Updated Post: MotoGP Team Press Releases From Valencia Qualifying

Updated Post: MotoGP Team Press Releases From Valencia Qualifying

© 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Categories:

From a press release issued by Red Bull Yamaha:

RED BULL Yamaha rider Garry McCoy earned himself a place in the MotoGP history books in Valencia today with an inspired ride to score the last-ever front-row start for a two-stroke 500 machine.

The 30-year-old Australian claimed his second successive front-row start when he ended the final qualifying session of the 2002 campaign in fourth position. Only 2002 MotoGP winners Max Biaggi and Alex Barros, and reigning 250cc World Champion Daijiro Kato, were quicker than McCoy.
His YZR500 was comfortably the fastest two-stroke on show, the next best being close to 0.5s behind him, and his brilliant display showed his pre-event optimism of finishing a difficult season on a high note was well placed.

McCoy set a fastest time of 1:33.794, which knocked 0.3s off his best time when he topped the time sheets at the winter IRTA test at Valencia back in February. He was 0.7s quicker than yesterday after following world champion Valentino Rossi on his decisive lap to help him better his time. His history-making lap came on his penultimate lap of the session, and saw him jump from ninth place on the third row at a circuit where’s he enjoyed some of the finest moments of his career.

In 1999, McCoy celebrated his first 500 podium with third in Valencia, and 12 months later he returned to win the race–one of his three premier class victories. Despite yet another superb qualifying display, which saw McCoy outpace several of the more highly-fancied 990cc four-strokes, he is still predicting a tough battle in tomorrow’s 30-lap race.

American team-mate John Hopkins produced another encouraging display as he looks to end his rookie MotoGP season with another points-scoring finish. He was disappointed with only slashing 0.5s off his best time from yesterday’s session, that saw him drop down one place from the provisional grid to 17th. Hopkins was on course to go even faster on his last flying lap but was blocked by a slower rider.

GARRY McCOY,­ 4th, 1:33.794

“I wasn’t thinking about it at the time, but I guess down the track, I’ll be proud to look back and know that I put a 500 on the front row of a GP for the last time they raced. When I did a 1:34 here in pre-season testing, I thought that was as good as it gets on a 500 at this track, so going quicker today makes me pretty happy. With all the tight corners here, it is easy to get lost with the braking markers. Because the four-strokes pull away so easy on the straights, on a 500 you can use them as a braking marker to close the gap again on the brakes and through all the tight corners and that’s what I did with Valentino Rossi. I don’t think Valentino liked the idea of me following him, though. I’ve never really liked my chances on a 500 in the race. It will be difficult because when you are on a 500, you have to push the bike to the limit and take risks all the time to stay with the four-strokes which just pull away so easy on the straights.”

JOHN HOPKINS,­ 17th, 1:35.044s

“We came in through T3 and through most of T4 and it’s not much of a passing zone through there anywhere, and Regis Laconi kept looking back, he knew I was there but he was just hanging around on the race line. He was just cruising and I had to make desperate pass just to get by him. I’d say that had a big impact on my time because I definitely think I’d have been up a couple more places. I certainly felt there was more to come. Some of these riders have got to learn to get out of the way when they are on their in-lap. This isn’t the first time Laconi has done it, either. We went through a lot of race tyres and I’m pretty confident we’ve got a good choice for tomorrow. It’s the race that counts though so hopefully I’ll get a good start and just go for it.”

PETER CLIFFORD, ­ DIRECTOR OF RACING

“That was another superb performance from Garry and Dunlop. This time I really think we have a chance in the race to put the disappointments of the last month behind us. It was another solid performance from John and I’m sure he can end his debut season on a high note.”


