Dutch Grand Prix debrief with Tohru Ubukata Round 7: Dutch GP Post-race debrief TT Circuit Assen, Tuesday 30 June 2009 Bridgestone slick compounds used: Front: Soft, Medium. Rear: Soft, Medium A dry Dutch GP weekend was dominated by Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi, who claimed pole and took a decisive victory, becoming only the second rider to reach 100 grand prix triumphs. In doing so, he moved himself into the lead of the world championship. The championship top three formed the podium, whilst Colin Edwards equalled his best result of the season with fourth. An intense race-long battle for sixth position was won by James Toseland to score his best result of the season. Bridgestone slick compound choices were varied, with most of the field favouring the medium compound for front and rear but four riders opting for the softer specification rear slick. Q&A with Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development How can you summarise the weekend from Bridgestone’s perspective? We did not have the challenge of very high track temperatures this weekend, as we did in Catalunya, but we did see a large fluctuation in track temperature over the three days. On Thursday, the track was 41 degrees Celsius for free practice. For qualifying it was just 31 degrees, and for the race 35 degrees. A temperature change of ten degrees is quite significant in terms of available grip and tyre wear, yet there were no problems for either our soft or medium compound slicks during the weekend. How did the soft and the medium compound Bridgestone slicks perform during the weekend? Assen was a good example of how versatile our compound ranges are this season. In the first free practice, Randy de Puniet was fastest on the medium compound Bridgestone slicks when the track temperature was the highest of the weekend. During qualifying, the medium compound front slick was still the favoured choice even though the track temperature was much lower, and the medium compound rear also worked very well in the cooler conditions. Of course, towards the end of the qualifying session riders used the soft compound rear Bridgestone slick for their best times, and this is something we are used to seeing now this season. This is no surprise though. Tyre compound choice is a trade-off between peak grip and tyre durability. For a qualifying run, each rider does not need race-distance durability from their tyres which means they can run the softer option rear slick for its added traction to go faster over a shorter number of laps. The medium compound front Bridgestone slick was favoured because of the additional stability it provided, particularly under braking. The race also gave us another good example of our compound versatility. Only four riders chose the soft compound rear Bridgestone slick, whilst the rest of the field used the medium compound. Pramac Racing’s Mika Kallio and San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Toni Elias were two of the riders to use the soft compound rear, and were able to match the pace of the medium compound riders around them in the battle for sixth position. Mika was leading this battle until the last lap when unfortunately he crashed out and Toni was able to close down the group and climb into eighth at the finish before being given a time penalty by the stewards after the race. Toni was also able to record his fastest time on lap 18 of the 26-lap race, which is a good indication of the durability and consistency of the Bridgestone slicks. More, from a press release issued by RMP Racing: CALGARY, AB June 30, 2009 Honda CBR125R Challenge racer Steven Nickerson of Hamilton Ont. earned back to back podium finishes with a dominating win in Round 3 at Race City and a third place finish at Round 4 on the adjacent Varsity Chrysler Speed Park. Nickerson’s weekend began during Thursday’s promoter-organized practice session where he made the most of the available track time to get familiar with the demanding high-speed 2.0 miles / 3.2 KM Race City track. In Friday morning’s practice session Nickerson posted an impressive lap-time of 1:48.373 and followed that up with a 1:48.940 in the afternoon. Nickerson attempted to better his morning’s time but was satisfied that his Inside Motorcycles / Turn 2 / Motovan sponsored CBR125R was setup for a good qualifying effort on Saturday. During Saturday’s qualifying Nickerson put the #661 RMP Racing CBR125R on pole with a blistering lap time of 1:47.150 Karl Robitaille of Ste-Julie, QC grabbed the holeshot in Sunday’s race but Nickerson took over the lead heading into turn one. By the end of the first lap he had already established a commanding two second lead. Nickerson pushed hard for the first half of the race and managed to build up a healthy gap to the riders in pursuit. Robitaille held second spot for a lap but then slipped off the track in turn four on lap two, allowing Bodhi Edie of Warman, SK into second place. Nickerson led the entire race to win the 10-lap Honda CBR125R Challenge event at Race City. Edie