With the two flyaway rounds in Qatar and Australia behind them, a good selection of Superbike and Supersport teams and riders will now be heading for Valencia in Spain for two days of FGSport official testing at the Ricardo Tormo circuit on Thursday and Friday of this week. In the Superbike category, three of the five manufacturer teams will be present, Honda and Kawasaki who will be using the two days to make up for lost time in the development of their 2008 machines, while Suzuki will be aiming to make further progress after their good start to the season.
Over in Yamaha, it had already been decided not to take part in the tests before the flyaway races due to the limited time available and the lack of Pirelli evolution spec tyres.
While in Ducati, a last-minute decision not to go has been motivated by the physical condition of their two riders, Troy Bayliss (a deep gash on his left elbow) and Michel Fabrizio (a bruised right leg). Both could have taken part but it was decided to give them some valuable time to rest.
Neither will Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati's Max Biaggi be present at Valencia, after the Italian broke a bone in his left wrist in Australia.
The Yamaha Motor Italia team, which opted not to take part in the official test at Valencia, has however scheduled a day of testing at the Varano track near Parma on March 25.

The rider who will test a new electronics package on the ‘workshop' R1 machine will be Claudio Corti.

The Italian, who is taking part in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup this year on a Yamaha Junior Team bike, will also get further testing opportunities for the Yamaha Superbike team throughout the season.