2007 FIM MotoGP World Championship Esotril, Portugal September 16, 2007 Race Results: 1. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Michelin, 28 laps, 45:49.911 2. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Michelin, -0.175 second 3. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, -1.477 seconds 4. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda), Michelin, -12.951 seconds 5. Marco MELANDRI (Honda), Bridgestone, -17.343 seconds 6. John HOPKINS (Suzuki), Bridgestone, -18.857 seconds 7. Carlos CHECA (Honda), Michelin, -31.524 seconds 8. Toni ELIAS (Honda), Bridgestone, -40.535 seconds 9. Loris CAPIROSSI (Ducati), Bridgestone, -43.107 seconds 10. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, -44.674 seconds 11. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Michelin, -45.403 seconds 12. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, -54.562 seconds 13. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, -60.002 seconds 14. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Yamaha), Dunlop, -1 lap, pitted 15. Makoto TAMADA (Yamaha), Dunlop, -5 laps, DNF, crash 16. Alex BARROS (Ducati), Bridgestone, -6 laps, DNF, retired 17. Randy DE PUNIET (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, -9 laps, DNF, retired 18. Alex HOFMANN (Ducati), Bridgestone, -17 laps, DNF, retired 19. Kurtis ROBERTS (KR-Honda), Michelin, -26 laps, DNF, retired 2007 FIM MotoGP World Championship Point Standings (after 14 of 18 races): 1. Stoner, 287 points 2. Rossi, 211 3. Pedrosa, 188 4. Hopkins, 150 5. Vermeulen, 147 6. Melandri, 137 7. Edwards, 106 8. TIE, Capirossi/Nicky Hayden, 105 10. Barros, 83 11. Elias, 71 12. Hofmann, 65 13. De Puniet, 58 14. Checa, 54 15. West, 45 16. Nakano, 42 17. Tamada, 33 18. Guintoli, 30 19. Kurtis Roberts, 10 20. TIE, Roger Hayden/Michel Fabrizio, 6 22. Fonsi Nieto, 5 23. TIE, Olivier Jacque/Kenny Lee Roberts, 4 More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Valentino Rossi bounced back from his Misano heartbreak to take a gripping victory in the bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal. The Italian was at his exciting best onboard the factory Yamaha M1 at Estoril, winning at the track for the fifth time in the premier class after out-manoeuvring Honda’s Dani Pedrosa. The duo were virtually inseparable from the beginning of the race, battling amongst themselves after MotoGP World Championship leader Casey Stoner was effectively removed from the equation in the early stages. Rossi had teased a move on his Spanish rival on several occasions, feinting and stalling with some textbook attacks before pulling out from Pedrosa for the final time. The ultimate challenge went unanswered, and Rossi could make the decisive gap and cross the chequered flag nearly two tenths of a second ahead. He dedicated the victory to former World Rally Champion Colin McRae, one of his heroes who died tragically yesterday. Unable to catch the Michelin-shod pairing, Casey Stoner could still be happy with a third place which edges him ever closer to a maiden MotoGP World Championship. The Australian now holds a 76 point lead over Rossi in the classification, with 25 points less on the table for his rivals to catch up with him. A clutch problem hindered Stoner’s push somewhat, but he maintains his superb run of podium finishes despite the conclusion of his consecutive winning streak. Poleman Nicky Hayden had a nervous moment when fighting for the holeshot, with Pedrosa darting in front of him and forcing him off his line. Having lost the top spot, the reigning MotoGP World Champion dropped back slightly when overtaken by the eventual podium finishers, concluding the race in fourth despite a valiant effort to rejoin the pack. Marco Melandri had another fine performance to finish fifth, as did John Hopkins who stormed through the field after a disappointing qualifying session yesterday. The tyre bragging rights were evenly distributed in Estoril, with both Michelin and Bridgestone placing three riders each in the first six past the line. Carlos Checa, last year’s race winner Toni Elias, Loris Capirossi and Colin Edwards completed the top ten. The five riders who failed to finish the bwin.com Grande Premo de Portugal were Makoto Tamada, Randy de Puniet, Kurtis Roberts and the Pramac d’Antin Ducati pairing of Alex Barros and Alex Hofmann. 250cc Alvaro Bautista took victory at Estoril for the second consecutive year, following up last season’s 125cc win with his second triumph of the season in 250cc. The Spaniard rode a superb race in which he shook off all the top names in the quarter litre class, taking a deserved top podium spot. Things hadn’t looked so good for the Spaniard on the opening lap, as the Aspar rider made an atrocious start which saw him drop down to twelfth from the second row. Mixing his own riding skill with some new parts debuted on his Aprilia for the race, Bautista was able to quickly work his way back up the field and power past frontrunners Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso. Dovizioso moved back up into second in the standings with second place on his Honda machine, with reigning World Champion and classification leader Lorenzo completing the podium. The gap between the two stands at 51 points with four races to go. Lorenzo was on the podium in Portugal for the first time in the 250cc class this afternoon, and the championship now heads to another track at which he didn’t win in 2006, Motegi. Thomas Luthi, Hector Barbera and Alex de Angelis completed the top six past the line, the latter dropping behind Dovizioso in the classification after a recent dip in form. Marco Simoncelli, Julian Simon and Karel Abraham joined him in the top ten. 125cc Hector Faubel cut the gap between himself and team-mate Gabor Talmacsi to five points in the 125cc World Championship, having slipstreamed the Hungarian on the line for victory in Portugal. The Aspar duo finished first and second in one of the best races of the season, separated by just a tenth of a second as they crossed the chequered flag. Another Spaniard stepped onto the podium after a magnificent ride, with young rookie Pol Espargaro showing no fear as he challenged the established stars for victory. Espargaro’s first rostrum finish could easily have been a victory, as he fought until the end and even led the race at one point. Overcome with emotion, the Aprilia rider pulled over on his cool-down lap to have a moment to himself, having begun what will surely be a successful podium run in the 125cc class. Also involved in the action, Simone Corsi had to settle for fourth place when the front three just broke away too far on the final lap. Joan Olive was the final rider in the tightly-packed group, with Stefan Bradl rounding off the top six a further seven seconds back. Poleman Mattia Pasini made a mistake at the midway point when leading the race, crashing out whilst under no pressure at the chicane. The Italian got back on track to finish eighth, behind Tomoyoshi Koyama. Raffaele de Rosa and Randy Krummenacher completed the top ten. The next round of the MotoGP World Championship, the A-Style Grand Prix of Japan, takes place next week at Twin Ring Motegi. More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Strong sixth for Hopkins and Rizla Suzuki in Estoril thriller Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer John Hopkins battled his way to sixth place at a pulsating Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril today. Starting from the fourth row and back in 10th place, Hopkins got another fantastic start and was up into sixth by the first corner. He hung on to the pack in front but was unable to find a way past fifth placed man Marco Melandri as the leading four began to pull away. Hopkins tried all he could to get past Melandri and did manage it later on in the race, but the Anglo-American star made a small mistake and Melandri came back past almost immediately. Hopkins collected 10 points for his efforts today and now moves up into fourth place in the riders’ championship. Chris Vermeulen had a tough afternoon as he was unable to get the start he needed from the fourth row and was relegated to 16th position early on in the race. The Australian’s never-say-die attitude shone through and he fought his way up to 12th position, before a vibration issue with his bike caused him to lose a place and he brought his Suzuki GSV-R safely home in 13th. Today’s race was held in warm and sunny conditions and a crowd of 41,566 witnessed former World Champion Valentino Rossi win one of the most exciting races of the season with Dani Pedrosa second and current championship leader Casey Stoner on his Bridgestone-shod Ducati – third. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP now travels immediately to its ‘home’ Grand Prix in Japan for round 15 of the MotoGP World Championship at Motegi on Sunday 23rd September. John Hopkins: “I got a great start which is becoming a bit of a regular feature – so I need to keep that up! I made up as many positions as I could at the start, but I got stuck behind Marco and Nicky and they were getting kind of crazy at the beginning they were all over the place passing each other. From then on Nicky pulled away and Marco was just gapping me coming out of the corners and I couldn’t find a consistent line to enable me to get up close enough to be able to pass him. I did get by him towards the end but I made some mistakes and he came back past me. The Suzuki worked great and the Bridgestones – compared to last year – were awesome and congratulations to them for getting on to the podium. It’s now time to go to Japan. I know the Suzuki and the Bridgestone tyres will work well at Motegi so I can’t wait to get there. I went back into fourth in the championship today, but lost a bit to Dani so we’ll have to see if we can claw him back a bit in the next couple of races.” Chris Vermeulen: “I didn’t get a good start and got boxed in early on. The bike worked well and we had found a solution to the chatter that we had been suffering this weekend. I felt like I was riding well and pushing hard and I made me way past a few of the guys. Then towards the end of the race I got a very strange vibration and went backwards. I got a couple of points, but I now have to look forward and head on to the next race.