WSBK » Kyalami test times - Thursday

Go On Jonny Rea! he is gonna be fighting for that title 2009. I think a few will be. Shame Sykes is ill I would have liked to see his times compared to Spies.

A lot of guys got into the 1.40''s today but Spies remains planted in the 1.41''s....I think the expectations of some is asking too much at present....new bike = no data from any of this years tracks, rider new to nearly all the tracks, not well travelled so that could well take its toll a few months in.....be interesting to see how he''s faring by mid season but I would see him as more of a strong contender for 2010, with 2009 acclimatizing and a few good results thrown in.....2009 season lower end of top 5 is my bet!

Joonty Rea has achance of winning it, absolutely... Ten Kate were very clever bringing him into the SS600 class first. He's proved he can ride a Superbike and now he knows the circuits. Go Jonny.

Ben Spies...next big thing...

=/

Ten Kate in general are using their brains. Pitt and Sofaglu are out here and are running at strong paces. At one stage today Biaggi and Sofaglu where battling it out and obviously the raw grunt of Biaggis bike got him ahead, but he couldn't lose Sofaglu. The reason the R1's are sounding so awesome is because they are running an engine similar to Mick Doohans "Big Bang". 4 Cylinder bike, pushing 2 cylinders at a time. The Aprilla sounds amazing, and Haga's leathers today looked like a cross between kami pilot and pyjamas. Ducati assures me he is not racing in them. Ducati and Ten Kate teams very open and friendly, pity about BMW though.

Sykes time was set at about 11H00 this morning when most guys were running 1.42 to 1.44. They got quicker at about 13h00 as the track was nice and warm and Sykes was not out then. Just some useless info for the Sykes fans to let them know that he is there and there abouts.

pp916 - read the detailed reports on another site which has a journalist at the track for the full duration of the test (MCN)- Spies was very fast, but had a fall which prevented him from riding during a period of a few minutes in the afternoon when a temperature change resulted in the other riders dropping their times. Spies was fastest / second fastest for almost the whole session.

I agree with Yamapimp - Rea has a great chance and Ten Kate were wise to put him in WSS first to learn the tracks. I am certain that he will outperform Kiyo because he will be consistently fast wheras Kiyo will be inconsistent - when he gets the perfect setup he is untouchable.

Come on Jonny Rea! i think its early to be writing people off but it is a good time to see whos making strongest progress. Jonny Rea and Spies look good out of the "rookies" so far. I think we can look forward to some Rea/Spies/Haga battles for sure! I think sykes will get there, hes a good rider and can never count shakey out on a bike he knows well already!

Enginesrule - what you say is true according to the reports plus Sykes was a second quicker than his official time - his transponder was off when he was riding fast. For some reason there were probs with the Honda transponders yesterday or maybe the teams are playing around a bit. Checa and Rea were both much quicker than their official times yesterday (2nd and 4th)

Jimmy keep both hands on the keyboard this may help you avoid pre-mature ejaculation. Spies had a crash early afternoon and didn't make it back out on the track. Towel off tomorrow is new day.