FIM MotoGP World Championship Brno, Czech Republic August 17, 2008 Race Results: 1. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Bridgestone, 22 laps, 43:28.841 2. Toni ELIAS (Ducati), Bridgestone, -15.004 seconds 3. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), Bridgestone, -21.689 4. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Bridgestone, -25.859 5. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, -29.465 6. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, -30.608 7. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati), Bridgestone, -36.453 8. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), Bridgestone, -36.750 9. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), Michelin, -38.822 10. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), Michelin, -39.573 11. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, -39.610 12. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Ducati), Bridgestone, -40.892 13. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), Michelin, -71.490 14. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, -81.133 15. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Michelin, -97.038 16. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), Michelin, -98.407 17. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, -16 laps, DNF, crash MotoGP World Championship Point Standings (after 12 of 18 races): 1. Rossi, 237 points 2. Stoner, 187 3. Pedrosa, 172 4. Lorenzo, 120 5. Dovizioso, 110 6. Edwards, 102 7. Vermeulen, 99 8. Nicky Hayden, 84 9. Nakano, 83 10. Capirossi, 77 11. Toseland, 75 12. Elias, 66 13. De Angelis, 49 14. Guintoli, 42 15. Melandri, 41 16. De Puniet, 40 17. Hopkins, 37 18. West, 33 19. Ben Spies, 10 20. Jamie Hacking, 5 21. Tadayuki Okada, 2 More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: FIFTH WIN OF THE SEASON TAKES ROSSI FIFTY POINTS CLEAR Valentino Rossi moved two races clear at the top of the championship with his fifth win of the season today, enjoying an easy ride home after his closest rival Casey Stoner crashed out on lap seven. Rossi’s Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo made the best of a difficult situation, making up several places on his grid position and bringing his M1 home a creditable 10th. Rossi, starting from second, lost some time at the first corner getting past John Hopkins and for the first couple of laps Stoner looked in danger of clearing off, but the Italian soon found his rhythm and was gradually making up time on the Australian when he saw him slide off into the gravel. The pair had already opened out an impressive gap from the chasing pack and Rossi was left to race the remaining 15 laps alone and unchallenged, eventually coming home 15 seconds clear of Toni Elias. The seven-time world champion’s 67th premier-class victory takes him within one race of the all-time premier-class record, held by his compatriot Giacomo Agostini. Rossi is now 50 points clear of Stoner with Pedrosa 15 points off in third, whilst Lorenzo’s six points see him remain fourth in the standings, ten points ahead of Andrea Dovizioso. The team will remain in Brno for a two-day test, before the next round at Misano in Italy in two week’s time. Valentino Rossi Position: 1 Time: 43’28.841 “I was confident today because my bike was fast from Friday practice, and with Jeremy we made a small modification to the front after warm-up to allow me to be a bit faster in some sections, and it worked very well. I lost about half a second getting past Hopkins at the start and Casey was incredibly fast at that stage, like he’d already done ten laps! For a short time I was worried but then, after two laps, I understood that my bike was working very well and that I was fast enough to try to catch him. I had closed a little bit already and gradually the red bike was becoming a bit bigger in front of me, and I think this is when he started to push harder and made his mistake. I was anticipating a very hard battle if I did catch him, so when I saw the red bike slide out I could hardly believe it this made things a lot easier for me! After that I just enjoyed riding my bike; my Bridgestone tyres worked very well until the end and my M1 felt very good. Of course I can’t count this as a complete victory because Casey fell, and I am sorry for him, but this is racing and I have to be happy with this result. We are 50 points clear which is a lot and I am very excited to be going to Misano in this situation. However we know that 50 points is still not always enough when you have someone as strong as Casey and so we won’t relax. Now we have two days of testing and we will try some new electronics in order to help me open the throttle earlier and also, of course, test some Bridgestone tyres.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “Of course this is a very important victory for us and we’re very happy today. It’s clear that Valentino did a very good job at the start not to let Stoner get too far ahead, and he was starting to make up ground and put some pressure on him when he unfortunately crashed. Of course this made our job a lot easier! We need to keep going like this and not lose our concentration, but we’ve had two very good races and we are confident that we are in good shape. We have two days of testing now which will be very important for the final six races, and then we go to another home race at Misano and try to make up for last year!” More, from another press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: LORENZO FINISHES TENTH WITH GUTSY RIDE IN BRNO Fiat Yamaha Team rookie Jorge Lorenzo finished a creditable tenth in Brno today, making up seven places after starting last on the grid. The Spaniard made the most of the tools he had available to pass several riders, including two on the last lap, and hangs onto his fourth place in the championship as a result. His team-mate Valentino Rossi won his fifth race of the season and was saved another tense battle with Casey Stoner after the Australian crashed out of the lead on the seventh lap. Lorenzo was able to pass Colin Edwards early on and he then gradually settled into a rhythm and passed both James Toseland and Dani Pedrosa to take 12th. During the middle part of the race his lap times gradually improved and brought him closer to the next group and he was rewarded with an exciting final lap, which saw him pass first Sylvain Guintoli and then John Hopkins on the line to take tenth. Six points for Lorenzo see him stay ten points ahead of Andrea Dovizioso in fourth place in the championship, whilst Rossi is now 50 points clear of Stoner. The Fiat Yamaha Team now have two days of testing before they head to the next round at Misano in Italy in two week’s time. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 10th Time: +39.573 “This race is a bit sad for me because we have the potential to do a lot better. However considering what has happened this weekend and, above all, the problems with the front tyre, I think we have done almost as much as we could. At the start I didn’t want to take too many risks and I could feel that the front tyre was getting worse on each lap, but on the other hand the rear tyre was getting better each lap! I know that we have had had problems this weekend but I know that Michelin are working very hard, so now we will try to use the test to make some improvements. I want to say thank you to all of my team for their hard work, congratulate Valentino for his victory and finally also Toni Elias for his podium.” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “Today we couldn’t have done any better than this, but we can’t be satisfied to finish tenth. But overall Jorge did a great job and a good race, and he was able to find a good rhythm in the middle part of the race, continue until to the end and pass many riders, plus he was able to score some valuable points. Motivation in our team is still high because we have many more races to do and tomorrow at the test we will start again to work very hard with Michelin, look at the problems we have had here and try to find a way to improve things for the remaining races.