On Saturday, April 16th, a training session was held at the Valencia Circuit. Since it only consisted of a one-day test, the activities were very intense, concentrating on the familiarisation of the circuit and the set-up of the bike.

The day ended with some short track sessions to achieve a good laptime. The results of the test were as follows:

Meik Minnerop 1´45´3 106 laps
Efrén Vázquez 1´45´6 68 laps
Bradley Smith 1´45´9 102 laps
Ion Garrido 1´46´4 97 laps
Joshua Sommer 1´46´7 65 laps
Danny Webb 1´47´4 71 laps

Sommer crashed but suffered no injuries. He fell because he had trouble adapting to the front tyre, made of a harder compound than the one he uses in Germany.

2. Stage previous to the first race.
The MotoGP Academy riders are spending a long stage in Barcelona. It started on April 26th and will end on May 8th, after the first CEV race in Albacete. On April 27th, and 28th, they spent two days testing on the Albacete Circuit, ending the first five-day session before the first race with the following results:

Bradley Smith 1’37’0 99 laps 1’35’9 82 laps
Ion Garrido 1’36’9 90 laps 1’36’0 52 laps
Joshua Sommer 1’38’2 73 laps 1’37’0 69 laps
Efrén Vázquez 1’37’3 45 laps 1’37’2 40 laps
Meik Minnerop 1’37’7 43 laps 1’37’2 40 laps
Danny Webb 1’39’9 70 laps 1’39’6 52 laps

The first day was used to familiarise the riders with the circuit and set-up of the bikes. On the second day, the riders combined on-track sessions on a kit-bike that was already set-up, and it came to an end with a race simulation. The results were positive with a continuous progress, especially B.Smith, who made his best lap with the standard bike.

Overall, Smith is the rider with the best progression. He achieved the third best time during practice in the second last race of the BSB, setting the fastest lap during the race (record at Mallory Park), improving his 2004 lap time by 4 seconds. Webb continues his adaptation, which is somewhat slower due to his age and physical constitution. He and his family have decided that he will not continue his participation in the BSB, since the British regulation in 125 is the same as in the FIM (minimum weight of the bike is 96kg and in Spain it is 70kg). For a 39kg rider it is impossible to dominate such a heavy bike, therefore, he cannot learn anything and is at a constant risk. His constant crashes in England affected his confidence, but it is expected that he will reach his peers’ levels.