MISANO ADRIATICO HOSTS SECOND OFFICIAL TEST OF 2006
source: worldsbk.comTop World Superbike and Supersport teams will gather on the Adriatic coast of Italy for the second official SBK test of the 2006 racing season. With the Misano round itself scheduled for June 25, the Pirelli development teams in the series will be trying out possible new solutions, while the rest of an impressive line-up of riding talent will be preparing machines and race set-ups in readiness for the midsummer festival of power that is the Misano race weekend.
The circuit itself, largely tight and twisty, nonetheless features the immense triple left-hand turns of Curvone, where riders accelerate while they negotiate three increasingly fast left hand corners, catapulting them onto the back straight, before hard braking returns them to the dizzying turns and chicanes of the main infield.
CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERS ALL HEADING TO SPAIN Only one of the regular top teams is missing from the provisional list of entries to the Misano test, the Winston Honda Ten Kate Honda squad of Karl Muggeridge and James Toseland. Muggeridge broke two vertebrae at a recent Valencia official test, contributing to the team's decision not to compete at this stage. Despite these two high profile omissions, championship leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) and reigning champion Troy Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) will be duking it out with another 24 riders at the Misano tests, fighting not just to set ego-building single lap times, but also to find a perfect set-up for the race itself in June.
KAGAYAMA, LANZI AND A SERIOUS SUPPORTING CAST Corser's team-mate, Yukio Kagayama, and Bayliss's constant companion in the factory Ducati garage, Lorenzo Lanzi, have already shown glimpses of the form that made them both race winners in the 2005 season. Each is a fan of Misano, but like most of their peers, they expect little but hard work and challenges to overcome in testing. With so many strong entries in the championship in 2006, not even riders of this calibre can automatically expect to finish up with a time inside the top 15, should one aspect of machine set-up be even slightly off.
A rider with only four World Superbike races under his belt, yet with podiums already firmly chalked up, is Alex Barros. The lone Klaffi Honda rider will be on hand at Misano to reacquaint himself with a circuit modified from that which he last raced on several years ago.