2007 FIM MotoGP World Championship Brno, Czech Republic August 18, 2007 Final Qualifying Results: 1. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:56.884 2. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda), Michelin, 1:57.164 3. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Michelin, 1:57.179 4. John HOPKINS (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:57.567, crash 5. Randy DE PUNIET (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:57.599 6. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:57.640 7. Loris CAPIROSSI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:57.665 8. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:57.699 9. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:57.702 10. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Yamaha), Dunlop, 1:57.732 11. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Michelin, 1:57.969 12. Carlos CHECA (Honda), Michelin, 1:58.143 13. Alex BARROS (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:58.204 14. Toni ELIAS (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:58.264 15. Makoto TAMADA (Yamaha), Dunlop, 1:58.399 16. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:59.386 17. Kurtis ROBERTS (KR-Honda), Michelin, 1:59.446 18. Ivan SILVA (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:59.721 Did Not Qualify: 19. Marco MELANDRI (Honda), Bridgestone, no times More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP right on the pace in Brno Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer John Hopkins will start tomorrow’s Czech Republic Grand Prix from the front of the second row, after he saw his pole position hopes dashed by a crash right at the end of today’s qualifying in Brno. The uncompromising Anglo-American was going all out for the number one position during his last lap on his Bridgestone qualifying tyres, but he pushed just a bit too hard and went down on a tight right-hander. Fortunately he was unhurt and will be fully fit for tomorrow’s race. Hopkins (P4, 1’57.569, 22 laps) had topped the timesheets twice during the session when using race compound tyres and looks to have a good set-up in readiness for Sunday’s 22-lap spectacle. Chris Vermeulen (P8, 1’57.699, 22 laps) will start just behind Hopkins, as he lines up in the middle of the third row. Vermeulen improved consistently throughout the day and put together some good runs on race tyres, he too topped the timesheet during the afternoon qualifying session as he broke into the sub one minute 59 seconds group. Suzuki’s rising Australian star is in confident mood for tomorrow and will be looking to follow on from his Laguna Seca podium with another good result. Today’s qualifying was help in warm and sunny conditions and an enthusiastic Czech crowd saw Casey Stoner take pole position on his Bridgestone-shod Ducati. Tomorrow’s race is round 12 of the MotoGP World Championship and the action gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT). John Hopkins: “The day didn’t really end the way we wanted it to, but to be frank, Brno is just one of those tracks where you’ve got to go for it, and I pushed just a bit too hard. I guess I’ve made a bit of extra work for the mechanics, so they probably won’t be too pleased sorry guys! We got through a lot of stuff over the weekend and today we made some experiments, but we decided to go back to the set-up we had as that was working well. I feel really happy with the way things are going and the race times are looking good and we can do them consistently. We are still looking for a tenth here and there, but I think we are more than ready for the race tomorrow. We’re in a good position for the start, we’re not on the front row but we are in pole position one row back! We’ll try to get away from the line well and keep with Casey because I’m sure he’ll have a blistering pace, so we’ll just try to stick with him and get by him at the end!” Chris Vermeulen: “We’ve progressed every session this weekend and without a doubt the qualifying session was my best by far. We made a lot of steps forward with race set-up and tyres, and although my qualifying position is not as good as I wanted, it still gives me a chance to get away with the front group. We’ve got our race tyres sorted for tomorrow and are happy with those, so it should be a good race and I’m really looking forward to it. I’d really like to say a big thank-you to all the team this weekend for all the hard work they’ve put in, especially my mechanics who have given me good bike right from the start and I’ll be trying as hard as I can tomorrow to repay them with a good result!” Paul Denning Team Manager: “It’s been another good day’s work by the whole team. Both bikes qualified towards the front of the field and more importantly Chris’s race pace has improved significantly and John has shown himself to be one of the quickest and most consistent riders out there today. John