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Valentino Rossi once again benefitted from Casey Stoner´s misfortune for a second consecutive MotoGP victory, crossing the finish line first at the Cardion ab Grand Prix Ceske republiky. The Fiat Yamaha rider´s win coupled with an early crash from his title rival- increased his lead to 50 points in the standings and gave a crucial boost to his World Championship chances. Stoner was caught by surprise on the sixth lap when out in front. He had over a second´s worth of advantage over Rossi after taking the holeshot, but slipped his front wheel out on the new Brno asphalt and was lowsided into the gravel. It was Stoner´s first DNF since his joining the Ducati Marlboro team for the 2007 season. Ducati were, however, represented on the podium in the Czech Republic, courtesy of Alice Team rider Toni Elias. The Spaniard had experienced problems on the sighting lap a sign that did not bode well for his race- but burst through the 800cc stars ahead of him from thirteenth on the grid. His second place marks the first podium for both he and his satellite team in 2008, and he became only the second satellite rider to step onto the rostrum this year. Another podium first came from Loris Capirossi, as the veteran made his maiden appearance on the rostrum for Rizla Suzuki. The Italian had taken off from the end of the third row, but showed that there was still life in his MotoGP career by making Suzuki the fourth manufacturer with which he had taken a top three finish in the premier class. Shinya Nakano paid back Honda for their decision to supply him with a factory spec RC212V for the remainder of the season, giving an immediate return with fourth place for San Carlo Honda Gresini. The Japanese rider was the highest placing rider for the manufacturer, with Michelin-shod factory man Dani Pedrosa way down in fifteenth place. Riding for his future in MotoGP, Anthony West had the best result of his premier class career onboard the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR. The Australian came home fifth after a superb ride, holding off fellow countryman Chris Vermeulen. Marco Melandri finished seventh in a race that will do much to aid his cause, whilst the top ten was completed by Alex de Angelis, Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo. The latter two were the only Michelin riders amongst the first ten past the line. Valentino Rossi Race Winner “I knew today would be very difficult with Casey (Stoner) so strong, and his first lap was impressive. I lost a bit of time with John (Hopkins) in the first corner, because he overtook me. This time we had the pace with Stoner, and I was catching up with him. I knew my setting and tyres were working well. I think I could possibly have beaten him in a battle. Unfortunately he crashed, and then I was ahead with a 11 second lead. If he hadn´t have crashed then things would have been tougher, for sure” Alex Debon put on a late, late show to take the second victory of his 250cc career, using every ounce of his experience to slip past Marco Simoncelli on the final lap in Brno. The Lotus Aprilia rider´s chance of victory looked to have fallen by the wayside with two laps to go, as poleman Simoncelli ducked inside him and established what seemed to be an unassailable gap. However, Debon was not in the mood to settle for second, and pinned his hopes on a final lap fightback that paid dividends for the Spaniard. Fellow Spaniard Alvaro Bautista also took advantage of a Simoncelli slip-up, taking a hard-fought second place from tenth on the grid. The Bancaja Aspar rider had less than a tenth of a second ahead of his Italian rival as the twosome crossed the finish line, continuing his attempt to salvage something from a 2008 season blighted by misfortune. Metis Gilera rider Simoncelli completed the podium at the track where he had first tested the RSA machine, and extended his advantage in the World Championship classification. The man with the points total closest to him Red Bull KTM man Mika Kallio- came in fifth, behind Hector Barbera. Yuki Takahashi, Mattia Pasini, Hector Faubel, Roberto Locatelli and Aleix Espargaro were the final riders in the top ten, whilst the only crashes of the race came from home rider Karel Abraham and Swiss star Thomas Luthi. Starting from thirteenth on the grid at Brno, Stefan Bradl became the third 125cc rider to win a first Grand Prix in 2008 with an assured ride. Ending a long drought for German riders in the World Championship, the Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing rider worked his way up to the frontrunners on the opening laps, before taking the lead definitively just before the midway stage. A series of fastest laps allowed Bradl to break free, putting enough of a gap between himself and the podium battle to avoid any late surprises. The Czech Republic win was Bradl´s third career podium, coming off the back of his home runner-up spot at the recent German round of the 125cc series. World Championship leader Mike di Meglio set himself the task of stalking Bradl on the final laps of the race, closing the gap down to under a second as the lap counter ticked down. The Ajo Motorsport rider was unable to catch the eventual winner, but extended his lead in the standings with a sixth podium of the 2008 season. The large Hungarian following present at Brno to cheer on Gabor Talmacsi left without the chance to see their hero on the podium, as the Mapfre Aspar rider missed out on the podium in a final lap duel with Joan Olive. A last gasp attempt to draft the Spaniard was unsuccessful, and the reigning 125cc World Champion was eliminated from the rostrum by less than a tenth of a second. Nico Terol and Bradley Smith were both involved in the early fight from the front row of the grid, but tailed off towards the end of the 19-lap race to finish fifth and sixth, respectively. Sandro Cortese, Pol Espargaro, Andrea Iannone and Simone Corsi concluded the top ten. More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: GRIP PROBLEMS CONSIGN PEDROSA TO 15th PLACE Repsol Czech Grand Prix, Brno Race day, Sunday August 17 2008 Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa had a demoralising ride to 15th in this afternoon’s Czech Grand Prix, the Spaniard badly troubled by tyre problems. Pedrosa, returning from the hand and wrist injuries he sustained during last month’s German GP, struggled throughout the weekend with lack of grip, his Michelin tyres not up to the expected level of performance in practice or today’s race. Yesterday he qualified 12th in a rain-lashed qualifying session. Despite the problems Pedrosa is still third in the World Championship points standings, with six of eighteen rounds remaining. The 2008 MotoGP series continues at Misano in two weeks, when Pedrosa will be rejoined by team-mate Nicky Hayden who missed this race due to a foot injury sustained during an X Games Supermoto event in Los Angeles on August 1. Dani Pedrosa, 15th, third in World Championship “This weekend has been a complete disaster. Today’s race was the probably worst of my career. In fact I couldn’t even race today, all I could do was ride. I couldn’t control the bike, I didn’t feel safe. I was riding so slow, I felt impotent and ashamed. I considered stopping but I stayed out there to get some points. We really need a drastic improvement from the tyres. I had no grip at the front and no grip at the rear, from the first lap to the last. It was therefore impossible for me to push any harder, even though I was going very slow, three or four seconds slower than the leader. I almost crashed twice, so I just tried to finish the race. I did my best in very difficult circumstances, at the end the tyre performance was even worse than it had been during the early laps.” Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager “It is very difficult for me to comment, other than to say that I am very disappointed with this weekend. It has been a disaster for us. We tried many different settings solutions to find better tyre performance but it was obvious from the first laps today that Dani was in a very difficult situation with poor grip. In fact I was worried that if he pushed harder he might crash. The team has done its best here but we have been restricted by tyre performance.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: CAREER BEST WEST FLIES TO FIFTH AT BRNO Kawasaki’s Anthony West achieved a MotoGP career best finish today, with a determined ride to fifth place aboard his Ninja ZX-RR at the Czech Republic Grand Prix. With a complete contrast in weather conditions following yesterday’s rain-soaked qualifying, West made a strong start to the 22-lap dry race from sixth position on the grid. Fourth into the first corner, the Australian rider immediately came under attack from the pursuing pack and, despite doing everything in his power to keep them at bay, the Kawasaki pilot dropped back to settle into a steady rhythm in sixth place. By the halfway mark West’s confidence had grown considerably. Casey Stoner’s crash at the front of the race left West in fifth place, but he quickly moved up to fourth after passing his Kawasaki teammate, John Hopkins, who was starting to struggle with a lack of rear traction. The 27-year-old Australian fought to maintain quick and consistent lap-times before losing out to a resurgent Shinya Nakano in the closing stages at the 5.403km track. West rode determinedly to the flag to achieve his best ever result in the premier class, crossing the line in an impressive fifth position aboard his Bridgestone-shod Ninja ZX-RR. Hopkins started the race well from the front row of the grid and battled throughout the opening laps for third position with the Suzukis of Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi. The 25-year-old Anglo-American dropped back to settle into seventh place but, despite looking almost certain for a strong result on his return to racing from injury, a disappointed Hopkins was struggling for rear grip and got ambushed by a succession of riders in the closing stages, pushing him back to 11th position at the chequered flag. Anthony West #13 – 5th Position “To finish fifth is a really great feeling and it just shows exactly what we are capable of achieving. I got a good start to the race, but I dropped down to sixth after a few laps and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to fight back, especially after not having much dry time on the bike here. However, my confidence grew as we went on and I was able to catch up with John and pass him for fourth at the halfway point. The grip levels dropped off towards the end, so there was nothing I could do about Shinya other than to continue lapping consistently to the flag. I felt so much more comfortable on the bike than I have done previously and the Bridgestone tyres definitely had an advantage over some of the other riders. I had to ride really hard today, in fact I didn’t even look at my pit board until halfway through, so there’s still more work to be done as we had to push a lot to get out of the turns fast enough. Thankfully it paid off and fifth place is my best result yet in MotoGP, so I’m really happy.” John Hopkins #21 – 11th Position “It’s obviously disappointing to finish the race in 11th place, especially after feeling so confident and strong early on. We took a gamble with our tyre choice today and used a rear tyre that nobody else had in their selection. I got a great start to the race and I sat behind the Suzuki riders while they battled things out for third. Unfortunately the tyre began to drop off and at the end of the race the left side just didn’t have any grip. Usually I can ride around a problem like this, but with the knee injury I’m carrying, I couldn’t prop the bike up to compensate for this lack of traction. The positive thing is that we were strong while the tyre was working well, and we achieved a front row start, so we have a goal to aim for in testing over the next few days. During the next two days of testing I’m looking forward to catching up on a lot of the riding I’ve missed through injury, improving the bike further and finding a solution to the problem we had today. I’d also like to congratulate Anthony; it’s great to see him riding like that again and he really deserved the result he achieved.” Michael Bartholemy Kawasaki Competition Manager “I am happy with this weekend as we’ve had a good pace right from the start, which shows the potential results we can achieve. Anthony has really impressed me today because I wasn’t really expecting him to achieve a result like this in the dry and he rode a fantastic race throughout. I am sorry for John because he was strong early on in the race, but there was little he could do when the grip dropped off. We now have two days testing where John has some important track time to catch up on the races he’s missed in the last few weeks. We have some more parts to evaluate and we will also be working closely with Bridgestone to make improvements with the tyres. Overall I am pleased and I hope we can continue with this kind of form in the future.” More, from a press release issued by Tech 3 Yamaha: Tech 3 Yamaha show fighting spirit in Brno Tech 3 Yamaha’s James Toseland and Colin Edwards raced to top 15 results in today’s Czech Republic GP.In front of a record crowd of over 146,000 fans at a cool and cloudy Brno, the 22-lap race proved to be a tough challenge for Toseland and Edwards, who both gave their maximum effort in difficult circumstances to claim 13th and 14th places respectively. Starting from the back row of the grid, Toseland made his customary good start, gaining two places on the first lap. The 27-year-old once again showed his never-say-die attitude, despite some traction issues as he scored points for the ninth time in 11 races. Edwards was one place further back as he too encountered some grip issues in an effort to maintain his pursuit of Toseland, as the Tech 3 duo fought closely in the opening stages. The American still remains firmly in the hunt for fourth place in the world championship, lying 18-points behind fellow Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo with six races remaining. Tech 3 Yamaha also remains in contention for a top four finish in the Team World Championship, and is still the leading non-factory team in the standings heading to the Misano round on August 31. James Toseland 13th 75 points “It was a difficult race and the result is clearly not where we want to be. I don’t want to be fighting at the back of the top 15, and neither does my team or Yamaha and it is disappointing. All I can do is go out there with whatever I have got underneath me and give it my maximum and I did that. But this team and Yamaha deserve to be higher up and today wasn’t good enough. It would be easy to let my head drop but I have never been that type of rider and I am not going to start now. I was reasonably happy with my start but I had a few moments with the front tyre on the first couple of laps and I soon realised that I was at my maximum and that I wasn’t going to be able to do much more. It is disappointing because I have slipped out of the top ten in the standings and that was one of my big goals before the start of the season. We have got to keep working hard as a team and hope that Michelin can quickly turn it around for the rest of the season so we can try and get back into that top ten and keep the morale up of the team. Colin had even had more problems than me so it must have been tough for him, but this is the situation we are in. We will all keep pushing hard and see what we can do.” Colin Edwards 14th 102 points “I could see straightaway behind James that he was having some issues with the front tyre, which we expected. I