FTR MOTO:

FTR MOTO and Graeme Gowland are fully prepared for Sunday’s final round of the Spanish Championship at Valencia after two days of testing with the FTR Moto2 World Championship machine at the Almeria circuit in Spain.

FTR continued its development of the M209 prototype with Gowland and by debuting its second machine to obtain further feedback from a number of riders, many representing potential Grand Prix teams that are keen to use the FTR machine in the inaugural Moto2 World Championship in 2010.

Steve Bones, director of Buckingham-based FTR Moto said: “The test has been exceptional for the machine’s development and for Graeme Gowland to get further miles under his belt. We’re heading to Valencia better armed than Jerez, with data from this test and, overall, we’ve made good progress.”

Gowland finished fourth in the Moto2 class at Jerez last Sunday, just 3.5 seconds behind the winner and believes he can improve on that performance at Valencia on Sunday, he said: “The test was exactly what we needed. It was another circuit and we tackled the set-up issues from Jerez in detail.”

Gowland was joined on track at Almeria by a host of riders testing the M209 protoype including Jeremy McWilliams, Eugene Laverty, German rider Arne Tode, Scott Redding, Gino Rea and newly-crowned Spanish Supersport Champion Kev Coghlan.

Bones continued: “To get the track time and allow so many riders to try our machine was superb. Jeremy McWilliams gave us great feedback and they all enjoyed having the opportunity. Most took to the machine straight away and Arne Tode especially looked very impressive and at ease.

“We’ll have two machines at Valencia this weekend but we’ve taken the decision to run just Graeme and focus the development on the rider who now knows the machine the best. Also, Graeme’s great performance in Jerez last Sunday has given us something to build on.

“We also have a lot of interest from Grand Prix teams now so we’re also putting together a winter test programme with them and all of the interested teams from the Spanish Championship.”