Max Neukirchner Passes Biaggi's Time at Phillip Island Tests

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The rest of the WSBK field has found their way to Phillip Island for their last testing before racing starts, and a new Max is the man to beat. This time, it was German Suzuki man Max Neukirchner who was the fastest, just dipping underneath the time set by Max Biaggi by .09 seconds. The day was an eventful one, marked by crashes, with Fabrizio, Haga, Checa, and Corser all hitting the dirt and tarmac. Ten Kate Honda’s Carlos Checa was by far the worst. After his off, Checa was taken to hospital for examination after it became apparent that the crash caused him to have memory loss. He was later released from hospital, but his participation in testing tomorrow is doubtful.

Local hero and former GP legend Garry McCoy was quickest of the Supersport riders, and 3/10ths of a second quicker than his compatriot Anthony West here last week. The BE1 Triumph rider finished ahead of the factory Yamahas of Cal Crutchlow and Fabien Foret. Ten Kate’s two champions – and joint favorites for the title – Andrew Pitt and Kenan Sofuoglu were a couple of tenths behind McCoy’s pace.

Testing will continue tomorrow and we’ll aggregate all the times from the weeks best laps.

World Superbike

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Time
1	Max Neukirchner	Suzuki	1’32.5
2	Michel Fabrizio	Ducati	1’32.7
3	Yukio Kagayama	Suzuki	1’32.7
4	Jonathan Rea	Honda	1’32.9
5	Noriyuki Haga	Ducati	1’33.0
6	Tom Sykes	Yamaha	1’33.2
7	Ben Spies	Yamaha	1’33.3
8	Carlos Checa	Honda	1’33.3
9	Troy Corser	BMW	1’33.8
10	Ryuichi Kiyonari	Honda	1’34.0
11	Ruben Xaus	BMW	1’34.3

Fastest lap in previous test set by Max Biaggi on an Aprilia RSV4, with a time of 1’32.59 seconds.

World Supersport

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Time
1	Garry McCoy	Triumph	1’35.6
2	Cal Crutchlow	Yamaha	1’35.7
3	Fabien Foret	Yamaha	1’35.8
4	Andrew Pitt	Honda	1’35.8
5	Kenan Sofuoglu	Honda	1’36.0
6	Gianluca Nannelli	Triumph	1’36.8
7	Doni Tata Pradita	Yamaha	1’38.3