The first of two mid-season Pirelli tests took place around the magnificent topography of Brno between Monday 12 and Wednesday 14th June, with records broken before the third day had even started.
After his devastating recent form it came as no surprise that Troy Bayliss was the man out in front once more, eventually taking his Ducati Xerox machine to a best ever Superbike lap of 2'00.0s on the latest qualifying tyres, and 2'00.8s on race spec Pirelli rubber.
For comparison, during the 2005 SBK race weekend the qualifying lap record was 2'02.694 (set by current Brno test absentee Troy Corser on a Suzuki) and the best race time 2'03.747 (from the Yamaha of Noriyuki Haga). Haga and Corser would go on to take one race win apiece at Brno in 2005.

BAYLISS BUOYED BY HIS QUICK PACE Bayliss acknowledged that despite an early crash, he could draw little but positives from his latest outing on the 999F06 twin. "It's been a good three days", he stated. "I did some good times this morning both on qualifying and race tyres and my long-run was 39 seconds quicker than last year's time, so I'm feeling pretty good about things. I'm in good spirits and looking forward to racing at Misano next week."
Bayliss' race simulation was made on an exceptionally hot track surface, with maximum ground temperatures reaching 49°C.

WALKER SECOND QUICKEST ON QUALIFIERS Chris Walker (PSG-1 Corse Kawasaki) continued his development work on the 2006 ZX-10R with a 2'01.0 best lap on qualifying rubber, while Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) scored third best time of all, with a 2'01.2. His team-mate, James Toseland set his best time on race tyres, as other riders hampered his qualifying lap in his lone outing on non-race tyres. Both Winston Ten Kate riders spent most of their time working with a new electronics package, which includes traction control, and are expected to use it in the forthcoming Misano race.



SUPERSPORT In the Supersport Championship tests Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) scored the best time on race tyres (the only kind of tyres available in this class) with a 2'06.0, just ahead of his own team-mate Broc Parkes (2'06.1). Runaway leader Sebastien Charpentier fell on day one and broke his collarbone and hip, and is undergoing surgery to insert plates in the broken bones. The fracture in his pelvis is on the rear side, and has been deemed by his Winston Ten Kate Honda team as being not as serious as it could have been. In the championship race, Charpentier currently leads Curtain by 40 points