Using race tyres Althea Racing's Carlos Checa (above) was once again the fastest rider on track at the private test for several riders in the world superbike and world supersport classes at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit today.

Defending world champion, Checa set a 1’31.8 lap on today’s final day aboard his Ducati, with both morning and afternoon sessions filled with interruptions and red flags. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) was fastest on day one, then went second fastest on day two and on a race tyre setting he was only a tenth of a second off reigning champion, Carlos Checa, on the final day.

Carlos Checa:
“I am feeling a bit better today and there were many stop and go situations and crashes, so this afternoon we lost a little bit and when it got really hot we were struggling a little to get the lap time. Today we did some changes that we will see for the race weekend. We cannot compare today with yesterday in terms of track conditions. We are satisfied because we had a plan to make some changes and we made them. Of course you expect to improve every time but we are already quite close to our limit. We did not bring qualifying tyres. There were so many interruptions today and we even had a wallaby on the track - maybe the animals want to be protagonists. We do not have to go to the wildlife park, the wildlife park came here!”

Tom Sykes in action at Phillip Island

Tom Sykes: 
“Day three went pretty well. We tried out a lot of things again, in the hot conditions this time. We had good consistency and found a bit of a better bike balance for me. Through all our tests we have explored a lot of areas, gathered a lot of information, but finally it looks like our base setting from winter testing is pretty good. This is the third or fourth race circuit, in a wide range of temperatures, that it has worked at. We did some fine-tuning and managed our lap times quite well. It is difficult to see exactly where our competitors are at in terms of set-up but ultimately we have had a successful test and have set ourselves up nicely for the official tests next week."

Josh Brookes replaces John Hopkins on the Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Josh Brookes (above) joined Leon Camier and the Crescent Fixi Suzuki team for this week's WSB test, replacing John Hopkins who crashed and broke his hand on Monday. Despite a crash Brookes set a time of 1'34.5.

Josh Brookes:
"I persevered with John’s setting for most of the day with what worked for him, so it was interesting to see what he had in the bike and see how he achieved some of the times and speeds that he did when we raced together last year. His settings just did not suit me so for the final run, with ten minutes to go, we put something in the front that was more familiar to me. We still need to do some work on the bike as a whole just to suit my riding style.”

Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki) used the fact that this is an unofficial test to run two bikes, each with its own distinct set-up philosophy, in his efforts to find a final base setting to start the season with. He improved his best lap time today and jumped into the top five in the final combined time sheets.

Joan Lascorz:
"We have two days to make a decision in which direction to go. I have two basic bike set-ups, both work well, but they are very different. One gives us a longer bike and one a shorter bike, so I need to make the decision which way to go. We only get to use the real race tyres at the official tests, not this test, to help me make the final decision. We have two more days on track next week and they will be very important.”

Leon Haslam used a qualifying rear to do a 1’32.2, but his team-mate in the BMW Motorrad Motorsport team Marco Melandri found no improvements with qualifying tyres, and leaves the test with some work to do to regain front end feel and throttle connection. He fell early in the day, braking to avoid another rider entering the fast turn one.

Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing) went fourth fastest in the combined times over all three days of the test, with two riders, Jakub Smrz (Effenbert Liberty Racing Ducati) and Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team) pushing hard and setting the same lap time of 1’32.4.

Eugene Laverty suffered a painful crash in the final afternoon session while on a race run, running off track at turn one. Initial examinations suggested a potential fracture to the left hand, behind the area of the third finger. He also slapped his right hand hard, and banged his head on the track, and after visiting hospital his injury was diagnosed as a fracture of the third metacarpal of the left hand. He is now heading back to Europe to have his hand looked at by his preferred specialist, but his team expect him to be back for race weekend. Track action was delayed for some time because one of the ambulances was tied up with Laverty’s incident.

Australia’s Dave Johnson, (Adelaide), above secures wildcard for world superbike round 1, on a privateer BMW with a best time 1’34.1:

Dave Johnson:
“I cannot believe we did this well with this stock engine. We will be ready for race weekend because we will sort the race engine out and it will be all good. We just brought customer tyres here, but we have been setting our bike up with soft race tyres and we are getting good longevity out of it. I think we will be OK for race weekend. We will not be testing at the official tests next week, so our next track time will be the first day of qualifying.”

There were several red flags due to rider crashes, and animals on the circuit, including a wallaby near the end of the test.

The official and final pre season test will be held next Monday and Tuesday, 20 and 21 February with the opening round of the 2012 Superbike World Championship at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit the following Friday to Sunday (February 24-26). For further information and tickets: www.worldsbk.com.au

Combined best times from three day private test:
Carlos Checa : 1’31.8
Tom Sykes: 1’31.9
Leon Haslam: 1’32.2 Q
Max Biaggi: 1’32.3
Joan Lascorz: 1’32.4
Jakub Smrz: 1’32.4
Eugene Laverty: 1’32.5 (Tuesday)
Michel Fabrizio: 1’32.6 Q
Maxime Berger: 1’32.9
Leon Camier: 1’33.1
Marco Melandri: 1’33.0 (Tuesday)
David Giugliano: 1’33.5
Sylvain Guintoli: 1’33.5
Ayrton Badovini: 33.6 (Tuesday)
David Johnson: 1’34.1 – stock engine after race engine developed problem.
Joshua Brookes 1'34.5
Lorenzo Zanetti: 1’34.7
David Salom: 1’34.9 - but only a few laps Monday and Wednesday due to injured right wrist.
John Hopkins: Absent through injury