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “John did well today to grind out a decent result from what has been a tough weekend for Rizla Suzuki MotoGP. He rode a great first lap after a fantastic start, but he just couldn’t get past Marco, and a top six result at least adds to his points tally and keeps him in with a shout of challenging further up the table over the remaining four races. “Chris had a really difficult weekend by his recent high standards. We just didn’t get it done in practice or qualifying, and even though he picked his pace up in the middle of the race he experienced some significant problems later on which meant all he could was bring the bike home and pick up a couple of points. I would like to thank all the crew for their efforts this weekend, especially Chris’s guys who had a massive workload, but got it done efficiently and without any problems. We didn’t get a great reward for their efforts but let’s hope we do so next weekend in Japan!” More, from a press release issued by Konica Minolta Honda: Poor start hampers KONICA MINOLTA Honda at Estoril The KONICA MINOLTA Honda Team finished today’s Portuguese Grand Prix in 11th position after suffering a bad start to the 28-lap race. With high hopes after increased performance from the Honda RC212V and Michelin tyres had been found, bad-luck saw Shinya Nakano drop to 17th place with 21 laps of the race still to go. During the race, the battle for position between 9th and 15th was close and as hard-fought as that at the front, with only a few seconds covering six riders. Shinya was able to overtake a number of riders and take advantage of some retirements to finish just outside the top 10 in 11th place. The championship now moves on to Japan and the Twin Ring Motegi circuit as the season enters its final phase with the three ‘fly-away’ rounds of Japan, Australia and Malaysia. Gianluca Montiron Team Manager KONICA MINOLTA Honda “I think today we could see that Michelin have worked hard and Michelin riders possibly had some advantage. We were all hoping that Shinya could profit from this, but he didn’t have a very good start he slipped down the order and from there it was always going to be difficult to come back and get back with the group in front. At the front it was a very exciting and enjoyable race, but from our perspective it was a mediocre race as after practice we could see we had made a significant step forward and we all expected a better result. I think perhaps Shinya lost a little confidence after his practice crash, as before this he was doing well. Looking at things positively, we immediately go to Japan and we know that our technical package works better than before, so now we shall see if Shinya will gain some confidence in the bike and get a good result at his home grand prix.” Shinya Nakano Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda (10th) “In one of the fast corners there were so many riders together and I was on the inside but got pushed back and I lost some places. We also had a small problem with the engine, which disappeared when I started using a gear higher and by the middle of the race I could start to push harder and begin to overtake a few riders and enjoy the race. Our settings are an improvement over earlier in the season, so the positive we take from Estoril is that the Team and I have found a good direction. Thankfully we have only one week to wait before the Japanese GP, and I trust the Team and myself to get a good result.” Giulio Bernardelle Technical Director, KONICA MINOLTA Honda “Our start wasn’t so good and also I think our problem was that we had reduced engine performance for a while, perhaps the engine temperature had increased, we think that this is the main reason why Shinya was not able to recreate some of the lap-times he was doing in practice. It is a shame as the track conditions were very good, similar to qualifying so our potential was looking good, but we were unlucky once more. I think our tyre choice was correct, we stayed on the medium-hard tyre for the rear, perhaps we would have liked a little more front-end grip, but our tyres were pretty good overall. Shinya tried to stay with the riders in front of him, but he was unable to attack as he didn’t have sufficient acceleration to catch and pass them.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Stoner takes 11th podium of season in Estoril Round 14 Portugal – Race Estoril Circuit – Sunday 16 September 2007 Ducati Corse and Casey Stoner have claimed a well earned podium in Portugal after a thrilling 28-lap race in Estoril this afternoon won by Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi ahead of Honda’s Dani Pedrosa. Stoner’s 16 points for third place see him retain a 76-point lead at the head of the riders’ championship, equivalent to three race victories with just four races of the season remaining. Marco Melandri (Honda Gresini) and John Hopkins (Suzuki) enjoyed a close battle for their fifth and sixth positions respectively. The ten points earned by Hopkins elevate him to fourth in the championship ahead of team-mate Chris Vermeulen while Melandri cements his sixth place. Five Bridgestone-shod riders attained top ten results this afternoon and Stoner’s podium, his eleventh of the season, is the first for a Bridgestone rider at Estoril since Makoto Tamada back in 2004, a notable improvement over recent results at the Portuguese track. The top rider on Bridgestone tyres in last year’s event finished 25 seconds from the race winner, but Stoner’s third place this afternoon was just 1.4 seconds adrift of Rossi. Stoner’s combined race time (45m51.388s) was around 18 seconds quicker than last year’s race-winning time (46m08.739s). All riders opted for the same hard compound rear tyre to combat the abrasive nature of the Estoril asphalt and especially with the stress placed on the right-hand side of the tyre. Bridgestone takes pleasure from the consistency of the lap times over the race distance, in stark contrast to last year’s event, but acknowledges that there is still performance to be found from its tyres around Estoril. Hiroshi Yamada Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Sport Unit “That was an exciting race and well done to Casey and the Ducati team for claiming another strong podium finish. Three of our teams scored top ten results today with Honda Gresini’s Marco Melandri and Suzuki’s John Hopkins adding yet another top six finish to their impressive season tally. After a difficult race in Portugal last year, I believe we have made a significant step with our performance this weekend. Casey and Ducati have retained a healthy lead of the championship as we head to Motegi next week, so I am hopeful that we can take another important step together at Bridgestone’s home race.” Tohru Ubukata Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development “I am generally pleased with the performance and consistency of our hard compound rear over the complete race distance this afternoon, which Casey proved was competitive enough for a strong podium finish. This has always been a track at which our tyres have struggled, so I am encouraged that such an improvement has been seen this season. One of our pre-season targets was to demonstrate a big improvement at previously challenging circuits, Qatar, Turkey, Donington and here in Estoril. I think that we can consider this target achieved, even if we are the first to admit that there is still room for further improvement.” Casey Stoner Ducati Corse Third Position and Championship Leader “I’m happy with the result, but we did have higher expectations going into this race, at least to be there on the last lap, battling for the win. We thought we had a pretty good set-up, but unfortunately I started having a problem with the clutch about five laps into the race. There was no engine braking so I couldn’t try and brake as late as the other guys without running wide into the turns. It was very difficult to manage the situation and it took me quite a few laps to learn to ride around the problem. Towards the end I started to have quite a good rhythm again, I was getting faster and started to close them down. I felt like I had enough stamina to chase them but I just didn’t have the feeling with the bike and I didn’t have enough laps. Anyway, I gave my all and the team has done another fantastic job all weekend. We’ve been fast, we had a little problem today, but I think we can come back again next weekend.” Bridgestone Race Results Front Rear P3 Casey Stoner Ducati 45m51.388s +1.477s Slick Medium Slick Hard P5 Marco Melandri Honda Gresini 46m07.254s +17.343s Slick Medium Slick Hard P6 John Hopkins Suzuki 46m08.768s +18.857s Slick Medium Slick Hard P8 Toni Elias Honda Gresini 46m30.446s +40.535s Slick Hard Slick Hard (16”) P9 Loris Capirossi Ducati 46m33.018s +43.107s Slick Medium Slick Hard P12 Anthony West Kawasaki 46m44.473s +54.562s Slick Medium Slick Hard (16”) P13 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 46m49.913s +1m00.002s Slick Medium Slick Hard DNF Alex Barros Pramac d’Antin 36m37.792s +6 laps Slick Medium Slick Hard DNF Randy de Puniet Kawasaki 31m36.089s +9 laps Slick Medium Slick Hard DNF Alex Hofmann Pramac d’Antin 18m41.437s +17 laps Slick Medium Slick Hard Weather: Dry. Air 28°C, Track 34°C, Humidity 42% (Taken from official MotoGP timesheet) More, from a press release issued by Gresini Racing Honda: MELANDRI AND ELIAS PUT ON A TENACIOUS DISPLAY GRAND PRIX OF PORTUGAL – MOTOGP RACE Team Honda Gresini’s riders gave their maximum in today’s race as they tried to put the shine on a difficult weekend. Marco Melandri was the star of a spectacular race as he battled bravely with Nicky Hayden for fourth place before scrapping it out with John Hopkins for fifth. Marco rode around his set-up problems to overcome the American in a