Aoki crashes, Haydon frustrated.

Proton Team KR riders Nobuatsu Aoki and James Haydon were placed 21st and 22nd on the provisional grid for Sunday's Australian GP, on a day when the 4.448km circuit on the Bass Strait south-east of Melbourne lived up to its reputation of highly variable and somewhat extreme weather.

The morning free training was mainly wet, while the afternoon timed session was dry and sunny, but with a cool breeze that was strong enough to add to the technical difficulties of the fast seaside circuit.

Aoki is an old hand at Phillip Island, having qualified on the front row of the grid two years ago, when the lightweight three-cylinder 500cc Proton was a thorn in the side of the new 990cc MotoGP four-strokes.

The Japanese rider survived a crash in the morning, slipping off at relatively low speed on the patchy damp track. He was not hurt.

"This morning's crash was my own stupid mistake... nothing serious," commented Aoki. "Today we've been working on chassis set-up and also looking for a rear race tyre. I've found two tyres that seem good, but I haven't decided which to use. I'll do that tomorrow.

"One change we made was to move the swing-arm pivot point down. This doesn't help the lap time, but it makes the bike easier to ride, which will be good over race distance," he added. "I want to carry on working in that direction to see if we can find more improvement. The wind wasn't too serious today, but in Turn One it gets under the bike and pushed you wide."

Haydon is a MotoGP novice, in his third race substituting for team regular Kurtis Roberts, who is recovering from wrist injuries. But the former 500cc GP racer and World and British Superbike competitor also knows the Australian circuit, and his growing familiarity with the Proton KR V5 is another factor in the 30-year-old's favour.

"I'm a little bit frustrated," said Haydon. "This is the first track I've known since I first rode this bike three weeks ago. This morning's conditions were awkward for everyone, and I chased my tail a little because of that, making changes a bit soon.

"In the afternoon we worked through tyres and settings, and didn't exactly find what we're looking for," he confessed. "I had a couple of moments, but nothing terminal. I'm looking for a more secure and weighted front end mid-turn, and a more forgiving rear end. The good thing is we know exactly what we want to look at for tomorrow. The session was good for getting some direction."