Rain plagues Yamaha testing

Melbourne:

Phillip Island in Melbourne, Australia, is hosting three days of testing for Yamaha ahead of the forthcoming 2004 MotoGP season. Yesterday's session was interrupted by heavy winds and rain, but the team's new boy, MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi, would still manage to gain some more experience of the 2004 YZR-M1 Yamaha motorbike. Initially disappointed with the engine's performance following testing two weeks ago, the 25-year-old Italian convinced team bosses to create more horsepower. Once the inclement weather had subsided on Tuesday, Rossi had an opportunity to assess changes for himself and completed 14 laps in the afternoon. A fastest lap time of one minute, 32.10 seconds has given Rossi a quite achievable mark to better when testing continues today and tomorrow. (AP)