Sepang test this weekend..

Its nice to see the kawasakis showing at least some promise, and as i predicted, Depuniet is leading the way, also nice to see positive things from Tamada and to see Hoffman making progress and beating his team mate. I know its only the first day, but some of the Honda guys have work to do, and Ducati in generall.

Seeing Edwards up with Rossi suggests yamaha are doing well, rather than using pure Rossi magic. Also i think it'll be good for Haydens confidence to be the fastest Honda guy out there, he can't be having that much trouble adapting to the smaller bikes.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Yamahamer-AL @ Jan 22 2007, 05:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>yeah he's still short!
He's lost weight over Christmas instead of gained weight.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Yamahamer-AL @ Jan 22 2007, 03:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>all in all the ZUKES are doing better this pre-season then any other year....
just the 1st day. don't read alot into it. if the suzukis are still at the sharp end after the irta test, then i'll start believeing.

But things are looking good for Suzuki.... Can we give them one last chance? Yamaha's looking good too. And Tamada put in a decent effort on the 'lops, but so did Checa this time last year.

Speaking of Checa, his time is a bit dissapionting, so is Nakano's. I was hoping for more, but its early days and they're both on new machines

What the hell's up with OJ? I don't want to have to put my faith in Randy DeSlug this year

Edwards had black and red leathers and bike, and Rossi's in Fluro yellow. I wonder if they'll keep the scheme. I like those colurs on Rossi. I can sit and daydream.. "Jeez Kawa have got a good one in their corner this year"

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (frosty58 @ Jan 22 2007, 11:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>just the 1st day. don't read alot into it. if the suzukis are still at the sharp end after the irta test, then i'll start believeing.

True, but they've been up front in EVERY 800 test.

Yeah but the Suzukis were on qualies! 2 lap runs........qualifiers deffo.

Where does it say that? Link?

Great to see the suzuki's at the top ,even though its only testing.But it looks good.I hope NAKANO has a turn around season, with HONDA help.He could be the sleeper of the year.Someone help me here did "MINOLTA HONDA" also switch tyre manufactures for the 07' season? I think they were on bridgestones last yr. and now they back on MICHELIN,if so should help out NAKANO alot.

^

Konica Minolta Honda been using Michelins for the last two seasons with Tamada.

How often is it that the highest Honda is eigth in testing? They always used to go very well in testing.

Methinks this track doesn't suit Honda's? As Pedrosa was 1st/2nd consistently in Jerez.

If Suzuki was on Q tyres, then the others might have been too. I dounbt the rest of them will go for 3 days without pulling out a Q tyre, so we'll see more accurate results in the end of test combined times... I hope.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (frosty58 @ Jan 22 2007, 11:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>just the 1st day. don't read alot into it. if the suzukis are still at the sharp end after the irta test, then i'll start believeing.Have to agree with ya there frosty, just a bit too early to start predicting big things for Suzuki although it must be said that it's obvious they're heading in a good direction. Every team is on a steep learning curve this year, and it has a ways to go before anyone is getting 100% out of their bikes. I'm sure Suzuki are trying their best to curb their excitement and just keep working at it and improving. I'd love to see them getting stuck in at the front and ruffling a few egos.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (skidmark @ Jan 23 2007, 11:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Have to agree with ya there frosty, just a bit too early to start predicting big things for Suzuki although it must be said that it's obvious they're heading in a good direction. Every team is on a steep learning curve this year, and it has a ways to go before anyone is getting 100% out of their bikes. I'm sure Suzuki are trying their best to curb their excitement and just keep working at it and improving. I'd love to see them getting stuck in at the front and ruffling a few egos.

Well, who has the lobotomy now?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (richo @ Jan 23 2007, 01:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Well, who has the lobotomy now? I have one every year around this time

Richo you got me, you know I've slagged off the Suzuki with great gusto but, and I'm not saying the worm has finally turned, I have to admit this is their most promising looking motogp bike yet.

The winter break didn’t seem to slow down the Rizla Suzuki team, with John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen topping the time sheets on the first day of MotoGP winter testing at the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia. And any notion that the 800’s would be much slower than their 990cc predecessors was quickly dispelled, with Hopkins nearly up to last year’s race record.

