Test Times - Day Two

Sepang test times – day two:

1. Sete Gibernau SPA Ducati Marlboro Team 2min 1.66 secs
2. Loris Capirossi ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 2min 1.83 secs
3. Colin Edwards USA Camel Yamaha Team 2min 2 secs
4. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team 2min 2.02 secs
5. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team 2min 2.26 secs
6. Randy de Puniet FRA Kawasaki Racing Team 2min 2.4 secs
7. John Hopkins USA Team Suzuki MotoGP 2min 2.4 secs
8. Casey Stoner AUS LCR Honda 2min 2.57 secs
9. Valentino Rossi ITA Camel Yamaha Team 2min 2.62 secs
10. Marco Melandri ITA Fortuna Honda 2min 2.7 secs
11. Toni Elias SPA Fortuna Honda 2min 3.26 secs
12. Shinya Nakano JPN Kawasaki Racing Team 2min 3.43 secs
13. Chris Vermulen AUS Team Suzuki MotoGP 2min 3.8 secs
14. Kenny Roberts USA Team Roberts 2min 4.1 secs
15. James Ellison GBR Tech 3 Yamaha 2min 4.15 secs
16. Alex Hofmann GER d'Antin Ducati Pramac 2min 4.49 secs
17. Jose Luis Cardoso SPA d'Antin Ducati Pramac 2min 6.06 secs


Fastest day one time:

Valentino Rossi ITA Camel Yamaha 2min 2.14secs

First of all I would like to say that what I am about to say in the post should not be taken TOO seriously. Most riders did not get a full day of testing in due to a tropical storm so these times may be an anomoly and tomorrow we may see Rossi, Melandri and Hayden back at the front. Now, to my thoughts...

Hats off to Ducati, Gibernau and Capirossi. The Ducs had a very good showing at Sepand at the race in 2005 but I for one did not expect them to come out swinging in this test. It would appear the GP06 is another evolution of a fairly strong GP5 and Bridgestone have improved as well. Now the question begs, can Gibbers and Capriex maintain their title of front runners for the entire season?

I had read that the top Michelin riders were slated to test tires all day today so that could be why Melandri and Rossi are so far down the time sheets and why so little improvement was made by Hayden. Pedrosa just keeps improving and hats off to Edwards for making his times fall as well.

Today's feel good story and things that make you say hmm... award must go to Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet. He is only .15 seconds adrift of factory Honda rookie Dani Pedrosa and has outpaced teammate Shinya Nakano by over a second. The Kawasaki is much improved with an all new inline four cylinder powerplant and the Bridgestones have taken another step forward but de Puniet is really impressing compared to the results of Nakano.

I read Jr. only completed 25 laps on the KR211V, I wonder if there are some growing pains with the bike of if they were testing pieces and in and out of the pits all day before the rain came. Hoping they just ran out of time before the wet weather came.

Bring on day three, preferably a dry day three.

I was fairly impressed by Kawasaki rider De Puniet, didn't expect him to beat Nakano and be so close to the top.

Also notice that the 2 first are Ducati but the last 2 are also Ducati, I know that Hofman and Cardoso are not exactly Rossi, but the huge difference can only be explained by the lack of performance of the Dunlops (+ Ellison with Dunlops was down there too).

Despite what Mladin says, Dunlop suck in MotoGP.

I'm not taking too much stock in todays numbers.
I have to agree that you have to hand it to Ducati for posting some very impressive numbers.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (The Doctor @ Jan 24 2006, 02:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I have to agree that you have to hand it to Ducati for posting some very impressive numbers.
qualifiers.