From a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team:

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2004
BETANDWIN.COM AFRICA’S GRAND PRIX – PHAKISA FREEWAY
18TH APRIL 2004 – RACE RESULT

NAKANO FINISHES IN THE POINTS AT WELKOM

After qualifying an impressive sixth yesterday, Shinya Nakano brought his Ninja ZX-RR home in twelfth place in the Africa’s Grand Prix at Phakisa Freeway this afternoon, to give the Fuchs Kawasaki Racing Team the best possible start to the new season.

Starting from the second row of the grid, Nakano found himself pushed back to ninth at the first turn after encountering a problem launching his Ninja ZX-RR off the line. The 26-year-old Japanese rider tried immediately to regain the lost places, but was unable to follow the leading group as they broke away at the front of the field.

By half race distance Nakano was embroiled in a frantic battle for tenth place with the factory Yamahas of Carlos Checa and Marco Melandri. After closing the gap on Melandri towards the end of the race, Nakano made a last gasp overtaking move on the former 250cc World Champion into the last corner on the final lap. The Fuchs Kawasaki rider exited with the nose of his Ninja ZX-RR slightly in front, but was unable to hold off the Italian to the line and was forced to settle for a hard fought twelfth place on his race debut as a Kawasaki rider.

Nakano’s Fuchs Kawasaki teammate, Alex Hofmann, had a day he’d probably prefer to forget at Phakisa Freeway today. In his enthusiasm to start his first race as a full time Kawasaki rider, the 23-year-old German stalled his bike on the line and had to watch helpless as the pack disappeared off towards the first turn. Fast reactions from his pit crew meant Hofmann was soon on his way, but with a huge gap to make up. With the bit between his teeth, the former European 250cc Champion quickly overhauled Michel Fabrizio and was closing down Nobuatsu Aoki when he had a big crash exiting turn three on lap 16. Battered and bruised, Hofmann was treated in the circuit medical centre for mild concussion.

Shinya Nakano’s impressive showing in today’s race means that the Fuchs Kawasaki Racing Team head for the second round of the championship at Jerez on May 2nd confident of a repeat performance from the likeable Japanese rider.

Shinya Nakano: 12th
“The bike was creeping a little on the line, which meant I missed the start as I tried to hold it back. Once I got away I couldn’t stay with the guys at the front as the rear of the bike felt a little nervous. The bike settled itself down towards the middle of the race and from that point onwards I was able to match my lap times from practice. I had a good fight with Abe, Melandri and Checa from the halfway point of the race, but while I was able to pass Marco into the last turn on the final lap, I couldn’t quite hold him off to the line. After qualifying sixth on the grid it was a little disappointing not to have finished in the top ten here today. On the other hand, after my first race aboard the Kawasaki I now know that we are capable of beating factory bikes and battling for position with the latest factory Yamaha. Overall, although I would have liked to finish in the top ten, I’m relatively happy with the today’s result.”

Harald Eckl: Team Manager
“I feel sorry for Alex because he showed good potential during practice and qualifying, with lap times close to Shinya’s, and he looked almost certain for a points scoring finish today. His run of bad luck started with his crash in final qualifying yesterday, which was followed by his stalling on the line and then crashing again whilst chasing hard to make up for the bad start today. Overall I’m satisfied with what we’ve achieved with Shinya today. Although we had a fantastic qualifying session yesterday, we knew that it was going to be difficult to maintain the same position in the race. Theoretically we knew we could hope for a top ten finish in the race and, while we were close, we just weren’t quite close enough. Everyone has improved over the winter, including us, but the gap to the leading riders has not decreased significantly; which just goes to show the quality of this championship. After this weekend’s performance we are looking forward to the races ahead, especially Jerez, where we had a successful test recently.”


More, from a press release issued by MS Aprilia:

Byrne in points on MotoGP debut

British superbike champion Shane Byrne collected his first MotoGP world championship point today on his MS Aprilia Racing debut at the South African GP.

Byrne finished in 15th position to get his new career off to a great start after this afternoon’s 28-lap season opening race at the Welkom circuit. The 27-year-old, nicknamed “Shakey” said: “I am very happy to have scored a point in my first MotoGP race because I didn’t expect to finish in the points. I just need more experience in MotoGP. I was finding it hard to do consistent laps. One lap I’d go into a corner perfect and the next not quite so good.”

