VOL. 53 ISSUE 9 MARCH 8, 2016 P77
only rookie in the class.
At the rear were both Aprilias—
Bautista 18th and Bradl 21st—
with Jack Miller (EG-VDS Honda)
and Eugene Laverty (Aspar
Ducati) between.
Miller was feeling the effects
of his double leg break more
at the right-handed Losail than
reverse-direction Phillip Island.
At the bottom, factory test rid-
ers Hiro Aoyama for Honda and
Takuya Tsuda for Suzuki. The lat-
ter was testing Suzuki's seam-
less-shift gearbox and both had
the task of track-cleaning, as the
regular riders waited for the tem-
perature to drop. Although the
track was open from 4:00 p.m.
to 11:00 p.m., all real testing was
done in a window after sunset at
around 6:00 p.m., and before
Barbera placed top satellite
Ducati again, ahead of Pedrosa;
then Pol Espargaro, this time the
better of the Monster Yamaha
pair, with Bradley Smith two
places lower but less than two
tenths slower. The satellite riders
are on last year's bike.
Yonny Hernandez was be-
tween them on the Aspar Duke;
Loris Baz (Avintia Ducati) behind.
Then Aleix Espargaro (Ecstar
Suzuki), troubled by not only a
number of crashes, but also the
psychological difficulty of ultra-
fast teammate Vinales.
Espargaro was the last rider
within a second of Redding.
Then came Michele Pirro, sub-
bing for the injured Petrucci in
the Pramac Ducati team, then
Tito Rabat (EG VDS Honda), the
first race, while others were still
casting around.
Honda had a difficult start,
but caught up significantly by
the end; Ducati made steady
progress, and finished up out-
ranking the best of their satellite
riders for the first time this year.
Iannone was reliably faster than
Andrea Dovizioso, although in
the end only by two tenths and
two places—they were sixth and
eighth.
Between them was Cal
Crutchlow—top satellite Honda
on the LCR bike, and a couple
tenths clear of Pedrosa's factory
bike. The Englishman had an
upgraded engine for the test, but
was searching for confidence in
the front end, crashing heavily
on the last day.
Tell us what you really think, Jack!
