World SuperBike - Misano Test - May 15/16
| Ducati Corse, Castrol Honda and Benelli completed a two-day test session at the 4.060 km Misano Adriatico circuit on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Double Monza winner Australian Troy Bayliss and Ruben Xaus were present for Ducati Infostrada as the factory squad prepared for the Misano round of the championship, scheduled for June 22-24. Air/track temperatures were 22° / 30° and the work programme included the testing of several new tyre compounds and suspension set-up for the San Marino round. Bayliss set an unofficial best time of 1m35.65s on race tyres, three-tenths of a second under the Superbike lap record set by Corser last year. “I felt really good here today”, commented Bayliss. “We managed to get a lot of things sorted out for the Misano race and I’m looking forward to coming here in June”. Ben Bostrom (Ducati L&M) missed the test as he is still recovering from his crash in the first race at Monza. Ben is recovering rapidly. The swelling on his right knee has been reduced and the Californian is undergoing physiotherapy treatment on his partially dislocated right shoulder in order to be fit for next weekend’s Donington WSBK round. In the Honda camp Okada, on his first visit to the Adriatic coastal circuit for eight years, was marginally faster than Colin Edwards. "We needed a test like this and it's worked perfect. The weather was kind to us and we were able to put in some good lap times and test some new Michelin tyres. It's all been worthwhile and I look forward to coming back here for the race next month." Edwards commented: "This has probably been my best test of the year. We were able to drastically change the machine set-up and we certainly found a good direction as far as that is concerned. It's put the whole team in a good mood for next week's sixth round of the championship at Donington Park." Peter Goddard and the Benelli were also present and the prototype machine circulated the Misano track 2.35 seconds slower than the fastest man of the test Bayliss. Goddard was only 1.19s behind Bayliss' Ducati team-mate Ruben Xaus. Round eight of the World Superbike championship and round seven of the World Supersport championship will be staged at the Misano circuit on June 24. Troy Bayliss, Australia (Ducati) 1m 35.65s |