grippnig race. Toni Elias made a good start and was up to eighth position when his race was spoilt somewhat on the fourth lap when he was touched by another rider and forced off track, causing him to drop to thirteenth place. Showing his typical determination and character, Toni fought back to clinch a creditable eighth place. MARCO MELANDRI (5th in the race, 6th in the championship on 137 points): “The problems we had in practice resurfaced in the race and the chattering meant that I couldn’t ride the bike as I wanted to. I had two good battles with Nicky and then with John, where I was faster in the first part of the track but then lost out in the second part. I think we went with a rear tyre that was a little too hard for the conditions and the track characteristics today but I gave my best and now I’m looking forward to Motegi.” TONI ELIAS (8th in the race, 11th in the championship on 71 points): “It has been a tough weekend. We’ve had traction problems since Friday and only partially solved them. Then in the race I had to deal with another rider punting me off track when I was in eighth place after making a good start. I went straight and came back onto the track in thirteenth but I put together a good recovery and got back to my original position. I’m disappointed because this is a circuit I like a lot and I could have done much better.” FAUSTO GRESINI: “Marco had a great race and gave it his all. Unfortunately a chattering problem that we were unable to solve has spoilt his race. As far as Toni is concerned, he was limited after being sent wide by another rider but he showed the tenacity that we all know he has to fight back from thirteenth to eighth.” More, from a press release issued by Team Roberts: CLUTCH FAILURE COSTS CHANCE OF MORE POINTS FOR ROBERTS Kurtis Roberts had a short afternoon at today’s Portuguese GP, pulling in after two of 28 laps of the 4.182-km Estoril circuit outside Lisbon with a slipping clutch that robbed him of any chance of finishing the race. With only 13 finishers, the younger son of a legend would have been certain of adding to his points score, and in the first lap he had already improved on his starting position, moving through to 18th place. But by then Roberts was already having trouble with clutch slip, and when there was no improvement, he was obliged to pull in. This was just another problem for the 28-year-old rider, already struggling with a lack of top speed and acceleration from his England-built machine that marries a Honda V4 engine with a hand-made chassis. All Honda satellite teams complained about engine performance at the start of the year, but after 14 of 18 races, Team Roberts is the only team not to have benefited from engine upgrades. The race was won by Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), from Dani Pedrosa (Honda) and Casey Stoner (Ducati). KURTIS ROBERTS – DID NOT FINISH The clutch went out after the start, slipping a lot for a lap and half. I don’t know why. The only thing I can think is I had a hard time getting the gear into neutral on the grid. It wasn’t like I was hard on it. I was just sitting there hunting for neutral. I started fine, but it started to slip after turn four or five, and it didn’t get any better.There was a rumour that Honda will have some more horsepower for us at the next race, and I hope it’s true, because this is starting to get ridiculous. It’s frustrating when you are the only guy that hasn’t had the engine update yet. I’ve tried to be positive all year, up until now – but it’s getting stupid. I don’t think anyone would want to ride the thing like it is now. You can’t draft anybody, you can’t accelerate with anybody, you can’t shut anybody off to pass them properly. Hopefully it’ll get better for Japan. KENNY ROBERTS Senior – TEAM PRINCIPAL The clutch failed. I don’t know why – it wasn’t from the extra horsepower we put in it! I guess he burned the clutch up too much coming off the line, and it never recovered. I don’t know if the thing was borderline on wear or not. It wasn’t going to be a very good day, no matter what, but we would have got points. We need some help for acceleration, otherwise it’s kind of a waste of time. More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: ROSSI TAKES OUTSTANDING VICTORY AFTER STUNNING RIDE IN PORTUGAL Valentino Rossi made a triumphant return to the top step of the podium in Estoril today, sealing his fourth victory of the season with a masterful ride to victory in front of Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner. Rossi’s eighth consecutive podium finish at this circuit was his first in six races, since his last victory at Assen back in June. Colin Edwards was unable to match his team-mate’s pace today and slipped back through the field, eventually finishing in tenth. With 41,566 spectators looking on, Rossi made a poor start from the outside of the front row and slipped to fifth around the first corner, before making up one place and crossing the line first time around behind Nicky Hayden in fourth. He quickly began to put the pressure on Hayden and passed him on lap three, whilst Pedrosa in the meantime picked off Stoner to take the lead. Lap-by-lap Rossi closed the gap and he showed the improved level of his new Yamaha engine when he passed his championship rival on the straight going into lap nine. From then on the race turned into a nail-biting head to head between Rossi and Pedrosa, the pair evenly matched on pace but faster in different areas of the track. With four laps to go Pedrosa ran wide and Rossi came through, only to make a similar mistake moments later, letting the Spaniard back past him. With Pedrosa beginning to slide and Stoner looking menacing in third, Rossi made his move with an inch-perfect pass on the penultimate lap but was forced to keep pushing at the limit to hold on until the end, crossing the line just 0.175 seconds ahead of Pedrosa. Edwards meanwhile suffered with grip issues throughout, finding himself as far down as 17th at one point. The Texan did not give up however and battled back past several riders to finish tenth, taking six points and holding onto seventh in the championship. Rossi’s maximum-points haul today means he closes the gap to Stoner to 76 points with five races remaining, the next of which comes at Motegi in Japan in one week’s time. Valentino Rossi Position: 1st Time: 45’49.911 “First of all I want to dedicate this victory to Colin McRae, who sadly died yesterday. Colin is one of my idols from when I was very young and it’s because of him that I have my passion for rally. It’s a very sad day for motorsport and I am glad that I could win for him today. This is a very important victory for us in every way, it’s the fourth one of the year so the numbers are starting to look a little bit better, and it’s a great, great emotion to win again after so long without even a podium. Today my Yamaha and my tyres worked very well. Our new engine is better and today I was able to keep in the slipstream of the Honda and the Ducati on the straight, and even to go alongside them at some points, so this is very important. Michelin have done some good work on the tyres and today we were maybe stronger than our rivals. Once again we’ve shown that when the tyres are working well we can fight at the top. I had a great battle with Casey but most of all with Dani and it was fantastic fun to ride like this again, at the maximum and with a lot of good passes. When I passed Dani for the first time I tried to go but he was too good so I knew it was going to come down to the last few laps. At the end Dani started to slide a little and I knew I was stronger on the brakes than him in some places, so I was able to make a good pass. When I came out of the last corner on the second to last lap I could only think about how I lost the championship there last year so I knew I had to be far enough ahead next time around! I want to thank Yamaha, Michelin, my team and everyone around me, this is a great day and it’s given us a lot of confidence to keep fighting to the end of the season.” Colin Edwards Position: 10th Time: +44.674 “Three of my tyre choices for this weekend were our new compound and unfortunately two of them didn’t work too well at this track so we only really had one choice for the race. It worked okay on the right but on the left I had no grip at all and that was a real problem. Every lap I was losing half a second through the two left-handers – I was getting slow on the first one and then everyone was passing me through the second one and there was nothing I could do. It’s really disappointing because I’ve always gone good here, but today I never had the grip I needed. We turned the bike upside-down and everyone did their best, but it wasn’t to be today.” Davide Brivio Fiat Yamaha Team Director “Today it felt like the old days! Of course this is a very important victory for us because it comes after some difficult races where we couldn’t fight until the end like today, and this just shows that when we can, we see a fantastic show. Our wish is to see this type of race every time now for the rest of the season. This result comes after a lot of hard work from Yamaha to develop the new engine and a great job from Michelin. We knew we had to improve the package together with Yamaha and Michelin and today we’ve made a big step. We know that every circuit might be different but we have to continue in this way. Valentino’s level is always the same so we just have to give him the right package to do his job. Colin was slower than we had hoped today and he had some problems to contend with. It’s a pity for him because last year he did a great race here and he deserved to do better today. We will have a good look at the data and hopefully we can find a better package for him next week.