Zoom John Hopkins

The Kawasaki Racing Team were met with perfect conditions as they arrived at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia today, to start the first of three days of development testing ahead of the annual test ban, which comes into force on 1st December.

This is an important test for Kawasaki, as all the data collected during these three days in the southern hemisphere will be fed directly in the development programme for the 2009 Ninja ZX-RR, which is due to make its track debut at Sepang in February.

To increase the amount of data collected, Kawasaki's regular MotoGP pilots were joined in Australia by test and development rider, Olivier Jacque, with the three of them clocking up more than 1000 kilometres around the Phillip Island circuit on the opening day.

"We came to Phillip Island to test because we've had some problems at this circuit in the past. So far it looks like it was a good decision, as the conditions have been perfect for testing most of the day, with only the wind causing some issues this afternoon”, explained Michael Bartholemy. “Marco has continued his familiarisation with the Ninja ZX-RR, and already he's working with his crew and making improvements. He had some issues with the front end of the bike today, but we think we have a solution for this that will improve things for tomorrow. John was not in the best of condition today; he was short on sleep as a result of jet lag and his Assen injuries were obviously causing him some pain on the bike. Hopefully, after a good night's sleep tonight, he'll be firing on all cylinders again tomorrow. Olivier was the fastest of our three riders today, which is very positive given that he's testing the chassis that may well form the basis of our 2009 Ninja ZX-RR. Hopefully he can continue to improve tomorrow with more time on the bike, as the data from this test is critical to our ongoing development programme in Japan. Overall it's been a positive first day of testing."

Following on from the Valencia test, which was curtailed by rain on the second day, Marco Melandri used the first day of testing in Australia to continue his familiarisation with Kawasaki's Ninja ZX-RR. The 26-year-old Italian completed 93 laps of the 4.445km circuit, posting a best lap time of 1'32.5s. Melandri continued to make changes to the Ninja ZX-RR, to tailor the machine to his riding style, but was hampered today by a lack of feeling from the front end of the bike.