Motorcycles and news

The fast and flowing Australian track is a much different proposition for the Honda riders than the Sepang circuit at Malaysia. The riders were eager to get to grips with the 4.448km island venue as they strive to set up their RC212V 800cc four-cylinder machines for the track following a positive test in Malaysia.

The Repsol Honda Team made a good start to the three-day test with both riders improving on the lap-times they set in the race here in September. Reigning Moto GP World Champion Nicky Hayden got good feed back from the chosen chassis settings and the range of Michelin tyres he tried today in a bid to confirm the consistency of performance after successful tyre tests at Sepang.

Hayden from Owensboro Kentucky, confirmed the rapid progress of the RC212V on its first outing at the Australian track by setting a time of 1:31.18. This was 0.25s faster than his 2006 best race lap of 1:31.42s. Pedrosa was also quickly up to speed ­ the 21-year-old Spaniard shaving 0.14s from his fastest race lap to set a time of 1:31.29s today. The riders called it a day when the rain arrived at 15.00.

Gresini Honda rider Marco Melandri put in a fine days work. The Italian tested the machine he will use in the championship for the first time and was the fastest RCV rider at Phillip Island today. Melandri quickly established a good base line setting before testing tyres for Michelin and working on the engine electronic mapping. The five-times Moto GP race winner, who won the 2006 Australian GP at Phillip Island set a lap time of 1:30.75s, well inside his fastest lap of 1:31.363s on the way to victory last October.

Melandri’s team-mate, Spaniard Toni Elias chose the calm methodical approach to his day in pursuit of improved front end feed back. Elias also worked hard with the Bridgestone engineers trying to establish exactly which type of tyres the Spaniard needs to suit his riding style aboard the RC212V.

Carlos Checa spent the majority of his rain-curtailed day chasing improved chassis settings for his LCR Honda before moving on to testing front tyres for Michelin. At the end of the day the Spaniard was, ‘reasonably pleased with the way things were going.’

Team Roberts spent the day going through the basic chassis set-up of the KR212V for the Phillip Island track, working especially on front geometry and linkage options. The team ran both bikes today, which is something they were not able to do in Sepang because they only had enough of certain parts to run one bike in Malaysia. They will continue set-up work tomorrow before starting tyre testing with Michelin in the afternoon, weather permitting.

Konica Minolta rider Shinya Nakano was forced to call a halt to his days work at 14.30. The popular Japanese rider was laid low by a fever and stomach pains. While he was running Nakano tested variations to the geometry of his RCV in a bid to find better feed back from the front wheel. The team also experimented with the electronic engine mapping of the RCV machine.

Phillip Island lap record: Marco Melandri (Honda) 2005, 1m30.332s
Phillip Island pole record: Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2006, 1m29.020s

Temperature: air 24 / track 20 - 30 C

Unofficial times - Wednesday 31 January: