Xerox Ducati's Michel Fabrizio was again fastest at the Kyalami World Superbike tests today. He was the first rider to dip under the 1'41s mark this morning and is convinced he can get into the 1'39s.
The 24-year-old Roman was much quicker than the existing Superbike lap record, which was set back in 2002, and managed to go a second quicker than yesterday, clocking a 1'40.256.
"I'm not entirely satisfied today either because I made a small mistake on my good lap, otherwise I'm convinced I could have got below the 1'40" mark," said Fabrizio. “I have enjoyed being back on the bike after some weeks off and the test has gone really well so far, I’m very happy.
"I hadn’t seen this track before of course and I really like it, it’s fun to ride. We haven’t yet tried any qualifiers and I think I may be able to go a touch faster with those tyres but we’ll see tomorrow, with this heat it’s hard to go extremely fast. I’d like to improve even further tomorrow, I’ll see what I can do.”
Alstare Suzuki's Max Neukirchner eventually won the battle for second place with a 1'40.668 with Fabrizio's team-mate Noriyuki Haga in third, less than a tenth slower. Haga managed to stay on his bike after crashing three times yesterday.
Ten Kate Honda's Jonathan Rea upped his pace considerably from yesterday, putting in a 1'40.842 to claim fourth place. American Ben Spies crashed out of the test early on and although he was unhurt, his Yamaha R1 was destroyed. Team-mate Tom Sykes is still suffering from a bug which cut his lap count down to 18.
World Superbike tests, Kyalami, day two:
1 Michel Fabrizio (Ita-Ducati) 1'40"256 (44 laps)
2 Max Neukirchner (Ger-Suzuki) 1'40"688 (50)
3 Noriyuki Haga (Jpn-Ducati) 1'40"709 (53)
4 Jonathan Rea (GB-Honda) 1'40"842 (40)
5 Yukio Kagayama (Jpn-Suzuki) 1'40"959 (52)
6 Shinya Nakano (Jpn-Aprilia) 1'40"968 (42)
7 Carlos Checa (Spa-Honda) 1'40"995 (31)
8 Ben Spies (Usa-Yamaha) 1'41"049 (38)
9 Max Biaggi (Ita-Aprilia) 1'41"077 (56)
10 Ryuichi Kiyonari (Jpn-Honda) 1'41"412 (84)
11 Troy Corser (Aus-Bmw) 1'41"986 (34)
12 Ruben Xaus (Spa-Bmw) 1'42"438 (40)
13 Tom Sykes (GB-Yamaha) 1'42"933 (18)