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: COOL, CALM STONER TAKES THIRD FOR DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM AT ESTORIL, CAPIROSSI NINTH Ducati Marlboro Team rider Casey Stoner scored a hard-fought third-place finish in today’s thrilling Portuguese Grand Prix. Team-mate Loris Capirossi completed a difficult weekend in ninth position. The result gives Stoner a 76 point lead in the World Championship with four races to go, keeps Ducati well ahead in the constructors’ points chase and maintains the Ducati Marlboro Team’s advantage in the teams’ championship. As ever, Stoner got the maximum out of his machinery to score a fourth consecutive podium finish and his 11th top-three result from the first 14 races of 2007. The awesome Australian led the first five laps today but then had some trouble with his GP7’s clutch. Stoner slipped to third place but nevertheless kept his cool, using his talent to ride around the problem and then close the gap on leaders Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa during the final stages. He finished just 1.477 seconds down on winner Rossi. Capirossi struggled with set-up but had a busy race, fighting for a top-ten finish with several rivals. The MotoGP paddock now jets east for next Sunday’s Japanese GP, the first of three ‘flyway’ races which is followed by the Australian and Malaysian GPs. CASEY STONER, 3rd place, World Championship leader on 287 points “I’m happy with the result, but we did have higher expectations going into this race, at least to be there on the last lap, battling for the win. We thought we had a pretty good set-up, but unfortunately I started having a problem with the clutch about five laps into the race. There was no engine braking so I couldn’t try and brake as late as the other guys without running wide into the turns. It was very difficult to manage the situation and it took me quite a few laps to learn to ride around the problem. Towards the end I started to have quite a good rhythm again, I was getting faster and started to close them down. I felt like I had enough stamina to chase them but I just didn’t have the feeling with the bike and I didn’t have enough laps. I needed a few more tenths to get on to the back of them but I wasn’t to be, we lost too much time at the beginning. Anyway, I gave my all and the team has done another fantastic job all weekend. We’ve been fast, we had a little problem today, but I think we can come back again next weekend.” LORIS CAPIROSSI, 9th place, 8th in World Championship on 105 points “We finished another race but not how I’d like. We had one last go at setting up the bike in morning warm-up but we didn’t really succeed. I found the bike difficult to ride today, so it was just a case of damage limitation. I think I showed that I never give up, even when the situation is difficult and even when I’m racing for ninth place. I will keep trying 100 per cent until the end of the season. We will see if we can go better at the next races – I won the last two Japanese GPs and I was quite competitive during winter tests in Australia and Malaysia.” LIVIO SUPPO, Ducati MotoGP project director “I’m very sorry for the little clutch problem that prevented Casey from fighting for victory, because he has been fast all weekend and deserved to be up front. Anyway, his talent allowed him to ride around the problem and after a few laps he was very fast again, so this is another race in which he has proven he’s a real champion. I’m happy that we saw a big battle today, I’m just sorry that Casey wasn’t able to be there. Loris went a little better today. He is still fighting with the bike and we are doing everything we can to help him. He won the last two races at Motegi, so hopefully that will help him to be more competitive next weekend.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: A HARD LESSON LEARNT AT ESTORIL The Portuguese Grand Prix proved a difficult event for Kawasaki’s Anthony West and Randy de Puniet today, after a weekend of mixed fortunes for the squad. West, starting from 16th on the grid, got off to a spectacular start, crossing the line in tenth at the end of lap one and going up to ninth by lap two. Soon after, however, the Australian lost momentum after losing confidence in the front grip and began to slide back down the field, eventually finishing the race in 12th position. West’s feedback, together with input from test and development rider, Olivier Jacque who watched the race from trackside, will be used by West, his crew and Kawasaki’s engineers as they work together to improve the Australian’s performance over the next four races. “We have a good engine, which allows us to maintain good contact with other riders down the straights, but when tyres start to wear, it’s difficult for Randy and Anthony to maintain their lines,” explained Jacque. “This means we must work with our chassis and the electronics on the bikes, so that the riders don’t have to push the rear so much, which increases tyre wear and causes the bike to start sliding. It’s very helpful for us all to work together on this project and I’ve no doubt we are progressing all the time. It’s just been a difficult weekend. ” The day started well for West’s team leader, de Puniet, when he raced around the 4.182km circuit at speeds of up to 314.754kmh during the morning warm up, finishing the session in second place, just 0.225 seconds behind current championship leader, Casey Stoner. However, a rare mechanical problem took him out of the race on lap 20: a huge disappointment for the fast Frenchman after early promise had seen him steadily make his way through the pack. The feeling in the team is understandably low but, with considerable and well-founded faith in both the Ninja ZX-RR and Bridgestone tyres, they look forward to the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi next week, when wild card rider, Akira Yanagawa, will join de Puniet and West for the 15th round of the championship. Anthony West 12th Position “I felt really, really good in the first few laps and the bike felt right: everything worked together and made me feel I could pass everyone in front of me. I kept making up places but all of a sudden I had problems with some sliding at the front. There were a number of times I felt uneasy, so I changed my riding style a bit to push the rear some more, but that wasn’t very helpful and caused some spinning. I’ve struggled here all weekend but I’m looking forward to Motegi and I’m sure we can iron out these issues.” Randy De Puniet DNF “My race was going well but then, on about lap 14, I started to have some problems accessing the low down and midrange power. I carried on for a few more laps because I was riding faster than the others in my group and was sure it was possible to finish at the front of it. I’m very disappointed because after some difficult times during practice, things were looking okay.” Michael Bartholemy Kawasaki Competition Manager “This hasn’t been the best weekend, I must admit, and I’m particularly disappointed for Randy. It’s hard to understand why these technical problems occur, especially when we’ve been so reliable over the course of the season, but we will work through it. And it was a difficult race for Anthony: his lap times weren’t as consistent as we’ve come to expect from him but again, when we sort out the problems he’s having, he will be up there, too. His performance in the earlier part of the season shows what he’s capable of. I’m looking forward to Motegi next week, the home race for our manufacturer, where hopefully we’ll repeat the success we had at Laguna Seca, the last time we had three bikes on the grid.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: PEDROSA SECOND IN PORTUGAL THRILLER, HAYDEN TAKES FOURTH The Repsol Honda Team put in a strong performance at the Grand Prix of Portugal on Sunday with Dani Pedrosa finishing second to Valentino Rossi after a tremendous fight, and Nicky Hayden bringing home his RC212V in fourth. Pedrosa was in contention for the win for the entire race and crossed the line a mere 0.175s behind Rossi, having led the race for more laps than any other rider. The Spaniard made a flying start from fifth on the grid and was second into the first corner behind Casey Stoner. The 21-year-old Repsol Honda ace then tracked Stoner for the first six laps before making a decisive move for the lead, outbraking his former 250cc rival into Turn 1 at the start of lap seven. Two laps later Rossi went past Pedrosa and for the next seven laps the pair stretched the gap to Stoner. Wary that Stoner was closing back up, Pedrosa retook Rossi on lap 17 and led until the pair traded places twice on lap 24, with Pedrosa running wide in Turn 1 and Rossi making the same mistake half a lap later. The protagonists exchanged the lead yet again at the beginning of the penultimate lap with Rossi lunging up the inside, only to run wide with Pedrosa retaking first place. On the same lap Rossi finally made it stick, and try as he might Pedrosa was unable to make another pass, crossing the line an agonisingly close 0.175s behind Rossi. This was Pedrosa’s 14th MotoGP podium finish, his sixth of 2007 and his 55th in all classes of Grand Prix racing. The result means Pedrosa remains in third place in the World Championship, 23 points behind Rossi in second. Hayden also rode with combative style and recorded the fastest lap of the race on his way to fourth place. From pole position the World Champion slipped to third at the first corner and then battled with Rossi and Melandri in the early stages. After getting the better of Melandri’s Honda it appeared the World Champion had lost too much ground on the leaders, but a series of scorching laps, including the fastest of the race which was a new lap record of 1m 37.493s, put Hayden was back on Stoner’s tail. Unfortunately a mistake with seven laps to go dropped Hayden crucial tenths behind and he brought his RC212V across the line in fourth place to collect 13 world championship points. The MotoGP entourage now flies immediately to the Grand Prix of Japan which takes place in one week’s time at the Twin Ring Motegi. Dani Pedrosa Position: 2nd Fastest lap: 1m 37.671s World Championship position 3rd 188 pts Front tyre: 16.0″ Medium Michelin slick Rear tyre: 16.5″ Hard Michelin slick “I’m happy to fight for the win and the