Dry day aids Edwards' 800cc progress

After yesterday’s torrential downpour, the rain stayed away today and the sun came out at Sepang for the second day of MotoGP testing at the Malaysian track. Yamaha pilot Colin Edwards, who is riding Yamaha’s new 800cc motorcycle for the first time this week, was able to complete 48 laps and make significant improvements to the setting of his bike, despite suffering a small slide into the gravel in turn one at one stage. Edwards was luckily unhurt and was able to continue working on the same bike after a short time. The two Suzukis of John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen where fastest today, putting in times of 2’02.77 and 2’02.78 respectively. Having set the fastest time yesterday, Edwards was able to improve on that and finished the day third fastest with a best lap of 2’02.91. Following yesterday’s washout, Yamaha have elected to stay for one more half day of testing tomorrow before heading home for a short break ahead of the final test of the year in Jerez. Colin Edwards (3rd – 2’02.91, 48 Laps): “The sun came out today, luckily, but the track was still wet this morning so we had to wait until about eleven before we could get going. Anyway things felt pretty good straight away and we were able to start doing some real work, playing around with some new stuff and just generally improving the setting all over. We then tested some new front tyres for Michelin and the second one especially felt really good. As a result I was pushing quite hard and just held onto the brake a little too long into turn one, which is when I came off. It wasn’t a big crash; I was trying to find the limit and it just bottomed out. Anyway it wasn’t a great drama and within half an hour I was back out on the same bike. After that we just kept on tweaking away at the setting; we ruled a few things out and some things in and made a lot of progress. I feel like we’ve accomplished a lot in a short time and now we’ve just got a few more things to try out tomorrow before we head home.”

Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director: “Today was a good day and, although we had to wait for the track to dry, we had time to get through a lot of work. Colin went well today and he was able to give some very important information to our engineers, as well as put in some good lap times. We managed to complete everything we had scheduled for the day and we’re pleased with his progress. Finally we have decided to stay for one more half day of testing tomorrow to make up for the time we lost yesterday, and then we will have a short break before the next test in Jerez, which is also going to be very important for the ongoing development of our bike.”

Unofficial Lap Times (800cc Bikes)

1.John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki, 2’02.77 2.Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki, 2’02.78 3.Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha, 2’02.91 4.Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda, 2’03.74 5.Toni Elias (SPA) Honda, 2’03.87 6.Carlos Checa (SPA) Honda, 2’04.08 7.Makoto Tamada (JPN) Yamaha, 2’04.65 8.Tadayuki Okada (JPN) Honda Test Rider, 2’05.70

Sepang Lap Record: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2006, 2’02.127

Sepang Best Lap: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2006, 2’00.605