DANI AIMING HIGH AT HOME AFTER SECOND IN ITALY The MotoGP circus hits Catalonia this weekend and riders will be hoping there is no repeat of the turn one incident last year that not only caused race havoc, but also compromised the seasons of two World Championship contenders. And Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) was one of those affected. The 21-year-old Spanish star knows his hopes for a first race win of the season are more than realistic here. The disappointment of 2006, when he was involved in the initial melée and then crashed again in the restarted race, has been consigned to history. He won here on a 125cc machine in 2003 and again on a 250 in 2005, and knows he has the capability to notch a victory here in the 25-lap MotoGP showdown on Sunday. He is hungrier than ever for a race win after a dogged ride to second last weekend at Mugello in Italy. His team-mate, reigning World Champion Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V), has suffered a less than stellar start to his title defence season, but the genial American is characteristically upbeat about his chances, knowing that he has the talent to shine despite currently lying 11th overall in this year’s title race. Marco Melandri (Gresini Honda RC212V) was the other Honda man who failed to score points here in 2006 after being involved in the big crash. He’s now fourth overall in the table and has the leaders Casey Stoner (Ducati), Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) and Dani Pedrosa in third in his sights. Toni Elias (Gresini Honda RC212V) is a man who’ll be revelling in the raucous Spanish support he’ll get in the cauldron of Catalunya. After posting a dogged sixth place last weekend he’ll be buoyed up and ready to ride all-out for his fans here. Carlos Checa (LCR Honda RC212V) too will not be short of encouragement in his Spanish stamping ground. His all or nothing style has always endeared him to local race fans and the Spanish veteran will typically give it everything to show he still has what it takes. But whatever transpires in terms of the long haul of the 18-round World Championship, this seventh race of the year at the Montmelo circuit is highly likely to provide a captivating race. The track lies 20km north of Barcelona. It is 4.727km long and features two long straights. Two of the 13 turns at this track feature negative camber, making lean angle increase for a decrease in tyre grip. The rest of the corners are largely constant radius and hard on tyres especially the longer right-handers. Chassis set-up requires good front/rear balance so that the bikes are easy to turn-in under hard barking and also so they have enough weight transfer under hard acceleration to allow the rear tyre to ‘hook-up’ and drive the bike out of turns without too much wheelspin. A relaxed ‘flowing’ style from riders is the key to a fast lap here. And the highly vocal crowd will have an affect too. Last year 194,000 fans packed this hilltop venue over the weekend and there’s every sign that these sorts of numbers will be repeated this year making this one of the most atmospheric events of the season. Dani Pedrosa said: “I’m really looking forward to my home race at Barcelona. We’ve had quite good results in the last two races at Le Mans and Mugello so I hope I can keep this form going. Last year’s race here was a disaster because I was involved in the big first corner crash. I was not injured which was lucky but then I crashed again in the restarted race, so I hope things go a lot smoother this year. We had a good improvement from the Michelin tyres at the last race in Mugello compared to China and Turkey so there are positive signs for our competitiveness for the next few races.” His team-mate Nicky Hayden said: “Barcelona is a track I like and I’ve had some decent results here, including second last year, so I’ll be looking to find some answers and get a strong finish this weekend. It’s a really good circuit, really safe to ride and there’s always a good atmosphere because they definitely love their bike racing in Spain. This will be the first season we’ve come here having not tested in the winter. Normally we do one pre-season test, which gives us a pretty good base-setting, but this time there was no test so we’ll be riding the new 800cc bike for the first time here.” Toni Elias said: “A good result at a circuit as technical as Mugello (sixth) has given me a lot of confidence and helped me get over the disappointment of my bad results in France and China. Now it is the turn of the Spaniards to race at home. Riding in front of so many fans in Barcelona gives you an incredible feeling and that extra motivation can help me get a