Jeremy McWilliams finished one place further back in 16th position on his RS Cube having been badly hampered by a chatter problem in the second half of the race. “I was having a real problem with chatter in the last part of the track, which was where we struggled yesterday. The bike was working fine in the first half of the race, but after halfway the chatter just got worse and worse as the laps went by. I decided just to finish the race and I’ll study the data on the computer with the team to see what the problem was.”


More, from a press release issued by MS Aprilia:

Solid start for Poggiali

REIGNING world champion Manuel Poggiali got the defence of his world 250 championship title off to a tough but positive start in South Africa this afternoon.

The MS Aprilia Racing rider finished a hard 26-lap contest in fourth position, having been in the top three and on course for a podium up until the halfway stage.

Poggiali admitted after the race that his progress had been hampered by a front tyre problem, and he was so concerned at one stage that he might have to retire his RSW250.

“It was very hard to ride the bike in those conditions because I had no feeling from the front tyre.”


More, from a press release issued by Aprilia Racing:

Brilliant debut for De Angelis

Alex De Angelis made a stunning start to his world 250 championship career with fifth place in today’s South African GP at the Phakisa Freeway.

“I am very happy, “declared the San Marino rider. “That was a very satisfactory result in my first 250 race.” The Aprilia Racing rider made a solid start and slottted himself into the top six from the start of the 26-lap race, run in hot and sunny conditions. After a terrific battle with several more experienced 250 riders, Alex found himself in seventh position with just five laps remaining.

He continued his excellent pace and on lap 23 passed Roberto Rolfo to take sixth. And on the penultimate lap he underlined just how quickly he has adapted to the RSW250 by moving into fifth place. The result was a fantastic reward for de Angelis and his team who have worked tirelessly during the winter to help him make the transition from the world 125 championship. And today’s performance has given him great confidence to take into the rest of his debut 250 campaign.

What made his performance even more impressive was the fact that Alex battled a front end set-up problem throughout the race. He said: “I had a problem with the front end. It was a combination of the tyre and the suspension. It was very hard to push the bike when it was leaned right over because of the tyre problem, but I am very optimistic for the next race in Jerez.”


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

AOKI EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS IN FIRST RACE OF THE YEAR

Round 1: Africa’s GP, Welkom Race: Sunday, April 18, 2004

Nobuatsu Aoki: 17th


Team Proton KR rider Nobuatsu Aoki finished just two places out of the points in today’s Africa’s GP, opening round of the 2004 MotoGP season, at Welkom’s Phakisa Freeway. This was an improvement on his qualifying position – and on the team’s expectations. With the 2004 Proton KR V5 still at an early stage of development, just a finish would have been a result.

Aoki’s race saw the Japanese rider pushing hard in the closing stages, when he could see his old team-mate Jeremy McWilliams’s Aprilia up ahead. He closed to within a second or so before the Ulsterman saw him coming, and upped his pace. At the finish, Aoki was less than five seconds adrift.

This was the first race for the Mk2 version of the radical 990cc V5 racing motorcycle, which is still not in its final form as the team await engine revisions and parts. It was also the first race on Dunlop tyres, which are also at an early development stage. “We knew this would be our worst race,” said team principal Kenny Roberts. “This finish was a lot better than we’d expected, and it will keep getting better from here.”

The new machine is an advanced design, using techniques and materials new to motorcycle racing, and very integrated as an overall package. The delays to engine development mean the package is not yet complete, but the handling of the new chassis is as good as was expected, and the promise for the forthcoming races is clear. “We should see some engine improvements by the third round,” said Roberts.

Today’s opening round was run in fine sunny conditions at the high-altitude (1,500m) 4.242km Phakisa Freeway circuit, outside the Free State gold mining town of Welkom. It was won by defending champion Valentino Rossi in his first ride on a Yamaha. The next race is the Spanish GP at Jerez, in two weeks.

NOBUATSU AOKI
This race was going to be tough, because the winter was not easy for us, and we always had little problems that meant we were unable to do any endurance testing. I did 12 laps in this morning’s warm-up … that was the most I had done on the new bike! We had picked a race tyre yesterday, and this morning we tried a different setting … but it didn’t work well, so we went back to yesterday’s setting. After that everything worked pretty well, except the gearbox – I was having problems all race getting false neutrals on upshifts. Also the tyre was sliding after 20 laps. Around mid-race I started to catch Jeremy. I pushed hard every lap, and he was coming closer … but when he saw me, he pushed again. This is just the start for us.