pace we could run today was very quick. We were lapping very fast right until the end and this is good progress for us because there have been races where this was not possible. I made a good start and pushed very hard at the beginning, got into a strong rhythm and the pace was very high. I was able to pass Stoner but when Rossi came past me and was in front I knew that he was not pushing at 100%. With Stoner and Hayden catching this was risky so I went for the overtake to try to up the pace because I didn’t want them to catch up. This allowed Rossi to watch me for a while which I think was useful for him in the closing laps. I knew my pace was very similar to Rossi’s because we had both been in the front of the race. When he came past at the end I tried my maximum but did not have the speed to take the lead on the last lap. Still, this was a good race for us and I’d like to thank my team and everyone at Honda because they’ve been working really hard. Now we’re going to Motegi which is a track I like and I hope we can put on another good performance there.” Nicky Hayden Position: 4th – Best lap: 1m 37.493 World Championship position 9th 105 pts Front tyre: 16.0″ Medium Michelin slick Rear tyre: 16.5” Hard Michelin slick “There are a lot of positives from this weekend and pole position was one of them, though certainly fourth wasn’t quite the result we hoped for. We knew it was going to be tough today and the first lap wasn’t so kind to me but actually I was just happy to get through the first lap after what happened at the last race. In the beginning I wasn’t quite able to get into a rhythm, I was really struggling out of Turn six and some riders were able to get up the inside of me into Turn seven. I was duking it out with Melandri which lost me some time and then I found a rhythm, got down into the 1m 37s laps and caught up to Stoner. I was riding right on the edge and used up a lot of my tyres to try to catch the leaders, and then I made one big mistake which cost me a lot of time. My bike ran really well today. The engine was good and the Michelin tyres worked well so I really don’t have a lot of excuses those guys were just a little bit quicker and I give them credit. This was my first pole position of the year and I had the fastest lap of the race which is definitely positive. We’re way better off than we were a few months ago so things feel like they’re back on track and I’m enjoying riding the bike again. So, we’ll go to Motegi and try to keep it rolling. We’ve got four more cracks at it!” Makoto Tanaka Repsol Honda Team Manager “From the outside this was a fantastic race, though on the inside of course we are a little disappointed that we did not win. Dani made a good start and he was setting a consistently fast pace, first with Stoner and then with Rossi. It was a great battle between Dani and Rossi and shows that this was a good race for us and for Michelin. Nicky’s start was not perfect but he was able to catch Stoner in the middle of the race and set the fastest lap too to follow his pole position from yesterday so he had quite a positive weekend too. The next race is Honda’s home event at Motegi so we’ll be attacking to the maximum to get the best possible result there.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol: DANI PEDROSA AND THE REPSOL HONDA TEAM STRUGGLE AGAIN FOR VICTORY AT THE PORTUGAL GP Pedrosa finished second after an intense duel right to the finish line with Valentino Rossi. Nicky Hayden came 4th after fighting for the podium with Stoner throughout the first part of the race. After yesterday’s positive results where Nicky Hayden got his first Pole Position this season and teammate Dani Pedrosa got into fifth place, today both Repsol riders had high expectations placed on the Portugese race. The race kicked off with Pedrosa taking a very fast start and getting in second place at the end of the straight behind Stoner. The American from the Repsol Honda Team did not get off to a very good start, and in spite of reaching the first curve in third position, he had to straighten out in the middle of the curve, making him lose a place. Stoner set a strong pace from the first curve and Pedrosa stuck to his wheel trying to not let the Australian get away. Just over one second behind, a group formed and took chase, with Hayden in the lead, followed closely by Rossi, Melandri and Hopkins. The current World Champion was overtaken by Rossi, who went off alone to try and catch up with the two escaped riders up front. Hayden lost time with Melandri, constantly passing each other, and that prevented him from going after Rossi. At the same time of Rossi’s arrival to the leading group, Hayden escaped in search of the leaders. Lap by lap, the Repsol Honda Team rider got closer to Stoner, who had been overtaken by Pedrosa and Rossi and was losing ground. Up in front, it was clear that once the race was halfway through, the victory was going to be disputed between the Italian and the Spaniard. Hayden managed to catch up with Stoner, who was one second away from the leaders, but after trying to overtake the man at the top of the general classification, a number of mistakes made him lose contact with the Australian and had to make do with 4th place. In front, Pedrosa kept ahead of the race, with Rossi behind studying each movement. Two laps away from the end of the race, the Italian started to attack, overtaking Pedrosa at one of the braking points of the Potugese track. The Repsol Honda Team rider tried it all in order to get past Rossi again, but finally crossed the finish line in second place hardly a tenth of a second behind. This has undoubtedly been a good weekend for the Repsol Honda Team, which is finding that the hard work done over these past weeks is finally giving its rewards. In 250cc, the good start achieved by the two Repsol Honda Team 250cc pilots seemed to suggest a good race. Julián Simón started 5th and teammate Shuhei Aoyama 9th, completing their first lap Simón 3rd and Aoyama 9th. Simón seemed to follow the pace set by the leading group, but little by little he lost ground due to a physical problem with his right forearm, and was overtaken by Barberá, De Angelis, Hiroshi, Aoyama, Luthi and Bautista. Teammate Shuhei managed to catch up with him, ridong both in 8th and 9th place. Shuhei abandoned the race 8 laps from the end due to mechanical problems and left Simón riding alone until the flagline, crossing it in 8th place. In the smallest of the three categories, the Repsol Honda Team riders ended a tough weekend with a slight improvement. In spite of not keeping up with the pace of the leading group, Esteve Rabat struggled for 10th position, though he finally finished 11th, and teammate Bradley Smith, who rode alone practically throughout the whole race, crossed the finish line 12th. Quotes MotoGP Nicky Hayden >> 4th “There are a lot of positives from this weekend and pole position was one of them, though certainly fourth wasn’t quite the result we hoped for. We knew it was going to be tough today and the first lap wasn’t so kind to me but actually I was just happy to get through the first lap after what happened at the last race. In the beginning I wasn’t able to quite get into a rhythm, I was really struggling out of Turn 6 and some riders were able to get up the inside of me into Turn 7. I was duking it out with Melandri which lost me some time and then I found a rhythm, got down into the 1m 37s laps and caught up to Stoner. I was riding right on the edge and used up a lot of my tyres to try to catch the leaders, and then I made one big mistake which cost me a lot of time. My bike ran really well today. The engine was good and the Michelin tyres worked well so I really don’t have a lot of excuses those guys were just a little bit quicker today and I give them credit. This was my first pole position of the year and I had the fastest lap of the race which is definitely positive. We’re way better off than we were a few months ago so things feel like they’re back on track and I’m enjoying riding the bike again. So, we’ll go to Motegi and try to keep it rolling. We’ve got four more cracks at it!” Dani Pedrosa >> 2nd “I’m happy to be fighting for win and the pace we could run today was very quick. We were lapping very fast right until the end and this is good progress for us because there have been races where this was not possible. I made a good start and pushed very hard at the beginning, got into a strong rhythm and the pace was very high. I was able to pass Stoner but when Rossi came past me and was in front I knew that he was not pushing at 100%. With Stoner and Hayden catching this was risky so I went for the overtake to try to up the pace because I didn’t want them to catch up. This allowed Rossi to watch me for a while which I think was useful for him in the closing laps. I knew my pace was very similar to Rossi’s because we had both been in the front of the race. When he came past at the end I tried my maximum but did not have the speed to take the lead on the last lap. Still, this was a good race for us and I’d like to thank my team and everyone at Honda because they’ve been working really hard. Now we’re going to Motegi which is a track I like and I hope we can put on another good performance there.” 