looks capable of challenging right at the front tomorrow and I’m sure Chris will be up there with him, because he has proved many times before that he is a better racer than qualifier. John was going for pole right at the end when he fell down, and if you are going to crash that is as good a time as any! He’s 100% ok and he, like the rest of the team, is ready for tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Pole man Stoner leads chase for Czech-ered flag Round 12 Czech Republic – Qualifying Automotodrom Brno, Brno, Czech Republic Saturday 18 August 2007 Ducati Corse’s Casey Stoner claimed the fifth pole position of the 2007 season on Bridgestone tyres in this afternoon’s qualifying session at the Automotodrom in Brno. It is Stoner’s third consecutive pole position, the last of which came in last month’s United States GP, a race which the championship-leading Australian went on to win in convincing style. Suzuki’s John Hopkins and Kawasaki’s Randy de Puniet continued their good qualifying form this season ending the qualifying hour in fourth and fifth places respectively with both riders having demonstrated encouraging race pace in the Czech Republic so far this weekend. Just one-tenth-of-a-second further adrift, Loris Capirossi will start tomorrow’s 22-lap Czech Republic GP from seventh on the grid and will be joined on the third row by Suzuki rider Chris Vermeulen in eighth place, ensuring that five of the nine participating Bridgestone-shod riders will start from the front three rows of the grid. With weather conditions expected to be similar tomorrow afternoon, lap times during the qualifying hour should give a good indication of riders’ potential for the race, with several Bridgestone-shod riders displaying competitive performances on race tyres this weekend. Tyre Talk with Junichi Kawajiri Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development Were you pleased with the performance of the Bridgestone qualifying tyres this afternoon? “The overall qualifying results were very good today with Casey Stoner able to take pole position as the only man to set a time under 1m57s this afternoon. His time was still some way from the existing pole position time set in last year’s event, but this can be largely attributed to the performance differential between the 990cc and 800cc bikes, I believe. The qualifying tyres gave an increase of over one second for most riders but we would have benefited further from some extra grip from the Q tyres over such a long lap. Even so, to have five riders on Bridgestone tyres in the top nine is a great result.” Have you also been satisfied with the race tyre performance? “After a strong start to the weekend yesterday, our riders were able to continue in the same competitive way in this morning’s free practice and in qualifying, although some of our riders were a bit restricted with the number of laps that they could complete this afternoon. Nevertheless, the lap times have been very competitive and Casey was able to set an extremely fast pace in the morning with his best lap time one-tenth-of-a-second quicker than the current race lap record. The competition is tough here and we have seen some very close races here at Brno in the past, so the performance of the bike and tyre package over the complete race distance will be the key to success tomorrow afternoon. After Loris claimed a sensational win on our tyres last season, we are hopeful that a Bridgestone-shod rider can also achieve a similar result this season.” Rider’s Perspective Casey Stoner Ducati Corse Pole Position “We had some problems this afternoon but we were able to put a few laps on the race tyres and we pretty much understand where we are going. It was then just a matter of putting the qualifying tyres on. Everything has performed very well today and the qualifying tyres also. Most tracks that we go to where we have a good race pace, we also qualify well, so we were able to get another pole position today, which is very nice.” Bridgestone Qualifying Practice Session Results Pos Rider Team Best Lap Time Gap P1 Casey Stoner Ducati 1m56.884s Fastest P4 John Hopkins Suzuki 1m57.567s +0.683s P5 Randy de Puniet Kawasaki 1m57.599s +0.715s P7 Loris Capirossi Ducati 1m57.665s +0.781s P8 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1m57.699s +0.815s P13 Alex Barros Pramac d’Antin 1m58.204s +1.320s P14 Toni Elias Honda Gresini 1m58.264s +1.380s P16 Anthony West Kawasaki 1m59.386s +2.502s P18 Ivan Silva Pramac d’Antin 1m59.721s +2.837s NC Marco Melandri Honda Gresini Did Not Participate Weather: Dry track – Air 25° C, Track 32°C, Humidity 33% (taken from official MotoGP timesheet) More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: SECOND AND THIRD ROWS FOR FIAT YAMAHA AHEAD OF BRNO BATTLE Fiat Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards will start tomorrow’s Czech Grand Prix from the outside of the second and third rows respectively, after