KENNY ROBERTS – TEAM PRINCIPAL
That went a lot better than we’d expected. For such short notice, Dunlop did a great job, but we didn’t have a big enough window to get the engine problems fixed for this race. This is probably the worst we’re going to do all season, with the engine in its worst state. We made four engines, and just hoped we would finish … and we did that. Things go forward from here.


More, from a press release issued by Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha:

ROSSI CLAIMS SENSATIONAL FIRST YAMAHA VICTORY

Valentino Rossi made history with Yamaha today aboard his Yamaha YZR-M1 machine at the Africa’s Grand Prix in Welkom by becoming the first rider in the history of the premier class to take back-to-back victories with different constructors. The reigning World Champion, who joined Yamaha in January, is also the first rider in the premier class since Barry Sheene to win the opening race of the season for four years in succession, taking his 23rd consecutive podium in the process and Yamaha’s first win since October 2002. His Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha team-mate Carlos Checa had a difficult race and eventually finished tenth after starting 12th on the grid.

Rossi started from pole position and led for most of the 28 lap race with less than a second between himself and Honda rival Max Biaggi. The two swapped the lead several times, Rossi fighting back with some bold overtaking before snatching the lead for the final time with two laps to go, finally crossing the finish line just two tenths of a second ahead of Biaggi, with Honda rider Sete Gibernau in third. Checa finished just over 39 seconds later than winner Rossi, having made up three places in the latter stages of the race but not feeling the confidence to push harder.

VALENTINO ROSSI (1st)
“This is the best race of my career, it’s a real surprise for us, for everyone, and it’s difficult to explain the emotion. The weekend was perfect, starting with Friday. I rode well and I worked very well with the team. For me the race was perfect as well, starting from pole, I had a good rhythm and a good fight with Biaggi. I want to say a big thanks to my mechanics, especially Jeremy Burgess, and to Yamaha for all their efforts. At the end of the race I had a different emotion to normal; usually when I win I’m really happy but this time it was more and I had to stop for a moment with my bike to take it all in.

“The bike was quite good at full distance, although the tyres did start to move a bit after seven or eight laps, but after that they stayed constant and the bike stayed with me. I was slower in some parts, faster in others but I knew I couldn’t make any mistakes if I wanted to win. Yamaha has made such a great effort and so much work to change their situation. Today’s race showed that the level of this sport has greatly increased since last year but winning a race like this is not a miracle, it’s down to all the hard work we’ve put in. It was fantastic!”

CARLOS CHECA (10th)

“We’ve been struggling all weekend to find a good setting and to get a better feeling, but we have not found the way. I didn’t have enough grip on the side of the tyre when the bike was at an angle and this is something we are playing with constantly to try to improve. When I’m not confident of the grip my exit from a corner is too slow and it’s difficult to pass on the brakes. I pushed hard when I caught up with Abe, but I just didn’t have enough confidence. However, this is just the first race and we can still catch up; that is our mission. We have to analyse why this happened and work out how to improve the feeling. We’ll see what happens in Jerez and I will look forward to racing there.”

DAVIDE BRIVIO – Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team Director

“We couldn’t have had a better weekend than this. Of course we know this is not the end of our work; we’ve only just started and we have to keep going like this the whole season and provide the best possible support to Valentino. He was just fantastic. This was the race everyone wanted to see and it was great to be the winner. I think all the fans will be so happy and everyone at Yamaha as we’ve worked so hard in the last six months. Unfortunately Carlos has struggled all weekend and didn’t have a good first race, but we can learn from this, check what’s wrong with him and try to bring him to the front for the Jerez Grand Prix. I think he has the capability to be up front as soon as possible.”

MASAO FURUSAWA – General Manager, YMC Technology Development Division

“Racing needs a good rider, bike and organisation; otherwise you can not have a win. An exceptional rider has come to Yamaha and all I can say is thank you to him and his crew. Of course there are many other people involved in the project; other riders, engineers, staff and sponsors and I’d also like to thank them. Valentino really is the genius behind the bike. We’ve only been testing with him for three months this winter and we’ve achieved the first goal, now we have another fifteen goals!”


