Andrew Pitt ........isn't he doing well

Not strictly Kawasaki but .......

Day two of Yamaha Motor Italia's World Superbike test at Phillip Island ended today with both Andrew Pitt and Noriyuki Haga riders making progress in the development of their YZF-R1 machines – but it was the Australian who was fastest.

On Sunday Pitt had trailed new team-mate Haga by 0.5secs, but today the former Kawasaki MotoGP rider reduced his best time from a 1min 36.8secs to 1min 35.3secs, on a race tyre, as he and his team made improvements to the fuelling system of the R1.

Pitt reported that the bike was much easier to ride than in previous outings, with a more manageable power delivery on the exit of corners.

"We made some big improvements today," said Pitt, whose time is 1.1secs slower than the best set by Alstare Suzuki's Troy Corser a few days earlier. "We concentrated on the 2005 bike today and the work on the mapping has definitely improved the pick-up out of the corners. We tried a lot of changes to the suspension: some worked and some didn't. There are still improvements to be made, especially at the front, but generally we're doing ok."

After easing himself into riding the R1 yesterday, new signing Haga clocked up a further 85 laps on his R1 today and was able to run close to the fastest times in last year's race, posting a best lap time of 1min 35.7secs – but knows that won't be fast enough for 2005.

"I am still a little bit behind where I would like to be," he said. "We still have some work to do with the suspension and ride height but we know the changes we have to make."

"There were no problems today. Yesterday we had some small things that cost us time, but today everything went smoothly," stated team coordinator Massimo Meregalli. "We did a lot of work with Pirelli today and Andrew has found a tyre we think will work well here in the race. Nori is still working to become comfortable and totally confident on the R1, but he is getting there and we expect to see more improvements tomorrow."

Meanwhile, joining Haga and Pitt on the circuit were Yamaha Motor Germany's World Supersport riders Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes.

Today's testing proved to be one of varying fortunes for the two Australians; Parkes' confidence in his YZF-R6 improved thanks to improvements in the rear suspension, although high winds meant he was unable to improve significantly on his times from yesterday.

Part 2.......just to make youze Aussies smile

However, Curtain's day was cut short after an early-morning crash: The 38-year-old injured his left shoulder and right foot after highsiding his R6 on the exit of the penultimate corner.

A precautionary visit to hospital for X-rays revealed a crack in his collarbone, although the popular Australian is hopeful of resuming testing on the team's spare R6 at tomorrow's final day in Phillip Island.

"It was really windy again today and that made it difficult to take the same line twice through many of the corners," said Broc. "We made some changes to the rear ride height and that has made some big improvements to the bike, but the wind was so strong we couldn't really set quick lap times. Hopefully tomorrow will be less windy. Also I hope that Kevin will be fit to ride tomorrow, as his information will be a big help to me as well."

"In all my years here I've never come off at that corner before today!" said Curtain with a wry smile. "The X-rays have shown a light crack in a bone in my shoulder but we are not sure if that is a result of today's crash or a previous injury. I will see how I feel in the morning, but I am hopeful that I will be able to ride again tomorrow."

Tomorrow sees the Yamaha teams' final day at the Australian circuit.

Part 2.......just to make youze Aussies smile

However, Curtain's day was cut short after an early-morning crash:

I'm not a Curtain fan, so could care less.

Good on 'em & since i now have Foxtel I'll be watching with much delight.
"Rip it into 'em Aussies"
Cheers Brett

Good on 'em & since i now have Foxtel I'll be watching with much delight.
"Rip it into 'em Aussies"
Cheers Brett

hey brett have you got espn....they have the ama supercross on

fox sports usually has some bike action on on tuesday nights as well

Yeah Phil i got all the sport channels, have to get to know what shows are called though. Saw the last round of the British supers this week but show was about Sport extremes would never of guess it was bikes in the programme review only found it channel surfing. Kwikas were doing ok as well both in top 6 first race n 4th n dnf the 2nd race or there abouts.
Any programe names would be appreciated guys.
Cheers Brett

I saw Isle Of Mann on ESPN the other week. Also BSB early one mornin. Too lazy to use programme guide & usually discover stuff by accident except motogp & WSBK which i always check for.

i actually hope Pittie rubs Kawasaki's face in it and wins the WSBK title particualrly after the way Kawasaki let Eckl fuck him over by hiring those duds Nakano and Hoffman. Pitt has won the only world title (on an uncompetitive bike) for Kawasaki (be it MotoGP, WSS, Moto X, Endurance or AMA) since Scotty Russell on ZXR750 in 1993.

That's a touch harsh Sean! I'll agree with you that Hoffman is a complete and utter dud, but Nakano has proved consistantly successful. He's done better than both McCoy and Pitt (albeit they were on first-year bikes), but he's done incredibly well.

Damn shame about McCoy and Pitt though. Though I'd love to see yanagawa get a race seat again.