Yamaha World Superbike rider Ben Spies again proved the quickest rider on the day in his debut Monza test for the team. Over the two days of testing the American rider was consistently fast, laying down at least ten consecutive laps under last year’s lap record whilst on race tyres. Team-mate Sykes was also setting a blistering pace, and one of only five riders to break under the 1’46” mark. Ducati riders Haga and Fabrizio were second and third fastest respectively with times of 1’45.5 and 1’45.6 whilst Sykes was fifth fastest behind Last year’s race winner Neukirchener.
Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team (1’45.3): “The test was good, it was really good to come back and reset myself after Valencia as I was feeling really frustrated. It was good to take a couple of days off, then come back fresh. We found a really good pace, and I loved Monza which is another new track for me. We also did half a race simulation, and got some really competitive times. I think we’ve got a good setup for the bike for when we come back here. Hopefully we’ll show up with a couple more tricks on the bike as well.”
Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team (1’45.8): “As soon as I did my first lap I had a big smile, the track is amazing, and not what I’m used to at all, lots of fast straights and fantastic corners. It was a really good test for me, we’ve proved again we can be very fast and we can do the lap times over distance. Overall we’ve found a good set-up. It was a great opportunity for myself and my side of the garage to look at what changes we make and what it does to the character of the bike. We should be faster now which is good, considering the pace we have already. I’ve always wanted to ride Assen, unfortunately it’s not the old full circuit I’m but still looking forward to it.”
Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike- Team Manager: “Overall it’s been a really good test for us for both riders. We tested some chassis set ups and both the riders were quite happy with the developments. We got some good long runs in, especially for Ben so in the end we are quite satisfied. Last year the lap record was 1’45.8, Ben was running consistent laps below this time on race tyres, including a 1’45.3. Tom also proved to be consistently fast and we were happy to see him dipping under last year’s lap record.”
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