placed second, 6.280 seconds behind and Robitaille crossed the line in third. Nickerson arrived at Race City tied for first in the Honda CBR125R Challenge championship with Bodi Edie. Points for pole position, most laps lead and the win earned Nickerson an 11 point lead heading into Monday afternoon’s race, the second half of a doubleheader for the class. Sunday evening Nickerson headed over to the Varsity Chrysler Speed Park for a brief ten minute practice session before having to qualify in an 8 lap heat race. Although Nickerson has shown a canny ability to quickly adapt to new tracks this season he would find himself starting from the third row in sixth position. Knowing that a great start was the key to staying in the points, Nickerson launched his CBR125R off the line to immediately battle with the front-runners. Nickerson would lead the opening few laps but was later passed by local aces Bodhi Edie and Geoffrey Gerbrandt (Martensville, SK). Nickerson attempted to rejoin the battle after studying the local riders’ line choices, however there were too few laps remaining in the race to advance further. Nickerson crossed the finish line in third and was preceded by Gerbrandt in second and Edie taking first. Next on Nickerson’s race schedule will be Round 5 of the Honda CBR125R Challenge being held as part of the Honda Indy Toronto IndyCar race festivites on July 9-12 at the Toronto Exhibition Grounds. Up next for the entire RMP Racing team is Round 4 and 5 of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship (Round 6 of the Honda CBR125R Challenge) at Mosport Int’l Raceway Mosport, ON July 16-19 For additional information about RMP Racing’s Ross Millson and Steven Nickerson or to learn more about marketing opportunities with the team please visit www.rmpracing.ca . More, from another press release issued by RMP Racing: CALGARY, AB June 30, 2009 – Road racer Ross Millson of Hamilton Ont. seemed poised to tame Calgary’s high-speed Race City Motorsports Park track at the third round of the 2009 Parts Canada Superbike Championship. A series of unfortunate events throughout the race prevented an outcome worthy of the team’s recent efforts at the previous round at Montréal’s Icar track. The team was greeted with warm sunny weather and with a clear forecast the team looked forward to a great weekend. Practice began on Thursday for the RMP Racing team, by virtue of a promoter organized practice day. Millson used the time to get reacquainted with the fast and challenging track. “By the end of Friday’s practice sessions I was running lap times faster than I had in the race last year.” Remarked Millson. During Saturday’s qualifying session Millson improved upon his previous best lap time by half a second, however he still found himself outside of the top ten. Displeased with his qualifying efforts, Millson would be starting his Inside Motorcycles – Tri City Cycle – Motovan supported Suzuki GSX-R1000 from thirtieth on the grid for Sunday’s feature race. In Sunday’s Superbike final, Millson got a poor start and fell back a few positions. In turn two he and a fellow racer made contact, causing him to lose the right knee slider off his Teknic suit. As Millson regrouped and began to push his way forward he noticed the engine temperature on his #39 Suzuki GSX R-1000 rising quickly. The culprit was a damaged radiator. With the engine temperature continuing to rise, Millson slowed his pace and began short shifting to save the engine and ensure a finish. Millson nursed his injured Superbike home in 15th position. “Something the size of a marble shot through the rad”, said Millson. “..It’s kind of ironic. This is the first season I have ever used a rad-guard and it didn’t help when it should have.” Millson had hoped to leave Race City with a strong top ten finish but it was not to be. ” “¦ I think I’ll avoid starting from 13th for the rest of the season”, Millson joked. “I’m not normally superstitious, but I could have used a few lucky horseshoes from the Calgary Stampede for this race.” “This weekend was far from a total loss”, said Millson. “Steven Nickerson earned two podiums in the CBR125R Challenge races this weekend and has been consistent all season long. He has done an outstanding job representing himself, RMP Racing and our sponsors”. Millson will now prepare for the upcoming doubleheader weekend at Mosport Int’l Raceway, July 16-19 RMP Racing is grateful for the support from team sponsors; Inside Motorcycles, Zox Helmets, Motovan, Infinet Designs, Turn 2 Sportbike School, Essential Image, MotoConcepts and CRC Racewear. Additionally Ross Millson would like to thank; Tri-City Cycle and Sport (Suzuki), Race Tech, Vortex, Hindle and Niagara Powersports Up next for the RMP Racing team is Round 4 and 5 of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship at Mosport Int’l Raceway Mosport, ON July 16-19 For additional information about RMP Racing’s Ross Millson and Steven Nickerson or to learn more about marketing opportunities with the team please visit www.rmpracing.ca .