Barros tops final day of GP tests

The wind played a big part in the last day of MotoGP testing at Jerez on Sunday with a number of riders coming off when caught by sudden gusts.

Alex Barros managed to put in the top time of the day, just under a tenth of a second off the best time of the weekend, 1:42.588, set by him on Friday.

Colin Edwards proved that the Aprilia RS3 is going to be worth looking out for in the coming season, taking the bike to the second fastest time, just 0.3 seconds behind Barros.

Carlos Checa finished with the third fastest time of 1:42.861 but was far from satisfied. He had trouble with the grip and handling of the bike and spent time testing tyres to try and improve the situation.

Bayliss used the session to test the Michelin tyres to see how they would last under race conditions, while team-mate Loris Capirossi didn’t get far after falling twice in the windy conditions.

Noriyuki Haga, Marco Melandri, and Olivier Jacque also joined Capriossi in the gravel but Jacque was the only one to be injured, fracturing his shoulder blade. It is still not clear whether he will ride at the Estoril IRTA test on Wednesday.

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