On the second day of testing at Calafat both the HM Plant Honda and Swan Yamaha teams began to up their pace after getting dialled in at the Spanish circuit yesterday. The reigning champions led the way with both Ryuichi Kiyonari and Shane 'Shakey' Byrne making progress with the new Fireblades as Swan Yamaha made some impressive progress on only their second day on track to close in on their rivals.

The HM Plant Honda team started later on track this morning due to the cold track conditions, before turning up the heat on their development as reigning champion Ryuichi Kiyonari focused on testing a new engine, whilst Shakey completed several longer stints on track in order to continue chipping away and learning the bike.

Kiyo said:

"It has been a better day today, as the second day you always feel better on the bike. Today we tested a new engine for this year and I was very happy with the result and there have been very good improvements; there is still some work to be done but I think we will have more speed. I was surprised just how good the bike felt with the change and tomorrow we will do some more work on the chassis set-up so then we will be ready for Cartagena and the next test."

Shakey added:

"I am definitely happy after today. We have ironed out a few little problems that we had yesterday and today has been really exciting as I feel more at home and we have stepped up. Like I said yesterday I am keen not to compare the bike to what I have previously ridden and I did some longer stints and that was good for me. We have already improved the front end of the bike and worked on the electronics so we are really just chipping away and getting into a groove now. I know that by tomorrow the bike will feel like mine and then we can head to Cartagena and see what benchmark the other boys set and see how the bike reacts at a different circuit. I have been really happy so far with the team and the HM Plant Honda so I am looking forward to some more hard work tomorrow and then move on to the next test."

The third HM Plant Honda was also back on track today as Jason O'Halloran continued to adjust to the team's Superstock specification Fireblade and he improved his times from yesterday by over a second as he got to grips with the new track, team and bike. O'Halloran said: "We headed in a similar direction to what we were working on yesterday, making the rear softer and trying to get more side grip but it is feeling pretty good now already and we have completed lots of laps today and posted consistent times, so everything is going well for us."



For Swan Yamaha the team have already got off to a promising start as Tommy Hill moved into similar lap times to his Honda rivals and is hoping for more tomorrow. Michael Laverty was equally impressed by the progress the team has already made and admitted he could have improved his pace if he had run with a new set of tyres towards the end of the day.

Hill said:

"Today was another massive step forward for the team. I moved into the 23s' and for a new bike, a new track and a new team we are all very happy and working closely together. We have had several rider and team briefings and that means we are all progressing together, so we feel like we are doing a good job. We are all competitive and obviously want to keep improving but we need to keep remembering to pinch ourselves and remember that it is still early days."

Laverty added:

"It was another good day today and we continued to make some really encouraging progress with the Swan Yamaha. We turned on the traction control for the first time today and made some chassis changes before completing a race run and we were able to run the lap times consistently so we are all feeling really positive. We have taken some massive steps forward today and now look forward to more of the same tomorrow. I feel we are ahead of where I expected us to be so now we just need to continue finding some more speed in the morning and then we will be ready to head to Cartagena."

Unofficial overall test times from Calafat:

Shane Byrne (HM Plant Honda) 1m:23s
Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda) 1m:23s
Tommy Hill (Swan Yamaha) 1m:23s
Michael Laverty (Swan Yamaha) 1m:24.2s