Laconi tops wet test

The latest round of testing for the World Superbike teams ended on a bit of a damp note yesterday, with heavy rain seriously limiting the amount of track time.

Regis Laconi finished the Valencia test with the fastest time on his newly launched factory Xerox Ducati 999, clocking a best of 1:41.3. While team-mate and current champion James Toseland was two seconds down at 1:43.6.

The wet weather prevented all the teams from carrying out the testing they had intended and most went away disappointed.

The Honda TenKate team packed up and left early with Chris Vermeulen only getting limited track time. Boss Harold Bartle put a brave face on it, saying “Well at least we will get an extra day to prepare for the Qatar test.”

The teams will all be jetting off to the Losail circuit for a final round of testing on February 19-20 before the start of the championship one week later on February 26 at the same track.

Norick Abe used the wet sessions to get to grips with the Yamaha Motor France R1 that he has only just started riding. After riding in MotoGP last year Abe is the only rider in WSB to have ridden the Qatar circuit before so is looking to make the most of the advantage.

Abe finished the Valencia test with a best lap of 1:46.15 while the Yamaha Motor Italia team of Niriyuki Haga and Andrew Pitt decided not to even bother going out in the wet weather.