Toseland and Crutchlow enjoy a productive first test day at Valencia

Sterilgarda Yamaha world Superbike riders Cal Crutchlow and James Toseland settled in for their second test with their new 2010 team today at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia. The British pairing spent the day working through various electronic settings on the bike, including the anti wheelie control and the traction control to find a smoother feeling on the throttle of the championship winning R1. Crutchlow also spent some time working with the team to perfect his positioning on the R1, a larger bike than his championship winning R6.

James Toseland, Sterilgarda Yamaha World Superbike Team (1’34.8) “It’s nice being on a track I know so I could really concentrate on the bike, unlike Portimao in the last test where I was learning the circuit as well. I think we’ve been really competitive today, the times I’ve been doing have been really comfortable, so a sign for me that the bike and team is working well. We’ve been mainly working on the electronic side of things today. It’s such a new bike, there were a lot of things the team wanted to try out during the 2009 season but didn’t have time to do, so the team are taking the opportunity to try some new things with a new rider to see if there’s an improvement.”

Cal Crutchlow, Sterilgarda Yamaha World Superbike Team (1’35.0) “We worked through some stuff today, mostly positioning on the bike, it felt a bit different from Portugal so it’s been harder to get comfy today. I didn’t use any good tyres in today’s sessions so I think I got some decent times which I’m pleased with, the times were consistent 35’s over the day. We’ve got some more stuff to try tomorrow and we’ll keep working hard methodically through everything.” Massimo Meregalli, Sterilgarda Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager “I think the first day of the test went well, we got some good information from both riders. On Cal’s side we tried to fit him better on the bike as he’s very small. So we’ve made some changes to suit him. We’ve also bought along some new parts which we will continue to test. James is getting more confident with the bike and performing well so we’re looking forward to continuing tomorrow.”