Troy Corser prematurely ended his Kyalami tests when he spectacularly highsided just before lunch on the final day. Exiting Wesbank corner at the top of the hill, his rear end suddenly gripped as he touched the throttle and he was spat in the air.

He landed heavily on his left ankle and back, but fortunately no damage was done. Troy's ankle suffered bruising and because he and the team are testing at Phillip Island next week, the team decided to call it a day. It was a pity, because Troy had used the cooler conditions earlier today to continue to smash the lap record. He was soon putting in sub 1:43 laps and then reeled off a 1:42.4 - all on race rubber. The team then put on some qualifier tyres and Troy blitzed his way round the Kyalami circuit and posted a lap of 1:42.067. A sub 1:42 was on the cards, but then the crash brought his day to a close.

Troy - "It was a real shame about the crash, because I felt that we'd go under 1:42 without any problem. We'd put on a new type of tyre and on the first lap it gave a bit of a slide at Wesbank - but nothing dramatic. On the second lap, I came through Wesbank exactly the same speed as the lap before and opened the throttle on the exit in exactly the same and suddenly the rear gripped
and the bike went from lock to lock before I could do anything. It just went 'snap' and I found myself up in the air. It's downhill exiting the corner, so it's even further to fall! I landed on my back and ankle and was lucky because the bike followed me, - but luckily it missed me by about
half a metre! It was close though! We're testing in Phillip Island next week, so there was no point carrying on and we packed up. The tests have gone well here. Basically we were running back to back tests with the 2000 and 2001 bikes. The 2001 Aprilia has got the step two engine and slightly different geometry. It feels a bit more nervous then the 2000 bike. But the newer engine feels very strong - even though we are at fairly high altitude here. That's a good sign. It will be interesting when we get back to sea level - at Phillip Island - and see how it goes. I'm really looking forward to Phillip Island and going really quick there. I think we're going to have some fun!

Final day - February 1st. 27 laps, best lap 1:42.067

Kyalami lap record 1:43.224 (Fogarty 2000)
Kyalami Superpole record 1:42.471 (Troy Corser 2000)

KYALAMI WINTER TESTING OVERALL TIMES: 
1° Hodgson 1'41.477 - 
2° Bayliss 1'41.904 - 
3° Corser 1'42.067 - 
4° Bostrom 1'42.290 - 
5° Chili 1'42.347 - 
6° Edwards 1'42.391 - 
7° Xaus 1'43.227 - 
8° Okada 1'43.244 - 
9° Lavilla 1'43.404 - 
10° Chambon 1'43.689