still thought I could put a good pace together but it never happened. I just didn’t have the confidence I needed to push harder with the tyres and the more I pushed I didn’t seem to go much faster. James was able to leave me pretty easily as my issues started to get worse but I wanted to stay out there and try my best for my guys at Tech 3 and Yamaha, who as always have been working like crazy to help me this weekend. I thank them for that, but there was nothing else I could do. Towards the end I just decided to take a few more risks and I went a bit quicker, but there was no way I was going to catch anybody. I’ve had a bad run lately but I’m still in contention for fourth in the championship, and I’ll keep fighting. But we need big improvements from Michelin. The good start we had to the season seems like a long way away now, and we have to work with Michelin to try and solve some of the issues because I didn’t enjoy today at all.” Herve Poncharal Team Manager “We thought the disappointment of Laguna Seca would be forgotten after the summer break and we would have a positive weekend in Brno. Unfortunately from the very beginning of the weekend we understood it was going to be another tough weekend. Clearly we couldn’t challenge the tyre opposition. We have been trying a lot of different settings to try and cope with that, but it was difficult. The most difficult was qualifying in the rain conditions and we were far behind. We knew starting from the last two rows it would be a tough race but James and Colin still tried as hard as they could and they stayed on track and scored a few points. But this is not how we started the championship and today was a really difficult day. To see the chequered flag with a few points is a relief but for sure there will be a lot of meetings and a lot of thinking of what to do for the future because we keep on losing ground in the championship and this is very disappointing.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER SLIDES OUT OF BRNO LEAD AS MELANDRI CLINCHES ENCOURAGING SEVENTH Casey Stoner was unable to turn his sixth successive pole position into a podium today when he relinquished a one-second advantage over Valentino Rossi and crashed out of the twelfth round of the season at Brno. It is the first time the reigning World Champion has not made it to the chequered flag after thirty races, since signing for Ducati at the start of 2007, and it leaves him 50 points behind the Italian rider with six races remaining. Marco Melandri, who started from the fourth row of the grid, put together an impressive charge through the field to finish in seventh place – his second best result of the season. Following the Czech Republic Grand Prix, Ducati moved up to second in the constructors’ championship at the expense of Honda thanks to a fantastic podium for Toni Elias, who came from the penultimate row of the grid to finish second. MARCO MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team) 7th “The first ten laps were really difficult because I got a bad start and I didn’t have a good feeling. I couldn’t push the bike on the way in or the way out of the corners because the bike wasn’t hooking up and it felt nervous. Gradually as the fuel load lightened and the tyres got up to temperature the grip improved and became more precise. I managed to improve my pace lap by lap and caught the group ahead of me, then made some passes. It’s a shame I lost more than ten seconds over the opening laps because we could have had a really good result today.” CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) DNF “Obviously we are all disappointed with this result because our pace in practice was good, everything went very well this morning and we felt we could push out in front. Things were going according to plan until the crash. I was doing the same lap time over and over and I was quite happy with the pace I was running. The crash came out of the blue, that corner was an easy one but I lost the front and it happened very quickly, very suddenly and I didn’t manage to save it. It’s a hard one to explain and we will look at the data but sometimes this kind of crash happens at this level of racing and it was my mistake! We knew that we needed to win this race – and more – in order to close down Valentino’s advantage so this makes the championship very difficult for us. Anything can happen in racing but fifty points is a big gap against such a strong and consistent competitor. Anyway I never throw in the towel, nor does anybody at Ducati, and we will keep fighting until the end. Misano is a home race for the factory and there will be lots of Ducatisti there, so my main thought now is to stay positive and bounce back with a good show for them in two weeks’ time”. LIVIO SUPPO (Ducati MotoGP Project Director) “I’m obviously disappointed for Casey because after another incredible weekend it’s a small mistake – his first in a race since he’s been riding for us – has cost us very dearly. Anyway, we have to think positive and continue to work hard to put him in the right conditions to ride as hard as that in the six races that are left. Marco’s second half of the race was really positive – it’s a shame he struggled so much over the opening laps. I want to congratulate Toni (Elias) for an incredible race: I’m so pleased for him, for his team, for Filippo (Preziosi) and Vittoriano (Guareschi) because today we showed our bike is competitive not only with Casey.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: ROSSI WINS, STONER FALLS, NO GRIP FOR PEDROSA Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) put one hand on the 2008 World Championship here at Brno today when he won from Toni Elias (Ducati) with seasoned campaigner Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) third. With Casey Stoner (Ducati) falling on lap seven and failing to score, and with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) collecting just one point for a gutsy 15th place riding with little grip and even less confidence from poorly performing tyres, Rossi has all but secured the title. With six rounds left and holding a 50-point lead, it is effectively now his to lose. Stoner romped into the lead from pole as extinguished lights signalled the start of a 22-lap race around the majestic dips and curves of this 5.403km woodland circuit. Hopkins and Rossi chased him from the front row with Rossi eventually getting the better of the unyielding Hopkins for second. Dani had powered from 12th on the grid to sixth from the start, his trademark rapid launch serving him well after qualifying so low. But as the pace hotted up it was abundantly clear his rubber was not up to the demands of this newly resurfaced track and he dropped back lap by lap. Anthony West (Kawasaki) moved up to fourth from sixth on the grid as Stoner established a 0.6 second lead by the halfway point of lap one. By the end of that opening lap it was a 1.1 second lead and Rossi was giving it everything to stay in touch with the flying Aussie. Dani was hanging onto sixth but by lap two he’d slipped back to eighth. There was nothing he could do about abject lack of grip, from his front tyre in particular. All the Michelin riders were suffering here to a degree not seen before in MotoGP. By lap four Rossi had stabilised Stoner’s lead. Having pushed his advantage to 1.3 seconds Stoner now had to find more to put distance between his Ducati and the chasing Rossi. He found it with a fastest lap on lap five, but on lap seven Stoner’s title challenge derailed. He lost the front end of his machine, tumbled into the gravel, and despite frantic efforts to restart and rejoin the race he parked his bike and trudged back to the pits. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) also crashed on this lap but managed to get back on track to finish the race in 16th place. Rossi now led the Suzukis of Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi by 12 seconds. There was no way he was going to be caught and, with no pressure from title rivals, unlikely he would make an error. Sure enough he kept his composure to win by 15 seconds from Elias. There was action aplenty downfield. Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Scot Honda RC212V) had hoisted himself to seventh, Shinya Nakano (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) lay ninth and Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) tenth, while a four-rider fight for fourth ensued. Capirossi, Vermeulen, Hopkins and the rapid Elias were battling it out before it became clear that Elias had the measure of them all. He eased away to secure second while a hard-charging Nakano hauled himself up from seventh mid-race to fourth at the flag, and highest Honda finisher. Dovizioso was the highest-placed Michelin-shod Honda rider in ninth place, one place behind De Angelis. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) did not ride this weekend after injuring his foot at the Los Angeles X Games earlier this month. Fourth-placed Nakano said: “We took another step forward with the new bike today although I have to say that it has not been easy to get this result. We came to Brno without any test data but the team did a great job with the set-up. I’m just disappointed I lost positions at the start because I made contact with another rider, but at the same time satisfied to have recovered and finished the race in fourth a result I can be pleased with.” His team-mate De Angelis, eighth, said: “Even if I finished the race as the best of the RC212V satellite riders today’s result isn’t too satisfying because we were expecting to finish in the top six. We weren’t too far off that target but this wasn’t the race we’d imagined. Unfortunately after the first lap, when I lost several positions, I made several passes but lost position to other riders who were faster down the straights. Tomorrow we’ll make the most of the test here at Brno to continue to improve ahead of the San Marino Grand Prix, which is of special importance to me.” Dovi, ninth, said: “My goal for the race was to be the first Michelin rider home, which is what I have achieved, but things were too difficult to do better. I started fully motivated and wanting to give the maximum and exploit fully the material at our disposal, but today I cannot be satisfied with the result. I had difficulty with the front tyre and was forced to change my style of riding, which meant not being able to exploit my speed in the corners.” Dani, 15th, said: “This weekend has been a complete disaster probably the worst of my career. In fact I couldn’t even race today, all I could do was ride; I couldn’t control the bike, I didn’t feel safe. I was riding so slow I felt ashamed. I considered stopping but I stayed out there to get some points. We really need a drastic improvement from the tyres. I had no grip at the front and no grip at the rear, from the first lap to the last. It was therefore impossible for me to push any harder. I almost crashed twice, so I just tried to finish the race. At the end the tyre performance was even worse than during the early laps.” De Puniet, 16th, said: “Honestly I’m very angry. I made a good start but couldn’t race as I wanted and was struggling a lot for front-end feel. Many riders passed me in the corner entries and in the first laps I lost the front a few times. So I decided to slow down but the feeling with the front was very bad. When I tried to pass Pedrosa in the chicane I crashed out in the gravel but rejoined the race. I suffered the same crash of Friday afternoon and, although my crew worked hard to find a solution, we did not solve the problem with the front tyre.” Rossi now has 237 points, Stoner 187 and Dani 172. The next round of six remaining is at San Marino, Italy on the weekend of August 31st. 250cc Grand Prix Alex Debon (Aprilia) took a finely judged win ahead of Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) who was second and Marco Simoncelli (Derbi) who was relegated to third after being in the hunt for the win for much of this 20-lap race. Simoncelli led into turn one before Thomas Luthi (Aprilia) stole past him to exploit an open track. Luthi would then drop back a place before crashing out while trying to hold second place. The race then became a Debon, Bautsista, Simoncelli show as they headed Mika Kallio (KTM) and Hector Barbera (Aprilia) in fourth and fifth by 1.5 seconds with five laps to go. Yuki Takahashi (JiR Scot Honda RS250RW) finished a strong sixth, nudging ahead of Mattia Pasini (Aprilia) as they crossed the line. Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT SAG RS250RW) rode to 11th after starting from 20th on the grid. Takahashi said: “I’m very satisfied with the result today, because I have taken important points for the standings and I gave my maximum in the race. I started well but in the third corner I ended up on the dirt and in danger of crashing, this made me lose time and I was down in eleventh position. It was difficult, but I never gave up and on the last lap I reached Pasini and I managed to pass him before the chequered flag. We are all encouraged now to do as best we can the next Grand Prix at Misano, my ‘second home race’ because I live in Italy near the circuit.” Wilairot said: “It was a strange weekend, practice sessions were really complicated because of the rainy weather and a lack of feeling with the bike. But today everything changed. I made a good start, but in the first five laps it was difficult for me to pass Fabrizio Lai because he rode at a slower pace and braked very late. Finally I got past and got to finish in 11th, I’m really happy with the whole team who have worked very hard and never lost the trust in me to have a good race.” The World Championship points table now shows Simoncelli out in front with 180 points to the 164 of Mika Kallio, who was fifth here today. Debon lies third with 139 points and Bautista is fourth on 138. 125cc Grand Prix Stefan Bradl (Aprilia) won the first Grand Prix of his career ahead of World Championship points leader Mike Di Meglio who finished second and Joan Olive in third (both Derbi). Bradl’s father Helmut won here on a 250cc Honda in 1991. Bradley Smith (Aprilia) launched off the line to head the pack into turn one but as early as lap three Bradl took charge of this 19-lap race and always looked as if he’d be in the mix for the podium places at the end. So it proved. By mid-race Bradl set a fastest lap of 2m 08.923s and barring any lapses in concentration or mechanical disasters it was his race. Di Meglio collected useful points in second while Olive deprived Hungarian ‘local’ Gabor Talmacsi (Aprilia) of a podium. Honda’s representative in this class Louis Rossi (FFM Racing Honda RS125R) finished 29th and said: “This was my first time on this difficult racetrack. I improved on my qualifying time by 3.5 seconds, which is enormous. I had a good start and was part of a group. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay with them until the end of the race. I had some chatter when leant over and I failed to keep up. It’s a shame.” Di Meglio heads the World Championship with 186 points to the 142 of Simone Corsi (Aprilia) who finished tenth here today. Bradl is third with 126 points and reigning World Champion Talmacsi fourth with 122. Honda rider quotes. GP CZ Final qualifying August 16, 2008. MotoGP: Shinya Nakano, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 4th. “We took another step forward with the new bike today although I have to say that it has not been easy to get this result. We came to Brno without any test data but the team did a great job with the set-up. I want to thank Honda and Team Gresini for giving me the chance to ride this bike, which represents a great opportunity for me to improve on the results we’ve managed so far. I’m just disappointed that I lost positions at the start because I made contact with another rider but at the same time satisfied to have recovered and finished the race in fourth a result I can be pleased with.” Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 8th. “Even I finished the race as the best of the RC212V satellite riders today’s result isn’t too satisfying because we were expecting to finish in the top six. We weren’t too far off that target but this wasn’t the race we’d imagined. Unfortunately after the first lap, when I lost several positions, I made several passes but lost the position to other riders who were faster down the straights. Tomorrow we’ll make the most of the test here at Brno to continue to improve ahead of the San Marino Grand Prix, which is of special importance to me.” Andrea Dovizioso, JiR Scot Honda: 9th. “My goal for the race was to be the first Michelin rider home, which is what I have achieved, but things were too difficult to do better. I started fully motivated and wanting to give the maximum and exploit fully the material at our disposal, but today I cannot be satisfied with the result. I had difficulty with the front tyre and was forced to change my style of riding, which meant not being able to exploit my speed in the corners. I had to stop hard and fire the bike out of the corners, rather than have a smoother style. This difficulty penalised us in the race.” Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 15th. “This weekend has been a complete disaster. Today’s race was the probably worst of my career. In fact I couldn’t even race today, all I could do was ride. I couldn’t control the bike, I didn’t feel safe. I was riding so slow, I felt impotent and ashamed. I considered stopping but I stayed out there to get some points. We really need a drastic improvement from the tyres. I had no grip at the front and no grip at the rear, from the first lap to the last. It was therefore impossible for me to push any harder, even though I was going very slow, three or four seconds slower than the leader. I almost crashed twice, so I just tried to finish the race. I did my best in very difficult circumstances, at the end the tyre performance was even worse than it had been during the early laps.” Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda: 16th. “Honestly I’m very angry. I made a good start but couldn’t race as I wanted and was struggling a lot for front-end feel. Many riders passed me in the corner entries and in the first laps I lost the front a few times. So I decided to slow down but the feeling with the front was very bad. When I tried to pass Pedrosa in the chicane I crashed out in the gravel but rejoined the race. I suffered the same crash of Friday afternoon and, although my crew worked hard to find a solution, we did not solve the problem with the front tyre.” Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: Will did race due to injuries sustained at X Games Supermoto event in Los Angeles on August 1. 250cc: Yukio Takahashi, JiR Scot Honda: 6th. “I am very satisfied with the result today, because I have taken important points for the standings and I gave my very maximum in the race. I started well but in the third corner I ended up on the dirt and in danger of crashing, this made me lose time and I was down in eleventh position. It was difficult, but I never gave up and on the last lap I reached Pasini and I managed to pass him before the chequered flag. It was an important weekend for the team and I, because we continually improved and the result today motivates us to continue to do so. We are all encouraged now to do as best we can the next Grand Prix at Misano, my ‘second home race’ because I live in Italy near the circuit. I thank the team today that has done an excellent job over the whole weekend.” Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT SAG: 11th. “It was a strange weekend, practice sessions were really complicated because of the rainy weather and a lack of feeling with the bike, I was suffering until I thought I would not qualify. Today everything changed a lot, I’ve made a good start, but in the first five laps it was difficult for me to pass Fabrizio Lai because he rode at a slow pace but he braked very late, and this fact made it complicated for me to pass him. Finally I’ve got passed and I got to finish the race in 11th position, for this I’m really happy and I am pleased with my the whole team who have worked very hard and never lost the trust in me to have a good race.” 125cc: Louis Rossi, FFM Honda: 29th. “This race was pretty hard as this was my first time on this difficult racetrack. Insofar as we had a lot of rain during the practice session, I was missing riding in dry conditions. Nonetheless during the race I improved by 3.5 seconds on my qualifying time, which is enormous. I had a good start and was part of a group with Alexis Masbou, Robert Muresan, Hugo Van den Berg and Bastien Chesaux. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to keep up with them until the end of the race. I had some chattering when leaned over with my Honda and I failed to keep up. It’s a real shame but I wasn’t able to catch up with them.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Loris Capirossi raced his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R to his maiden podium for the team – and 99th overall of his career – at the Czech Grand Prix in Brno today. Starting from ninth on the grid Capirossi lost a couple of places early on, but he fought back to regain them by the end of the first lap. He then set about hunting down the riders in front of him and was involved in numerous battles before making his way up to a podium position on lap seven. He then became involved in a fight with team-mate Chris Vermeulen until the experienced Italian finally got the better of his colleague on lap nine, after the two had overtaken each other a number of times. Capirossi held on to second place briefly before being passed by Toni Elias, but from then on a podium position never looked in doubt and Capirossi crossed the line in third place to the delight of his team. Vermeulen had a strong start to the race and was up into third on the fifth lap, and was then promoted to second when early race-leader Casey Stoner crashed out. Unfortunately, Vermeulen couldn’t hold on to a podium position as he started to suffer with some front grip issues and was relegated down to seventh. He battled on for the rest of the race and fought his way back to sixth at the end to leave him in seventh place overall in the World Championship. Today’s race was held in dry, but very overcast conditions with track temperatures reaching 29ºC. A record crowd of 146,133 packed the circuit to see Valentino Rossi race to his fifth win of the season and strengthen his lead at the top of the championship table. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP now remains in Brno for a two-day test where it will evaluate many new parts for the ever-improving Rizla Suzuki GSV-R. The team will then travel to Misano for the San Marino Grand Prix which will be held on Sunday 31st August. Loris Capirossi: “I want to say what a fantastic day this is for me today! After the injury in Barcelona I have not had the opportunity to go quick due to my condition, but all the people around me – including the whole team and Suzuki – stayed really close to me and gave me great support so I am really happy to pay them back with this podium – it actually feels more like a win for me because it means so much! After the break following Laguna, I was able to get some rest and start training again to get myself back in the best condition, and although I am still not 100% I am nearly there and I was able to challenge all weekend. My dream this weekend was to fight for a podium, after Friday I felt I could do that and today I started with a good focus to do my best. This result is for all the team and everybody working with me, because when we make a great result I am really happy, and today I am certainly really happy!” Chris Vermeulen: “I got a good start