Continued progress for Stoner, Pedrosa and Dovizioso

Article from http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2011/Repsol+Honda+review+Sepang+day+two

The Repsol Honda garage was a contented place once again on Wednesday, as all three riders on the factory team set fast laps as well as concluding another productive day of testing at the Sepang circuit.
Casey Stoner topped the timesheet with an effort of 2’00.171, and the Australian reviewed the workload accomplished on day two.
"We tested a lot of different things including the 2011 fork and new shocks and we found quite a lot of chattering with them. We spent 90% of the day on one bike trying different configurations, changing the geometry to get the new fork working with the bike but didn't find anything that felt really good, but these things are necessary to do before the start of the season,” said Stoner, who continued to explain the effects of the new Öhlins forks on braking stability.
“We're slowly starting to lean more towards the standard frame but tomorrow will give us more confirmation on this. We found the new forks to be quite amazing in the braking points, in hard breaking I didn't need to use half as much pressure and I was able to stop for the corner much quicker, but found a lot more chattering in the last part of the corner. We managed to reduce this but we just seemed to lack the extra feeling that the alternative forks were giving.”
Pedrosa was just 0.058s behind in second position and he said: "Today we were testing mainly suspension parts, a new front fork in the morning that gives us a more positive feeling on braking, and a rear shock in the afternoon that improves the feeling with the rear tyre, so I'm satisfied with the work we've done together with Öhlins. We also tried different settings for the chassis and I'd like to be in the position tomorrow to decide which one we will use for this season.”
“Since coming into MotoGP, this test together with the 2006 winter test on the 990cc bike is the best pre-season. In 2006 I remember we had a very good last test that allowed us to face the first race well prepared and with a lot of confidence, and now it feels very similar. The bike is responding in the areas we need, although the first race is where you see clearly where you win and where you lose. I think Yamaha will be closer than they are now, so we have to keep an eye on them.”
Dovizioso, third at 0.360s off Stoner, commented: “I'm repeating myself, but I'm extremely happy. It was a surprise to do 2'00.9 in the first test and we've been able to do 2'00.5 today, which is great. Normally I'm not so fast in testing, so to be competitive like this is very good. Today, the track conditions were better, as usual in the second day of testing, but another good point is that we have improved our lap times from the first test, and our rivals haven't so much.”
“In terms of tested items, today we did nothing in particular, just tried a few things that you don't have time to test during the season, and we were consistent all day. The plan for tomorrow is to do a simulation, and it will be a good training to start the season in Qatar with more information about how the tyres and bike work in race distance,” he concluded.