World SuperBike Tests - Phillip Island - Day 1

Reigning World Champion Troy Bayliss set the pace for day one with a time of 1m32.944s.

The absolute fastest Superbike lap of the circuit, set by Troy Corser in 1999, stands at 1:32.193, putting Bayliss' time - set on race tyres and in high winds - into some perspective.

Today we did a lot of work with tyres after getting an excellent baseline setting in the morning”, said the 32-year-old Australian. “The bike continues to feel perfect and I’m confident I can get my times down even more over the next couple of days”.

Second quickest was his Ducati Infostrada team-mate Ruben Xaus, despite suffering a small fall from his machine at the base of Lukey Heights when his fairing ground-out on the sloping tarmac.

“I feel much more comfortable with the bike here at Phillip Island and I am really satisfied with the times I set today”, said Xaus. “In particular my time of 1’33.5 on the eighteenth lap of a long-run with race tyres shows that we are really competitive”.

Lone Castrol Honda entrant Colin Edwards, running a Suzuka 8-Hour spec engine in his VTR SP2, was third quickest, half a second off Bayliss' best time.

In fourth place on the time sheets came Noriyuki Haga who was on very impressive form for a rider who was having only his second taste of dry weather Aprilia testing. A former championship challenger in seasons past, Haga has proved to be right back in the Superbike groove, and has settled well into his Aprilia team.

Former Australian Superbike star turned SBK rider Steve Martin put his years of Phillip Island experience to excellent use to go fifth fastest on his Pirelli-shod DFX Ducati, taking the early-season scalp of factory Kawasaki rider Hitoyasu Izutsu, who is a new full time entrant into SBK this season.

Ben Bostrom, the lone Dunlop-supplied factory Ducati rider, took seventh, holding off his frequent 2001 season rival Neil Hodgson, from the HM plant Ducati team. Bostrom was another rider to suffer a fall on the opening day, without serious injury.

“I didn’t have much rear-end grip today”, declared Bostrom. “In addition, Phillip Island is not one of my favourite circuits, so I was unable to get the bike set up the way I wanted it to be”

James Toseland, Chris Walker and Alessandro Antonello rounded out the 11 Superbike riders on show, and each of them will have two more days to improve their lap times and machine set-ups.

In the Supersport class, Pere Riba from the Ten Kate Honda team was easily the fastest man on track, setting a best of 1:37.079 despite the high winds.

World Champion Andrew Pitt fell from his factory Kawasaki at high speed but suffered only bruising after hitting a trackside tyre wall. His accident stopped him challenging Riba, or his fellow countryman Chris Vermeulen (from the van Zon Honda TKR team) who was second quickest.

Fabien Foret, winner of two WSS races in 2001, was fourth on the stopwatch, while technical glitches prevented Karl Muggeridge from making his usual good showing.

Two World Supersport rookies, John McGuinness and James Ellison, made up the final two places on the World Supersport sheets.