The Suzukis have been conspicuously fast since the beginning of the 800cc era and today was no different. Hopkins was the only rider in the 2:02’s, at 2:02.277 mins. The time wasn’t far off Loris Capirossi’s race record of 2:02.127 from the 2006 race. Since the time was done on race tires-the use of qualifiers will be limited, if not eliminated, this year-it didn’t approach Valentino Rossi’s pole time of 2:00.605.

Teammate Chris Vermeulen began his second MotoGP season with the second best time, a lap of 2:03.049.

Rossi and teammate Colin Edwards were next fastest, the pair riding the unbranded Yamaha M-1’s after the team lost their Camel sponsorship last month.

"The bike I am riding here is basically the same as the one I rode in Jerez at the last test and everything feels very good with it still,” Rossi said after setting a best time of 2:03.184 mins. “You have to ride these bikes slightly differently to the old 990cc bikes, you need to be slightly softer, but we understand more about them every day. Some things still need to be improved but the chassis is good and we don't have any of the problems we had at the start of last season. We need to be fast from the start this year and at the moment it seems that's the case. The power delivery of the bike is good, better than I hoped for at this early stage of the season, and I am feeling quite confident overall about the situation we're in. Today we mainly worked on setting and tires and we've definitely made a good start to the new year, now we will try to continue like this for the next two days."

Edwards was happy for the winter break, but equally happy to be back on track. His best lap time was 2:03.337 mins.

“It's been good to have a bit of a break and some time at home with the family, but I'm excited about the new season and it's good to be back on the bike,” he said. “The rain held off so we got started on time this morning. The bike feels pretty similar to what we were riding before Christmas, of course there are some subtle tweaks here and there and some new stuff, but nothing too drastic and it still feels really good. This morning we worked on tires with Michelin before testing a couple of new things with the bike this afternoon, but mostly we were just backing up everything we worked out at the last two tests, double and triple-checking every setting to ensure that we're working in the right direction.”

Repsol Honda’s Nicky Hayden was fifth fastest, and first of the Hondas, in his first saddle time since a November operation on his left shoulder. Always among the most diligent of testers, Hayden put the shoulder to the test, running 73 laps with a best of 2:03.412 mins.

"I'm happy to be on a bike again and excited to be back with my boys and the team - I really enjoyed riding out there today,” the world champion said. “This morning felt pretty good, but this afternoon we didn't quite go forwards as much as I'd have liked to. We've got some work to do to be ready for the season. I went at about the same pace as I did here in November - I did that lap quite early in the day, and then didn't go faster which was slightly frustrating.

“The shoulder feels OK - the pain has gone away, though it still feels a little weak. That's one of the reasons I didn't go crazy with the number of laps because the doctor told me to take it pretty easy. Sometimes shoulders can take a while to heal but it wasn't hurting me on the lap times - I was just getting tired a little quicker than usual. It actually felt better today than I thought it would, so we're looking good for the rest of the test."

Marlboro Ducati’s Loris Capirossi was just behind in sixth on a motorcycle and tires that he was confident had room to improve.

"We've still got a few problems in the general set-up of the bike but it's normal at this stage of the year,” the Italian said. “We are here for this reason and for sure we've got a lot of margin for improvement. Today we tested a few things that worked and we put aside some other solutions as we have organized the work for the next couple of days. We have opted to test a few more things tomorrow and I think we can improve a lot. I'm also very confident about the performance of the tires because even though we haven't yet begun to test with the new ones, the ones we have used today already perform really well.”

Randy de Puniet was the first of the Kawasakis and only .004 secs. down on Capirossi. The Frenchman was encouraged by the progress of the machine during the winter break.

“I couldn't believe the transformation Kawasaki's engineers have made in such a short time,” he said. “Already the bike feels competitive, but I think there is more performance to be found once we get down to refining the set-up further.”

Hayden’s teammate Dani Pedrosa was a disappointing eighth fastest, disappointing because Pedrosa was thought to be the main beneficiary of the move to 800cc’s.

