KAWASAKI CONTINUES DEVELOPMENT AT MISANO Kawasaki’s John Hopkins and Anthony West returned to the Misano circuit today for a one-day post-race test, to continue development of their upgraded Ninja ZX-RR race machines. Hopkins was keen to make up for track time lost recently to his Assen and Brno injuries, and spent the five hours on track running through an extensive test programme, concentrating particularly on improving the front-end stability of his machine. The 25-year-old Anglo-American worked mainly on enhancing his set-up to accommodate a newer specification Bridgestone front tyre option that many of the MotoGP front-runners now use. This brought a new direction for the team, but with only a short time out on track today, he will not be able to add it to his tyre allocation without further set-up development of his Ninja ZX-RR. The Kawasaki pilot spent the last few hours refining the chassis setting of his machine using his current tyre options, and ended the day confident of improvements. West used the time on track to eradicate the front-end problems that have hampered his progress at this circuit. The 27-year-old Australian worked closely with his crew to test various different chassis components, and, although he has not managed to find a complete solution to the confidence issues that have stopped him from pushing the front of his Ninja ZX-RR harder, he has made significant steps forward in set-up. Along with the changes to his chassis set-up, West also tested different tyre options and found an improvement in the agility of his machine. The Kawasaki pilot noted an increased amount of front-end grip into the turns, which has enabled to achieve a better lap time than during the race weekend. John Hopkins #21: 69 Laps – 1’35.879 “Today we had a lot of work to do as I’ve missed so much time on track recently. Our focus was mainly on the front-end of the machine, and we have refined our setting from this weekend by changing the way the chassis is set up. We also started work on using a Bridgestone front tyre option that both Valentino (Rossi) and Casey (Stoner) use. This meant we had to alter the bike a lot, but we are now the only team using the old type of tyre, basically because we’ve not had any chance to test. This new specification tyre is definitely the future for us, but unfortunately it can’t be in my allocation until we’re completely happy with the way the machine handles with it. I’m pleased with the results of today’s test, but still have a lot of catching up to do with the upgraded bike. I’m really excited about Indianapolis, particularly as it’s my home round, and we’ll be looking to achieve strong results there.” Anthony West #13: 76 Laps – 1’36.101 “We’ve basically spent the test time today trying to improve the feedback from the front-end of the bike. We also tried a different swing-arm, but this didn’t really make any significant difference for us. We have some more direction with how we can move forward with the front-end troubles and I felt a lot more confident going into the turns, which resulted in a quicker lap time than we managed in the race. We also evaluated a few different Bridgestone tyre options, and the conclusion is positive, but we still have more work to do. I’m looking forward to Indianapolis, particularly because it’s an even field as no-one has previous track experience there, and we’ll be looking to gain a strong finish.” Naoya Kaneko Kawasaki Technical Manager “It’s been a useful day testing for us here at Misano. With John we spent most of the day using different tyre options and altered his machine set-up, which has been an improvement over the lap times we could achieve at the weekend. Anthony tested some different chassis components and we’ve been trying to improve our package to make it easier for him to turn his machine. Overall it’s been a positive test, but we still have a lot of development to do over the next few races.” 1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1’34.652; 2. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini +0.794; 3. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing Team +1.227; 4. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP +1.320; 5. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing Team +1.449; 6. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini +1.468 More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: PEDROSA ENJOYS POSITIVE MISANO TEST MotoGP tests, Misano, Italy Monday, September 1 2008 Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa had an intensive day of testing at Misano today, making his debut with Bridgestone tyres and testing Honda’s pneumatic-valve RC212V. He enjoyed a positive feeling with the tyres and set a fast pace at the end of the day using the pneumatic-valve machine. Pedrosa rode from 13.30 to 18.15, starting out with the spring-valve RCV that he used during the weekend’s San Marino GP. The Spaniard began the process of adjusting bike set-up to suit the Bridgestones and got on well with the tyres. He rode a best lap of 1m 35.555s, then later in the day switched to the pneumatic-valve RCV and clocked a 1m 34.652s, learning more about his new tyres and gaining valuable data for ongoing machine development. Conditions were once again hot and sunny, with ambient temperature at 34 degrees and track temperature at 42 degrees. Pedrosa’s first day with Bridgestone was very encouraging. Now his team will analyse what they’ve learned today to prepare for the next MotoGP round at Indianapolis on September 12/13/14. Dani Pedrosa, fastest lap: 1m 34.652s (81 laps) “I’m happy starting this new challenge and I would like to thank Bridgestone. Today we also made an important step forward in developing the 2009 bike, but now my first priority is to be fully competitive again. Of course, there is a lot of work to do but I am determined to win again this year. Today we worked hard on bike set-up. The feeling with the new tyres on my RC212V is different, both for settings and for riding style, but I just tried to follow my feelings and adjust the set-up accordingly. “Today was only the first day of this new challenge but I am happy. I also tested the pneumatic-valve engine. The engine character is different, the power delivery is a bit more aggressive, but the engine has some good points. I have no experience on this latest bike, so I had to test many new things today. This has been an important test. Now we will analyse all the data and we look forward to the next race at Indianapolis.” Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager “Today’s test session was important and Dani’s feeling with the Bridgestone tyres was positive. He started the session with the valve-spring engine and then switched to the pneumatic-valve engine. The character of these two bikes is different but Dani was faster with the pneumatic-valve engine, his lap times improved a lot. Of course, there are positive and negative points with the engine which we will now analyse.” FREE PRACTICE LAP TIMES 1. Pedrosa (Spa-Honda) 1’34″652 (81 laps) 2. Nakano (Jap-Honda) 1’35″446 (53) 3. Hopkins (Usa-Kawasaki) 1’35″879 (70) 4. De Puniet (Fra-Honda) 1’35″972 (48) 5. West (Aus-Kawasaki) 1’36″101 (77) 6. De Angelis (Rsm-Honda) 1’36″120 (41) More, from a press release issued by Honda: MotoGP test Misano Adriatico September 1, 2008. Pedrosa test Bridgestone tyres at Misano. Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda RC212V, today made his debut on Bridgestone tyres at the MotoGP test held at the Misano circuit, Italy, venue for the GP of San Marino held yesterday. Pedrosa ran a total of 81 laps testing both the spring valve engine and the latest version of the RC212V with pneumatic valves. Pedrosa’s best time with the spring valve engine was1m 35.555s, which he lowered to 1m 34.652s riding the RCV with pneumatic valves. The San Carlo Gresini Honda team were also in action and spent the day testing a variety of Bridgestone tyres. Japanese star Shinya Nakano, who experienced vibration problems in yesterdays GP, was pleased with the results of the test and goes into the Indianapolis GP on September 14 in buoyant mood. Nakano’s team mate, Alex De Angelis, had dedicated the entire day testing qualifying tyres and, despite being unable to better his qualifying time for the race, was confident that he and Bridgestone will have a much better package to work with in coming races. LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet concentrated on checking a range of Ohlins suspension units and new Brembo brake calipers in preparation for the forthcoming flyaway races in Indianapolis USA, Japan, Australia and Malaysia. De Puniet crashed in yesterdays GP of San Marino injuring his right hand which hampered brake testing but the Frenchman was content with the progress made with suspension and the Michelin tyres with a new construction. Honda rider quotes and lap times. Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1m 34.652s on lap 76 of 81. “I’m happy starting this new challenge and I would like to thank Bridgestone. Today we also made an important step forward in developing the 2009 bike, but now my first priority is to be fully competitive again. Of course, there is a lot of work to do but I am determined to win again this year. Today we worked hard on bike set-up. The feeling with the new tyres on my RC212V is different, both for settings and for riding style, but I just tried to follow my feelings and adjust the set-up accordingly. “Today was only my first day riding on Bridgestone tyres but I am happy. I also tested the pneumatic-valve engine. The engine character is different, the power delivery is a bit more aggressive, but the engine has some good points. I have no experience on this latest bike, so I had to test many new things today. This has been an important test. Now we will analyse all the data and we look forward to the next race at Indianapolis.” Shinya Nakano, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 1m 35.446s on lap 23 53. “We cured the vibration problem we had in the race yesterday and then started to test tyres for Bridgestone. Not new tyres but making short runs with existing tyres to check various things on settings. At the end of the day I was quite fast and ran the same times I did in qualifying for the race. I will go to Indy with a very positive feeling.” Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 1m 36.972s on lap 37 of 41. “I only tested qualifying tyres today but didn’t improve my best qualifying time of the weekend. The problem is that I am much faster on race tyres than the qualifying rubber, incredible but true. Coming from the 250 class I have no experience of qualifying tyres so it is taking me time to learn. The rear qualifying tyre pushes the front and this makes it difficult for me when I try to steer the bike into the corner because the front end turns in. But today was very positive for both me and Bridgestone and we learned a lot from the test.” Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda: 1m 35,972s on lap 28 of 48. “I tested many things today but could not give my maximum because of my injured right hand. But I was happy with the new Michelin tyres which have a different construction than we have run before. The rest of the day was spent checking out a lot of suspension parts from Ohlins and new Brembo brakes with larger pistons. But obviously I cannot say too much about the brakes because of my injured hand.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: DE PUNIET ON TRACK AGAIN DESPITE RIGHT ARM INJURY Misano, 1 September 2008: after yesterday’s GP of San Marino and Riviera di Rimini which saw Rossi on the top of the podium followed by Lorenzo and Elias, some of the MotoGP teams and riders had an additional day of on-track work at the Italian circuit before the next Indianapolis GP on the 14 of September. The 800cc riders have enjoyed good conditions with blue skies and ambient temperature of 31° and a track temperature of 46°C. After his yesterday’s unlucky race, the LCR Honda MotoGP rider Randy De Puniet made significant improvements chasing a good set up for his Michelin-shod Honda RC212V completing a marathon 50-laps. The Frenchman worked with his Team mainly on and tyre testing for Michelin clocking his best lap time of 1’35.972 despite the contusion in his right arm due to yesterday’s crash which prevented him to fight for the top-five positions. Today’s pacesetter Pedrosa produced a best lap time of 1’34.652. De Puniet 4th : “It was not easy for me today because the right arm aches a lot. Anyway I made 50 laps working mainly on tyre testing but we also made some adjustments on the braking system and we tired different regulations on the front fork to get some data for next over sea races. This week I will do some extra exams including one x-ray to check my arm in order to bat in a good form for Indianapolis race”.