The Castrol Honda team took to the track for two days of testing at Miller Motorsports Park to prepare for the fifth round of the World Superbike series. Jonathan Rea and Ruben Xaus got the chance to test a few new parts on the CBR1000RR at MMP before the rest of the World Superbike grid heads to the Utah track this weekend.
Rea and Xaus tested out a new swingarm, as well as suspension components around the three mile circuit. The Castrol Honda team didn’t get the best weather during their testing session, but they were still able to get in a few laps on a dry track.
“We nominated Miller as our test track this year because last season we really struggled with bike set-up,” Rea said. “I really enjoy riding here in America but the bumpy nature of the circuit makes it very difficult to find the optimum settings for the bike.
Rea, who is currently in fourth place in the series and has 1 win to his name, did 110 laps during the testing session.
“The weather wasn’t on our side, so the track conditions were pretty dirty out there,” Rea continued. “I found a better feeling for corner entry with a new swing-arm and this really helped the feeling when the tire life starts to drop. I also had some new suspension items to test and, while we found some positives, it will take more time to get it dialled in properly. We are in much better shape now to start the weekend and as always we will do our best.”
Ruben Xaus also got in a good amount of laps. Xaus did 112 laps on the CBR1000RR, and was satisfied with the improvements made during the session.
“We brought a lot of new parts to this test which included a complete new swing-arm and different front forks,” Xaus said. “In the few dry hours we had over the two days we set them up as best we could and everything was quite positive. However we really needed more time to test on longer runs to get a precise set-up and fast lap time.
“It's really a pity the weather was what it was, however we can take the progress made from this test into the race weekend without any hesitations, as the new parts were simply a lot better. Despite the weather and restricted track time, I'm still positive about the overall results of the test and we look forward to Saturday’s first practice session.
Here’s a video of the test from Castrol Honda.
