Phillip Island is gearing up for a whole sequence of tests to be run by the World Superbike teams, before the season finally kicks off there in ten days time. The Aprilia riders have already been here for a day - drawing complaints from the other team managers that Aprilia are testing excessively, pushing up the costs of testing for the other teams, - and it is Aprilia's Shinya Nakano who tops the timesheets, clearly into the riding groove already. Nakano leads Regis Laconi, back on a Ducati once again, and looking very fast on it, and his Aprilia team mate Max Biaggi. Biaggi finished the day on a bit of a low note, having suffered a relatively low-speed fall towards the end of the day.
The Supersport riders are also on track, with local boy Ant West looking happier on a Honda Supersport machine than on the Kawasaki MotoGP bike. The Stiggy Motorsports rider leads his team mate Gianluca Vizziello, ahead of the Althea Honda pairing of Mark Aitchison and Matthieu Lagrive.
The current contingent of riders finish up on Wednesday, and will be replaced this weekend by the bulk of the factory teams, ready for the season opener on March 1st.
World Superbike
| Pos. | Rider | Bike | Time |
| 1 | Shinya Nakano | Aprilia | 1'33.1 |
| 2 | Regis Laconi | Ducati | 1'33.1 |
| 3 | Max Biaggi | Aprilia | 1'33.7 |
| 4 | Leon Haslam | Honda | 1'34.1 |
| 5 | Makoto Tamada | Kawasaki | 1'34.9 |
| 6 | Broc Parkes | Kawasaki | 1'35.1 |
World Supersport
| Pos. | Rider | Bike | Time |
| 1 | Anthony West | Honda | 1'36.2 |
| 2 | Gianluca Vizziello | Honda | 1'36.7 |
| 3 | Mark Aitchison | Honda | 1'36.7 |
| 4 | Matthieu Lagrive | Honda | 1'36.9 |
Comments
Westy on the right bike.
After not being a West fan for years (I thought he whinged a bit too much in his 250 days) I followed his 3 rounds in WSS in 2007 and was blown away by the sheer talent he has.
To go from 18th to 3rd at Monza on your first visit.... unbelievable. And then win the next two rounds! I recall him looking around at a wet Silverstone for where everyone had gone to. He won by 33 seconds! In World Supersport!
So roll on WSS and roll on Westy.