By blue2bikes
January 18 2006

New Foggy Petronas signing Craig Jones got the chance to test himself as he put his machine through it’s paces at Philip Island, Australia, for the first time this week - after a disappointing first attempt at Qatar in the latter part of last, year when Craig was suffering from a viral infection.

Although rain was forecast for the first day’s testing, it did not materialise, and Craig, along with his fellow rider Steve Martin, were able to take to the seaside circuit and familiarise themselves with the circuit and machines.

© Raceline Photography

Craig, starting out on his first World Superbike series, was quick to take advantage and, becoming more confident, improve on his lap times as the session progressed.

On the second day’s session, high winds hampered the riders’ progression, as their machines were unstable at high speed. With the wind speed increasing, the afternoon session was abandoned. With 41 laps completed in the morning sessions, Craig had dropped his lap time from yesterday by a full second, finishing the second day’s testing at 1:36.75.

© Getty Images

Craig said, “I’m happy with my progress in learning the track today, and it’s a shame the winds were so strong this afternoon that it limited the amount of laps we could do. Hopefully it will die down for tomorrow, as it’s too dangerous to ride at high speed as the wind just pushes you off line. I tested some different rear shock settings and have found a direction I’m happy with, so we’ve got a good game plan for tomorrow.”

This is certainly a great start for Craig, having never seen the circuit before, and he is obviously progressing well. Although Carl Fogarty is putting no pressure on the young Brit in his first year, Craig himself will want to show he has what it takes to take him to the top.

Unofficial times are as follows:
1 Troy Corser, Alstare Suzuki, 1:32.81
2 Yukio Kagayama, Alstare Suzuki, 1:33.62
3 Steve Martin, Foggy PETRONAS Racing, 1:34.04
4 Norick Abe, Yamaha France, 1:34.88
5 Sébastien Gimbert, Yamaha France, 1:35.20
6 Shin’ichi Nakatomi, Yamaha France, 1:35.8
7 Craig Jones, Foggy PETRONAS Racing, 1:36.75

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To buy the Craig Jones photograph shown above, visit Raceline Photography