More, from a press release issued by Yamaha:

Continuing on from day one of the Valencia MotoGP (November 1-3), Max Biaggi (Marlboro Yamaha Team) and Alex Barros (Honda) continued their duel for the honour of claiming the final pole position start of the 2002 season, and it was the Roman Emperor who staked his claim on the valued piece of tarmac. With only a few minutes remaining Biaggi set a new outright circuit fastest lap with a 1:33.211 – nearly three seconds faster than Alex Crivillé’s lap record – before continuing on to set the three fastest splits on his final lap, followed by a wheelie across the line. Although the display prevented the Italian from improving on his pole time, he was still the fastest man on the 4005m circuit – 0.373 seconds faster than Barros (1:33.643), who was unable to improve on his provisional pole time.

Daijiro Kato (Honda, 1:33.584) was also unable to improve on his Friday time, but he held onto his third place start, although it was only by a mere 0.153 seconds when Red Bull Yamaha WCM star Garry McCoy (1:33.794) placed the first two-stroke on the front row. Carlos Checa (Marlboro Yamaha Team, 1:33.815) leads the second row charge, after crashing on his flying lap, but the Spaniard still managed to stay ahead of newly crowned MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi (Honda, 1:33.855).

Shinya Nakano (Gauloises Yamaha Tech 3, 1:34.211) looked set to improve on his fifth-place start, but the Japanese was robbed of the opportunity when a technical issue prematurely ended his qualifying session. He’ll now start Sunday’s race from ninth, two places ahead of his teammate Olivier Jacque (1:34.276).

Marlboro Yamaha Team
Max Biaggi 1st, 1:33.211: “I’m very happy to take the last pole of the year. We’ve worked well since we got here, I was fast and consistent this afternoon and that’s a good sign. This morning we did try some different settings but they didn’t work so well, so we went back to the set-up we ran yesterday, fine tuned it, then pushed hard. I really wanted pole today for Fiorenzo, and also for my physio Marino, to whom I will give the watch I get for pole. Things are coming much easier now after a difficult start to the season. The Yamaha is very competitive, so I aim to keep pushing until the end, to finish in style with the people I’ve worked with over the past four years.”

Carlos Checa 5th, 1:33.815: “We improved quite a lot today, but then I lost the rear while pushing very hard in my final run. I was running into turn seven, and maybe I got in a little too tight, I was braking hard, so there wasn’t too much weight on the rear, and the rear came around before I got on the gas and it highsided me. But it was a slow crash; I’m okay and the bike, too. Other than that, I feel quite good on the bike. Today we made detail improvements to suspension-balance and power delivery, but small improvements can make a big difference at this kind of track.”

Red Bull Yamaha WCM
Garry McCoy 1:33.794: “I didn’t really think about getting onto the front row while I was doing the lap, but now that I am I can be happy with the fact that I’ll most likely be the last person to ever put a Yamaha two-stroke on the front row. My race choices will depend greatly on whether I can stay with the four-strokes off the line, they can pull away so fast down the straights that it can be a massive disadvantage, even if you’re on the front row. Mind you the two-strokes are much better under brakes and through the tight sections around the back.”

John Hopkins 17th, 1:35.044: “Well, we improved today, but it would have been much better if I hadn’t got caught up with some slower riders, who were on their cool-down lap. I caught them through split four, and there’s really not that much room to make a pass around that section of the track. The bike is feeling good, and I’m pretty confident that we’ve got a tyre that’ll last the race. We solved the front-end set-up problem that we had yesterday, and now I’ve just got to get a good start and go for it.”

Gauloises Yamaha Tech 3
Shinya Nakano 9th, 1:34.177: “I’m really disappointed; 15 minutes from the end of the last session, just before the first of my qualifying runs, we hit a technical problem with the engine and I wasn’t able to continue. All weekend, up until then, I had been on target for a front row placing and I’m confident that I could have achieved my goal. On the positive side, I’m feeling good and we have a good set-up for the race. It is better that we have this problem now rather than tomorrow!”

Olivier Jacque 11th, 1:34.276: “Given the problems we ran into today I don’t think we have done too badly – especially given how tight it is ahead of us. It isn’t easy to overtake here, but provided I can get a good start, I am confident we can do better on race day.”

