Aprilia RSV4 at Valencia

Yes, Max Biaggi has been getting a few laps in on his Aprilia RSV4 WSB race bike already. Biaggi was given special dispensation by his Ducati team management to ride the bike in a two-day test at Valencia. The condition laid down by the team was that he would not ride with branded leathers or speak to the media about it after.

Sadly for Max, the weather on the track – which he had entirely to himself – was damp and prevented him from doing much beyond making sure the footrests and clip-ons were all in the right position. Biaggi, who first rode for the Noale factory back in 1991, had the same chief tech in his garage as he did when he was winning GP250 world titles for them, Giovanni Sandi. Aprilia's top race bike engineer Gigi Dal'Igna was there too, along with two bikes for Biaggi.

There were no times available from the circuit, but, give the damp track and the fact that he was using customer Pirelli SC3 slicks, he wasn't going to be setting any lap records anyway. Apparently Roby Rolfo has tested the bike at the same track and posted a best of 1-34.7, three tenths under the best WSB race lap earlier this year.

And, finally, there was no word of who the second rider for Aprilia would be in 2009. Names in the frame include Rolfo and GP riderAlex Debon.