MIXED FORTUNES FOR FPR PAIR IN ITALY
13 April 2006 - Foggy PETRONAS Racing

Foggy PETRONAS Racing riders Craig Jones and Steve Martin experienced mixed fortunes on the final day of the second official World Superbike test at the Italian circuit of Misano.

Craig, on his first visit to the circuit, slashed nearly two seconds off yesterday’s time to finish the two-day test in 25th, less than 1.5 seconds behind his Australian team-mate.

Steve had been 10th in the opening session, just half a second separating him from fourth place. However, an afternoon of technical frustration brought a premature end to his test and robbed him of the chance to perform race simulations as he ended the test in 15th.

Troy Bayliss, with a lap of 1:33.317, again set the pace for a near-full field, missing only James Toseland, his injured team-mate Karl Muggeridge and Frankie Chili, who fractured his pelvis and ribs in a high-side yesterday with a lap of 1:33.317.

Craig said: “That was probably my best day on the PETRONAS FP1 and this test has been very positive. We have made good progress after finding a good base set-up yesterday. The bike is turning better than it was in Valencia and that has given me more confidence. That is important because sometimes you can get lost by making wholesale changes. I was able to get down to 36.5s on race tyres and, although I probably still need to find another 1.5 seconds, I feel I would have been able to go some way towards that if we had had another day here and I only used the poorer of the two qualifying tyres. I was faster than some fairly quick guys through some sectors. I can see the light now and hopefully it’s not too far away.”

Steve said: “It was a very frustrating afternoon as I missed more than half of the final session through engine issues. It’s clear that the competition has come on a lot so we won’t really know where we are at until the race here. If I had been able to use another qualifier in the afternoon I would probably have gone faster but I am pushing right on the limit. It would have been better to have finished the test on a more positive note but at least we are confident we have a pretty good set-up for next week’s race at Valencia.”

Day two times, Superbike World Championship official test, Misano, Italy: 1 Bayliss 1:33.317; 2 Corser 1:33.824; 3 Haga 1:33.870; 4 Lanzi 1:33.933; 5 Walker 1:33.984; 6 Laconi 1:34.085; 7 Nieto 1:34.181; 8 Kagayama 1:34.266; 9 Xaus 1:34.315; 10 Pitt 1:34.469; 15 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:34.862; 23 Jones (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:1:36.135

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