Kawasaki test clutch, chassis and tyres.

Fuchs Kawasaki have concluded two days of testing at the Jerez with Shinya Nakano and Alex Hofmann completing more than 120 laps between them as they worked their way through a punishing schedule.

Day one saw Nakano evaluating revised clutch components for his Ninja ZX-RR, in an attempt to help his starts, before switching to tyre testing as the track dried out fully towards the end of the day.

"I had some trouble getting the bike off the line in South Africa, so we tested some new clutch components in a bid to improve both reliability and feel, and I'm happy to say that these changes have made a significant difference," declared the Japanese. "We also tested four new rear tyres from Bridgestone and collected a lot of data for their development programme."

Nakano then spent yesterday (Tuesday) working on chassis developments, the 26-year-old and his pit crew adjusting front and rear suspension settings in a bid to improve stability of the bike under braking and control of the rear under power.

"We managed to make a small improvement to both ends of the bike, which led to better stability under braking and improved control when the rear starts to slide," he revealed.

In addition to the chassis work, Nakano also tested further new tyres from Bridgestone, declaring himself impressed with the consistency of one in particular.

"I'm happy to say we identified one rear slick that worked consistently around this circuit," added Shinya, who set a best time of 1min 42.82secs. "Overall we checked many small, but important things and the end result has not been so bad for me today. We head now for the next race at Le Mans, where we'll have even more new components to test."

Team-mate Hofmann's test began by evaluating engine components, designed to increase torque from the 990cc, inline-four Ninja motor. The track conditions forced the 23-year-old German to curtail the test prematurely, but not before collecting valuable performance data on the revised parts.

"We had been hoping to test some revised engine components thoroughly, but the track was still damp in places, which meant that only a short test was possible," the German confirmed. "I also managed to do an endurance run on a new tyre that we had planned to test over the weekend, but couldn't because of the weather."

Hofmann returned on Tuesday to try the new clutch and chassis set-up used by Nakano, while joining the Japanese in assessing new Bridgestones.

"We tested the new clutch components and settings that Shinya tried yesterday, but the main focus has been tyre testing for Bridgestone and working to improve the set-up of the bike," began Alex. "The tyre testing involved a couple of endurance runs this afternoon, which are always hard work, but it was definitely worthwhile.

"We identified a tyre that we know would have worked well here in the race if only it had stayed dry on Sunday. Using this tyre I was able to improve upon my best time from Friday's practice and qualifying sessions; the only dry track time we got over the course of the weekend."

The 23-year-old also some progress on the chassis front, but was disappointed not to have made a bigger step forward.

"At the end of the day we'd made a small improvement to the balance of the bike; the front feels good now, although we still have a little work to do on the rear. While the progress made was not the big leap forward we were hoping for, it was a step forward nonetheless," he concluded.

Fuchs Kawasaki now head for France and the third round of the 2004 MotoGP World Championship, at Le Mans.