The Yamaha World Superbike team will have some new blood during the 2011 season. Yamaha signed Eugene Laverty and Marco Melandri to the World Superbike team, and both riders enjoyed a great three days of testing at Phillip Island.
Laverty and Melandri spent their testing days trying out new parts on both the 2010 and 2011 YSF-R1 race bikes. By the end of the weekend, it looked like both riders had found a setup that they were happy about.
"I'm pretty pleased with the test. It's a nice way to go into the winter break. In the three days we got a lot of laps done, the second day especially was a big breakthrough," Laverty said. "So far we've had two one day tests so the second day here was where we really made the bike mine."
Marco Melandri was also thankful to have three consecutive days of testing. Melandri improved throughout the weekend, slowly making modifications to the bike. Melandri also got a chance to ride in the wet on day three, which should give him valuable information for the upcoming season.
"It was quite challenging at first, working on the 2011 machine, but during the second day we started to find a way and then the third day we found a big improvement and a good pace for the race... The feeling is very good. I'm very happy. The track is a difficult track so we have done well and I think we can be very strong for the first race here next year."