and was scrapping with the Kawasakis which seemed like they were surprisingly fast today and got held up by them a bit. I managed to get past Ant West and then started to catch John Hopkins, but I started to have some issues with front grip and had to change the way I was riding the bike. Once I got past John it felt like I had nothing left and the situation was getting worse which was awful as the race was only about seven laps old! I kept my head down and worked out the best way to ride and how to try to preserve the tyre. At one stage I thought about coming in, but I worked it out and managed to get home in sixth place to get some points. I’d like to congratulate Loris on his podium today. It was good to see him come back like that after his injury and I’m very happy for him!” Paul Denning Team Manager: “Everybody at Rizla Suzuki and back at the Factory are absolutely delighted for Loris that he has overcome the injuries that have restricted him in the last few Grands Prix he has shown true fighting spirit. A podium is a great reward for his efforts and for his crew who have kept working so hard to help us move forward. Thanks to Loris and to them! “Early in the race it also looked like we had the potential for Chris to be challenging for the podium, but it wasn’t to be. I think today’s conditions were a bit different to Friday afternoon and unfortunately both the guys but to a larger extent Chris suffered from that, making it difficult to keep a consistently fast pace throughout the race. Nonetheless, Chris adapted well and came back into the top-six at the end, and again his performance this weekend has been very strong and consistent. “Whilst we’re very happy with our third podium in succession, at the same time we have to be realistic and acknowledge that the gap to the winning pace is too big for comfort. We know we have the riders and the crew to take the next step and we are looking forward to a very extensive test over the next two days, with a huge number of items to try, to help us close that gap as quickly as we can.” More, from a press release issued by Alice Ducati: ELIAS TAKES THE ALICE TEAM ON THE PODIUM IN BRNO. GUINTOLI TWELFTH. Fantastic day at the Brno circuit. Toni Elias, Alice Team rider, has registered great lap times since the warm up concluded with the fifth fastest lap time. Then in the race, where he started in thirteenth position, he has made understand that today it was a completely different story. Incredible overtakes that allowed him to find himself in sixth position after only seven laps. But the Spanish rider wanted more, pushing his Ducati Desmosedici GP8 Sat with Bridgestone tyres to the maximum reaching in short time the group battling for second position. In just a few laps, thanks to spectaculars overtake, the second position was secured and he was able to control the distance from the third rider, Loris Capirossi. First podium of the Alice Team’s history and a lot of happiness in the garage. His teammate, Sylvain Guintoli, hasn’t been so lucky today. In the warm up he even registered better lap times compared Elias, but during the race he found a technical problem that didn’t allowed him to push at the limit. The Frenchmen has concluded in twelfth position and will try to do much better in the next world championship round in Misano in two weeks time. Fabiano Sterlacchini — Alice Team Technical Director “Surely a great day for us. Since Friday we understood that we could have fought with the fastest riders on this track and Toni has been superlative today. In the warm up we have found a great compromise for the race that allowed Toni to make an incredible comeback. We hope to remain at this level till the end of the season. Unluckily Sylvain, who also registered very interesting lap times during the all weekend, encountered some technical problems that didn’t allow him to give his best. We are sure he will be able to do better in Misano.” Toni Elias — Alice Team rider (2nd in the race, 12th in the MotoGP World Championship) “I am very happy by my performance. Since Germany we have improved a lot also thanks to the new technical material received by Ducati. I also thought I could have done a podium in Laguna Seca but I committed a mistake and I couldn’t make it. Today everything went in the right direction. I am sure that we can maintain the same level for the rest of the season. I heard rumors that wanted me in Superbike next season: I never spoke to anybody in Superbike and I want to remain in MotoGP for many more years. I am happy to work in the Alice Team and with the Pramac Racing structure. If things will go well in this final part of the season I don’t see why I should change Team.” Sylvain Guintoli — Alice Team rider (12th in the race, 14th in the MotoGP World Championship) “This morning everything seemed perfect. I registered very interesting rhythm that would have allowed me to be easily in the top five during the race. Unluckily, after only a few laps, I lost grip with the right side of the front tyre and my lap times were more than a second slower compared to this morning. I don’t know what happened, we are analyzing the situation, but I am very disappointed because we could had have a really good race.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: De Puniet out of luck AT BRNO GP Brno, 17 August 2008: after yesterdays good qualifying session result on the wet, LCR Honda MotoGP racer Randy De Puniet made a good start from the 7th place for the 22-lap race at Brno track but crashed out on lap six. Luckily the Frenchman aboard the Michelin-shod Honda RC212V escaped unhurt from the incident and rejoined the twelfth round of the season ending 16th. De Puniet qualified 11th in this morning warm up session which was held in dry conditions with the 27-year-old struggling a lot for front-end feel. After a good start from the third row Randy tried to set his rhythm but after few laps he started to loose the front again. The premier class riders will be back on track tomorrow for two testing-day. Rossi won the race ahead 149.133 fans followed by Elias and Capirossi. De Puniet 16th: “Honestly I am very angry. I made a good start but could not race as I would like because struggled a lot for front-end feel. Many riders passed me in the corner entry and in the first laps I lost the front a few times. So I decided to slow down but the feeling with the front was very bad. When I tried to pass Pedrosa in the chicane I crashed out in the gravel but rejoined the race. I suffered the same crash of Friday afternoon and, although my crew worked hard to find a solution, we did not solve the problem with the front tyre. I want to forget this bad week end”. More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Rossi wins in Brno as Bridgestone riders take top honours Round 12: Czech Republic Race Automotodrom Brno Sunday 17 August 2008 Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi has this afternoon claimed his fifth win of the season at the Czech Republic Grand Prix, leading an all-Bridgestone podium in a race which saw the top eight places occupied by riders using Bridgestone tyres. It is Bridgestone’s best combined result in MotoGP, beating the previous best top six result from Turkey 2007, and the tyre manufacturer’s third consecutive win in Brno. Second place went to Alice Team’s Toni Elias who stormed through the field from 13th on the grid to claim his and the team’s first podium result of the season after a heroic ride aboard his Ducati. Loris Capirossi also made a welcome and well deserved return to the podium in third place, increasing Rizla Suzuki’s run of podiums to three consecutive races. San Carlo Honda Gresini enjoyed a competitive afternoon with Shinya Nakano making strong headway during the race to take fourth place, just four seconds off the podium, and setting the third fastest lap of the race overall. Kawasaki’s Anthony West had his most competitive event of the year with a fine fifth