Former Ten Kate Honda rider
Karl Muggeridge was 'fairly happy' after making his debut for the Bertocchi Honda team on an ex-Alex Barros Fireblade.
Sergio Bertocchi's team have switched to Honda machinery for the 2007 WSBK championship, after many years with Kawasaki, and will field an all-Australian line-up of former World Supersport champion Muggeridge and young countryman Josh Brookes, who joined Bertocchi midway through 2006.
At the two-day Valencia test, which concluded on Wednesday, Muggeridge set a best time of 1min 37secs on the 2006 Klaffi bike - fitted with new Ohlins suspension - leaving him a few tenths slower than his Ten Kate replacement
Roberto Rolfo had been at the recent Pirelli test. At that outing, attended by the factory WSBK teams, Max Biaggi had set the test pace with a best time of 1min 33.9secs - but it is still very early days for the Muggeridge-Bertocchi partnership.
"I'm fairly happy with the way things are going even though clutch problems made us miss almost an entire day," said Karl. "The organisation is new but everybody's eager to get down to work and that's the most important thing."
Brookes, who first rode the Fireblade immediately after the Magny-Cours season finale, lapped around one second slower than his experienced team-mate.
"For a shakedown test it went pretty well," declared Josh. "Heaps of positives came out of it. It really wasn't about lap times at this stage, although the times were steady, it's about getting the new team structure to work, with Gary House, my chief mechanic from Honda Australia days working with the team to get things done the way he wants them to. Having Gary here is essential for a successful 2007.
"The bike is really just a test bed, with the new 2007 CBR1000RR coming in the new year. Things will start to get serious then. My new team-mate Muggas has been fantastic. We've shared information about settings, and he's just a great guy. I am wrapped to have him in the team, he's got a ton of experience, and there's no 'BS' about him."
