The Rizla Suzuki rider's hopes weren't helped by the unpredictable weather, but the 2006 runner-up remains confident that he can fight his way back up the order.
"It was difficult day for everybody with those weather conditions. It's typical Phillip Island where it can be raining, dry, windy and very warm all in a short space of time," said the Australian. "It made it hard to get the bike set-up and get a good feeling, but my guys have done a great job and made things very comfortable for me. We have improved the bike with every dry bit of track-time we've had and have a clear direction of which way to go. The wind has been the most difficult thing today and it seemed to affect me a lot out there, so we will need to work on improving things to counter that tomorrow."
Team-mate
John Hopkins faired slightly better, setting the eleventh fastest time, but it was far from fun.
"Well as far as today went the conditions were pretty horrible so it was a case of going out and trying to make the best of the situation!" said John. "This morning was off and on with the wet then drying conditions and we didn't get a lot done in that session. This afternoon was similar, but we managed to get a little bit more work done. The wind was horrendous and trying to set-up the bike and find a good tyre was pretty difficult. We are nowhere near close to a good set-up and we still have a lot of work to do and we are already thinking about Saturday and seeing what the conditions will do. I think we will make a lot of changes tomorrow and work hard with
Bridgestone to make the best solution for Sunday."
"The only good thing [today] was how stunning Chris's one-off bike looked out on the track, now all we need to do is make it go another couple of seconds quicker and we'll be happy!" quipped team manager Paul Denning.