Antena 3 Yamaha d’Antin
Norick Abe 20th, 1:35.333: “I don’t know why, but in the middle of the session I started to have a lot of chatter problems. We changed the set-up, a little, but it was still there, especially on the rear. We tried going further with the set-up changes, but it wasn’t enough of an improvement to make any real difference in the times.”

José Luis Cardoso 21st, 1:35.337: “This morning was very good, we only changed a little bit with the suspension because we had a little problem with chatter on the front. In the end we improved the set-up and overcame the chatter problem, so I came in for some new tyres to put in a qualifying run. When I went back out, on the first lap, I lost the front and crashed. It meant I couldn’t improve any further.”


More, from a press release issued by MS Aprilia:

Laconi improves his time over yesterday in second day of qualifying at Valencia

The track was probably in a very different condition today, since yesterday’s times remained unbeaten for much of the session. Then, just towards the end the lap times started falling. Régis tested his race tyres at length, and in the morning he clocked up a 10-lap long run in preparation for tomorrow’s race. The Italian-French Cube rider rode in race configuration reaching 1:34.9 and then right at the end, with qualifying tyres, he posted 13th quickest time – a hair’s breadth from third row. So Régis will be leaving from fourth row on the grid: if he is quick off the mark, he will be able to make one of his customary climb-ups through the field.

# 55 Regis Laconi – (MS APRILIA RACING) – 13th – 1:34.480

“In the morning, we completed the duration tests on the race tyres, and in the afternoon I was making some satisfactory lap times with the same tyres. The bike’s going fine, and I’ll be using the latest evolution injection system, and the set-up we’ve being using in these first two days makes the Cube easy to handle. This afternoon, the track was more slippery than yesterday and it wasn’t easy to get fast lap times but, even so, I had constant performance from my tyres and worked to prepare for the race. The qualifying tyres weren’t so good and I wasn’t able to get the most out of them. Right at the end of the pole lap, I didn’t have perfect grip and wasn’t able to push as hard as I’d have liked. Still, I’m hopeful for tomorrow. We’ll see how things go.”


More, from a press release issued by Proton Team KR:

Second-Row Starting Position
Proton on Target for Last Two-Stroke GP

Jeremy McWilliams: Eighth, 1:34.139
Nobuatsu Aoki: 16th, 1:34.579
David Garcia: 19th, 1:35.186

Proton Team KR rider Jeremy McWilliams maintained his second-row starting position for tomorrow’s last GP of the 2002 season, cutting three tenths of a second off his previous best time round the twisty 4.005km Ricardo Tormo circuit at Valencia.

Team-mate Nobuatsu Aoki made a huge improvement of more than 1.3 seconds, after a shift in weight distribution solved the front-end grip problems that slowed him yesterday, and he will start from the fourth row of the grid. Wild card David Garcia made a similar improvement of almost a second, to move up to 19th position on the grid in his first ever premier-class GP.

Tomorrow’s Valencia GP is the final round of this year’s first MotoGP season, which pits 500cc two-strokes against the heavier but more powerful new-generation 990cc four-strokes, and a last chance for the lightweight three-cylinder Proton KR3 to prove itself. Next year, Proton Team KR’s own 990cc four-stroke, an all-new V5 design, will take over, with McWilliams and Aoki heading the England-based racing manufacturer’s challenge to the big factories.

Warm and sunny conditions continued for today’s final practice session, but there is a chance of rain tomorrow, which could tip the scales in favour of the two-strokes in general, and the nimble Proton KR3 in particular.

Jeremy McWilliams: I’m still suffering a little from food poisoning, but I should be fully recovered by tomorrow. Today’s lap time could have been better, but there was a lot of traffic and I never did get a perfectly clear run. But I’m pleased with the second row, and because we have nearly got rid of the chatter problems I was suffering this morning. The Bridgestones work better in the warmer conditions, so I hope that it if it stays dry tomorrow, it will also be warmer for the race. This circuit is punishing on tyres for us, because you have to ride so aggressively to keep up with the faster bikes. That is going to make race distance difficult – but it’s hard on everybody’s tyres, so it’s not just our problem.

