very important year for me, the
team, Aprilia, but I feel confident.
My contract is one plus one. I
think if I am in the top three I can
go again."
The first rider to test in anticipation of 2014 was Kawasaki's
Tom Sykes, the newly crowned
World Champion who had no
days off after his win as he did
a lot of promotional activities on
Monday morning and early afternoon at Jerez. Then he started
his 2014 campain with some 15
laps of testing. He will test again
this week in Jerez, with some of
the other top riders.
Sykes' KRT teammate Loris
Baz made his first ride since his
D4 (or T4, depending on the language) was fractured in a warmup crash in Germany on September 1, the same day Jonathan
Rea broke his leg.
"I made a 1:42.1 and did that
three or four times, so I am really happy because I did not
expect that," Baz said. "I just
wanted to ride and see how I
felt. I was quite good and although I had some pain in my
back it was mainly muscle that
has not been used on track for
some time."
Another focus was the return of Rea to the track after
his lay off of seven and a half
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