Aussie sets top superbike time in Valencia
Delighted Muggeridge says Honda has great potentialFrom world superbike: Record times were set in two days of official SBK testing at Valencia in preparation for the third round of the championship here on 6 April. Australian Karl Muggeridge (pictured) surprisingly took the top slot on his DF Racing Honda CBR1000RR machine, leaving the unofficial circuit record at 1'34.252, a fraction quicker than the mark set yesterday by Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati), who was not present today.
"This bike has got a lot of potential", said a delighted Muggeridge, former World Supersport champion. "I didn't go as well in race set-up but for the Spanish Round we'll have some new electronic parts so I'm feeling confident. The DF Racing guys are doing a great job and I think we're going to get some good results this season".
In the absence of Ducati Xerox's Bayliss and Fabrizio, the Ducati attack was in the hands of Xaus yesterday and Lorenzo Lanzi, who was quickest for much of today. "We sorted out the problems that slowed us at Phillip Island", said the RG Team rider "and now we've got an improved engine I can be up there with the other guys".
The Italian was followed by two Hondas of Spain's Carlos Checa and Japan's Ryuichi Kiyonari, both looking in good shape for the HANNspree Ten Kate team.
Three Suzuki Alstare GSX-R1000 machines were next up, Fonsi Nieto improving in the afternoon to slip ahead of his German team-mate Max Neukirchner, who went off in the final session, while Yukio Kagayama was eighth quickest.
Roberto Rolfo (HANNspree Honda Althea) and Makoto Tamada (Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse) rounded off the top 10.
Also absent were Yamaha Motor Italia riders Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga, as well as Max Biaggi of Sterilgarda, recovering from a wrist fracture suffered in Phillip Island.
| Superbike - Final Times | |||
| 1 | Muggeridge K. (AUS) | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'34.252 |
| 2 | Xaus R. (ESP) | Ducati 1098 RS 08 | 1'34.265 |
| 3 | Lanzi L. (ITA) | Ducati 1098 RS 08 | 1'34.388 |
| 4 | Checa C. (ESP) | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'34.493 |
| 5 | Kiyonari R. (JPN) | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'34.828 |
| 6 | Nieto F. (ESP) | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 1'34.911 |
| 7 | Neukirchner M. (GER) | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 1'34.984 |
| 8 | Kagayama Y. (JPN) | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 1'35.017 |
| 9 | Rolfo R. (ITA) | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'35.152 |
| 10 | Tamada M. (JPN) | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1'35.581 |
| 11. | Laconi R. (FRA) | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1'35.740 |
| 12 | Nakatomi S. (JPN) | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 1'36.057 |
| 13 | Holland R. (AUS) | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'36.386 |
| 14 | Badovini A. (ITA) | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1'36.441 |
| 15 | Sofuoglu K. (TUR) | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'36.698 |
| 16 | Napoleone L. (FRA) | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 1'37.696 |
Supersport World Championship
Two days of testing for most of the top World Supersport teams also produced some impressive performances, in particular from the Italian duo of Gianluca Nannelli (HANNspree Honda Althea) and Massimo Roccoli (Lorenzini by Leoni Yamaha), who both set an identical quickest time of 1'37.159. The British pairing of Craig Jones (Parkalgar Racing Honda) and Jonathan Rea (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda) were next up in third and fourth place.
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