Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/220782
P24 IN THE WIND Good Kawasaki news continued with the knowledge that the second quickest rider on qualifiers was Sykes' teammate Loris Baz, who ended up tied with Aprilia's Marco Melandri (over the first three days at least) when race tires were used. Another rider ended up beating them to the second fastest time, but he didn't do so on the same track with the same conditions. Melandri got more on top of his multi-adjustable Aprilia at this test and started to show flashes for the combination of man and machine, some that looks most likely to take it to Sykes in 2014. "I'm very happy about this testing period, particularly because I'm still not 100 percent satisfied with the way I'm riding the bike," Melandri said. "We especially need to work on braking coming into slow turns. Over these three days we have identified the things we can discard for the future and my relationship has grown with the team, which is now complete. We definitely have a faster race pace than my fast lap time would suggest, but I'm sure that we can get even better by exploring new avenues in terms of the setup." Regular Aprilia test rider Alex Hofmann was on track alongside Melandri, as Aprilia Racing team regular Sylvain Guintoli continues his recuperation after an operation on his injured shoulder. Most riders were out on track from November 25-27, but the Ducati Corse pairing of Chaz Da- World Superbike Champion Tom Sykes was the fastest rider at the recent test in Jerez, Spain. vies and Davide Giugliano only showed up on the Wednesday and ran through to Friday afternoon, testing alongside the Ducati MotoGP troops. With unpainted new fuel tanks (looking like another effort at weight redistribution first seen at Laguna Seca), both Ducati riders made true progress in largely dry conditions. So much so that the final best combined Jerez test times, on race tires, would have to be updated to allow for their efforts - particularly those of Giugliano. He set a 1:40.5 on race tires on the final day to end up second fastest in the final rankings. His teammate Davies set his own personal best at Jerez of 1:41.1, despite finding a problem with his rear shock on the last day that got worse until it was finally diagnosed and fixed. "Our test was not bad and I was quicker than I have ever been at Jerez before," Davies said. "I felt comfortable and pretty happy. Not really happy with today for another reason. We had something up with the rear shock. It started this morning and it basically lost control and it got worse and worse. At least we found the reason for it and it was not drastic, just something small in the shock. There were a couple of small rain showers yesterday - enough to wet the track and go again so not ideal. I did a 1:41.1 on a race tire and missed the gear on the start finish, so it could have been better. Davide [Guigliano] was fast as well. I think we are moving it in a better direction, the way we would hope it would go. I think everyone is pretty happy and there is a clear direction where to go." No matter how you look at it, this test was a distinct turnaround for Ducati, and moves them on from the desmo doldrums of 2013 to what looks like a project moving forward again.