"I felt that it had been a long time not riding so I took it slowly today, especially in the morning,” he said. The team was working through the basics and doing tire testing, as well as getting acclimated to the bike at this track. “The bike also feels quite different to the last test in Jerez because the gears ratios are quite long here so the force under acceleration is slightly changed. You really feel that the 800 has less power than the 990 at this track, and also the bike feels better in some ways too.”

Makoto Tamada switched bikes and tires for 2007 and ended the day in ninth place. The Japanese rider traded his Michelin-shod Konica Minolta Honda for the Tech 3 Yamaha on Dunlop tires.

Marlboro Ducati’s Casey Stoner was 10th fastest and the last rider in the 2:03’s.

"We have made a lot of progress since the Jerez test even though we still have to improve some of the characteristics of the engine,” the Australian said after his third ride on the GP7. “I am really pleased with the tires; the front is already perfect, the rear is good and for sure we can improve. However, my best time was set with a rear that had already done an entire race distance and that's a good sign.”

The Pramac d’Antin Ducatis were 11th and 12th, with Alex Hofmann in front of new teammate Alex Barros in his return to the MotoGP fold.

Team Roberts’ Kenny Roberts Jr. was 13th fastest in his first ride on the Roberts’ 800, a machine that was designed and built in 90 days and delivered to Sepang after an inspection at Honda Racing Corporation headquarters in Tokyo.

"I think that technically we got a lot done for our first day,” Roberts Jr. said. “We tried a total of three swing-arms and two linkages today, so we got some of the bigger items out of the way. We still need to try a new fabricated chassis tomorrow, or at least by the end of the remaining two days. Basically, the times this morning were OK and I was getting down to quite a few low 2:04 laps. I'm just stuck right there at the moment. We've just got to get the bike going round the corners a little bit faster. With these bikes it's all corner speed; you never really square anything off like the V5 used to do and if you're spinning it you've got to figure out how to not spin it. With a handful more power you could get away with more mistakes than you can at the moment – consistency-wise.”

Among the first day surprises, but not in a good way, was the performance of the Gresini Honda team. Marco Melandri was down in 16th of 20 riders, with teammate Toni Elias two spots back. The team was not only testing a new machine, but coming to grips with the Bridgestone tires which they chose over Michelin for 2007.

“The first day has been a little difficult, especially because it's hot,” Melandri said. “The bike feels pretty good but still we have a few problems. Mainly I don't completely like how the clutch is working so we have been looking at that today, and still we have some more to do.

“Also, the front fork feeling is not wonderful at the moment but I think that feeling might be originating from the clutch which is not allowing me to get a good balance under braking, so the bike is moving a lot. I think it will be better from the next test. We did not test too many Bridgestone tires today but still if everything is OK on the chassis side we will test a lot more tires tomorrow."

Sepang Test Day One

Unofficial Times

1. John Hopkins - Rizla Suzuki 2:02.277

2. Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki 2:03.049

3. Valentino Rossi - Yamaha Racing 2:03.184

4. Colin Edwards - Yamaha Racing 2:03.337

5. Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda 2:03.413

6. Loris Capirossi - Ducati Marlboro 2:03.538

7. Randy De Puniet - Kawasaki Racing 2:03.542

8. Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda 2:03.620

9. Makoto Tamada - Yamaha Tech 3 2:03.785

10. Casey Stoner - Ducati Marlboro 2:03.944

11. Alex Hofmann - Pramac d’Antin 2:04.003

12. Alex Barros - Pramac d’Antin 2:04.011

13. Kenny Roberts Jr. - Team Roberts 2:04.088

14. Carlos Checa - Honda LCR 2:04.101

15. Shinya Nakano - Konica Minolta Honda 2:04.138

16. Marco Melandri - Gresini Honda 2:04.270

17. Shinichi Ito - Bridgestone MotoGP 2:04.641

18. Toni Elías - Gresini Honda 2:04.710

19. Olivier Jacque - Kawasaki Racing 2:04.718

20. Sylvain Guintoli - Yamaha Tech3 2:07.403

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (phleg @ Jan 23 2007, 04:56 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>True, but they've been up front in EVERY 800 test.
yes.... test's..... don't set urself up for a big let down.

You have a subscription?!?!

PUT THEM ON THE TUBE DAMNIT!