Michel Fabrizio keeps top spot at Kyalami WSB test

Michel Fabrizio held on to his advantage to end the second day of testing at the top of the table in Kyalami today.

The 24 year old Italian set a benchmark 1m 40.7s lap at the beginning of the day which none of his rivals could match until the end of the day when the track temperature finally dropped.

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Max Neukirchner bettered Fabrizio’s time with an impressive 1m 40.688s, but the Xerox Ducati rider promptly went back out on track to reassert him dominance with a unrivalled 1m 40.256.

Noriyuki Haga put his three crashes from yesterday behind him and worked all day to get the Xerox Ducati close to how he wanted. In the final hour the Japanese rider made a break through on the set-up with which was reflected in his lap time, finishing day two in third spot.

Rea spent the entire day working on swing arm and suspension settings but with a good base package decided to put in a new tyre and produced a strong 1m 40.842 lap which was good enough for fourth place at the finish.

Yukio Kagayama was fast in the morning but was unable to make any significant improvements on the cooler track in the afternoon and slipped sixth, followed by Aprilia man Shinya Nakano.

Ten Kate Honda rider Carlos Checa bounced back from a crash which destroyed his number one bike to set the seventh fastest time on literally the final lap of the day.

Ben Spies was once again at the top of the timesheets all day but a front end crash on his number one bike meant he wasn’t out on track at he end of the day which saw him slip from third down to eighth in a matter of minutes.

Max Biaggi finished ninth fastest after working on chassis settings all day to readdress the balance of the RSV4 and try to reduce chatter.

Ryuichi Kiyonari was rarely in the garage after spending the day working on the set-up of his bike, but still hasn’t found the feeling he wants meaning that he has so far not pushed for a lap time.

BMW men Troy Corser and Ruben Xaus improved their times significantly today but are still over two seconds off the pace of the leaders.

Tom Sykes made a tentative return to the track despite still feeling unwell following a sickness and flu bug. Despite an acute lack of strength the Yamaha Italia rider posted an unofficial 1m 41.9s lap which would have placed him ahead of Corser and Xaus.

1. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) 1m 40.256
2. Max Neukirchner (Suzuki) 1m 40.688
3. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) 1m 40.709
4. Carlos Checa (Honda) 1m 40.725
5. Jonathan Rea (Honda) 1m 40.842
6. Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) 1m 40.959
7. Shinya Nakano (Aprilia) 1m 40.968
8. Max Biaggi (Aprilia) 1m 40.041  
9. Ben Spies (Yamaha) 1m 41.049
10. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 1m 41.412
11. Troy Corser (BMW) 1m 41.986
12. Ruben Xaus (BMW) 1m 42.438
13. Tom Sykes (Yamaha) 1m 42.992 (1m41.9s unofficial)