Cal Preparing for World Superbike Challenge in Australia
Wed, 24 Feb 2010
Cal Crutchlow faced a frantic week of catch-up preparation before launching his World Superbike challenge in Australia.
CIA Insurance's top man, stepping up a grade after last season’s World Supersport title, endured a catalogue of technical hitches during the weekends final two-day testing session at Phillip Island.
He finished 17th in the 24-man field with a best time over the four sessions of 1 minute 32.88 seconds – a tenth behind Yamaha Sterilgarda team-mate James Toseland and 1.2 seconds adrift of Michel Fabrizio’s pace-setting Ducati.
The Yamaha team’s major problem was chatter otherwise known as vibration, Cal, who had a minor spill on Saturday, is confident he can bridge the gap before the 13-race schedule kicks off this weekend.
“We worked through a lot of stuff,” he said. “Unfortunately it’s not all worked yet but if we can get going in the right direction over the next couple of days for both of us then we can move forward.
“It doesn’t feel natural to be that low on the times, but I know we’ll improve on that. We’re really working hard to get the set-up right so we can hit the ground running – I’m looking forward to race weekend and, as always, I’ll do the best I can.
Team mate James Toseland agreed: “It’s been a good two days of testing working on the new Yamaha R1 bike. I still have some chatter/vibration problems as does Cal, but the mechanics are going to go through the data and see what they can come up with for us over the next few of days.”
Sterilgarda team boss confirmed: “We have had a little problem with chatter so we will spend a few days before the race weekend studying the data to find a solution.
“We are confident that we will find the right one and give both James and Cal the best possible bike to race with.”
The early signs are that Ducati will be the bike to beat in 2010. The Duke boys claimed five of the top six places – Honda’s Jonathan Rea the only intruder in fifth spot – Fabrizio was delighted with his performance.
“I found good race pace with one of the tyre compounds in particular,” he said, “and this has boded well for the race weekend.
“But the result will very much depend on the weather and there are several fast guys here so it will undoubtedly be a tough race weekend, as well as a hard-fought championship.”
Role on the 28th February for the first race of the season...
Source: Coventry Telegraph
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