Successful recovery in Portimao for Melandri

Article from http://www.worldsbk.com/en/news/latest-news/5006-successful-recovery-in-portimao-for-melandri.html

Yamaha World Superbike Team rider Marco Melandri wrapped up his first World Superbike test of the 2011 season on Friday.

Having only had shoulder surgery before Christmas with a recommended recovery time of two months, Melandri came to Portimao with the sole focus of learning the track and gaining valuable seat time on his new R1. Despite this the Italian rider impressed, without pushing he was able to challenge for some of the fastest times in the wet sessions (2nd in Wednesday's wet session and 3rd in Thursday's wet session), whilst keeping something in reserve for when fully fit in Australia next month.

Melandri said: "I'm very happy with the results of this test. It was very important for me so soon after my shoulder operation to be careful and take it easy on the bike. I came here to focus on seeing the track and learning it along with some more time on the bike. We haven't pushed very hard at all but I'm feeling very comfortable on it despite the discomfort of the shoulder. We seemed to find a very good wet set up very easily and I was surprised how easy it was to go fast. I'm looking forward now to getting to Australia, I've been training really hard to get back to full fitness so I am looking forward to being fully fit and really going for it and pushing."