More, from a press release issued by Camel Honda:

Max Biaggi Magnificent at Welkom

Max Biaggi went up onto the second step of the podium after a truly spectacular race. A podium of great importance, secured by the tenacity and determination of the four-times world champion who took his yellow Camel Honda team RC211V to within 210 thousandths of first place after twenty-four laps at an infernal pace. A tactical race in which Max made the best of the immense work carried out by the team during the two days of practice, optimising the new Honda materials for the RC211V and setting the lap record for the race: 1:33.208 on the very last lap. The Camel Honda team took Makoto Tamada to eighth place: after making a few changes to the settings of his bike after the warm-up, he was able to perform well during the race and confirm the good results obtained by the team.

Sito Pons – Camel Honda (Team Principal)
“A fantastic race, very fast and with an unexpected rhythm. I’m very pleased with the team’s work as they have been able to provide Max with a bike that’s ready to contend for first place. We’ve started the championship in second place and we’ve begun a season that looks as though it’s going to be really exciting. We’ve got a manufacturer, a rider and a team that can aim for the world title. Today the Camel Honda team was in the limelight: we miss Antonio terribly, even though we know that he was with us all the way through to this brilliant team achievement.”

Max Biaggi – Camel Honda (Michelin tyres) – 2nd – 43:50.428
“This was a very important race for us. It’s a race we dedicate to the memory of Antonio. We all did everything we could, the team worked really hard on the bike, and I was going at 110%. Despite a slip at the start, on the dirtiest part of the line-up, I didn’t lose ground and I went forward to fight a duel for the head of the race. A contest at an incredible pace, and one that shows our potential, so I’d like to thank Honda for the new components we recently received. I’m also very satisfied with the performance of the tyres, for they gave top-level service right the way through to the end of the race. There won’t be any further tests until the Jerez race and during the practice for the next time round, I’m sure we’ll be able to understand the characteristics of the new components better so as to make best use of them.”

Gianluca Montiron – Camel Honda – (Makoto Tamada Team Manager)
“Makoto ended up with an eighth place that shows he gave it all he’d got, even though he started out in a difficult position, and this just shows how determined he is. We’ve got to improve performance for the entire duration of the race, especially in view of the sort of rhythm that was being kept up today. We’ll be working hard to bridge the gap that separates us from the leaders and I’m sure Makoto will soon be able to get the best out of his bike.”

Makoto Tamada – Camel Honda (Bridgestone tyres) – 8th – 44:26.753
“We made a few changes to my RC211V after the warm-up and this meant I was able to get a better place when the race was on. The tyres performed well even towards the end, and I must say I had indeed been hoping to claw back some places after starting out 12th. An important race, and a new experience that will help me gain a better understanding of the bike settings and of the new materials from Bridgestone.”


More, from a press release issued by d’Antin Ducati:

Dificult start for Hodgson and Xaus
[18.04.2004]



The d´Antin MotoGP had their hopes cut short today in the first Grand Prix of the year, when first Xaus and later Hodgson were forced into the pits with mechanical problems on their Ducatis.

With an air temperature of around 30ºC, the Briton started from the fifth row of the grid and the Spaniard from the sixth, ready to come up against the rest of a strong MotoGP field for the first time. Both riders performed admirably in the early stages of the race, with the Spaniard even making it into the top ten during his four laps of the race.
Neil Hodgson meanwhile, completed a half-race, before being forced into the garage with thirteen laps remaining, and retiring from the race with mechanical problems.

Hodgson was on the verge of completing his pre-race objective of finishing top-twelve, with problems coming after he had moved up to fourteenth in the race, “It’s a bit frustrating to not finish the first race, but the bike began to play up and I had to stop. Anyway, I have to keep working hard, because I never got comfortable here in Welkom, perhaps because of the track’s conditions too. I’m still learning but I need to keep doing so, because now I’m thinking about Jerez, which is a circuit that I know and which I like quite a bit.”

Xaus surprised everyone with a scorching start, but unfortunately the excitement was all a little premature, “It’s a shame because I’ve shown all weekend that I had a good rhythm and that I could get a good finish. Looking at how they rode today, I think I could have been amongst the top six. I’m not a specialist qualifier but in the race I blossom, and today I had a great start… however on the fifth lap we had a small electrical problem and I had to return to the pits. As they always say, that’s racing, and there’s still fifteen of them left. Next time out it’s Jerez and I prefer to think about then.”

Luis d´Antin : “Starting out is always hard, and both myself and the team know that there is a lot of potential in our two riders, and I hope we can demonstrate that as soon as possible. Ruben has been great here all three days, and I don’t think that he went unnoticed by anybody. Neil has also shown that he is capable of working brilliantly and undoubtedly this will take him to great results soon enough.”


