Castrol Honda Previews Miller

Castrol Honda Superbike World Championship competitors Jonathan Rea and Ruben Xaus should be in fine form as they pick up the challenge offered by the impressive Miller Motorsports Park venue, with each rider having enjoyed a positive experience while testing at the 4.907km circuit on 22 and 23 May 2011.

Weather conditions were often unfavorable during the Miller test sessions, but enough dry track time was available to prove to the team that the new rear swingarm and front forks they evaluated were genuine improvements, especially when tackling the bumpy track conditions they found at MMP.

The well-appointed American circuit is Castrol Honda's designated test track, an unusual move for some to understand as it is far from the team's regular European center of activities. After a disappointing round for Rea in the USA last year, it was decided that Miller would be the best possible test venue to help both riders keep the development momentum going before two back-to-back races come along at Misano and Aragon in mid June.

Rea ended his tests pleased with the outcome, even if he did not get all the work he wanted to do completed, simply because of the ever-changing weather conditions. Jonathan is currently fourth in the championship, 29 points behind second place and 28 points behind third place. Carlos Checa (Ducati) has a handsome championship lead, but with only four rounds of 13 completed the season still has a long way to go.

Ruben Xaus benefitted from the MMP tests by finding what he believes is a solid base to work from despite the arrival of occasional rain and a small crash on day one holding back his overall push. He also worked on improvements with his machine's braking system. Ruben is 15th in the championship currently, but only four points from 12th place.

More work will be needed from the team and each rider during practice and qualifying at MMP to make full evaluations of the available control tire options over race distance.

Uniquely, the two 21-lap MMP races will take place on a Monday again, as race weekend is designed to culminate on the US national Memorial Day holiday. Miller is also now out on its own in the calendar as the only remaining high altitude WSBK circuit, now that Kyalami in South Africa is no longer featured in the series.

The Supersport World Championship class does not feature on the MMP race programm this year, but all classes will converge on Misano for the San Marino round, on Sunday June 12.

WSBK Rider Comments:

Jonathan Rea, Castrol Honda says: "We nominated Miller as our test track this year because last season we really struggled with bike set-up. I really enjoy riding here in America, but the bumpy nature of the track makes it very difficult to find the optimum settings for the bike. My team have pulled out all the stops though, and we had a lot of new items to test. The weather wasn't on our side, so the track conditions were pretty dirty out there. I found a better feeling for corner entry with a new swing-arm and this really helped the feeling when the tyre life starts to drop. I also had some new suspension items to test and, while we found some positives, it will take more time to get it dialled in properly. We are in much better shape now to start the weekend and as always we will do our best."

Ruben Xaus, Castrol Honda says: "We know that Miller has some difficult features because it's very bumpy due to a lot of cars using this track. We experienced a lot of chatter on the first day, which we struggled to find a solution for. I tried to adapt my riding style a little to improve the lap times, but unfortunately had a small crash in the afternoon which stopped our progress. The morning of the second day we worked hard to improve the set-up and lap times in between some pretty bad weather conditions and in the end found something better. We tried a new brake system and a softer chassis which made a really positive step forward, as well as helping me find a longer life for the tyres, which is really important for this track. I'm pleased to say that I finally found a good base set-up for the race weekend so hopefully I can help to push the whole team forward."