[Ducati] WINTER TESTING GETS UNDERWAY FOR DUCATI XEROX TEAM

[Veloce916 at aol.com]

Wednesday Nov 28 2007 

WINTER  TESTING GETS UNDERWAY FOR DUCATI XEROX TEAM WITH BAYLISS, NEW SIGNING 
FABRIZIO  AND 1098 F08 

Losail (Qatar), Wednesday 28 November: Almost two months after the end of the 
 2007 World Superbike season, winter testing got underway for the Ducati 
Xerox  Team at the Losail circuit in Qatar. Australian Troy Bayliss and young 
Italian  Michel Fabrizio, who made his factory team debut today, shared the 
testing  duties on the new 1200cc machines that will represent Ducati in next 
season's  championship. Both riders were pleased with the progress made on the first 
of  three days of testing with the Ducati 1098 F08. 
Troy Bayliss, 2m00.6s (48 laps) 
"It was good to get back on the bike after six or seven weeks, and we're  
pretty happy with the first day" declared Troy. "The track is not bad but it's a  
bit windy and dusty although things got better in the afternoon. We're not  
really in a hurry with the new 1098 bike, we're looking for a good base setting 
 more than anything else and so far I'm pretty happy with the 2m00.6s I set 
on  race tyres. The bike is quite similar to when I tested it at Vallelunga but 
 we've got a lot of things to try out in the next couple of days and I'm sure 
 we'll improve." 
Michel Fabrizio, 2m01.6s (37 laps) 
"My debut with the 1098 went quite well apart from a small crash!" said  
Michel. "I like the bike a lot and I immediately managed to find a good feeling.  
Every time I went out in the morning, I managed to improve, which is always a  
good sign. In the afternoon however my time stayed the same as the morning  
because we changed the rear shock. There are another couple of days left here  
and I hope to improve." 
TIMES (provided by Pirelli): 1. Corser  (Yamaha) 1m59.6s; 2. Haga (Yamaha) 
2m00.1s; 3. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 2m00.6s;  4. Nieto (Suzuki) 2m01.0s; 5. 
Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) 2m01.6s; 6. Kagayama  (Suzuki) 2m01.9s; 7. Sofuoglu (Honda) 
2m02.2s.



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