place, ahead of the Suzuki of Chris Vermeulen in sixth, Marco Melandri in seventh for Ducati and the Alex De Angelis in eighth for Honda Gresini. As a result of his victory, Rossi has extended his lead of the world championship to fifty points with early race leader Casey Stoner not scoring after retiring from the 22-lap event on the seventh lap. Stoner still holds second in the ranking and demonstrated his sheer pace around the resurfaced Brno circuit by laying claim to the fastest lap of the race, smashing the existing record by almost one second. Hiroshi Yamada Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Sport Unit “I am very pleased with the results that we have achieved across all six of our teams during this weekend in Brno and I’d like to extend my thanks to each of them for their efforts. We had our most successful qualifying performance of the season in the rain yesterday, which has been followed by our best ever race result in the dry this afternoon. Congratulations to Valentino and Yamaha for another win, their fifth of the season, which adds another 25 points to their championship total. Casey was very unfortunate and it is a shame that he could not capitalise on the strong form that he has demonstrated this weekend. Brno has been a good track for us in recent years and it is nice to continue our winning streak in this year’s event. with Toni and Loris also scoring their first podiums of the season.” Tohru Ubukata Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development “Our tyres were able to help many of our riders obtain really good results in today’s race and it shows that our approach and our tyre choice were generally correct for this new surface. After a positive Friday, we lost a lot of important dry weather running in Saturday’s wet sessions, which prevented us from understanding the behaviour of the tyres over longer distances. The new asphalt is particularly tough on the front tyre and, unfortunately, Chris and Sylvain experienced front-end difficulties which did not allow them to challenge as high up the field as their practice pace suggested they could. John also had a difficult race after a great start, losing rear grip which gradually dropped him down the order. Nevertheless, considering the difficult situation with the new track surface, I think today’s result is a great achievement for us.” Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team Race Winner and Championship Leader “I was confident today because my bike was fast from Friday practice, and with Jeremy we made a small modification to the front after warm-up to allow me to be a bit faster in some sections, and it worked very well. I lost about half a second getting past Hopkins at the start and Casey was incredibly fast at that stage, like he’d already done ten laps! For a short time I was worried but then, after two laps, I understood that my bike was working very well and that I was fast enough to try to catch him. I was anticipating a very hard battle if I did catch him, so when I saw the red bike slide out I could hardly believe it this made things a lot easier for me! After that I just enjoyed riding my bike; my Bridgestone tyres worked very well until the end and my M1 felt very good. Now we have two days of testing and we will try some new electronics in order to help me open the throttle earlier and also, of course, test some Bridgestone tyres” Bridgestone-shod Riders’ Race Results and Tyre Choices Pos. Rider Team Race Time Gap Front Tyre (all 16.5”) Rear Tyre (all 16.5”) P1 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 43m28.841s Winner Slick-Medium Slick-Hard P2 Toni Elias Alice Team 43m43.845s +15.004s Slick-Medium Slick-Soft P3 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 43m50.530s +21.689s Slick-Hard Slick-Hard P4 Shinya Nakano San Carlo Honda Gresini 43m54.700s +25.859s Slick-Medium Slick-Hard P5 Anthony West Kawasaki Racing Team 43m58.306s +29.465s Slick-Medium Slick-Medium P6 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 43m59.449s +30.608s Slick-Hard Slick-Hard P7 Marco Melandri Ducati Corse 44m05.294s +36.453s Slick-Medium Slick-Medium P8 Alex De Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 44m05.591s +36.750s Slick-Hard Slick-Hard P11 John Hopkins Kawasaki Racing Team 44m08.451s +39.610s Slick-Hard Slick-Medium P12 Sylvain Guintoli Alice Team 44m09.733s +40.892s Slick-Medium Slick-Medium DNF Casey Stoner Ducati Corse 11m49.228s +16 laps Slick-Medium Slick-Medium Weather: Dry Air 20°C, Track 29°C (Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by JiR Team Scot Honda: Andrea Dovizioso in the top ten at Brno The weekend of the Czech Republic Grand Prix has ended with a race that threw the usual form-book into disarray. Andrea Dovizioso after two days of intensive work, which was broken by unstable weather conditions that complicated work in the garage, made the most of the materials and technical package at his disposal. With determination from fourteenth position on the grid, the Honda of JiR Team Scot moved up to ninth place by the chequered flag. In the championship Andrea sits in fifth overall and took another point off Jorge Lorenzo in fourth. Gianluca Montiron – Director JiR Team Scot “After this weekend we must give merit and praise for Andrea and the team’s efforts for their hard work. Andrea himself has demonstrated once again his technical skills, and his ability to interpret, and adapt his style of riding to the package at his disposal. He has shown himself to be a great professional, both inside and outside of the MotoGP world. In the end, we gained points that bring us closer to what could be our end goal of the season, which is fourth place in championship standings.” Andrea Dovizioso – Pilot JiR Team Scot MotoGP HONDA RC212V 9th position, 13th-best time: 1’59 “368 “My goal for the race was to be the first Michelin rider home, which is what I have achieved, but things were too difficult to do better. I started fully motivated and wanting to give the maximum and exploit fully the material at our disposal, but today I cannot be satisfied with the result. I had difficulty with the front tyre and was forced to change my style of riding, which meant not being able to exploit my speed in the corners. I had to stop hard and fire the bike out of the corners, rather than have a smoother style. This difficulty penalised us in the race.” Cirano Mularoni – Team Manager JiR Team Scot “In the light of practice results and the course of the race, the result today was determined by the performance of tyres. Despite all the best efforts of the team and with us trying to continually improve things, the performance gap we suffered from could not be bridged. We are now preparing for the next Grand Prix at Misano with relative optimism but as always very motivated.” More, from a press release issued by Michelin: MICHELIN ENDURES TOUGH DAY AT BRNO Michelin had a difficult day at Brno today, Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot Honda RC212V-Michelin) and Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) the company’s top riders in ninth and tenth positions. “First of all, we must say thank you to our riders and also to the teams for the work they have done over the weekend trying to help us as much as they could,” said Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing. “Obviously we are very upset with the performance of our tires and the results we achieved today. We knew it was going to be extremely difficult for our riders because we have struggled with front-tire performance since Friday. We therefore knew that our riders would really struggle with the front tire during the race. Now we need to understand the problems we faced here, where we also struggled last year. We have to make a big improvement to our performance at tracks like Brno. Now we will do our maximum to prepare in the best way possible for the next race at Misano, which is a different track and a different challenge.”