claiming the sixth and ninth spots in today’s Qualifying session in Brno. With temperatures much cooler this morning, Rossi ran into some unexpected problems and his team were forced to work hard to make some changes during the middle of the day to put him in better shape for this afternoon’s qualifying session. Meanwhile Edwards, having struggled for grip yesterday, was encouraged when a small change to his set-up proved fruitful and he ended the morning practice in fourth position. This afternoon saw both crews working hard on tyres and general set-up through the majority of the hour-long session before switching their concentration to the fight for grid spots towards the end. Rossi and Edwards’ second run with qualifying tyres seemed to have put them comfortably into fifth and eighth on the grid, before a last minute fast lap from Randy de Puniet pushed them both down one spot. Pole position was taken by Casey Stoner, although his time of 1’56.884 was still over half a second slower than Rossi’s pole time from 2006, when the Italian finished second. Tomorrow’s 22-lap race promises an exciting battle as Rossi aims to close the points-gap to Stoner when action commences at 1400 CET. Valentino Rossi Position: 6th Time: 1’57.640 Laps: 25 “This morning we had quite a lot of problems, especially with the tyres. It was quite cold and with the temperature like this we didn’t have enough traction and we suffered quite a bit. On the exit of the corners I was spinning a lot and this meant I was really quite slow. After this my engineers worked hard on the setting in order to find more traction for this afternoon, and actually we were able to improve the situation quite a bit so thanks to everyone for a good job. This afternoon, with the race tyres, I had quite a good rhythm and the feeling was a lot better. It’s not perfect and we still need to understand more about the final setting for tomorrow, especially on the front, because at the moment it’s pushing a little bit too much and we need to resolve this. “Regarding the qualifying tyres, unfortunately with the first one I made a mistake in braking and so lost that lap. Then the second time around I rode quite well but tyre was too soft on the right side and didn’t last all the way to the end of the lap, so we lost some time in the last section. Also in T1 I had to pass four or five slower riders and so I lost one or two tenths there also. Anyway, the second row is not so bad and I think that sixth place is more or less what we expected this afternoon. “For tomorrow we haven’t yet made a final decision about the tyres. If it’s hot then we have a good tyre already decided, if it’s cooler like this morning then we will have to choose something different. We have some more work to do on the setting in warm-up, but this year it’s always quite difficult to work in warm-up because we have to use different tyres to the ones we are keeping for the race. Anyway, we will do our best to try to find a way to improve the situation with the front so I can ride at the maximum during the race, which of course is going to be necessary. We hope for a good temperature, like this afternoon, because our tyre works a lot better when it’s hot. For sure it will be a hard race but our rhythm with the race tyre is quite good so I think it can be possible to fight for a good result.” Colin Edwards Position: 9th Time: 1’57.702 Laps: 25 “This morning we made a tiny change to our bike, just a couple of millimetres in front and a couple behind, and it completely turned things around, which just goes to show how finicky this sport is! It felt much better so I was pretty pleased after the first session. This afternoon we continued in the same way and I was riding as hard as I could but we couldn’t do much better than low 59s. It seems that our bike works brilliantly at the smoother tracks like Donington and Assen but where it’s a little bumpier, like here, it just gets a tiny bit ‘busy’ in front and this is something I think we really need to work on for the future. It probably only costs two or three tenths a lap but with the times as close as they that’s key. Anyway, we’re on the third row, not too great but not the end of the world either and we’ll be doing our best to get into the mix tomorrow and have a good race.” Davide Brivio Fiat Yamaha Team Director “Although Colin was in better shape this morning, Valentino ran into some problems and we had to work hard to modify the set-up of his bike in order to find more traction. The situation this afternoon was much better. Despite this we still need to make a step forward with both riders to make sure they’re at the maximum for tomorrow. It looks like Stoner is very fast, but we are sure that tonight and tomorrow morning we will be able to improve the package for both riders even further. Neither rider is in a bad position, we still have some time available and, as usual, we will do our best in order