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

ROSSI WINS BUT HONDA FINISHES WITH FOUR RIDERS IN TOP FIVE

The win belonged to Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) but masterly Max Biaggi (Camel Honda RC211V) proved today in front of a record 45,000 Phakisa Freeway crowd that he is the man most likely to rein in the reigning World Champion with a stirring second place. Sete Gibernau (Telefonica Movistar Honda RC211V) was a distant third after being right in contention in the early stages of the race.

As a fierce African sun beat down, the new three-abreast grid lined up for this curtain-raising race and scorched into turn one as the red lights went out. Rossi got the holeshot with Max and Sete, Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC211V) and Colin Edwards (Telefonica Movistar Honda RC211V) pressing him hard.

The pace soon hotted up to the extent that only three riders could stay with it: Rossi, Max and Sete. As early as lap four the threesome fought it out with Max taking the lead at the end of the back straight before Rossi snatched it back on the same lap. Max went in front again two laps later and held the lead again before Rossi wrested it back one lap later.

But the early battle for supremacy soon settled down and Rossi and Max maintained a pace that Sete couldn’t stay with. By mid-distance of this 28-lap contest Gibernau was a second adrift of the leaders and he fell further back to finish seven seconds down at the end.

Now it was a straight fight between two intense rivals. Rossi seemed content to make the running while Max was rarely less than two feet behind him as Rossi fought to break clear of his rival. On lap 23 Max made another move down the back straight and he then lead three laps in a row before Rossi made a block pass on Max at the penultimate tight right turn.

Max was pushed wide and fought to get back on level terms with just two laps to go. Try as the Roman might, and Max set a new lap record on his final lap of the 4.242km track of 1m 33.208s, he couldn’t catch Rossi and finished just over two tenths of a second behind as they crossed the line.

“I’m happy it was such a great race,” said Max. “We kept up an unbelievable pace and had a lot of fun. I didn’t even feel tired at the end and I feel I could have run another 28 laps. The team did a fantastic job setting up the new chassis in just four hours of qualifying and this race was a great way to honour Antonio.” (Antonio Cobas, who died last week, was Camel Honda’s Technical Director)

Sete Gibernau said, “All during qualifying I was trying to improve my rhythm working on the settings of the new chassis – but we couldn’t quite get there before the race. And we ran out of time to try anything else in the morning warm-up. But I’m aiming to be fighting for the podium at every race and I have to be happy enough with this result on a weekend that wasn’t perfect.”

Alex Barros (Repsol Honda RC211V) fought hard to finish fourth after languishing in ninth on lap one. “If you qualify eighth on the third row of the grid, it’s hard work. This track is difficult to overtake on and there’s not a lot of grip off the racing line. We had a small chatter problem today which wasn’t there before, but overall today’s not such a bad result for a first race with a new team.”

Nicky Hayden’s fifth place was not what the American challenger wanted but he remained upbeat. “I knew this race was going to be difficult. I got an OK start but it was really painful watching the guys up front disappear. The team has done a great job over the weekend – it just wasn’t an easy weekend. Let’s get on with the next race now.”

Colin Edwards was hampered by chatter problems and finished seventh. “I had problems on the first lap. They were there a little bit on Friday and Saturday, but today it was just impossible to race for 28 laps. I can’t say it was a specific problem, but we’ll check the data and see what’s going on.”

Makoto Tamada (Camel Honda RC211V) riding on Bridgestone tyres finished eighth. “All weekend we’ve been making changes, but the tyres were good all race and I didn’t manage to get as much overtaking as I wanted because of a bad start. But this was more good experience for me and the team.”

Rossi leads the World Championship standings by five points from Max Biaggi as MotoGP heads to Jerez in Spain for the opening European Grand Prix of what promises to be a hard-fought title race.

The 250 race was a nail-biter with frantic action all the way down the field. The eventual winner was Danny Pedrosa (Telefonica Movistar Junior Team RS250RW) who fought a hard duel with Randy de Puniet (Aprilia) all race. De Puniet finished second and Sebastian Porto (Aprilia) third.

Porto led from the start, but on lap two the Argentine rider went off track on the ultra-fast back section of the track. He had to ride onto the banked oval that surrounds the inner circuit to slow down and regain the track – in 22nd position. His ride to third was a prime example of grit and determination employed to rectify a costly error.

