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There Can Be Only One
Number of posts : 3271
Registration date : 2007-02-03
 |  Subject: Valencia tests include strong entry of Championship chasers  Sat Mar 17, 2007 5:47 am | |
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- All but one of the main championship hopefuls will be in attendance for the new traditional start to the European-based sector of the World Superbike Championship season - the Valencia FGSport tests. This year the Superstock classes, Superstock 1000 FIM Cup and the Superstock 600 European Championship, will monopolise the track on the first day of testing (17th March). World Superbike and World Supersport teams will then share track time on the two subsequent days, 18th and 19th March.
BAYLISS AND BIAGGI HEAD UP CLASSY ENTRY IN THE TOP DIVISION With 20 riders scheduled to test their Superbike machines at Valencia, the Superbike sessions should be busy on both days. In terms of predicting who will set the fastest lap times come the final session on Monday 19th, two famous racing names will surely be in the running - 2001 and 2006 World Champion Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) and instant SBK hit Max Biaggi (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra).
Each rider has vied with James Toseland (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) for race wins in the first few outings of the year, but with Toseland and his team-mate Robby Rolfo missing from this test for logistical reasons, there are still plenty of big targets to aim for.
SUPPORTING CAST ALSO SET TO STAR Bayliss will be teamed up as usual with his ever-improving team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi, while Biaggi's team-mate on the all-new GSX-R1000, Yukio Kagayama is hoping to be fit to test at Valencia, after a big crash in qualifying at the Phillip Island race. The 2006-spec Suzuki Germany GSX-R1000 of Max Neukirchner will also be going for another giant-killing performance, while the similar spec machine of Superstock champ Alessandro Polita (Celani Suzuki) will power him back into the European season in his rookie SBK campaign.
HAGA AND CORSER MAKING GREATER STRIDES ON THE NEW R1 After much early promise from the all-new Yamaha R1 machines of Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) and Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia) podiums have proved difficult but not impossible to achieve, and thus the latest Valencia tests is of great importance for the top Yamaha team. Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Team YZF) is also set to be in attendance at Valencia, as is privateer Jiri Drazdak (Yamaha Jr. Pro SBK Racing).
KAWASAKI RIDERS LOOKING FOR CONSISTENCY OF PERFORMANCE Fonsi Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) will be on his native Spanish soil at Valencia, while his team-mate Regis Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) will be looking to find a more repeatable machine set-up with which to enter the next two rounds at Donington and Valencia.
HONDA QUARTET WITH GROUND TO MAKE UP The privateer Honda teams have been waiting for the European season to come back around, to enable them to make tests with their full-spec 2007 engine and chassis set-ups. The Valencia tests will be the perfect opportunity for such shakedowns before points are at stake again. For Steve Martin and Michel Fabrizio (both DFX Corse Honda), and Karl Muggeridge and Josh Brookes (Alto Evolution Honda), the first few races were tough challenges, but each rider has already scored points. They will be expectant in this first European test since the Aussie round, especially as round three at Donington will be a new SBK challenge for most of the Honda riders.
XAUS CERTAIN TO SHINE Multiple SBK race winner Ruben Xaus (Team Sterilgarda) has already tested to great effect at Valencia this year and with even more track time on his year-old spec factory Ducati, he has already shown flashes of his old brilliance in race situations. In a slightly reduced season for Ducati privateers thus far, Team Pedercini rider Dean Ellison and Caracchi Ducati SC rider Jakub Smrz have had their work cut out, but on a 999F05 Smrz has made a strong early impact on the SBK midfield. The LBR Racing Team MV Agusta of Austrian Christian Zaiser will also be in attendance at Valencia, as he attempts to score the first SBK points for the classic Italian marque.
SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP A stunning start to the 2007 WSS season has seen two different race winners on two different makes of machine, and some old faces reappear in the championship top six.
Race one winner Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) will not be at Valencia, nor will his team-mate and double world champ Sebastien Charpentier, but second place overall rider, Fabien Foret (GIL Kawasaki) is looking forward to even more upgrades to his all-new bike. Foret and his experienced team-mate Pere Riba have been fast from the outset, pushing the best Honda and Yamaha riders hard, hard enough for Foret to take an unexpected win at Phillip Island.
Third in the series so far, Katsuaki Fujiwara (Althea Honda) is a returning hero of yesteryear, who has shown he is not a spent force in 2007. Top Yamaha rider to date is Kevin Curtain (Yamaha SSP Racing in fourth), but he is still looking for his first win of 2007, after experiencing problems with tyre choices. His team-mate Broc Parkes was third at home in Australia, but is only 7th overall after a round one no finish. A full 29 WSS riders are down to test at Valencia, with five different manufacturers represented.
SUPERSTOCK 1000 FIM CUP With most of the top competitors from the 2006 season moving onwards to other classes, the 'big' Superstock class is fairly wide open once more and more so than ever because of the appearance of the new 1098cc Ducati twin. Didier Vankeymeulen (TTSL-MGM Racing) is one returning former champion, but other big names are 2006 season 600 Superstock champion Xavier Simeon, Claudio Corti, Brendan Roberts, Ayrton Badovini, and Niccolo Canepa.
SUPERSTOCK 600 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP The middleweight Superstock series, for international novice riders between the ages of 15 and 20, has been a big hit since its inception two years ago, and has already pushed young talent up through the ranks into the bigger classes. A relatively contracted testing grid at Valencia (despite a more than healthy overall entry for the race season proper) still features a veritable array of would-be champions.
DONINGTON NEXT ROUND AFTER VALENCIA TEST The next points scoring opportunity for the SBK and WSS rider, and the first for the Superstock riders, comes at the classically flowing Donington Park circuit, with raceday on April 1. World SBK | |
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