to use it to our advantage.” More, from a press release issued by Konica Minolta Honda: Big steps forward for the KONICA MINOLTA Honda Team at Brno Shinya Nakano and his KONICA MINOLTA Honda team made a great leap forward in performance during qualifying today in time for tomorrow’s race at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic. Shinya cut nearly three seconds from his Friday time to record a best lap of 1’57.969″, placing him 11th on the grid. With new parts fitted to the Team’s Honda RC212V MotoGP bikes, it has been a race against time to find the optimum setting for the 800cc machines in time for tomorrow’s 22-lap race. Gianluca Montiron Team Manager KONICA MINOLTA Honda “Today we saw the set-up coming better on the bike and the lap time is much faster. Obviously some others have also moved forward. Tomorrow we need to use the warm-up to make some further improvement, which we hope will be allow Shinya to stay closer to the top group. We have received a lot of new specification equipment so we will stay on to test here on Monday to refine our settings for the final part of the season. Brno is a wide track, so it’s not so difficult to overtake, but it’s still important to get a good start. The first three or so laps are important as Shinya will need to be aggressive and get into a good rhythm. Both the Team and Shinya need to push hard at this point of the season for good results.” Shinya Nakano Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda (43 laps 1′ 57.969″) “We’ve gone much better than yesterday. To be honest we expected a difficult session or two with the new parts as it obviously takes time to find the perfect set-up. Today was an improvement as we’ve found a much better balance between the front and rear of the bike, so I’m feeling more comfortable. The improvement from the engine is very noticeable: it’s provides smoother acceleration and better engine braking. Overall, this makes the bike much easier to ride. The only problem we have now is a little chattering still from the front-end of the bike. This chattering effectively limits the corner entry and mid-corner speed, while the improved motor makes things easier for us than before on the corner exit. This chatter means I cannot push as I would like in the corner, but we have some options to try and a different tyre to look at tomorrow. We are hoping that tomorrow’s weather conditions and track temperatures should be similar to today, which would be better for us.” Giulio Bernardelle Technical Director, KONICA MINOLTA Honda “What has helped us today has been the change in the weather and the harder Michelin tyre, but we have also found our way with the overall settings and made a few adjustments to the suspension, gearbox and geometry of the Honda RC212V. I think that with more time we could also see an even bigger improvement, as the feeling is that this package has much more potential than the standard bike, but finding the perfect setting will take time. Time has been too short to arrive at a good compromise, but the overall balance of the bike is better. Today was important as Shinya was able to run in the 59s on race tyres and maybe tomorrow we can take that down still further. Our Michelin tyres seem to prefer higher temperatures, so if the weather is the same tomorrow we can possibly use the harder tyre which will give us the same performance but improved endurance.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: HAYDEN AND PEDROSA PUT REPSOL HONDAS ON FRONT ROW AT BRNO The Repsol Honda Team put on a strong qualifying performance at Brno on Saturday with Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa securing second and third places on the grid for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of the Czech Republic. Hayden looked quick right from the start of the afternoon session, the World Champion heading the times on race tyres at the beginning of hour and able to lap repeatedly in the 1m 58s bracket. With the sticky qualifying Michelins in place Hayden confirmed his pace by setting the second fastest time, just 0.280s behind today’s pole setter, Casey Stoner. With the ground temperature up from yesterday Pedrosa was also able to find an improvement in speed on race tyres in the afternoon. The 21-year-old Spaniard lapped the 5.403km (3.357-mile) circuit in a competitive 1m 58.732s on race rubber before claiming the final place on the front row with his second qualifying lap, just 0.015s behind his team-mate. Pedrosa will be aiming to extend his impressive record at Brno in Sunday’s 22-lap race. On his previous five visits to the Czech Republic the Barcelona rider has finished on the podium, including two wins in the 125cc class in 2003 and on the 250 in 2005. Round 12 of the 2007 MotoGP season begins at 14.00hrs local time tomorrow following a 25-minute warm up in the morning. Nicky Hayden 2nd 1m 57.164s “This weekend, even though we haven’t put