Valencia WSB testing

Troy Corser 1'36"0, Suzuki
Laconi 1'36"1, Ducati
Toseland 1'36"9, Ducati
Pitt 1'36"9, Yamaha Italia
Checa 1'37"1, Suzuki (standing in for Kagayama)
Muggeridge 1'37"2, Ten Kate
Gimbert 1'37"2, Yamaha France
Lanzi 1'37"3, Ducati
Martin 1'37"3, Petronas
Riba 1'38"1, Kawasaki
Walker 1'39"1, Kawasaki
Bussei 1'39"3,
Sanchini 1'39"3, Kawasaki
Da Costa 1'39"3

Haslam, GSE Ducati on Dunlops 1:35.7

Even I have a hard time talking all this up.
- Suzuki using 2004/3 machines. Going to Japan to build up the 2005
machines shortly, which makes it a factory effort, right? Corser
immediately fast.
- Pitt goes fast on the Yamaha but it's a cobbled mess of standard bits.
Why?
- The Kawasakis are slow, slow, slow. But then Hawk were there too on
Dunlops. Richards 1.40.3 1.39.7, Thomas 1.39.8 1.39.8
- Ten Kate WSS600 do 1'38.0 Well up the order of the WSB field.
- McCoy falls off when the FP1 wets itself. Not very fast either.
- Haydon falls off because he can
- Vermeulen is hurt and opts out
- No sign of Haga. Still arguing contracts.

Still I guess if we have Laconi, Corser, Toseland, Pitt, (Haga),
Vermeulen, Muggeridge, Gimbert, Kagayama all battling, the racing will
still be good.

--
Julian Bond Email&MSM: julian.bond at voidstar.com
Webmaster: http://www.ecademy.com/
Personal WebLog: http://www.voidstar.com/
M: +44 (0)77 5907 2173 T: +44 (0)192 0412 433

"Julian Bond" wrote

 > Troy Corser 1'36"0, Suzuki
 > Laconi 1'36"1, Ducati
 > Toseland 1'36"9, Ducati
 > Pitt 1'36"9, Yamaha Italia

 > Haslam, GSE Ducati on Dunlops 1:35.7

 > Even I have a hard time talking all this up.

 > - Suzuki using 2004/3 machines. Going to Japan to build up the 2005
 > machines shortly, which makes it a factory effort, right? Corser
 > immediately fast.

Corser: "Even though I am riding a 2003 (Iannuzzo) Alstare Suzuki Corona
Extra GSX-R1000, I'm already very happy and excited about my future
prospects."

 > - Pitt goes fast on the Yamaha but it's a cobbled mess of standard bits.
 > Why?

"Pitt completed a total of 215 laps on the YZF-R1 in the team's shakedown
test ahead of next season's Superbike World Championship campaign. Despite
running a hybrid machine with many stock parts, the team recorded
competitive lap times and gained a great deal of data as they prepare to
return to Italy for further development work... Meregalli: 'We will probably
now concentrating on developing the bike rather in the taking part in
another test. We have to make some decisions on the specification of the
bike, but we will have the advantage of using the 2005 kit parts as our base
for the next test and overall the bike should be quite different.'"

 > Still I guess if we have Laconi, Corser, Toseland, Pitt, (Haga),
 > Vermeulen, Muggeridge, Gimbert, Kagayama all battling, the racing will
 > still be good.

Well, close, maybe. At the moment it's a 2003 (factory) GSX-R and a
mostly-stock R1 that are fastest, and they are slower than a Dunlop-shod
private Ducati. Not good, but it's early, I suppose. I still say we have to
wait and see on any real level of direct factory involvement, with Suzuki
probably most likely but not entirely certain. Looks like Yamaha and Honda
will be represented by kit bikes, Kawasaki maybe even less than that.