CARL Fogarty was just three hundredths of a second away from breaking the Valencia track record in the final test session before the World Superbike season.

The reigning world champ set a time of 1min 36.162secs at the two-year-old Ricardo Tormo di Cheste track.

The official record of 1min 36.132secs was set by Regis Laconi in qualifying for the 500cc Grand Prix last September.

Fogarty recorded his fastest lap in the afternoon session on the first of three days and was closely followed by a new rider to the series, Spaniard Juan Borja.

Kawasaki's Akira Yanagawa set the third quickest time as 26 riders got to grips with the 2.48-mile circuit which will host round eight of the championship on June 25.

Castrol Honda's Colin Edwards was fourth fastest and said: "It was about me learning the track. A lot of the other riders have already been here. It's my first visit and I'm just getting dialled in slowly."

Former champion Troy Corser - now riding Aprilia after a winter move from Ducati, was seventh fastest, ahead of Fogarty's new team-mate Ben Bostrom. Simon Crafar, testing the second of the Castrol Honda VTRs in place of Aaron Slight, recorded the 18th fastest time of the day.

Fogarty said: "Now that we have managed to resolve all the engine mapping problems after the Misano tests, I can concentrate on set-up details."

The season starts in South Africa on April 2.

Tuesday test times: 1 Carl Fogarty, GB (Ducati) 1m 36.162s, 2 Juan Borja, Spain (Ducati) 1m 36.661s, 3 Akira Yanagawa, Japan (Kawasaki) 1m 37.202s, 4 Colin Edwards, USA (Castrol Honda) 1m 37.215s, 5 Gregorio Lavilla, Spain (Kawasaki) 1m 37.269s, 6 Pier-Francesco Chili, Italy (Suzuki) 1m 37.343s, 7 Troy Corser, Australia (Aprilia) 1m 37.359s, 8 Ben Bostrom, USA (Ducati) 1m 37.982s, 9 Mauro Sanchini, Italy (Ducati) 1m 37.993s, 10 Noriyuki Haga, Japan (Yamaha) 1m 38.166s.

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