Cycle News

P26 IN THE WIND ering from the broken femur he suffered in Germany in September, Rea used changes to his CBR1000RR's chassis and electronics to make big gains on day two of the test. "We have changed a lot and it works," Rea said. "We worked a lot on electronics to give me confidence to ride how I want. We also tried some chassis setups around the 2014-spec Öhlins front forks, which were interesting. I'm satisfied with our work and I enjoyed riding a lot." Baz was the lone Kawasaki rider at Aragon, with World Champion Tom Sykes heading back home for the birth of his baby daughter before he took to the track. Baz is back to good form and he demonstrated that on a circuit he has struggled with in the past. And this came after his scary vertebra fracture in Germany in September. "Yesterday was really good and it was the first time I had enjoyed this track fully because it felt much easier with the bike than usual for me here," Baz said. "That shows the big steps we have managed to do all through the season. On race tires even on the first day I improved the best lap I did at Motorland when we last tested here in June. Today we did fewer laps than day one, but managed to improve the lap times once more on race tires, and again with the qualifying rear tire." The new look factory Ducati team was also out in Aragon, with race tire at the very end after Chaz Davies and Davide Giug- ironing out first day glitches. His liano setting some surprisingly times suffered as a result. Gordon Ritchie good times. "I had too many little issues on day one and I knew our potential was a lot higher," Davies said. "Even then, I lapped faster than I expected to on day two. I also did a few fast laps, not just one, and I think I put about five together." Davies was only .2 of a second from Rea, and .4 of a second ahead of the Aprilia of Marco Melandri. A remarkable feat at a circuit with a mile-long back straight for a bike with 20-25 horsepower less than its rivals, and with a reputation as a box of unsolvable technical tricks. "I think I could have gone even better if I had one more chance at it and we were certainly there or there about," said Davies. "We took it out of the 'box' a bit and it worked well enough around Motorland so we will see how it will transfer to other places." Melandri didn't like the changeable wind and low, meaning he found it difficult to test consistently. " Sylvain Guintoli did not test as he still rests the injured left shoulder that contributed to his drop off late in the season. Alex Hofmann, the regular Aprilia test rider, took out the second Aprilia at Motorland. Leon Haslam was also out testing new tech on the Pata Honda -MotoGP World Champion Marc alongside Rea, but he did not Marquez on doing chores at home get a chance to run a softer SC0 Quote OF THE WEEK I have to " Yes,make the clean, bed... but only in my room! I also lay the table for lunch and my brother Alex clears up when we are finished. It's always been that way. "

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