Carlos Checa hard-fought fifth in Turkish battle After two podium finishes in the last three races, Ducati star Carlos Checa scored a hard-fought fifth place in today’s Turkish Grand Prix the best possible result on the new Istanbul Park Circuit that was a big challenge for Bridgestone and the three Bridgestone MotoGP teams. Checa had been on the pace with the other top riders throughout all practice sessions, but couldn’t further improve on qualifying tyres, and dropped back to ninth place on the grid. The 33-year-old Spaniard didn’t start as well as he had hoped for in the race, and finished lap one in eleventh position. From that point on, he battled his way through the field, passing Shinya Nakano, Makoto Tamada, Chris Vermeulen, Alex Barros and Toni Elias on his way to fifth. By mid-race, the top contenders had settled into their positions, and as there was no way of closing in on Sete Gibernau in fourth position, Checa completed the 22-lap-distance controlling a comfortable two-second gap on Fortuna Yamaha rider Toni Elias. Checa’s team-mate Loris Capirossi had missed the race due to internal injuries suffered at the last Grand Prix in Australia. Japanese Superbike champion and Bridgestone test rider Shinichi Ito, who replaced Capirossi at the Turkish Grand Prix, misinterpreted a pit board sign after a jump start penalty, and was eventually black-flagged and excluded from the race. Kawasaki star Shinya Nakano was the best of the remaining Bridgestone riders in tenth position, with his team-mate Olivier Jacque finishing a lonely 13th. In absence of his injured team-mate Kenny Roberts, who broke his left wrist in a practice crash in Australia, Suzuki rider John Hopkins finished in 15th position. Carlos Checa Ducati Marlboro Team 5th position “We knew from the beginning that this new track and its asphalt would be difficult for us. We were well on the pace in practice, but then, our qualifying tyres that normally work so well didn’t give me the usual performance boost, and I had to settle for a spot on the fourth row on the grid. My start wasn’t too good either, and it took me a while to recover and to get into my own rhythm. Later on in the race we ran into some problems with rear end grip and stability of the bike, so fifth was the best we could achieve under the circumstances. We didn’t finish as high up as we did last week in Phillip Island, but I’m still happy with the work we’ve done. Bridgestone’s front tyre worked excellent here in Istanbul, and the problem we had with the rear was not so much a performance than an endurance problem. Now I’m really looking forward to the final race of the season in Valencia, a track that I like very much, where I am riding in front of the Spanish, and where I want to set a final highlight after a great season with Bridgestone and Ducati!” Hiroshi Yamada – Motorcycle Racing Manager Bridgestone Motorsport “We have been celebrating a number of great podium finishes recently, but Carlos Checa’s fifth place is still a strong result for us, considering that the Istanbul Park Circuit was a new and very difficult track for us. We missed something in general to be on the highest level here, which had to do with the low grip of the tarmac our performance on tracks with low levels of grip is an area in which we have to improve. We collected a lot of good and interesting data, and we will work hard to solve this problem for next year’s Turkish Grand Prix Bridgestone Results: 5. Carlos Checa (SPA) Ducati, 42.11,102, 10. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki, 42.28,364, 13. Olivier Jacque (F) Kawasaki, 42.40,905, 15. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki, 42.47,530. Did not finish: Shinichi Ito (JPN) Ducati