During the two days there was a mixture of sunshine and cloud, together with strong gusty winds on day one. But although there were a few spots of rain on the first day, the track remained dry throughout.

Troy Corser finished the test early, thanks to a collision with a bird early in the afternoon of day two. He was going about 230kph, when he hit the bird and the force of the impact on Troy's left bicep was enough to wrench his left hand off the handlebars. Somehow Troy managed to keep the control of the bike and not crash, but the doctors advised him to sit out for the rest of the day, rather than risk further in jury. Ruben continued his learning curve and was happy to end up far more comfortable with his S 1000 RR by the end of the test.

Troy said: "The tests went very well, though it's a real shame that I had to finish early because we still had lots more to try out.

"But, I guess I'm lucky that I didn't crash and hurt myself badly when I hit the bird.

"I'm really not sure how I managed to stay on the bike, because it's not easy when you've only got one hand on the bars, but somehow I was able to recover. I had seen the bird on the track and tried to avoid it by going up the inside," he explained.

"Instead of staying put, or flying away from my bike, it flew up right in front of me. Hitting a one kilo, or so, bird at over 230kph is like hitting a brick wall, so I'm lucky that my injury isn't any worse."

"We have learnt a lot in these two days and I've been able to get a better idea of how the bike works in different conditions and set-ups. What I can say though, is that my S 1000 RR feels as good as any other bike I've ever ridden round here."

Ruben Xaus said: "Generally I'm happy with the tests and how they went and it's been really good to get more kilometres under my belt. I'm getting used to the S 1000 RR and it's becoming more and more comfortable for me. We've done a lot of work here and made good progress so I'm pleased about our prospects for next weekend.

"We tried many different set-ups and have given the technicians lots to think about. Now we need to put everything together and keep on improving, but I am confident that this team will get better and better each time we go to the racetrack.

This Sunday, March 1 sees the first round of the 2009 Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island, Australia. The weekend's coverage starts with Superpole being broadcast on Eurosport 2 on Saturday at 11.30am. Live race day coverage is on British Eurosport from 1am on Sunday.