top result this weekend. I feel confident and highly motivated. I know it will be tough because Montmelò is a demanding circuit, with a very long straight that will make things even harder.” “Barcelona is a circuit I’ve always liked a lot,” said Marco Melandri: “I scored my first MotoGP podium here but I also have the bad memory of the big crash last year. It’s a nice circuit but the slow corners followed by hard acceleration and a start/finish straight of over a kilometre in length do not play in our favour. Luckily we’ll be going to a few more favourable tracks after Barcelona. In any case I feel motivated and I’m looking forward to putting the Mugello race behind me.” Shinya Nakano (Konica Minolta Honda RC212V) will be striving to get his season properly underway here and said, “I like Barcelona and I love racing at the Catalunya circuit, it is a very special place. We saw at Mugello that we need to solve the problem of chatter from the front-end of the bike as it stops me pushing harder in the corners, but at least we can clearly see our problem so we know exactly what we need to work on. I love racing anywhere in Spain as the Spanish fans have such a passion for bike racing.” Checa said: “We need to forget about Mugello and concentrate on this weekend. I don’t need any motivation to do well here because the fans provide that from the moment you get to the track. All riders will be unfamiliar with the 800cc bikes here, so it evens things out slightly. We need to make sure we waste no time in free training and qualifying.” Kenny Roberts Jnr (Roberts KR212V) will once again have his brother Kurtis on the second machine after he joined the team at Mugello. Kenny said, “Kurtis makes our development programme easier, but we both still have a lot of work to do. We’re getting closer to the mid-point of the season now and we’re still some way off where we need to be. Hopefully we can make some more progress here” There will be no shortage of interest in the 250cc class this weekend. With a raft of Spanish riders in the hunt for both a race win at Montmelo and World Championship honours overall, this promises to be an absorbing contest. Honda’s Italian 250cc star Andrea Dovizioso (Scot Honda RS250RW) beat current series points leader Jorge Lorenzo (Aprilia) here last year, out qualifying the Spanish man and relegating him to second place in the race. A repeat performance would do no harm to his World Championship aspirations this season. “Last year on this track I achieved one of the most beautiful wins of my career,” said Dovi. “I’d like to make the same performance but I know it won’t be easy because this year things are different. Anyway I like the circuit a lot and I’ll do my best to get the result we need.” Shuhei Aoyama (Repsol Honda RS250RW) said: “I live in Barcelona, and for the team, the sponsors, and even for me racing at the Circuit de Catalunya is almost like racing at home. It won’t be easy because despite it being a circuit I like a lot, it’s quite difficult. We’ll have to improve the work on the settings during practice and to try to climb a further step, like in Italy, to be able to improve the results as well.” Rising Spanish star Julian Simon (Repsol Honda RS250RW) said, “I’m really looking forward to it. Things are working out much better in the 250cc class and I hope to do really well at this race and be among the top riders. It’s our aim and it’s the result I want to achieve in Barcelona.” The 125cc grid will also be teeming with Spanish riders, among them Esteve Rabat (Repsol Honda RS125R), who missed the Mugello race due to injury. He may not yet be up to full fitness but the lure of racing in front of home fans is hard to resist. Rabat said: “They took off the plaster earlier this week and it looks as if I’m going to be able to race, though not at 100%. I’m looking forward to it but the most important is to see how the hand is doing and how I feel on the bike. Depending on how I feel, I’ll try to give it my all but it’s important to know first how we’re doing.” His team-mate Bradley Smith (Repsol Honda RS125R) said: “The next race is like a home race for the whole team, even for me, because I’ve raced here many times. We’re going to change a couple of things on the bike after finding out a few things in Italy, because I think the corners in Mugello are very similar to those in Montmelo. I’m really looking forward to getting here and improving my results.” French ace Mike di Meglio (Scot Honda RS125R) said: “I’m confident about Barcelona, I like the track and in winter tests I made a good lap time, considering we didn’t have the bike at 100% so I think now we should be OK. I’ve also improved my riding style.”