Nobuatsu Aoki : We made a lot of changes today to try to make the weight balance better and to make the bike pitch less.; The main thing was dropping the engine position, and that seems to have worked well, without having to change the front geometry, which I was thinking about yesterday. The bike’s a lot more competitive now. I’m not worried about my grid position, because the times are so close. I was concentrating on making consistent laps. The race is 30 laps, which is pretty long, and you need good concentration.

David Garcia: I’m really happy. Yesterday was my first time on the bike for five months, and I’d only ridden it three times before. Today was only my second day on the latest version. I improved a lot, but I am sure I can find more tomorrow. Anyway, I am only a second behind Jeremy and less than six tenths from Nobuatsu. My only problem is my left arm is getting stiff and painful. I have never done more than eight laps in a row on this bike, so I don’t know what it will be like for 30 laps.

Chuck Aksland – Team Manager: David improved very significantly – he’s doing really well for his first GP on a 500. Nobuatsu made an even bigger jump. Jeremy is still looking for a few little things, and we hope we can get a bit more out of the bike for tomorrow. There are a lot of laps in the race, and a lot of things can happen. I’m hearing some speculation that it may rain tomorrow, but whatever the conditions we’re hoping for at least a few of our bikes in the top ten for the last two-stroke GP.


More, from a press release issued by Suzuki:

Gibernau Takes Leap Forward for Final Home GP
11/2/2002 – Gran Premio Marlboro de la Comunitat Valencia


Valencia, Saturday November 2, 2002: Telefónica MoviStar rider Sete Gibernau slashed a full second off his previous best lap time to move up to 10th in a close batch of times, for a third-row grid position for tomorrow’s Valencia GP – a race that the Spaniard won last year.

Team-mate Kenny Roberts made a smaller improvement and dropped to 14th position for a fourth-row start. But progress with suspension changes today left the 2000 World Champion optimistic for tomorrow’s race.

Times were close on the very twisty 4.005 km circuit, with the first nine riders within a second of pole qualifier Max Biaggi, and Gibernau only three hundredths out of that bracket.

Tomorrow’s race is the 16th and final round of the 2002 World Championship, and brings to an end the first year of the four-stroke/two-stroke MotoGP series. It also concludes the race-development year of Suzuki’s all-new 990cc V4 prototype racer, the GSV-R, introduced a full year earlier than planned for a baptism in the white heat of competition. Suzuki already has the Mk2 version of the GSV-R on the drawing board, to begin next season as a fully-fledged racer, rather than this year’s first prototype.

Sete Gibernau – 10th Position, 1:34.242
The time came from a small improvement to the bike compared with yesterday, and a lot of hard work. This bike has been more or less the same for the last few meetings as we await the next evolutionary stage. Today’s lap time was not so bad, but I had to ride very hard for it. We have a few small changes to try for tomorrow that should make the bike easier to ride at that speed, which will be important over 30 laps. We’ll get a chance to try them out in morning warm-up. Last year I won the race here in the rain. I’d like the same sort of luck for tomorrow.

Kenny Roberts – 14th Position, 1:34.525
We’ve been working hard with suspension settings. After this morning, we sat down with the Ohlins suspension technicians and explained some of the problems we’ve been having with the bike, and asked for some advice to improve that. Basically their ideas this afternoon seemed to be of benefit. The bike seems more consistent and a little bit easier to ride. There’s probably a bit more in it for lap time, but I didn’t get to feel comfortable enough to hang it out yet. We have some more changes for tomorrow that should improve it again. We’ve also been working drastically on engine connection and ridability, and we seem to be making headway. But it requires us to detune the engine. That’s okay if you have the fastest top speed, but we don’t, so that’s a disadvantage. But that’s something Suzuki realised some time ago, and something that will be built into the engine for next year.

