Mixed emotions for Ducati on second day at Phillip Island

The second day of factory MotoGP tests at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia proved to be both exciting and emotional, particularly for Ducati. The Italian factory saw MotoGP rookie Ruben Xaus airlifted to hospital by helicopter after a nasty crash at lunchtime, only to be later told that he had no major injuries, before Loris Capirossi set the fastest time of the day with a lap of 1?30.71. It was a morale boosting effort for Capirossi and Ducati, edging closer to the time of 1?30.496 he set at the Grand Prix in October when he started from second on the grid, in just their second test with the radically updated 2004 version of the Desmosedici machine.

Xaus? crash was the talking point of the day, however, the Spaniard losing control of his 2003 version Desmosedici but hanging on as it slid into the tyre wall at the end of Siberia. The track was closed as the wreckage was cleared and Xaus was flown to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, where 125cc World Champion Dani Pedrosa spent two weeks after breaking both his ankles in a crash at the same circuit last year.

Xaus was admitted to the hospital as a precautionary measure but was diagnosed as having bruising to the neck and back and was due to return to Phillip Island this evening, when he would make a decision with the D?Antin Ducati team whether or not to ride on Thursday.

Despite his crash, which occurred at around 12:10pm and saw the circuit closed until after lunch at 2pm, Xaus and the rest of the MotoGP riders had made the most of relatively cool conditions to set their fastest laps in the morning as ambient temperatures rose to around 26º and track temperatures as high as 38º on a gloriously sunny afternoon which was spared of the stiff breezes that hampered some riders on Tuesday. Valentino Rossi seemed to find the front end stability he was looking for from the Yamaha yesterday as he clocked the second quickest time of the day with a 1?30.75, around 0.6 seconds off the pole position time he recorded here in October riding the Honda. The quickest Honda of the day, meanwhile, was Sete Gibernau with a 1?30.81 whilst his team-mate Colin Edwards, the fastest man on the first day, was again on form with a time of 1?30.97.

Unofficial lap times

Loris Capirossi (Ducati): 1?30.71 (65 laps)
Valentino Rossi (Yamaha): 1?30.75 (70 laps)
Sete Gibernau (Honda) : 1?30.81 (60 laps)
Colin Edwards (Honda): 1?30.97 (58 laps)
Max Biaggi (Honda): 1?31.07 (86 laps)
Nicky Hayden (Honda): 1?31.18 (88 laps)
Makoto Tamada (Honda): 1?31.25 (54 laps)
Troy Bayliss (Ducati): 1?31.56 (63 laps)
Alex Barros (Honda): 1?31.59 (88 laps)
Ruben Xaus (Ducati): 1?31.64 (48 laps)
Neil Hodgson (Ducati): 1?31.77 (69 laps)
Marco Melandri (Yamaha): 1?31.70 (84 laps)
Carlos Checa (Yamaha): 1?31.80 (70 laps)
Norick Abe (Yamaha): 1?33.74 (54 laps)

Chissà se anche questa volta Xaus darà la colpa al tecnico delle sospensioni...  

che bello leggere la ducatona davanti a tutti , anche se si tratta di test.

per fortuna niente di grave.

certo che le carte si sono rimescolate parecchio, i tempi sono più vicini e non si assiste più al dominio honda anche se la yamaha a parte valentino rimane parecchio indietro. comunque il mondiale promette sempre meglio...

erano a sepang sino all'altro giorno,come fanno ad essere già a philip island??ma sono test ufficiali anche questi?

erano a sepang fino a giovedì, sono saliti in aereo e martedì hanno ricominciato!

si, sono test ufficiali anche questi ma alcune case hanno disertato le prove.

me l'han confermato anche amici,ne ero assolutamente allo scuro...e poi dicono che il lavoro del pilota è facile...io dopo una mattina in moto sono in coma,questi ci viaggiano quasi tutti i giorni! forse però se la godono di più che in officina....

grande ducati,sono partiti,anzi ripartiti alla grande,grand eanch rossi che come sempre bissa i colleghi..

