Biaggi and Xaus lead testing

From worldsbk.com

The second day of Aprilia and Yamaha World Superbike testing at Phillip Island concluded on Wednesday with Max Biaggi once again the quickest man out on the track.

The Aprilia rider got down to a time of 1 minute 32.3 seconds with his RSV-4 machine in milder conditions than on day 1.

The 2010 champion was able to confirm the good performance of the new Ohlins forks and he also tried out a new swingarm and fuel tank, among other things. The tests also revolved around a new engine spec, with a different power delivery.

There were two crashes during the day, involving SBK rookie Marco Melandri and Leon Camier, at the long left-hander leading onto the pit straight. The Italian hurt a finger but not seriously, while Camier continued testing after his crash but then hit a seagull. With his arm swollen he decided to call it a day.

On Thursday the tests will continue for a third and final day, but the weather forecast is for rain.

Bad weather also conditioned day 2 of SBK testing at the Algarve circuit in Portugal on Tuesday as heavy showers and low temperatures made the work difficult for the numerous teams who had headed for southern Europe to prepare their 2011-spec machines.

Unofficial times recorded by the teams put Ten Kate Honda man Ruben Xaus at the top of the timesheets with a time of 1:55.8. The Spanish rider, on his first time out with the Ten Kate team, looked comfortable in the wet and did a lot of laps on his new CBR machine.

Three tenths of a second slower was Britain's Leon Haslam, the new BMW Motorrad man now looking comfortable on his S1000RR bike despite some electronic problems during the day, while Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki Alstare) set a similar time to Jonathan Rea (Ten Kate Honda), who did not go out at all.

Troy Corser was next up with the second BMW, with Noriyuki Haga (Aprilia Pata) also lapping under the two-minute mark.

James Toseland got to grips with his new BMW machine, but it was the test team's S1000RR and the two-time World Champion was not aiming to post any quick laps.

Maxime Berger's expected debut on the Supersonic Ducati 1098 was postponed as the Italian team decided not to make the trip down to Portugal due to the poor weather conditions.

Philip Island Unofficial Times: 1. Biaggi (Aprilia) 1:32.3; 2. Camier (Aprilia) & Laverty (Yamaha) 1:32.5; 4. Melandri (Yamaha) 1:32.6

Algarve Unofficial Times: 1. Xaus (Honda) 1:55.8; 2. Haslam (BMW) 1:56.1; 3. Rea (Honda) 1:56.9; 4. Fabrizio (Suzuki) 1:56.9; 5. Corser (BMW) 1:57.1; 6. Toseland (BMW) 1:58.2; 7. Haga (Aprilia) 1:58.2