Two weeks out for injured Melandri

Fortuna Yamaha rider Marco Melandri fell victim to rain at the Second IRTA MotoGP test in Estoril on Wednesday. He low-sided on the circuit’s uphill chicane.

The result was a dislocated shoulder that is forcing him to rest for a couple of weeks. Melandri hopes to be fit in time for the next IRTA test in Barcelona on March 15-16.

” I am not quite sure how it happened as I was going quite slowly. I was through the left and went straight, then just fell directly on to my shoulder and head. ”

Yamaha team-mate Carlos Checa managed to get the fastest time, at 1:42.123, despite only completing seven laps. Damp conditions on the track however meant he was two seconds outside his pole position time from the 2002 GP.

Noriyuki Haga, 1:42.822, and Colin Edwards, 1:43.171, on the Aprilias followed behind Checa to get the second and third fastest times of the day.

Valentino Rossi took the fastest time for the second day running at Honda’s private test on Phillip Island. He clocked a 1:31.6 lap, 1.2 seconds under his 2002 GP qualifying time.

There was no rain at Phillip Island, but Nicky Hayden had his own problems. He got a little too close to the local bird-life when one flew under his wheels while another hit his screen, cracking it and leaving him covered in feathers. Despite this he managed a time of 1:33.5, a second faster than his time on the first day but still nearly two seconds behind Rossi.

The Pramac Honda team used the varying temperatures throughout the day to test a range of Bridgestone tyres but have still not settled on a final combination for the first race. Shinichi Itoh recorded a fastest time of 1:33.0, while Makoto Tamada hit 1:33.3

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