Biker News - Regularly updated

Welcome to our News section, where articles are listed below and if relevant within the categories on the right, just to make it easier for you to find what you wish to read...

Please note that the content within our News section (text and images), follows the same copyright laws/notice as all other content on the website - ie not to be reproduced (including slightly amending) without prior consent. 

THE 2015 SUPERBIKE SEASON OPENS UP WITH TWO DAYS OF TESTING AT PHILLIP ISLAND

Posted on

0 Comments

LEON HASLAM AND JORDI TORRES ARE HARD AT WORK GETTING READY FOR THE RACES THIS WEEKEND.

EXCELLENT THIRD BEST TIME FOR THE ROOKIE, FIFTH FOR LEON HASLAM

Phillip Island (Australia), 17 February 2015 – The Superbike 2015 season opened up as usual with two days of testing on the Phillip Island track where the first two races of the season will be held on Sunday. These were two essential days of testing for the Aprilia Racing – Red Devils team following a winter break where the two new riders astride the RSV4 world champion bike often ran into unfavourable weather conditions. But yesterday and today Leon Haslam and Jordi Torres were able to get quite a bit of work done together with their respective teams to gain familiarity with the Superbike from Noale and explore all the possible settings.

The thirty-one year old English rider took on these tests focusing particularly on tyre wear, a vitally important factor for the races here at Phillip Island. In fact, the long sweeping turns and the fast nature of the track require specific consideration of this aspect, both in terms of setup and riding style. At the end of the two days Haslam expressed his satisfaction with the work done in this area, well aware of the fact that there will be time on Friday and Saturday to take full advantage of his Aprilia RSV4's full potential.


Leon Haslam: “Another positive day. This morning we tried a lot of new things over a long run and this afternoon we focused on fine tuning everything, testing more new changes without pushing to the limit to try and find our best lap time. I'm pleased with the job we did during these two days and I'm confident for the first race weekend. We still have the Friday and Saturday practice sessions which we will use to further improve some aspects of the setup and the electronics, but I'm confident that we will be very competitive in the races.”

For rookie Jordi Torres, making his début in the category, the two days of testing were also quite positive. The Spaniard improved lap by lap, increasing his familiarity with the RSV4 and working a lot on finding the best riding style for this type of bike. On a fast and demanding track like Phillip Island Torres ended the two days with the third best time (fastest lap 1’30.971) despite having lapped on used tyres for most of the sessions. This is an important calling card just a few hours from his first World Superbike race weekend. He also had a crash about an hour before the tests ended. After a highside on turn 11 Jordi suffered a slight abrasion to a finger, but nothing that will compromise his race.

Jordi Torres: “At the end of the day I'm satisfied, even if there are still a lot of aspects I need to understand better, such as the braking sections or the “tight” ride this bike requires. The RSV4 rides well, the team works great and I don't think that even the crash today will create any big problems in terms of confidence. It was a shame to have to stop the tests early because there were still a few important things to try in order to further adapt my riding style to the bike. We need to continue working like this in order to improve lap by lap.”

Add a comment:

Leave a comment:
  • This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Comments

Add a comment