Noriyuki Haga was once more the fastest Yamaha qualifier at an official
SBK test, and had he not found another rider in his path when running
qualifying rubber in the final afternoon session, he may even have had
the chance to improve his 1'33.870 best. Troy Bayliss (Ducati) was once
more the rider leaving a test session with the fastest time, a new
track record 1'33.317.
Haga, who had tested new triple clamps and rear suspension linkages on
his R1, decided not to continue in the very last moments of the two day
test, thanks to the residue left on the track surface after an oil
spill at the first corner. He thus had to rely on his best time from the
morning session, rather than the final one.
Haga's team-mate Andrew Pitt was a top ten rider on his R1, working
steadily through revised engine mapping and also losing out on a final
chance to set a faster time than his 1'34.469. Times in general were
tight, with 14 riders covered by just over a single second, from second to
15th place.
A strong ride in the final session from Sebastien Gimbert, on his
Yamaha Motor France Ipone R1, put him 11th fastest, a particularly fine
performance from a rider who had not ridden at Misano for 11 years. Norick
Abe continued to find Misano a difficult challenge on his Yamaha Motor
France Ipone R1, with his efforts to go faster often met by stubborn
resistance on the tight and twist Misano layout. World Superbike rookie
Shinichi Nakatomi was 20th out of 27 riders at Misano, during his first
visit to the Italian circuit, which forms the venue for round six of
the championships on 25 June.
Noriyuki Haga - Yamaha Motor Italia
"The balance of the bike was good today and I decided to test a soft
tyre. I found Kagayama in front of me but without that happening I think
I could have set a lap time closer to Bayliss. When the circuit got
covered in oil and then cement dust we decided to stop, so I could not use
a soft tyre in the afternoon session."
Andrew Pitt - Yamaha Motor Italia
"It would have been nice to be further up the list but I just didn't
put it together on a qualifying tyre. On race tyres the bike was good and
we improved it a lot. The bike is much the same as Valencia, which is a
good thing. We don't need to change it much now, which is what we've
been looking for for a while. We tuned in the electronics a bit more, to
make it even easier to open the throttle earlier. It was all pretty
good."
Sebastien Gimbert - Yamaha Motor France
"All the team worked very hard and the bike was very good compared to
the races in Qatar and Australia. For me it was not so hard to get the
bike working well here and set some fast times around the circuit. I am
very content with the progress and the good work we have all made."
Norick Abe - Yamaha Motor France
"We tried out many things. Last year I raced here and it was the first
time for me. It was the worst race of the year, and this time it still
felt no good. So maybe I don't like this track. Step-by-step we did
better than before, but compared to most other riders it was not so good.
Despite that, I think we are two seconds better than last year. The
tyres are much better than last year as well. But I would like to forget
this Misano test and just get to Valencia."
Shinichi Nakatomi - Yamaha Motor France
"I have never been here before so it was important to test and make a
race set-up for when we come back in June. It is a very different track,
with three fast left hand corners onto the back straight. We worked a
lot, and I did 162 laps to learn the circuit better."
Massimo Meregalli - Team Coordinator Yamaha Motor Italia
"We had a plan and we got all out work done, the only thing we could
not do was to go out at the end on soft tyres, because of the dust on the
track. But the test was good. The only question mark we have now is the
temperature of the track when we return for the race in June. We hope
that for the race the bike's performance, which was very good here, is
the same."
OFFICIAL SBK TESTS WSB:
Circuit: Misano Adriatico
Circuit Length: 4.060km
Temp: 16şC
Weather: Sunny
Lap Record: 1' 34.913 (Troy Bayliss, 2002)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 33.317 (Troy Bayliss, 2006)
Date: 12-13 April 2006
Classification:
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying
1 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 1' 33.317
2 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 1' 33.824
3 N. Haga Yamaha JPN 1' 33.870
4 L. Lanzi Ducati ITA 1' 33.933
5 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR 1' 33.984
6 R. Laconi Kawasaki ITA 1' 34.085
7 F. Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1' 34.181
8 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1' 34.266
9 R. Xaus Ducati ESP 1' 34.315
10 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 1' 34.469
11 S. Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1' 34.618
12 F. Foret Suzuki FRA 1' 34.660
13 A. Barros Honda BRA 1' 34.683
14 M. Fabrizio Honda ITA 1' 34.852
15 S. Martin Petronas AUS 1' 34.862
19 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 1' 35.574
20 S. Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1' 35.684