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Stiggy Racing Honda>> Fast Monza track proves hard work for Stiggy squad

May 08 2009

World Superbike Championship
Stiggy Racing Honda

Round 05 Monza
Friday, 8th May
FP1

The fast track of Monza is re-known for its high speed battles and slip-streaming action, but proved hard work for the Stiggy Racing Honda squad in the opening Free Practice today.

The team keep continuing their search for corner speed, as accelerating out of the fast corners is hugely important in order to make the connection with the front runners. The fast track demands corner exit speed, but both Stiggy Racing Honda bikes had a tough session to deliver just that.

Anthony West - desperate to make his way to the top of the sheets - struggled to match the pace of the competition on the short straights, and lost valuable seconds exiting the fast corners. West returned to the box for an outing on his second bike with an altogether different setup, and pushed hard throughout the session for the much desired improvement.  

West found himself languishing at the back of the field in a disappointing 21st position, and set his best time today at 1'53.753s - 3 seconds off the pace ran by front man Crutchlow - who posted the fastest time of 1'50.594s.

Team mate Gianluca Vizziello finished his first session in 15th position, with a best time of 1'52.383s.

Gianluca Vizziello, WSS:
" I had some difficulties with the set up of my bike today, and found it hard to find good form. I struggle to open the throttle in the corners as quickly as I would like to and find it hard to run the pace of the competition. I am confident we can solve the issues and improve our lap times in tomorrow's sessions ".

Anthony West, WSS:
" I had a difficult session today. We tested totally different settings on both bikes today, but found it hard to find a good feeling on any of them. We are missing the balance in the bike, that is definitely something we will have to focus on. We tested both tyres that we have for the rear, but found it hard to lower the lap times. My crew will be analysing the data tonight and see where we can make the improvements for tomorrow".

Johan Stigefelt, Teammanager:
" We knew we would be struggling on this fast track before we came here. Both riders have worked hard throughout the session, but we lack the acceleration to run the pace of our competitors at the moment, and are finding ourselves in a disappointing position. We will have to work hard on finding the improvements needed to bring both riders in a competitive position for the race on Sunday ".

Stiggy Honda is sponsored by Hotbodies Racing and uses our windscreens on all of their bikes. Hotbodies Racing specializes in manufacturing high-performance parts for high-performance sportbikes, and is the North American distribution of KR Tuned performance parts. Hotbodies Racing is the market leader in Undertails, Huggers, Windscreens, Flush-Mount Signals, Megaphone Exhausts and full-race Bodywork. Hotbodies Racing supports the sport with sponsorship around the world and encourages dealer and distributor inquiries. For more information visit: www.HOTBODIESRACING.com.