International Entertainment Group press release:

The top teams in the 2009 ASBK Championship have set a blistering pace in the first day of a two-day test at QLD Raceway.

Under typically sunny skies, most teams worked on finding the right suspension settings in an effort to cope with the track’s notorious bumps.

Team Joe Rocket Suzuki’s Phil Tainton was pleased with the overall progress of the day but says there is still work to be done. “The track is getting bumpier and that shows by how much slower everyone is from last year! Shawn Giles has made great improvements today and is quite happy with his setup already so we’ll just be fine tuning things for him today. Josh Waters is also on the pace but is lacking a bit of feel from the front end so hopefully we can try a few different things to get that sorted today as well”. Tainton also said rookie Supersport rider Troy Herfoss made great improvements at a track he really likes and should be setting the pace before too long.

Team Kawasaki we’re also in attendance at the test with Kevin Curtain trying out the new, faster, ZX-10R. “The boys have done a lot of work and somehow squeezed a few more horsepower from the engine which is really important at a place like this”, Said Team Manager Dave Cullen. “We’ll also be working on Suspension to find a way around those bumps!” Kawasaki Supersport rider Ben Attard was at least able to see the funny side of the bumpy track saying to go faster he’s “Got to set the bike up like a supercross bike so I can get the rhythm section down the back straight right!”

Team Yamaha’s Dan and Jamie Stauffer we’re also frontrunners at the test along with top privateer and 2003 Australian Superbike Champion, Craig Coxhell. With the absence of Motologic Racing at the test, ‘Cannonball’ was the fastest Honda rider at the test and will be ‘sticking it’ to the factory riders come race day.

Testing continues today ahead of Round 3 of the ASBK Championship on May 30-31st.