JD Racing’s Daniel Falzon has walked away from Victoria’s Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit with two successful days’ worth of testing ahead of the official Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) test day which will take place at the end of this month at the ‘Island’.
As yesterday and today were ride days – Phillip Island Ride Days, it was quite difficult for the two times Australian Supersport champion to get a clear lap to put down on both days.
On top of that the first day was quite misty for the better part of the morning and early afternoon, so the 22-year-old didn’t get a whole lot of riding in and subsequently was SUBSEQUENTLY not able to test as many Dunlop tyres as he would have hoped for.
Falzon told AMCN; “Yesterday was a bit of a shame that we were not able to get in as many laps as we would have liked to. However that’s part and parcel in taking part of a ride day.”
Today, Falzon managed to get good sectors in, the last sector being his best. More importantly however, he was able to determine which where the best tyres to use at the opening round of the ASBK at the end of February, which will be ran in conjunction with the opening round of the Yamaha Finance round of the 2017 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship.
Falzon, who won the Brembo privateer championship in last year’s ASBK series explained to AMCN that he and the team mainly came to the 4.445km seaside circuit to run in a brand new 2016 Yamaha YZF-R1 that they had under wraps for the 2017 season.
“We wanted to get a base setup for the ASBK test, and we have managed to do that,” said Falzon.
“When we come back here in a few weeks’ time we will start modifying the suspension and fine tune the electronics.
“Overall however, I’m happy where I am at the moment. I feel comfortable on the bike and that was proven today and yesterday there were no moments or crashes. So I’m happy.”
In total Falzon completed close to 100-laps throughout the two days.
The official ASBK test at Phillip Island will be held on the 30th of January.
Australian Motorcycle News, will have a full ASBK preview of the season ahead, which will be in our magazine that goes on sale on the 19th of January.
Words and Photos: Russell Colvin