Garry Taylor – Team Manager
Another day of hard work and lots of lessons learned. This is the last race with the first version of the GSV-R, and we’re still amassing lots of good information to build into next year’s bike. That doesn’t mean we’re not also thinking about the race tomorrow. The bike has improved so much over the course of its first year, and tomorrow we hope we’ll prove it.


More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:

Pitt Slashes Time For Fifth Row Start

Kawasaki rider Andrew Pitt slashed a full 1.5-seconds off his best lap time of yesterday to fulfil his promise of climbing up the qualifying order, claiming a position on the fifth row of the starting grid for tomorrow’s season-closing Valencia GP.

The Australian former World Supersport champion qualified in 18th position, for his best-yet grid position since he first rode the new lime-green Ninja ZX-RR two races ago. Pitt took over from factory tester Akira Yanagawa, after the Japanese rider was sidelined by injury in a crash in the machine’s debut race at Motegi in Japan.

Pitt’s improving performance even over the two days of practice at Valencia reflects not only his own growing familiarity with the fastest bike he has ever ridden, but also a rapid program of machine development within the Kawasaki pit. The team has a third variation of chassis here for the last GP of 2002, and has also made strides in setting up the innovative flat-slide fuel injection system to improve throttle response. Improvement this afternoon also came from Pitt himself, after revising his riding style to suit the sheer power of his machine.

Tomorrow’s Valencia GP concludes the first phase of development for the new 990cc prototype Ninja, which will take its place on the grid next year for a full season of racing.

Andrew Pitt – 18th 1:35.107: “We really haven’t changed the bike much since yesterday, we just decided that I needed to try and ride the bike the way it needs to be ridden. I have tried to concentrate on going through the corners a little bit slower so I can open the throttle more, and that’s really where the time is coming from, opening the throttle harder and harder each time, and using the power of the bike. It feels a bit easier doing it that way rather than going through the corners so fast, and it’s definitely more fun when you’re doing a good lap time and you are on the first page of the qualifying list. I am really happy with the progress we’ve made. My aim tomorrow is to have fun out there, and not be on my own again!”


More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing Information:

BARROS AND KATO SCORE FRONT ROW STARTS

Overnight pole position man Alex Barros (West Honda Pons RC211V) was just a tantalising 11 minutes from pole position at Valencia today, finally deposed by Max Biaggi (Yamaha) after a tense final hour of qualifying reached its climax.

Barros, consistently fast from his first four-stroke practice laps of the Spanish circuit to the end of qualifying, once more made full use of his 990cc V5 Honda’s exceptional performance parameters, setting consistent times under the existing qualifying and race lap records. Despite his frequent fast laps he had to rely on his first day performance for his single best qualifying lap but nonetheless his 1:33.584 was fully 2.5 seconds inside the previous race lap record of 1:36.085, set in 2000 by Honda World Champion Alex Criville, who was a trackside observer today.

In some respects Barros was forced to settle for second after experiencing a reversal of fortune in the morning session, as he himself described.

“I had some problems with my engine and the strategy we had planned for the first session we had to use in the second session instead, when we worked on choosing the right tyre compound for the race,” said the Motegi GP winner. “At the end of the session I went out with some soft tyres on the bike to try and get the pole start for tomorrow, but I finished second. I am quite satisfied because I am close and I am lapping consistently quickly.”

Daijiro Kato (Fortuna Honda Gresini RC211V) was another rider who despite securing a safe front row start could not improve on his Friday time, which was still the third fastest of the weekend.

“As far as the machine is concerned we made some improvements in the set-up and it was better than yesterday,” said the 2001 250cc Champion. “I also did some long runs to help choose a tyre for the race. For the race I do not have too many worries and I will be trying to get my best result of the season.”

World Champion Valentino Rossi (Repsol Honda Team RC211V) took a second row start after being deposed from his previous front row status in a flurry of late session activity. Sixth overall, Rossi’s late charge narrowly missed out on a front row start in the final seconds of the session. This race will be Rossi’s fourth race in succession where he has taken a second row start.