in the one quick lap in every session, we’ve quietly been reasonably close to the pace and perhaps a bit better than it looked on paper. This afternoon the warmer temperature helped us, the tyres worked better and straight away we were able to get down into those 1m 58s laps where we need to be. I quite enjoyed my qualifying laps. My first run went pretty well and on my second one I hung it out a little bit further and was able to go a couple of tenths faster it was fun. For the afternoon session we changed the bike geometry around which seemed to help us. We’ll see what happens in the race tomorrow, but nonetheless that’s my first front row of the season so I’ll try to get a good start and turn it into a good result.” Dani Pedrosa 3rd 1m 57.179s “In qualifying we improved our position quite a lot and the Michelin qualifying tyres worked very well. I’m happy to be on the front row of course and this gives us a good chance to get away at the front in the race. The warmer conditions also helped our performance as expected this afternoon, though we must continue to work on our race settings tonight and tomorrow morning. We still need to make the final decisions on which race tyres to choose, based on what we learned today. A good start is going to be essential tomorrow and I hope that we can find a package that will let us fight with the front group and challenge for the win. It’s going to be a tough race and I’m looking forward to it.” Makoto Tanaka – Team Manager “Nicky and Dani did a very good job today to put both Repsol Hondas on the front row for the first time this year, so a big thanks to both of them. Nicky especially showed that his motivation is still very high even though his season has been quite difficult. This afternoon was hotter than yesterday and the ground temperature was up from 32 degrees to 39 degrees which I think may have favoured the Michelin tyres. We will check all the data we gathered from the machines today and the feedback from our riders to make the final set-up decisions in warm-up tomorrow morning. I think the situation could be like Sachsenring where the morning was cool and the afternoon much hotter. We’ll be working hard towards another good result.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: His 12 session run of MotoGP practices at the top of the timesheets brought to an end yesterday by a qualifier-wielding Sylvain Guintoli yesterday, World Championship leader Casey Stoner showed that he had lost none of his golden touch this afternoon. A 1’56.884 lap was the 21 year-old’s contribution to the afternoon session at Brno, and was unmatched by any of his rivals in both the title hunt and the BMW M Award for combined qualifying times The Australian looked to be in for a tough time when he experienced a problem on his out lap that kept him in the garage for an extended period. However when the metal door rolled up for a second time Stoner set about his business to take his fourth pole of the season and his third consecutive start from the head of the grid. The last rider to take three consecutive pole positions was Stoner’s team-mate Loris Capirossi at the tail end of the 2005 season, with all signs boding well for Ducati tomorrow. Making a great return to action after the summer break, Nicky Hayden will start from the front row for the first time this season after he made a late charge to try and match Stoner’s time. The reigning MotoGP World Champion was unable to break the 1’57 barrier, but starts from second on the grid regardless as he is joined in the first three by Dani Pedrosa. The two Honda factory riders have tried a mixture of new parts in practice, and look to have made a stride forward in conjunction with tyre manufacturer Michelin. John Hopkins suffered a late low side when trying to further improve on his fourth place, although he escaped uninjured but annoyed to lead off row two. He is accompanied by strong Kawasaki qualifier Randy de Puniet and five-time MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi, who had been languishing in eleventh place until the final minutes of the session. The remainder of the top three rows consists of last year’s race winner Loris Capirossi, Laguna Seca podium finisher Chris Vermeulen and factory Yamaha man Colin Edwards, whilst yesterday’s fastest rider Sylvain Guintoli rounds off the top ten. An exposed hernia between two discs in Marco Melandri’s neck has ruled the Italian out of tomorrow’s race. The Gresini Honda rider was unable to ride in all but half of yesterday’s first free practice session, and elected to play things safe because of the obvious pain and lack of control that such an injury entails. 