Val Rossi, Itoh and Tora Ukawa all rode the RC211V at Phillip Island today.

Wunderkid Rossi lapped under the lap record on the big/small Honda four stroke but still does not sound too happy to be riding it.

Rossi cut a best lap of 1:32.44 but says the bike needs "a lot of improvement" meaning presumably the very ugly tire life stories circulating are probably true. Plus, if Rossi's ability to pull a half to a full second out of his butt any time he feels the need to demoralize the paddock is still available to him, one can only wonder how fast he'd have went on the two-stroke.

Rossi: "Today it was a real pleasure for me to ride the bike here with beautiful weather and all the track only for us, I did a lot of laps and I tried many tires, we found some good solution but we still need to work a lot on this bike. We took here the same motorcycles we tested in Spain and also here the bike is fast, but of course need a lot of improvement. We will see tomorrow."Rossi did the least amount of laps at the test.

Ukawa was "not far off record pace" and said according to HRC press release, "For tomorrow I hope to make a better lap time and find good solution for the setting."

Daijiro Katoh was there on an NSR500 and he lapped at 1:33.6. He said, "Today at the beginning we worked on the riding position: I changed the handle bar position and we took a new shape fuel tank to fit better my body. After I spent my time to find the right setting and I did many laps to train myself to ride a 500. I have a good feeling with the NSR and of course we have a lot of work to do."

Lap times:
Valentino Rossi RC211V 1:32.44 59 laps
Tohru Ukawa RC211V 1:33.06 82 laps
Shinichi Itoh RC211V 1:34.80 61 laps
Daijiro Katoh NSR500 1:33.6 62 laps
Jurgen van der Goorbergh NSR500 1:34.40 67 laps