Colin Edwards and Ben Spies evaluated a progressive opening practice at Brno which saw them set the sixth and ninth fastest lap times.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 pair Colin Edwards and Ben Spies both had plenty of reason to be positive after the opening practice session of the Cardion ab Grand Prix Czech Republic, having established solid bases from which to progress.
Edwards was immediately onto a fast pace on his M1 as he tried an experimental front-end setting which yielded improved turning performance, and his work was rewarded with the sixth fastest lap – a 1’58.497 – which was evidence of his step forward.
“I felt pretty good immediately and I feel like we should be in for a strong weekend if we can build on the momentum from today,” said the 36 year-old, who went on to explain the technical details of the modifications to his machine. “We've got a platform to build on and that's mainly down to a new front-end setting we tried.”
“Thanks to my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 because they came up with this experimental setting and it worked really well. We put more weight on the front and now the bike holds the turn a lot better and I'm not running wide. We've put more force through the front tyre to help it turn and I'm sure we can make another step tomorrow if we get dry conditions. I've never had a top six here before, so after this start I'm hoping to put that right on Sunday.”
Spies was hampered somewhat by the rain that began to fall 15 minutes from the end of the session, weather conditions that coincided with his attempts to lower his lap time on a new front-end setting.
The 26 year-old still set the ninth fastest lap of the session with a 1’58.970 however, and is now confident of improving further on Saturday on a track he won at last year in WSBK.
“We started with the setting from Laguna Seca and I just couldn't quite reach the pace of where I needed to be, but I know there is definitely room for improvement,” said Spies. “I couldn’t get the first bike working as I needed it to and we had quite a different front-end setting on the second bike.”
“Just as I started my out lap on the second bike though I could see sprinkles of rain. I was trying to get round as quick as I could to at least get one fast lap in to try and compare the different front set-ups and I'm pretty sure we've found something with that direction. The second bike should make it easier for me to roll through the middle of the corner.”
Spies added: “I'm pretty frustrated because that bit of rain stopped me from getting in a few laps to properly try it out and get some data. I wasn't fussed about bettering my time, I just wanted to feel the difference. But I'm 90% sure that the second bike set-up is the way we need to go.”
Source: http://www.motogp.com/en/news/
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