250cc Stoner’s dominance is mirrored in 250cc by Jorge Lorenzo, the reigning World Champion and current leader in the standings. The Spaniard took his seventh pole position of the season this afternoon with a fastest time of 2’01.368, smashing his own pole record time set in 2005 by nearly a full second. Fellow factory Aprilia rider and yesterday’s provisional poleman, Alex Debon also had a great qualifying session that puts him in a good position on the grid for his wild card outing. The Spaniard was just under seven tenths slower than Lorenzo, but ahead of title challengers Andrea Dovizioso and Alex de Angelis in a front row jam-packed with quarter litre talent. The second line is also comprised of riders in a position to challenge for podium spots, with former 250cc race winner Hector Barbera heading Yuki Takahashi, Julian Simon and Shuhei Aoyama for an important race for all four. 125cc A frenetic finish to 125cc qualifying saw the top three riders in the second session all on pole position pace at the end of the session. However, there could only be one rider heading tomorrow’s grid: Brno fan favourite Gabor Talmacsi. The Hungarian, who has many fans in attendance due to his country’s close proximity to the Czech Republic, clocked a time of 2’06.861 for his second consecutive pole, just under six tenths of a second ahead of team-mate and title rival Hector Faubel. The Aspar duo have been locked in qualifying battles throughout the season, although often thwarted by Mattia Pasini, one of the riders to join them on the front row at Brno. Nearly 1.5 seconds separated the top four, with Tomoyoshi Koyama rounding off the quartet. Yesterday’s provisional poleman and local rider Lukas Pesek was unable to repeat his Friday showing, and was hindered by a crash midway through the session which left him at a disadvantage. Another Saturday crasher, Swiss rider Randy Krummenacher, nonetheless had a successful day as he put the second KTM bike onto sixth on the grid. The second row is completed by Sergio Gadea and Sandro Cortese. More, from a press release issued by Team Roberts: ROBERTS SEEKS THE COMBINATION FOR IMPROVEMENT Brno – August 18, 2007: Kurtis Roberts qualified on the sixth row of the grid for tomorrow’s Czech Republic GP, after two days of searching for the right combination to tame the turns on the 5.403km Brno circuit. Roberts rode the latest version of the England-made chassis for the Team Roberts KR212V Honda-powered hybrid, and reported a clear improvement. But a relative lack of horsepower on the long and hilly circuit, as well as other issues, conspired to keep him from getting into the thick of the action, as MotoGP gets back to work after the long summer break. Steering feel and handling were improved, and the pace on race tyres better. But on his qualifying lap on soft tyres, Roberts found himself slowed by the factory Kawasaki of Anthony West, which qualified one place higher. This is the first race since the US GP on July 22, and the second for the significantly revised chassis, which was ready just in time for the American race. Kurtis continues to ride in place of his older brother Kenny Jr., the 2000 World Champion. The day after the GP is also the first opportunity since early June for full-scale tests, which will be especially valuable to Team Roberts, given the chassis change one race ago. KURTIS ROBERTS – 17th Position, 1’59.466 We’ve been on the new chassis since Laguna, but doesn’t make up for the lack of horsepower. That’s been an issue all year. We can only do so much with what we have, and we’re doing it. I prefer the feel the new chassis. It holds a corner line a little better. We still need more, but it’s an improvement. One problem is Michelin brought us three or four tyres we haven’t tried, with different construction, that won’t let the bike turn. There’s so much now: how the motor’s working, the tyres, the construction all affect the way the bike turns. And ours is different every week. It’s hard to get a base line and get consistent, when we keep having these surprises thrown at us. CHUCK AKSLAND – Team Manager He was having a good qualifying run when he got behind Anthony West. I think he expected Anthony would pull him along a bit, but in hindsight it probably held him up. That’s part of what he’s referring to … if he’d had a bit of horsepower to get around Anthony he’d have a better time. Still, we’ve improved things for the tyres we have here. It’s a big part of the game. We started with a lot of different compounds and a lot of different rear-tyre constructions. Some are working better than others. That seems the biggest area we could improve things, apart from horsepower. It seems every racetrack we go to there’s something different and we start from zero again. But he’s closing the gap, he’s closer to other satellite Hondas, and he’s doing a good job. All the signs point to the new chassis being better. On Monday we should have plenty of time to confirm we are going the right way. Hopefully we’ll be able to work through a range of tyres too, to give us a baseline in that area. More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STUNNING STONER SCORES POLE HAT-TRICK FOR DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM, CAPIROSSI SEVENTH Ducati Marlboro Team rider Casey Stoner completed a hat-trick of pole positions at Brno today, the remarkably fast and consistent Australian having dominated both days of practice for the third event running. Team-mate Loris Capirossi also showed well today, running fifth fastest in free practice and taking seventh in qualifying. World Championship leader Stoner upped his pace session by session to lead free practice by almost four tenths and top qualifying by 0.280 seconds, even though he did less laps this afternoon than any other rider after losing time in the pits getting a minor technical issue fixed. Once back on track it took Stoner just four laps to move into second place behind fellow Desmosedici rider and early pace-setter Capirossi! Italian Capirossi will be chasing his third podium of the season. CASEY STONER, pole position, 1m 56.884s “It went really well again today. We had a little problem with the rear brake at the start of this afternoon’s session, so we missed maybe 20 minutes. Once we had that fixed we were quite fast on race tyres that had had a few laps on them, so everything seems to be working quite well. Pole position is just a nice add-on, it’s been another successful weekend, we’ve been quickest in every session bar one and things just seem to be going quite well for us at the moment. We definitely improved today, we didn’t seem to find any problem getting the bike turned out of the corners today. Yesterday we had both bikes set up different, so we were testing between one and the other, now we have them set up the same; we decided which way to go and we’ve stuck with that. The bike seems to be working well, of course it’s not perfect, but for race conditions I think we’re looking pretty good. I’m still going for as many wins as it’s possible to get before the end of the season. It’s not easy to win races, so we’re just going to see what happens and fight all the way.” LORIS CAPIROSSI, seventh fastest, 1m 57.665s “I’m really satisfied with my bike because I think we made a big step forward in tuning its electronic engine control systems. My rhythm is good. I don’t think that all the guys who were fast on qualifying tyres will be as fast in tomorrow’s race. But it’s also true that apart from Casey, who has a very good pace, there’ll probably be a bunch of riders who can run a competitive pace like mine. Our race tyres are good but I won’t make my final choice until warm-up. This afternoon I did two good laps with my first two qualifiers but I made a mistake with my third – I took a risk in one corner and almost lost control, so I couldn’t better my time. Anyway, I’m happy and I think that we can fight for a podium finish.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol: Nicky Hayden second and Dani Pedrosa third after a hard fought timed session. Second row for Repsol 250cc riders. When the red lights go out tomorrow Repsol’s two riders in MotoGP will be on the first row of the grid, but just behind the Australian Casey Stoner. This weekend Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa have got better as the sessions passed and finished second and third, respectively, in the final classification session. As the sun warmed the air and the track got hotter their performance got slightly better but they were always among the best in the top category. Just after the start of the timed classification session both Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa were setting competitive times, with steady laps of around low 1’59s and high 1’58s. Fifteen minutes from the end and using classification tyres the American got into second place at his first attempt to reach the pole. His second lap saw him improve by 2 tenths, although it was not enough to succeed. Pedrosa got into fourth place with his first attempt with classification tyres and was 7 tenths behind Stoner, whilst on his second and definitive lap he moved up one place and set a time just under 3 tenths behind the fastest rider. In 250cc the two Repsol Honda Team riders demonstrated that they were very competitive during the second and definitive timed session. Both Shuhei Aoyama and Julián Simón were always among the leading eight riders, and had the objective of getting a place on the second row of the grid which would give them a chance of putting in a good performance tomorrow. Julián Simón in the end set the seventh best time and his team mate Shuhei Aoyama the eighth. There were poor performances by the two Repsol Honda Team riders in 125cc. They were near the back in the morning and in the afternoon, in the second and definitive classification session, did not get the results they were hoping for. Bradley Smith, who was 14th in the first timed session, improved and moved up to 13th, and will start on the fourth row of the grid. His team mate Esteve Rabat, 13th yesterday, fell back to 18th this