XEROX DUCATI man Michel Fabrizio recorded the fastest time of the day at Imola Italy - 1m49.1s - at the WSB official test session.
The two-day official test session is providing all the teams with vital data for when the championship returns to the circuit for the twelfth round of the 2009 championship on September 27th.
Noriyuki Haga, still recuperating from the recent incident at Donington Park, is not riding at Imola this week and continues with intense physiotherapy treatment in order to be ready to get back in the hot seat at next week’s tenth Superbike round in Brno.
Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) finished just five-tenths down on the front man, while Ruben Xaus (BMW Motorrad) showed great progress for the German squad by powering through into an impressive fourth slot with his quickest time of the day in the closing stages.
Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), fastest in the morning, maintained his good form in the afternoon, improving his time to end up fifth.
Three Brits took the next three positions, but all were over the 1m 50s mark, Shane Byrne (Sterilgarda Ducati) coming in ahead of Tom Sykes (Yamaha World Superbike) and Leon Haslam (Stiggy Racing Honda), while Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati DFX) and Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki Alstare BRUX) completed the top ten runners. Max Neukirchner (Suzuki Alstare BRUX) eased himself back into the WSB scene with an encouraging 14th position, but there was little joy today for Aprilia Racing, as Shinya Nakano and Max Biaggi could only take their RSV4 machines to 12th and 17th respectively.
In the Supersport sessions, Cal Crutchlow proved to be too strong for the opposition on the first day, the Coventry man posting a time that was six-tenths quicker than Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda). Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda) hauled himself up to third place, one tenth behind, Fabien Foret (Yamaha World Supersport) also lapped within a second of the leader to finish fourth, just ahead of Mark Aitchison (Honda Althea) in fifth.
Michel Fabrizio: “I am happy but also pretty tired! Imola’s a track I really like, even though it still needs to be resurfaced. It’s in the same state as it was in 2006, but now has this new chicane which is causing some controversy. If they move the wall back as they say they will in time for the race it will at least lessen the danger. Anyway, back to today. We’ve been able to get a lot of useful work done, trying things that we haven’t had time to look out so far during the season. We’ve worked on set-ups and sorting out the traction control system. We didn’t try Pirelli’s new tyres until the end of the afternoon, and I only had time to try one, but it was the right one evidently as, with the drop in temperature later in the day, I was able to record the fastest time. There are only five races left now so we have to get serious and push harder than ever. The Imola race will be interesting, as we’ve seen a much stronger Honda outfit here today.”
TIMES (Day 1):
1 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'49.164
2 19 Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 1'49.262
3 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'49.684
4 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1'49.823
5 7 Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1'49.842
6 67 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1'50.305
7 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1'50.402
8 91 Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'50.586
9 57 Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'50.797
10 71 Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'50.861
11 9 Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1'50.868
12 56 Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'51.055
13 121 Hopkins J. (USA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'51.270
14 76 Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'51.276
15 14 Lagrive M. (FRA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'51.339
16 53 Polita A. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'51.683
17 3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'51.738
18 11 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1'51.746
19 10 Nieto F. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1'51.909
20 100 Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'52.008
21 23 Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'52.482
22 77 Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'53.535