Honda dominate on final day of key Phillip Island test

The final day of marathon MotoGP testing in Malaysia and Australia ended in Phillip Island today with Honda once again stamping their authority over their rivals with a crushing display of dominance. Just as at Sepang last weekend, the Japanese factory riders were in comfortable and confident mood as they eased to the top of the time sheets, Max Biaggi clocking the best time on the final day with a lap of 1?30.21. Behind Biaggi four out of the following five quickest times were set by Honda riders, the exception being the current World Champion Valentino Rossi on the Yamaha.

?I am really happy with my time today and happy with the work we have done overall,? commented Biaggi. ?I was comfortable on one bike but we had a chatter problem and on the second bike it was the other way around - there was no chatter but I was uncomfortable! Anyway, we basically mixed the two bikes up to find a decent compromise and I was able to ride comfortably for a 25 lap race simulation. We have found a structural fault to be the problem in one of the bikes so hopefully this will be resolved for the next test.

Team-mates Colin Edwards and Sete Gibernau, second and third fastest respectively today, also carried out a race simulation in the morning and were so happy with the results that they packed up at 12pm.

Back out on the track their Yamaha rivals lapped until the end of the afternoon, in conditions which were more cloudy and slightly cooler than the first two days, with Valentino Rossi finally choosing his favoured engine from a choice of four brought to the test by the factory. The Italian was unable to make any progress on his lap times but later revealed that he was satisfied with the M1?s capacity for future improvement. ?Myself and Jeremy (Burgess) have chosen the engine which we think has the most potential,? said Rossi. ?It still needs a lot more power but we think we can get that from this engine.?

Aprilia rider Jeremy McWilliams and Ducati?s Ruben Xaus were both absent from the circuit today due to injury. McWilliams flew home early after suffering chronic pain due to the broken rib he sustained in a crash at Sepang, whilst Xaus was observed overnight at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne after suffering bad bruising to his neck and back in a spectacular crash yesterday. Makoto Tamada was at the circuit but did not ride, commenting that his team had completed all the work they had planned for this test.

Unofficial lap times

Max Biaggi (Honda): 1?30.21 (62 laps)
Colin Edwards (Honda): 1?30.45 (31 laps)
Sete Gibernau (Honda) : 1?30.60 (41 laps)
Nicky Hayden (Honda): 1?30.68 (83 laps)
Valentino Rossi (Yamaha): 1?30.80 (78 laps)
Alex Barros (Honda): 1?30.88 (74 laps)
Loris Capirossi (Ducati): 1?30.97 (56 laps)
Troy Bayliss (Ducati): 1?31.64 (68 laps)
Carlos Checa: 1?31.96 (92 laps)
Marco Melandri: 1?32.00 (80 laps)
Shane Byrne (Aprilia): 1?32.28 (67 laps)
Neil Hodgson: 1?32.44 (64 laps)
Norick Abe: 1?33.76 (80 laps)

aia , ducatona lontana.....

ValeRossi e' veramente un mito... direi che a questo punto non ci sono piu' dubbi.

Vero che ci sono 4 honda davanti ma il distacco e' ridicolo... in un intero gp la costanza di rossi potrebbe annullare quel minimo gap di prestazioni.

Certo che se dovesse vincere la prima gara, biagi si spara un colpo in testa

Dipende: dai soli tempi non si capisce se Rossi abbia sparato un tempone solo o abbia girato forte per 20 e più giri.
Cmq sul fatto che fosse un grande i dubbi erano già sciolti da un pezzo...

penso che il distacco di 6 decimi tra biaggi e rossi su un giro non possa essere colmato dalla costanza di rossi a meno che biaggi non faccia un giro a 1.30 e un`altro in 1.32 cosa assai improbabile

Ovvio che il presupposto sia che biaggi non riesca a essere costante, o comunque meno di rossi (cosa assai probabile alla fine)

Dai Marco, lo sai benissimo che se la moto è in ordine Biaggi è un martello: ti spara 30 giri tutti uguali. L'importante è che siano tutti ugualmente più veloci di quelli di Rossi

si vabbe' sara' anche + costante ma raga 6 decimi son sempre 6 decimi, presupponendo che questi siano i corrispettivi temponi e' + facile che i 2 girino + lenti di cosi' ma bene o male un certo gap rimane..
sara' ma sono ancora convinto che a meno di un campionato monomarca vinca sempre (o quasi) chi ha il mezzo migliore,sia in moto gp che in F1.