Rossi 'very sorry' for bird kill!

Gauloises Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards finished the second day of testing at Phillip Island, Australia, fourth and seventh fastest respectively in the unofficial standings - with the Italian having suffered a bird strike during his 91 Friday laps.

"I hit a bird as I was exiting the pit lane today and it went into my airbox; it fell out half way round the track and when I returned to the pit garage there were just some feathers left," said the six-times world champion. "I'd just like to say that I'm very sorry for the bird!"

The #46 went on to lap consistently in the 1min 30secs and finished the day fourth fastest with a best time of 1min 30.22secs - 0.33secs faster than yesterday, equal with his qualifying time at last year's Australian Grand Prix and just 0.365secs from fastest man Sete Gibernau.

"We did a lot more tyre work today and also a long run, which I was quite happy with. I did some fast laps and it was an improvement on the race last October," he commented. "We still need to make some changes to the chassis setting, as there's something not quite perfect at the moment; tomorrow we will concentrate on this."

Three riders were faster than Rossi on track today and were able to lap under the 1min 30secs mark; Gibernau, Carlos Checa and Max Biaggi - and the 26-year-old is hoping to join them tomorrow.

"Some other riders have managed to be very fast today with laps under 1min 30secs; I didn't manage this, but maybe if we can make some small improvements tomorrow I might be able to," he declared. "We will see!"

Meanwhile, Rossi's American team-mate Colin Edwards, who finished fourth at last October's Australian Grand Prix for Telefonica Honda, completed 78 laps today with a best time of 1min 30.60secs, just a fraction of a second faster than his final qualifying time for the same race.

"We continued working on bike set-up and we've found some really good improvements and solutions to some of our problems," said the Texan. "We'll continue to check these tomorrow. I did a long run today and we also did more tyre testing; I think we've done a really good job with Michelin during these tests.

"Tomorrow we'll work to complete what we've started and hopefully we'll be able to leave on a positive note. I'm looking forward to a bit of a rest before the next test!" he admitted.

Testing concludes on Saturday...

Phillip Island test times - Friday:

1. Sete Gibernau SPA Telefonica Movistar Honda 1min 29.865secs
2. Carlos Checa SPA Ducati Marlboro 1min 29.94secs
3. Max Biaggi ITA Repsol Honda 1min 29.97secs
4. Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha Gauloises 1min 30.23secs
5. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda 1min 30.43secs
6. Loris Capirossi ITA Ducati Marlboro 1min 30.51secs
7. Colin Edwards USA Yamaha Gauloises 1min 30.57secs
8. Alex Barros BRA Camel Honda 1min 30.68secs
9. Marco Melandri ITA Telefonica Movistar Honda 1min 30.95secs
10. Troy Bayliss AUS Camel Honda 1min 30.96secs
11. Kenny Roberts USA Team Suzuki MotoGP 1min 30.98secs
12. Ruben Xaus SPA Fortuna Yamaha Tech 3 1min 31.49secs
13. John Hopkins USA Team Suzuki MotoGP 1min 31.65secs
14. Toni Elias SPA Fortuna Yamaha Tech 3 1min 32.87secs

Comparative lap times:
Australian Grand Prix - 17/10/2004:

Pole position: Sete Gibernau SPA Telefonica Movistar Honda 1min 30.122secs

Fastest laps: Ducati: Loris Capirossi ITA Ducati Marlboro 1min 31.102secsHonda: Alex Barros BRA Repsol Honda 1min 31.137secsYamaha: Valentino Rossi ITA Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha 1min 31.334secs Kawasaki: Shinya Nakano JPN Fuchs Kawasaki 1min 32.096secsSuzuki: John Hopkins USA Team Suzuki 1min 32.235secs

Circuit lap record:

2003 Valentino Rossi ITA Repsol Honda 1min 30.068secs