Day 3
Castrol Honda's Colin Edwards and Tadayuki Okada have now lapped the Kyalami circuit in identical times - both 0.1s inside the lap record - after the third day of the Michelin tyre tests at the South African track.
Reigning world champion Edwards was happy with his third day display, recording a 1m 43.27s lap, and is confident of improving his lap time in Saturday's fourth and final day of the Michelin test.
'We're definitely getting there with the set-up of the VTR,' said Edwards. 'Honda's pretty keen for us to keep trying different size tyres so we're getting the machine set around that. 'We've got tomorrow as part of this test, Sunday off then we're doing the first two days of the official Superbike test which starts on Monday. I'm happy enough at this stage and looking forward to getting into the groove in the morning.'
Okada is happy with his progress, the Japanese ace explained: 'I struggled through last year after a heavy fall pre-season but I really feel good now. But before arriving in Kyalami I decided to rest and have done little physical training.
'Now I intend to just build up my strength for the Valencia test and ultimately the first race there in March. My biggest problem with the machine at the moment is stopping the front end pushing out. I think we've got the machine about 70 per cent with the remainder coming if we can stop the front end pushing out.'
Okada recorded a best lap on Friday of 1m 43.90s compared to his best lap so far of 1m 43.20s on Thursday.
Castrol Honda's Chris Vermeulen continued to improve on the new CBR600F Sport machine as the 18-year-old prepares for his first full year of World Supersport championship racing.
The Australian youngster clipped a further 0.3s off his best lap time so far, recording a 1m 47.70s, 0.6s inside the two-year-old lap record.
The Castrol Honda team was joined on the track by a number of Ducati riders on Friday, their best lap times were:
Superbike: Troy Bayliss 1m 45.83s; Ruben Xaus 1m 44.95s.
Supersport: Vittoriano Guareschi 1m 47.70s; Dean Thomas 1m 47.90s.
Day 4
Castrol Honda's World Superbike champion Colin Edwards set the fastest time of the four-day Michelin test with a 1m 43.13s lap of the Kyalami circuit in South Africa on Saturday.
After a punishing four days at high altitude and in searing 30-degree heat VTR pilot Edwards recorded his best lap during a race-distance test on new Michelin tyres.
"I went a little quicker for that single lap but my consistent run of lap times over 25 laps was what I was happiest with," said Edwards. "It was my last stint out on the track, I knew what I wanted to achieve and I'm happy to have ended the four days on a high note but Iš'm tired now," added the 26-year-old American.
Edwards' new team-mate Tady Okada recorded a lap of 1m 43.54s on Saturday morning at the 2.64-mile circuit but sat out the afternoon session.
The 33-year-old Japanese rider explained: "I decided to rest this afternoon and try and get my strength back for Monday's test. The three and a half days I did was good but I'm not happy with the lap times, I want to go faster when I get back out there on Monday and Tuesday."
Castrol Honda's Chris Vermeulen also fell victim to the punishing heat, the 18-year-old completed more than 300 laps in four days in the longest test of his career so far. Vermeulen recorded a best lap of 1m 48.52 on Saturday, compared to his best lap of the test at 1m 47.7s.
Vermeulen said: "I got through what I had to test today; tyres, some new Castrol oil and fuel. I was worn out by lunchtime today but I'm pleased with the test. We got through a lot of work, I got used to the demands of testing and Michelin are happy with the feedback they've got."
Both Edwards and Okada will rest on Sunday and return to the track on Monday to join a host of World Superbike rivals in the official championship winter tests. Vermeulen has ended his Kyalami test and returned to the UK on Saturday evening.
Michelin's Motorcycle competition general manager Nicolas Goubert commented: "We knew the test would be difficult at the start as Honda got the machine set-up but we ended with a very good final day and a good endurance test with Colin. We've also had a successful Supersport test with Chris Vermeulen." |