Milwaukee Aprilia have completed two days of testing at the Jerez circuit in Spain, finishing the day in 2nd place
As the team continues to make progress with the new generation of Aprilia RSV4 RF, the test focused on setup and verification of 2017 development parts ahead of further testing at Portimao later this week.
Eugene Laverty was hit by another rider on the entry into Turn 1, resulting in a crash which finished his test early. Eugene will focus on recovery for the Portimao test this weekend.
Milwaukee Aprilia now head to the Portimao circuit in Portugal for two days of testing before final preparations to ship out to Phillip Island in Australia.
Eugene Laverty: “It was unfortunate to crash today. I got hit from behind going into Turn 1, and there was nothing I could do. The bike got stuck under the barriers but the damage wasn’t too bad. It’s been a tough day and I’ve struggled with chatter going through corners, and I have to work hard to keep the bike stable. It’s useful to find issues like this early so we can work on them, and we have a few plans in place to address them.
I should be in good shape again for the test in Portimao; I’m a bit sore but we just need to keep working hard and working through the issues we’ve had at Jerez.”
Team Manager Mick Shanley: “Eugene struggled with some chatter during the course of the day and we’ve been working through that. He slowed towards the end of a run and unfortunately got struck by another rider, which caused a crash and ultimately cut his test short. He’ll recover in time for Portimao and we’ll keep working hard to develop the bike for him.
We’ll have a good debrief tonight with the guys and put our plans into action, and we should be in place to head to Portimao in a good position.”
Source: Milwaukee Aprilia