World Superbikes Valencia test: Ruben Xaus blitzes lap record

Spaniard Ruben Xaus made the most of his one and only day of testing by breaking the circuit best lap record held by Ducati’s Troy Bayliss to finish his test over one second faster than his closest rival.

Xaus and his Sterilgarda team turned up in a van instead of their race truck, broke the lap record and then disappeared.

The reason for the early exit is due to the shortage of parts for the Ducati 1098 meaning that although they had chassis parts to test, the engines would have gone over their allotted mileage.

Ruben Xaus was the only rider to use a Pirelli qualifier to set his best lap but his times on race tyres were equally impressive.

Alstare Suzuki man Max Neukirchner posted his best lap in the morning session and was unable to improve during the afternoon as the track temperature increased.

Yukio Kagayama made a welcome return after suffering a badly broken collarbone at Qatar four weeks ago.

The Japanese rider set the third fastest time with a lap almost identical to his team-mate, Neukirchner.

Carlos Checa and Ryuichi Kiyonari spent the day working through different swing arm and linkage options and claimed fourth and fifth place respectively.

The final day of the test begins on Friday where times are expected to tumble when the top men get to lap on qualifying tyres.

World Superbike Valencia test day one results:

1 Ruben XAUS ESP Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati 1098 RS 08 1’34.265
2 Max NEUKIRCHNER GER Team Alstare Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’35.313
3 Yukio KAGAYAMA JPN Team Suzuki Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’35.368
4 Carlos CHECA ESP Hannspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR1000RR 1’35.395
5 Ryuichi KIYONARI JPN Hannspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR1000RR 1’35.797
6 Regis LACONI FRA Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’35.910
7 Fonsi NIETO ESP Team Suzuki Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’35.993
8 Lorenzo LANZI ITA R.G. Team Ducati 1098 RS 08 1’36.018
9 Makoto TAMADA JPN Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’36.047
10 Roberto ROLFO ITA Hannspree Honda Althea Honda CBR1000RR 1’36.182
11 Karl MUGGERIDGE AUS D.F. Racing Honda CBR1000RR 1’36.211
12 Shinichi NAKATOMI JPN YZF Yamaha Yamaha YZF-R1 1’36.600
13 Ayrton BADOVINI ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’36.
14 54 Kenan SOFUOGLU TUR Hannspree Ten Kate Honda Jr.Honda CBR1000RR 1’37.123
15 Russel HOLLAND AUS D.F. Racing Honda CBR1000RR 1’38.534
16 Loic NAPOLEONE FRA Grillini PBR Team Yamaha YZF-R1 1’38.765