Valencia is the only circuit in current use that Rossi has yet to win a GP at and indeed Rossi, something of a modern MotoGP phenomenon, has found Valencia to be something of a jinxed circuit, having never finished higher up the finishing order than eighth, in the 1999 250GP.

Rossi, who is the youngest rider ever to score a total of 50 GP wins in all classes, will be going all-out on raceday to equal Mick Doohan’s record of 12 premier class GP wins in a season, and six points or more would give Rossi the record points score in a single GP year.

“The feeling on the bike is not so bad, I now feel comfortable doing mid- 1:34s,” said the four-time champion. “The problem right now is that some of the others are faster! I think that for the race we can run a fast and consistent pace and we have good consistent tyre wear. The trouble for me is now the track, which is not my favourite. It always seems that the more I try the slower I go!”

One place behind Rossi came his team-mate Tohru Ukawa (Repsol Honda Team RC211V) aiming to secure second place after the scheduled 30-lap race on Sunday.

“The good news is that I have moved from a very disappointing 12th place to seventh on the grid so it was the right direction but it has not been a good weekend so far,” said Welkom GP winner Ukawa. “The crash yesterday knocked my confidence and we really struggled the rest of the day finding a good set-up. Today we started off making small changes and then made bigger changes, which seemed to work. I’ll be checking out the data with the team later to see if the machine telemetry can speed up our progress.”

Loris Capirossi (West Honda Pons NSR500) had a tough final qualifying session, running off the track and finishing 12th at a circuit he hoped to shine on.

“After seeing where I ended up on the grid I have not too much to say,” quoted a subdued Capirossi. “It is obvious here that there is not too much chance for the two-strokes, and I am looking forward to getting over this Grand Prix as the last few races have been very difficult. Physically I am feeling better, although not 100%, but this is no excuse for being so far back.”

A top 15 placing for Jurgen van den Goorbergh (Kanemoto Racing Honda NSR500) was in marked contrast to his front-row start at the previous Phillip Island race, with the Dutch star dropping from 12th to 15th place.

“We lost about 15 minutes of the session with a front brake problem,” explained van den Goorbergh. “We have cleared up about 50% of the front-end chatter problem we had yesterday. I know the tyre combination we ran today will go race distance no problem. We have a couple of things to do overnight, nothing drastic.”

Tetsuya Harada (Pramac Honda NSR500) had a subdued final race on his two-stroke machine, finishing the last of 22 qualifiers.

Emilio Alzamora (Fortuna Honda Gresini NSR250) sees the Valencia race as an opportunity to score his second 250cc podium of the season, following on from his third place on another ‘home’ track, Jerez. Unable to improve on his Friday time, he nonetheless lines up on the front row, in fourth place.

“I will be going all out to take the best result possible and I would like to score at least a podium,” said Alzamora after his impressive qualifying performance. “I want to give a good result to all the fans and my team who have been so supportive during the season.”

Robby Rolfo (Fortuna Honda Gresini NSR250), guaranteed to be third in the championship, was seventh in qualifying, setting his best time in the final session after overcoming some first day glitches.

“I am pleased because of the progress we made from yesterday and the feel from the front end of the machine entering a corner is much improved,” said an upbeat Rolfo. “I am only sorry that I did not get a chance to do a clear lap at the end and improve my time. The traffic of slower riders was a problem and that prevented me from having a clean lap.”

After dominating the first day of qualifying, local rider Daniel Pedrosa (Telefonica Movistar Jr Team Honda RS125R) continued his rich seam of form by taking the pole position start at his local track, setting a time of 1:39.426 in the process. His best lap was more than a second faster than the previous quickest qualifying time a fact that was not lost on the majority of the enthusiastic fans present at Valencia.

Pedrosa declared himself happy with his machine set-up, but expects that the last race of the year will be especially tough.