But Pedrosa’s ride was remarkable. The young Spaniard, reigning 125cc World Champion, who broke both ankles in a bad crash at Phillip Island last year (having wrapped up the title in Malaysia), fully deserved a win first time out having stepped up a class for 2004. His dice with de Puniet provided a classic last lap where the lead changed hands four times.

Pedrosa clinched it with a last turn braking manoeuvre that cut off de Puniet’s turn-in point to deny him the win. But the result could easily have gone either way. The power of Pedrosa’s Honda told on the faster sections of the track, but it took supreme skill to deny the experienced de Puniet a fourth career win.

Alex Debon (Wurth Honda BQR RS250R) finished a strong sixth with Tony Elias (Fortuna Honda RS250RW) eighth and Roberto Rolfo (Fortuna Honda RS250RW) ninth. Hiroshi Aoyama (Telefonica Movistar Junior Team RS250RW) snatched 11th in his first visit to Welkom while Eric Bataille (Wurth Honda BQR RS250R) was involved in a first lap crash – on his birthday.

“That was incredible,” said Pedrosa. “I still can’t really believe what happened and it’s all the hard work put in by my team in the winter helping me recover from my injuries and getting the bike to this level of competitiveness. Thank you to them all and to Honda.” Pedrosa now leads the World Championship from de Puniet by five points after one race.

The 125 contest provided a thrilling season opener in the smallest class for the Welkom crowd when Andrea Dovizioso (Team Scot Honda RS125R) played a perfect waiting game to rob Roberto Locatelli (Aprilia) of a win he looked likely to keep having led for most of the race. Locatelli was second and Casey Stoner (KTM) third.

But Locatelli couldn’t shake off Dovizioso’s Honda and it looked likely that Dovzioso would line Locatelli up for a pass on the fast, flowing back section of the track. Instead he waited until the final turn on the final lap to fire his RS125R up the inside of Locatelli on the brakes, hold his line and then use all the rumble strip on the exit to breach the line first. The winning margin was just seven hundredths of a second.

Third and fourth-placed riders Stoner and Pablo Nieto (Aprilia) were in the leading group for most of the race, but as the pace hotted up at the front they were left to dispute second and third between themselves, with Stoner getting the verdict by two tenths of a second.

Julian Simon (Angaia Racing Honda RS125R) finished 11th and Simone Corsi (Team Scot Honda RS125R) 14th. Thomas Luthi (Elit Grand Prix Honda RS125R) crashed out on lap 17 without injury.

“Locatelli was running a really high pace,” said Dovizioso, who has now won his first ever race in this class. “On the last lap I was thinking I could overtake on the straight, but then I saw him go too wide into the last turn and went through. I want to thank the Clinica Mobile for patching me up after my practice crash and the team did a fantastic job for me too.”

Dovizioso now leads the World Championship points standings with 25 to Locatelli’s 20 and Stoner with 16.

ends


HONDA TEAM QUOTES:

MotoGP:

Max Biaggi, Camel Honda (Michelin tyres) – 2nd: “This was a very important race for us. It’s a race we dedicate to the memory of Antonio. We all did everything we could, the team worked really hard on the bike, and I was going at 110%. Despite a slip at the start, on the dirtiest part of the line-up, I didn’t lose ground and I went forward to fight a duel for the head of the race. A contest at an incredible pace, and one that shows our potential, so I’d like to thank Honda for the new components we recently received. I’m also very satisfied with the performance of the tyres, for they gave top-level service right the way through to the end of the race. There won’t be any further tests until the Jerez race and during the practice for the next time round, I’m sure we’ll be able to understand the characteristics of the new components better so as to make best use of them.”

Sito Pons – Camel Honda (Team Principal)
“A fantastic race, very fast and with an unexpected rhythm. I’m very pleased with the team’s work as they have been able to provide Max with a bike that’s ready to contend for first place. We’ve started the championship in second place and we’ve begun a season that looks as though it’s going to be really exciting. We’ve got a manufacturer, a rider and a team that can aim for the world title. Today the Camel Honda team was in the limelight: we miss Antonio terribly, even though we know that he was with us all the way through to this brilliant team achievement.”

Sete Gibernau, Telefonica MoviStar Honda, 3rd: ” During the practices we worked on the setting of the bike but we couldn’t find the best set-up. So today my bike was not 100% ok. I have done my best and all in all I’m satisfied in fact if I scored the 3rd position with a bike which was not ok, I’m confident that I can fight for the win when my bike is ok