WSBK: Bayliss warms up for SBK start witrh quickest time in Valencia
2-7-2006
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Flagworld
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LANZI TAKES SECOND SLOT IN VALENCIA TESTING source: ducati.comThe Ducati Xerox Team completed its final pre-season testing programme with more excellent times set by 2001 champion Troy Bayliss and his team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi. The Australian, who returns to Superbike this season for the Italian manufacturer after a three-year spell in MotoGP, continued the superb form he has shown so far in testing since signing for the Ducati Xerox Team at the end of last year and ended the two-day session at the top of the timesheets with a time of 1m34.45s. "The first time I tested here in November I did a 36 and now today on the race tyre I did a 34.4 which is quite an improvement" declared Troy, who covered 133 laps of the Valencia track on his Ducati 999F06. "Obviously I feel pretty comfortable on the bike and things are going really well so that makes me happy. The start of the championship is just around the corner and we haven't had to change the bike a lot since I first hopped on it. I'm feeling confident and I'm sure I'm going to be a contender for the championship and especially for the race wins. It's been quite a while since I've won so I'm a bit excited about that and can't wait to get one under my belt. I'm very impressed with the bike and feel good on it. I haven't felt this much at home for a long time!" Lorenzo Lanzi (136 laps in two days) took a bit more time to settle into the rhythm of the test, but made a big improvement on the second day to end up second quickest on race tyres with a time of 1m35.6s "I felt that I rode well and am pleased with that, I made a good improvement over yesterday when I struggled to get into the groove and back onto the bike after a break of two months" said Lorenzo. "Today I did some good times, on race tyres we're just two or three tenths away from Troy's pace with 1m35s. The feeling with the bike is good and we learnt a lot these two days so I now think we're ready for Qatar. The championship finally gets underway in a couple of weeks time and it'll be great to get back to racing, especially with the factory Ducati, and the prospects are looking good".
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