250cc Julián Simón >> 8th “The truth is that it’s a shame how this race ended, because I got off to quite a comfortable start. When I started I was able to struggle with those in the lead y the race was going well, but from the tenth lap onwards my right forearm started to get cramps. I’ve had an operation on it, but a few races back it started to hurt again and it’s not normal. When the race finished I went to the Mobile Clinic y they confirmed that after the operation I shouldn’t continue to have problems, so as soon as I can I’ll have to get a specialist to have a look at it, because this needs to be solved urgently. I want to apologise to the team because they worked very well and it’s very bad that I finished the race so behind. It’s a shame.” Shuhei Aoyama >> Retired “Both on Friday and on Saturday I was unable to use all the decent tyres I would have liked, but today I was able to fit them and expected to be able keep up and follow the pace of those in the lead. I rode better than in other races, and I can see that in the Czech Republic, in Misano and here I’ve managed to take small steps, but we have to improve a lot more. Around the tenth lap I made a mistake which made me lose positions, but two or three laps later I recovered them. That is when the mechanical problems started and I had to abandon; it’s been a shame. that’s the way races are, but it has happened too many times this year. I’m very sad.” 125cc Bradley Smith >> 12th Bradley Smith “I took the inside of the first curve and touched Koyama with the handlebar. I don’t actually know if I touched him or if he touched me, because it all happened very fast and I almost fell. The result was that I found it impossible to use the front brake, because the handle had been displaced too far up. I tried to put it right, but then I couldn’t accelerate at the same time, so a lot of riders overtook me. During the first lap I checked that everything was alright and concentrated on recovering positions. I did it the best I could, getting times that I had managed during the training sessions with brand new tyres, so that’s good. In spite of everything, we still had some problems with the front of the motorbike, and I want to make sure that it gets fixed, because in Motegi you spend a lot of time leaning hard on the front wheel. I’m not happy with today’s results, but I am with the way that I rode.” Esteve Rabat >> 11th “I didn’t get off to a very good start and the first lap has been tough, because there were a lot of riders and the track is very narrow. But I tried to get ahead and caught up with a group where I started overtaking until Cortese fell in front of me. Then the group broke up and afterwards I started to struggle with Randy Krummenacher, which made us slow down. In the end he made a mistake and I was able to overtake him, but later on it was me who made a small mistake when braking and he caught up and overtook me again. The tyres held out through the entire race, and I hope that next time things turn out better. The truth is that in the end I was only 14 seconds away from the first, and that’s not bad, because my fastest lap was acceptable. I’m gaining confidence, and I think that though it’s not visible in the results, I’m growing as a rider.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: Sunday September 16, 2007 Weather: Dry and sunny. Temperature: Air 26 degrees, ground 36. Crowd: 40,566. DANI JUST LOSES OUT IN INTENSE BATTLE FOR VICTORY This was a MotoGP race to savour with Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) snatching the win from Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) by just 0.175 seconds at the flag. Series points leader Casey Stoner (Ducati) was third. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) was the pole man but it was rapid line-launcher Stoner who took the lead into turn one on lap one with Pedrosa and Hayden hot on his heels. On-form Marco Melandri (Gresini Honda RC212V) lay fourth with Rossi fifth. Stoner was quickly into the groove turning in an early fastest lap of the race on 1m 37.779s on the second lap. Rossi edged past Hayden on lap three while the gutsy Kurtis Roberts (Roberts KR212V), working as hard as ever to get the Honda-powered KR machine on the pace, retired to the pits on lap three with clutch difficulties. Melandri was now getting some speed on and took Hayden for fourth place on lap four, but the battling reigning World Champion was in no mood to relinquish any places easily and he retook fourth from the Italian on the next lap. Pedrosa meanwhile was getting fully to grips with a track that he has not so far enjoyed much success at. He out-braked Stoner into turn one on lap six for the lead and set about giving himself some breathing space with a clear track ahead of him. But Rossi was on the go and now held second place. He then moved on Dani at turn one on lap nine and Pedrosa was not going to let the pass stick. It took the 21-year-old Spanish man a number of laps to set up the pass, but by lap 18 of this 28-lap dice he led again. Hayden was now chasing Stoner for third but the American dropped off, clawed his way back, and then had little grip left to sustain the pressure in the closing stages. The fight for the win was clearly between Rossi and Pedrosa. Rossi stalked Dani, sizing him up along the start/finish straight but never going for the pass until lap 23 when he took his chance to slip by as Dani ran wide on the exit of turn one. Dani was having none of it and as Rossi made almost the same error later in the lap, Dani seized his chance. In the final laps it was nip and tuck between these two consummate riders. On the penultimate lap Rossi tried a pass at turn one but thought better of it before the manoeuvre was completed. He then made his move on the entry to the turn after the back straight. It was a brave move and it worked. Stoner finished 0.8 seconds adrift of Pedrosa, but the points gained with just four rounds to go mean the Aussie is well-placed to take the title in Motegi next weekend barring any unforeseen events. The World Championship points table looks like this: Stoner 287, Rossi 211, Pedrosa 188, John Hopkins (Suzuki) 150. Dani Pedrosa said: “I’m happy to be fighting for a win and the pace we could run today was very quick. We were lapping very fast right until the end and this is good progress for us because there have been races where this was not possible. I made a good start and pushed very hard at the beginning, got into a strong rhythm and the pace was very high. I was able to pass Stoner but when Rossi came past me and was in front I knew that he was not pushing at 100%. With Stoner and Hayden catching this was risky so I went for the overtake to try to up the pace because I didn’t want them to catch up. This allowed Rossi to watch me for a while which I think was useful for him in the closing laps. When he came past at the end I tried my maximum but did not have the speed to take the lead on the last lap.” Nicky Hayden, fourth, said: “There are a lot of positives from this weekend and pole position was one of them, though certainly fourth wasn’t quite the result we hoped for. We knew it was going to be tough today and the first lap wasn’t so kind to me but actually I was just happy to get through the first lap after what happened at the last race. My bike ran really well today. The engine was good and the Michelin tyres worked well so I really don’t have a lot of excuses those guys were just a little bit quicker today and I give them credit. This was my first pole position of the year and I had the fastest lap of the race, which is definitely positive.” Melandri, in fifth, said: “The problems we had in practice resurfaced in the race and the chattering meant that I couldn’t ride the bike as I wanted to. I had two good battles with Nicky and then with John, where I was faster in the first part of the track, but then lost out in the second part. I think we went with a rear tyre that was a little too hard for the conditions and the track characteristics today but I gave my best and now I’m looking forward to Motegi.” Carlos Checa (LCR Honda RC212V) rode a hard and consistent race to seventh. He said: “I’m very satisfied with this result after some problems in qualifying meant I started on the fourth row. It was a good race, I enjoyed it, especially from the start and passing many riders including Elias, West and Edwards and finally Tamada for seventh. My feeling was that if I had started closer to the front I could have raced with Melandri and Hopkins for fifth, but anyway, this is a positive step forward with the new tyres from Michelin and our set-up from Honda.” A still not fully fit Toni Elias (Gresini Honda RC212V) managed eighth place and said: “It’s been a tough weekend. We’ve had traction problems since Friday and only partially solved them. Then in the race I had to deal with another rider punting me off track when I was in eighth place after making a good start. I went straight on and came back onto the track in 13th but I put together a good recovery and got back to my original position. I’m disappointed because this is a circuit I like a lot and I could have done much better.” Shinya Nakano (Konica Minolta Honda RC212V) finished 11th and said: “In one of the fast corners there were so many riders together and I was on the inside but got pushed back and I lost some places. We also had a small problem with the engine, which disappeared when I started using a gear higher and by the middle of the race I could start to push harder and begin to overtake a few riders and enjoy the race. Our settings are an improvement over earlier in the season, so the positive we take from Estoril is that the team and I have found a good direction. Thankfully we have only one week to wait before the Japanese GP, and I trust the team and myself to get a good result.” Roberts retired with a clutch problem and said: “The clutch went out after the start, slipping a lot for a lap and a half. I don’t know why. The only thing I can think is I had a hard time getting the gear into neutral on the grid. It wasn’t like I was hard on it. I was just sitting there hunting for neutral. I started fine, but it started to slip after turn four or five, and it didn’t get any better. There was a rumour that Honda will have some more horsepower for us at the next race, and I hope it’s true.” Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) put his mark firmly on a 250cc race in which he whipped the rest of the field to win by 4.36 seconds from Honda star Andrea Dovizioso (Scot Honda RS250RW), with series points leader Jorge Lorenzo (Aprilia) a safe points-scoring third with the title now on his mind rather than race wins. Bautista didn’t fare too well in the opening laps, languishing in 10th and with a great deal of work to do to get on terms with the pace-setters. But he grafted away and by lap ten he was reeling off fastest laps at will and eating into the front men’s advantage with gusto. On lap 12 he dealt with Lorenzo for second and then scythed past Dovi at the chicane on the same lap. From then on he made sure no one was going to touch him, riding harder than anyone with that comfortable a lead ought to. It was an exuberant ride from a Spaniard eager to steal limelight from Lorenzo. The other Honda riders did not fare so well as Dovizioso. Julian Simon (Repsol Honda RS250RW) finished eighth. His team-mate Shuhei Aoyama (Repsol Honda RS250RW) retired on lap 18 while Yuki Takahashi (Scot Honda RS250RW) slid out of the proceedings early on. Dovizioso said: “Today I really believed in the victory, we had a perfect weekend, a perfect lap time. Bautista was too fast at the end of the race, it was impossible for us to go and catch him. The problem is always the same: we’re able to be as fast as Aprilia riders as long as we can use tyres at 100% of their performance in the middle of the corner, but when they go down and the grip lowers, we have to open the gas in advance to remain to their level, while they can wait more and use less tyre. Now we still have four races, we just have to think to win and recover as much points as possible. We always give our best, we must be happy of it.” Lorenzo is now totally in charge of the title’s destiny barring disaster. He has 257 points to Dovi’s 206. Alex de Angelis who could only manage a sixth place finish here lies third with 197 points. There are four rounds left. Hector Faubel won a closely fought 125cc Grand Prix from Gabor Talmacsi with Pol Espargaro third (all Aprilia). Faubel judged his win perfectly drafting Talmacsi along the start/finish straight to broach the line 0.13s ahead of the Hungarian World Championship points leader. It was Mattia Pasini (Aprilia) who led the pack into turn one from the lights, pursued by Faubel, Simone Corsi and Joan Olive (both Aprilia). Talmacsi suffered a poor start, but was up to fourth by lap seven of this 23-lap race. Pasini was fully in charge of this race until he overcooked it coming into the chicane on lap 11. He remounted but was now out of touch of the leaders. And it was Corsi setting the pace now at the head of a five-rider group which now included Espargaro and Olive with Talmacsi holding fourth. In the closing laps they were five abreast into turn one fighting hard for places and points. Talmacsi took Faubel at the chicane on the last lap to lead. But Faubel judged his final lap perfectly to overhaul Talmacsi across the line. Talmacsi still heads the World Championship points table with four rounds remaining. He has 209 points to Faubel’s 204 with Tommy Koyama now sliding out of touch on 154 with a seventh place finish here. Esteve Rabat (Repsol Honda RS125R) was the best-placed Honda finisher in 11th. He said: “My start was only so-so then I had to push and push to stay with the group but there was a crash in front of me and I lost time because of that. After that I was racing with Krummenacher but we were getting in each others way and the group got away from us. The bike was OK today and the tyres were good until the last few laps. I am just a little bit disappointed with myself as I’d hoped for a better result.” Bradley Smith (Repsol Honda RS125R) was 12th and said: “My start was good but at the first corner I was following Koyama and he was drifting a little wide as I was going to pass him up the inside but he nearly stopped in the corner and I ran into the back of him. I closed my eyes I thought I was going down but I stayed on. The brake lever had been knocked up in the air and when I tried to push it back in place it was too low. When I looked up I was down in 25th place or so. From then on it was a case of me playing catch up so I just pushed as hard as I could, but racing alone without a slipstream you can’t make up too much. Still I am happy with the way I rode after that.” Honda rider quotes: GP Portugal Race: MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 2nd.”I’m happy to be fighting for win and the pace we could run today was very quick. We were lapping very fast right until the end and this is good progress for us because there have been races where this was not possible. I made a good start and pushed very hard at the beginning, got into a strong rhythm and the pace was very high. I was able to pass Stoner but when Rossi came past me and was in front I knew that he was not pushing at 100%. With Stoner and Hayden catching this was risky so I went for the overtake to try to up the pace because I didn’t want them to catch up. This allowed Rossi to watch me for a while which I think was useful for him in the closing laps. I knew my pace was very similar to Rossi’s because we had both been in the front of the race. When he came past at the end I tried my maximum but did not have the speed to take the lead on the last lap. Still, this was a good race for us and I’d like to thank my team and everyone at Honda because they’ve been working really hard. Now we’re going to Motegi, which is a track I like and I hope we can put on another good performance there.” Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 4th. “There are a lot of positives from this weekend and pole position was one of them, though certainly fourth wasn’t quite the result we hoped for. We knew it was going to be tough today and the first lap wasn’t so kind to me – but actually I was just happy to get through the first lap after what happened at the last race. In the beginning I wasn’t able to quite get into a rhythm, I was really struggling out of Turn 6 and some riders were able to get up the inside of me into Turn 7. I was duking it out with Melandri which lost me some time and then I found a rhythm, got down into the 1m 37s laps and caught up to Stoner. I was riding right on the edge and used up a lot of my tyres to try to catch the leaders, and then I made one big mistake which cost me a lot of time. My bike ran really well today. The engine was good and the Michelin tyres worked well so I really don’t have a lot of excuses – those guys were just a little bit quicker today and I give them credit. This was my first pole position of the year and I had the fastest lap of the race which is definitely positive. We’re way better off than we were a few months ago so things feel like they’re back on track and I’m enjoying riding the bike again. So, we’ll go to Motegi and try to keep it rolling. We’ve got four more cracks at it!” Marco Melandri, Gresini Honda: 5th “The problems we had in practice resurfaced in the race and the chattering meant that I couldn’t ride the bike as I wanted to. I had two good battles with Nicky and then with John, where I was faster in the first part of the track but then lost out in the second part. I think we went with a rear tyre that was a little too hard for the conditions and the track characteristics today but I gave my best and now I’m looking forward to Motegi.” Carlos Checa, LCR Honda: 7th.”I’m very satisfied with this result after some problems in qualifying meant I started on the fourth row. It was a good race, I enjoyed it, especially from the start and passing many riders including Elias, West and Edwards and finally Tamada for seventh. My feeling was that if I had started closer to the front I could have raced with Melandri and Hopkins for fifth, but anyway, this is a positive step forward with the new tyres from Michelin and our set-up from Honda.” Toni Elias, Gresini Honda: 8th. “It has been a tough weekend. We’ve had traction problems since Friday and only partially solved them. Then in the race I had to deal with another rider punting me off track when I was in eighth place after making a good start. I went straight on at a corner and came back onto the track in thirteenth place but I put together a good recovery and got back to my original position. I’m disappointed because this is a circuit I like a lot and I could have done much better.” Shinya Nakano, Konica Minolta Honda: 11th. “In one of the fast corners there were so many riders together and I was on the inside but got pushed back and I lost some places. We also had a small problem with the engine, which disappeared when I started using a gear higher and by the middle of the race I could start to push harder and begin to overtake a few riders and enjoy the race. Our settings are an improvement over earlier in the season, so the positive we take from Estoril is that the team and I have found a good direction. Thankfully we have only one week to wait before the Japanese GP, and I trust the team and myself to get a good result.” Kurtis Roberts, KR212V: dnf clutch problem.”The clutch went out after the start, slipping a lot for a lap and half. I don’t know why. The only thing I can think is I had a hard time getting the gear into neutral on the grid. It wasn’t like I was hard on it. I was just sitting there hunting for neutral. I started fine, but it started to slip after turn four or five, and it didn’t get any better. There was a rumour that Honda will have some more horsepower for us at the next race, and I hope it’s true, because this is starting to get ridiculous. It’s frustrating when you are the only guy that hasn’t had the engine update yet. I’ve tried to be positive all year, up until now – but it’s getting stupid. I don’t think anyone would want to ride the thing like it is now. You can’t draft anybody, you can’t accelerate with anybody, you can’t shut anybody off to pass them properly. Hopefully it’ll get better for Japan.” Kenny Roberts Team Principle Team Roberts. “The clutch failed. I don’t know why – it wasn’t from the extra horsepower we put in it! I guess he burned the clutch up too much coming off the line, and it never recovered. I don’t know if the thing was borderline on wear or not. It wasn’t going to be a very good day, no matter what, but we would have got points. We need some help for acceleration, otherwise it’s kind of a waste of time.” 250cc: Andrea Dovizioso, Scot Honda: 2nd. “Today I really believed in the victory, we had a perfect weekend, a perfect lap time. Bautista was too fast at the end of the race, it was impossible for us to go and catch him. The problem is always the same: we’re able to be as fast as the Aprilia riders as long as we can use tyres at 100% of their performance in the middle of the corner, but when they go down and the grip lowers, we have to open the gas in early to remain at their level, while they can wait more and use less tyre. Now we still have four races, we just have to think of winning and recover as many points as possible. We always give our best, we must be happy with that.” Julian Simon, Repsol Honda: 8th. “At the beginning of the race I felt quite comfortable but after about 10 laps I started to have arm pump up problems. I don’t understand this because I have had an operation to cure this problem. No I have to go back to hospital to find out what is wrong. I’m sorry for my team who have worked so hard for me this is not the result we expected.” Eugene Laverty, LCR Honda: 14th.”It’s great to score some points but I should have been much faster today, this was a gift. We gambled on the race set up to try and fix the problems with braking stability from practice but it didn’t work, the rear wheel was still bouncing too much. Plus I got pushed wide at turn one after making up some places with a good start.” Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT-SAG: dnf crash.”I was pushing really hard when I crashed as I was trying to catch up with the riders ahead of me. It’s a shame I lost the control of the bike as I was expecting to score points but in the end I couldn’t get any. I had some trouble at the start and once again it was a key factor in today’s race as I wouldn’t had to push that hard if I had made a good start.” Shuhei Aoyama, Repsol Honda: dnf technical problem. “The practice sessions of Friday and Saturday have been quite difficult for me, because I couldn’t have the best tyres for me in this circuit. But today it was not the case, because I saved the best ones for the race for being able to fight with the front riders. At the beginning, I’ve been able to follow the group much better than other races, but after ten laps I made a little mistake that made me lose some positions. Two or three laps later I could recover, but then my engine is broken again. This is racing, but it’s too many times. I’m very sad.” Yuki Takahashi, Scot Honda: dnf crash. “I have no words to express my anger and my delusion. We broke the engine, like in Brno, only two races ago. It’s not easy to accept to stop a race after just two laps from the start, when you know you have the chance to try to recover points and positions. I hope that, in my home race, next week in Japan, everything will be ok.” 125cc: Tito Rabat, Repsol Honda: 11th.”My start was only so – so then I had to push and push to stay with the group but there was a crash in front of me and I lost time because of that. After that I as racing with Krummenacher but we were getting in each others ay and the group got away from us. The bike was OK today and the tyres were good until the last few laps. I am just a little bit disappointed with myself I had hoped for a better result.” Bradley Smith, Repsol Honda: 12th.”My start was good but at the first corner I was following Koyama and he was drifting a little wide s I was going to pass him up the inside but he nearly stopped at the corner and I ran into the back of him. I closed my eyes I thought I was going down but I stayed on but the brake lever had been knocked up in the air and when I tried to push it back in place it was too low. When I looked up I was down in 25th place or so. From then on it was a case of me playing catch up so I just pushed as hard as I could but racing alone without a slipstream you cant make up too much. Still I am happy with the way I rode after that.” Alexis Masbou, FFM Honda: 14th. “A few more points can’t be bad! It’s a pity I messed up the start and then got stuck in a slower group. Luckily I was able to catch the middle group. We had a big scrap throughout the last ten laps. Three laps from the end of the race someone pushed off track somewhat and I lost ground. But I was in good shape, the Honda was working well and in two laps I was back with the group again. I managed to pass those four riders again and to stay in front till the chequered flag. I concentrated on keeping a good speed out of the last corner and was able to stay ahead of the group to finish 14th and grasp a few points!” Mike di Meglio, Scot Honda: 16th.”I got a reasonable start but just in front of me at the first corner Bradley (Smith) hit Koyama and the incident forced me to run wide and I lost many places. After that I just had to try and catch as many riders as possible. The bike was good, not quite as good as in qualifying, but I did not have enough acceleration off the last corner to pass anybody from the slipstream down the strait. Now we go to Motegi, a track I like with lots of hard braking sections that I like and where the Honda will be good.” Danny Webb, Molenaar Honda: 20th.”Not my best start and not my worst but I was not aggressive enough on the first lap and it took me a while to find my rhythm. I was racing in about 22nd place but at half race distance I made a mistake that cost me a couple of seconds. After that I was racing alone and that’s difficult on this track. Towards the ed I knew that the group behind m were closing on me so I just concentrated on defending my position. I am happy with this result but I know it wasn’t a perfect race I knew there was more in it for me.” Louis Rossi, FFM Honda: 24th.”I went out on the track with a small but positive anxiety. I didn¹t get such a good start and braked a little too early at the end of the straight! It’s a little complicated to get everything right when you don’t have any experience. But I’m satisfied that I improved my lap times from practice. This race was very instructive and the experience will prove useful if I can race some more Grand Prix races such as Malaysia for which I will know if I can have another wild card entry. I learned more in the last three days than I could learn in a season at national level. I sincerely wish to thank the whole staff at Team FFM Honda GP125. I’m determined to say so because the atmosphere is excellent, the performance and cooperation between team members is perfect, I really felt great with them throughout the week-end. Thanks to this outfit, young French riders have an opportunity to reach motorcycle racing’s top level.” Dino Lombardi, Scot Honda: dnf handling problems.”At the beginning of the race everything seemed good I was trying to catch the group ahead of me and the bike was good. After half race I lost the silencer pot and because of the noise and the technical problems I retired. After the first laps the bike started sliding on the front and became impossible to drive. We hope to solve these problems in Japan.” Joey Litjens, Molenaar Honda: dns. Did not start due to concussion sustained in crash during the morning warm up session. . More, from a press release issued by Michelin: MICHELIN MAN ROSSI BACK ON TOP IN ESTORIL THRILLER Michelin men Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) completed a superb weekend for the French tire brand at Estoril today, enjoying a breathtakingly close duel for victory and ending the race first and second, separated by less than two tenths. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) finished in fourth place after starting from pole position and setting a new lap record aboard his 800cc RC212V, 0.421 seconds inside the 990cc record. The pace was ultra fast throughout the 28 laps, Rossi’s winning time aboard his 800cc M1 smashing the 990cc race record by an impressive 18.8 seconds. “Today’s performance was quite good because the lap times were fast,” said Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing. “We broke the race record and the lap record and the lap times were very consistent throughout, so it’s been a positive day. Vale and Dani enjoyed a fantastic battle, their bikes worked well, the whole package was perfect.” Michelin’s MotoGP engineers have been working hard at development in recent weeks, testing a new generation of stiffer construction rear slicks at the rest post-Misano GP tests. But their riders didn’t use the new tires today because they weren’t available in compounds to suit the conditions. “After Misano there wasn’t enough time to make a full range of tires with the new construction, so our riders used the previous type here which worked very well anyway and we can see that we are working in the right direction,” Weber added. “We know from our tests at Misano that the new construction rear allows our riders to ride more aggressively, which means faster lap times, so if they had been able to use the new tires today, maybe the race would’ve been even better. “Today did show that the work we’ve been doing on compounds has given us some improvement. We have also been working to improve warm-up and Dani used a tire with better warm-up that allowed him to ride fast from the first few laps. Valentino used our new profile front today ? it gives him good feeling and it’s good during braking which suits these bikes because they enter corners very fast.” Rossi, a keen rally fan, dedicated his fourth win of the year to former WRC champion Colin McRae who died yesterday in a helicopter accident. “I also dedicate this win to all the guys who have worked with me through a difficult few races,” he said. “This victory is very important and it was an amazing race, a great battle. My Michelins and my Yamaha worked very well; in fact maybe my Michelins had something more than the others. I tried to get away from Dani but I couldn’t, I was faster through some parts of the track, he was faster in others.” Pedrosa said: “I pushed very hard and today we were able to keep the same lap time from the start to the finish, which is very important.” Carlos Checa (Honda LCR RC212V-Michelin) also rode an impressive race to finish first non-factory rider in seventh spot.