Yamaha World Superbike Team on top form in Portimao despite bad weather

January 29, 2009 by Ravi Shanker
Filed under: under the globe

The first test of 2009 for the Yamaha World Superbike Team at the Portimao circuit in Portugal was hampered by bad weather for the duration of the three days. Despite this setback both new riders performed well, fine tuning their set ups for the upcoming test and first race of the 2009 World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island in Australia.

Young American three-time AMA Superbike star Ben Spies was consistently on the pace, and finished the test second fastest with an overall time of 1′43.484, less than two tenths of a second off fastest rider Shane Bryne. Spies team mate, Young rising British star Tom Sykes, took advantage of the test to catch up on time missed due illness at the previous test in South Africa and flew up the times, ending the test an impressive fourth, less than a tenth of a second from his team mate with a time of 1′43.546.

This was only the third outing for the riders on the M1 derived 2009 Yamaha WSB YZF-R1. The advantage of the revolutionary cross plane crankshaft and uneven firing interval resulted in more grip and smoother torque delivery for Spies and Sykes, enabling both riders to achieve faster times in the dry and in the wet. With more fine-tuning to come the team are looking to be serious contenders in the 2009 WSB Championship.From the South Africa test to Portimao, the Yamaha team achieved a big power output, clearly demonstrated when the R1 claimed the maximum top speed of all teams at the Portugese test.