“It’s always special at home–a way of saying thank you to the fantastic fans,” said the youthful Pedrosa, whose face appears on many billboards in the Valencia area this weekend. “I am very satisfied because we have our settings for the race spot on. Today we had some tyre problems but at least that was useful in helping us consider the alternatives. The race will be really hard. On one hand we have Poggiali and Vincent battling for the title while the other Spanish riders will be fighting for the best result at home.”

Joan Olive (Telefonica Movistar Jr Team Honda RS125R) improved from his disappointing opening day of qualifying to take 12th best time and a third row start.

“The team has worked very well, and we were able to solve the engine problems that affected us so much yesterday,” said Olive. “We’ve made a big step improved almost a second and a half. I guess the race will be similar to last year with a group of ten riders fighting out until the last turn.”

Olive completes an all-Honda third row, with Andrea Ballerini (Bossini Sterilgarda Racing Honda RS125R), Mika Kallio (Red Devil Honda RS125R) and Gabor Talmacsi (PEV Moto ADAC Sachsen Honda RS125R) in ninth to 11th places respectively.

The final races of the 2002 season take place on Sunday 3 November, in the usual order of 125, 250 and MotoGP. Only the 125c title is yet to be decided.


Team quotes MotoGP

Alex Barros, West Honda Pons, 2nd:
“This morning we had some problems with the engines and the strategy we had planned for the first session we had to use in the second session instead, when we worked on choosing the right tyre compound for the race. In the last ten minutes I pushed very hard to hold onto my pole position but in the end I finished second. I am quite satisfied though because I am close and I am lapping constantly quickly. In the race we shall see what happens, but I think we will have an enjoyable race tomorrow whatever happens”.

Daijiro Kato, Fortuna Honda Gresini, 3rd:
“Today I tried my bike in race configuration: everything is OK and I ran some really interesting lap times with the tyres I will race with tomorrow. I am really concentrated and I only want to have my best results of the season here in Valencia.”

Fausto Gresini:
“I like these kind of practice sessions: after two days of hard work we have set interesting times, a good pace and a satisfied team. Tomorrow the race will be a battle, because everybody wants to win the last race of the season to leave with a good memory. The level of MotoGP has grown a lot and there are a lot of riders trying really hard. We are on the front row and this means that after six races we have learned a lot about the four-stroke, especially with the test that we held here in August. We are ready to enjoy the race tomorrow.”

Valentino Rossi, Repsol Honda Team, 6th:
“The feeling on the bike is not so bad. I now feel comfortable doing mid ‘34’s. The problem is some of the others are faster! We have made some good progress this weekend and the feeling from the front is very much better than it was this morning. I think for the race we can run a fast consistent pace and we have good constant tyre wear. The trouble for me is with the track, which is not my favorite. It always seems that the more I try the slower I go! I hope for the same weather tomorrow and to make a good show for the last race of the season.”

Tohru Ukawa, Repsol Honda Team, 7th:
“The good news has to be I have moved from a very disappointing 12th place to seventh on the grid so it was in the right direction but it has not been a good weekend so far. The crash yesterday knocked me confidence and we really struggled for the rest of the day with finding a good set-up. Today we started off making small changes but with small changes it is sometimes difficult to know of the changes are in the right direction. This morning we were in that position. We made some big changes this afternoon and they seemed to work. We need to keep going more in

Latest Posts

WorldSBK: Bulega Undergoes “Arm Pump” Surgery In Italy

Nicolò Bulega underwent surgery for compartment syndrome Nicolò Bulega underwent...

How To Identify Real Vanson Leathers

Vanson has been producing jackets, riding/racing suits, and other...

Kato Named New President Of Yoshimura Japan

Editorial Note: Yohei Kato is the grandson of Yoshimura...

Suzuki Hayabusa Anniversary Celebration Scheduled April 27 In Concord, NC

SUZUKI HAYABUSA ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION COMING TO CONCORD, NC “Hayabusa Homecoming”...

Oxley Bom Podcast: Hanging With Jorge

Roadracing World MotoGP Editor and Isle of Man TT winner...