Rea quickest at Phillip Island...maybe

From worldsbk.com

A mystery surrounds the times recorded at the Phillip Island World Superbike tests over the weekend.

A variety of sources present at the Island put Michel Fabrizio down as overall quickest on Sunday afternoon with a time of 1 minute 32.19 seconds for the Ducati Xerox Team. But Hannspree Ten Kate Honda's talented youngster Jonathan Rea claimed to have gone even better by setting a sensational time of 1:31.8, which would equal the circuit's official record for World Superbike, set by Troy Corser (Yamaha) in 2007.

With the tests being private, and as a result with no official timekeeping service available, discrepancies can occur in these particular cases as timing is always down to individual teams.

"Well, according to some websites, I crashed today and was like seventh quickest. I'm happy to report, however, that I didn't crash and did a 1:31.8 lap which we think was the fastest today," declared Rea in a Ten Kate Honda release.

Whatever the result, Northern Ireland's Rea is certainly setting World Superbike alight and promises to be one of the top contenders this year, as the atmosphere hots up for the opening round of the season back at the Australian circuit this coming weekend.

"What matters is that we were able to find a setting that allows some tire life at the end of the race and that I'm getting to grips with the traction control," Rea continued. "We did two full race simulations today and the bike felt great. We know what we have to do next weekend but I'm really excited at the potential we've shown here."

Fabrizio powered his Ducati 1098R to a time just three-tenths away from the Australian circuit's outright record and four-tenths of a second quicker than Troy Bayliss's 2008 fastest race lap. The Italian twin-cylinder machine also went well in the hands of Noriyuki Haga, who ended the day with a time of 1:32.30. After his lap, Haga then fell at the same Turn 2 where he also crashed on Saturday.

Yamaha's new signing Ben Spies made a big step forward, the Texan setting an excellent time of 1:32.36 on a track he experienced for the first time.

Suzuki Alstare took one step backwards, with Saturday's pacesetter Max Neukirchner unable to go any quicker than 1:33.03, while teammate Yukio Kagayama was four-tenths slower than his previous day's pace. The Suzukis were struggling with rapid tire wear and the team engineers had to concentrate on set-up to try and resolve the problem in view of next Sunday's two 22-lap races.

BMW managed to dip below the 1:33 mark, Troy Corser setting a respectable time of 1:32.93 before being forced to stop due to a not uncommon occurrence at this circuit, a collision with a seagull. The Australian suffered a nasty blow on his right arm, which kept him out of action for the afternoon session.

Earlier on in the week Max Biaggi had lapped in 1:32.59 on his Aprilia RSV4. The Italian machine, which is the other major new entry in 2009 together with BMW, could be on the pace right away come next weekend.

Carlos Checa (Honda Ten Kate) had to miss the final day of testing after suffering a concussion in his crash at the hairpin on Saturday.

Sunday also saw a crash for Tom Sykes (Yamaha), but he will be at full strength for Friday's opening practice sessions.

In Supersport the quickest time was set by 2007 champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) ahead of Garry McCoy with the increasingly competitive three-cylinder Triumph 675. The Australian also crashed out Sunday, but without problems.