Marco Melandri hasn't had much time to recover from his shoulder surgery, but the Yamaha rider was happy about the work done at Portimao, and he is confident that his shoulder will be strong by the time the World Superbike kicks off in Australia.
The first official testing session of the World Superbike was hindered by two days of rain, which was probably a bit of relief for Melandri and the Yamaha World Superbike team. Melandri's focus at Portimao was to learn the track and to put some seat time in on board his new R1. Melandri didn't want to push his shoulder too hard, but was still able to put in some competitive laps on the wet track during the final two days of testing.
"I'm very happy with the results of this test. It was very important for me so soon after my shoulder operation to be careful and take it easy on the bike. I came here to focus on seeing the track and learning it along with some more time on the bike," Melandri said. "We haven't pushed very hard at all but I'm feeling very comfortable on it despite the discomfort of the shoulder. We seemed to find a very good wet set up very easily and I was surprised how easy it was to go fast. I'm looking forward now to getting to Australia, I've been training really hard to get back to full fitness so I am looking forward to being fully fit and really going for it and pushing."
Melandri had surgery on his shoulder just before Christmas, and was told that he'd have about two months before he was back at 100%. Melandri seems like he is well on his way to being fully fit for the start of the World Superbike season at Phillip Island on February 27th.
