Honda riders Johnathan Rea and Hiroshi Aoyama have completed a three-day test at Phillip Island in Australia in preparation for the 2012 World Superbike Championship, which opens at the same circuit on 26 February.
The Honda duo took advantage of warm, dry weather at the picturesque 4.5km circuit two hours south of Melbourne to test the 2012 version of the CBR1000RR Fireblade.
The team took a host of chassis and suspension components to test down under and the continued development of it's fly-by-wire throttle system.
Rea starts his fourth season on the Fireblade and, following an injury blighted 2011 season was very satisfied with the Honda's first outing. His team-mate for this year is 30 year-old Japanese ace Hiroshi Aoyama who joins the World Superbike team after two years spent as a Honda MotoGP rider.
Australian racer Mark Aitchison will enter his second full season in the World Superbike Championship after signing a deal with the Grilini Racing Team, where he will be using BMW machinery.
Aitchison's first full season in WSBK riding for the Pedercini Kawasaki Team managed to make it into Superpole six times and finished in the top ten twice using satelite machinery.
His performances duly caught the eye of Andrea Grilini, who returns to the champion using 2012-spec BMW S1000RR machinery.
Mark Aitchison said :
"I'm really excitied for 2012 as i learnt a lot from my first full season last year, I hope it's a turning point in my career. I know it's going to be a tough start as we will be using the 2011-spec BMW two rounds but we hope to get up to speed once the new bikes arrive."
The BMW Motorrad team continued its preparation for the 2012 season after a two-day test at Valencia in Spain. The winter test ban in the FIM World Superbike Championship expired on 15th January. Factory riders Leon Haslam and Marco Melandri completed a total of 590 miles of testing on the 2012 race version of the S1000RR.
During the test, Team BMW Motorrad Motorsports focused on verifying the latest developments it had made in recent weeks. The bikes were equipped with the latest version of the engine which proved to work perfectly.
Marco Melandri : "It was good to be back on a bike after the winter. the results were very encouraging and everything is working well before we head off to Australia.
Leon Haslam : "It has been a long winter and i'm definitely happy to be back on a bike. We were lucky with the conditions as we got the most out of both days. The bike is where it should be and is moving in the right direction".
The FIM revealed the provisional entry list for the 2012 World Superbike Championship with a total of 24 riders so far. The biggest shock is that Noriyuki Haga is not on the list.
The 43-times race winner who finished eighth last year riding for the PATA Aprilia Racing Team has been keeping a low profile over the winter is rumoured to be riding a Ducati in the UK or Japan, but retirement has not been ruled out at this stage.
With less than a month to go till the start of the season, Haga still could surprise us all. Watch this space.
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