afternoon and so will start from the fifth row. Both riders have lacked pace over the two days training but are dying to race tomorrow. MotoGP Nicky Hayden — 1:57.164 secs. 46 laps, 249km. “This weekend, even without having been in the fight for the fastest lap in all the sessions, we have been close to the pace we expected and perhaps a little better than seemed on paper. This afternoon we were helped by the higher temperatures, the tyres worked better and so we were able to lower the lap times. I quite enjoyed my classification laps the first went quite well and on the second I pushed harder and I was able to set a lap a few tenths faster; it was fun. During the afternoon session I changed the bike’s geometry and it seems to have helped us. We will see what happens tomorrow but this is the first time I have been on the front row all season, so I am going to try and get off to a good start and turn it into a good result.” Dani Pedrosa — 1:57.179 secs, 47 laps 254km. “We improved our position quite a lot in classification and the Michelin classification tyres worked well. I am pleased to be on the first row of course, and this will give us a good chance to stay at the front during the race. The higher temperature this afternoon also helped us to improve our performance, just as we expected, although we have to continue working on the race set up tonight and tomorrow morning. We still have to make some final decisions about the tyres for the race, based on what we have learnt today. A good start will be essential tomorrow and I hope that we can find a good set up that will let us fight with the leading group and be in the battle for the victory. It is going to be a tough race but I am dying for it to start.” 250cc Julián Simón — 2:02.907 secs. 40 laps, 216 km. “These were tough training sessions where the riders were very fast. Those at the front beat the record for the circuit. Both the mechanics and I did all we could. I think that we could have gone a little faster but it was not to be. Improving a few things we can go faster. I am pleased because I did my best and looking forward to tomorrow we will try a few new things in the warm-up so that I feel comfortable on the bike and can tackle the race in a better frame of mind. I am very motivated, the holidays have been good for me and tomorrow I am dying to get among the leaders and fight for a podium finish.” Shuhei Aoyama — 2:02.945 secs, 40 laps, 216 km. “This morning the result was not so good, but the sensations on the bike were better. Perhaps I could have gone a little faster seeing the times I set. I had some problems in the afternoon, right to the end of the session, with the rear end settings both the tyre and the suspension but we made some changes and things went better. I do not know what type of race it will be tomorrow but I am sure it will not be easy as the times set were all very similar.” 125cc Bradley Smith — 2:09.375 secs, 29 laps, 157 km. “The whole weekend is turning out to be quite tough. We did find the right set up until the last 4 or 5 laps of the timed session. We readjusted everything a little towards the end and the bike went much better than in the morning. When you go a second faster per lap, the difference is a lot, above all on this track. However it is still not enough because we are still two and half seconds behind the leader. Talmacsi is going very fast but you always want to be closer. The only thing I can do tomorrow is to try and get a better set up in the warm-up, get off to a good start and fight all the way.” Esteve Rabat — 2:09.729 secs, 31 laps, 167 km. “This morning it seemed that we were well on the way, but in the afternoon we were not able to improve. We were a tenth slower than in the morning and we had a lot of problems. I finished 18th, way behind the leaders. I hope to solve the problems, because the truth is being so far behind, at a track like this where I have ridden before, is not good. I hope to improve tomorrow because I did the best I could and the team worked as hard as it could, so we will have to see how things go.” Official results MotoGP grid 1. Casey STONER (DUCATI) 1’56.864 2. Nicky HAYDEN (REPSOL HONDA) 1’57.164 3. Dani PEDROSA (REPSOL HONDA) 1’57.179 4. John HOPKINS (SUZUKI) 1’57.567 5. Randy DE PUNIET (KAWASAKI) 1’57.599 250cc grid 1. Jorge LORENZO (APRILIA) 2’01.368 2. Alex DEBÓN (APRILIA) 2’02.026 3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (HONDA) 2’02.036 4. Alex DE ANGELIS (APRILIA) 2’0’2.148 5. Héctor BARBERÁ (APRILIA) 2’02.568 7. Julián SIMÓN (REPSOL HONDA) 2’02.907 8. Shuhei AOYAMA (REPSOL HONDA) 2’02.945 125cc grid 1. Gabor TALMACSI (APRILIA) 2’06.861 2. Héctor FAUBEL (APRILIA) 2’07.402 3. Mattia PASINI (APRILIA) 2’07.429 4. Tomoyoshi KOYAMA (KTM) 2’08.155 5. Lukas PESEK (DERBI) 2’08.200 13. Bradley SMITH (REPSOL HONDA) 2’09.375 18. Esteve RABAT (REPSOL HONDA) 2’09.729 More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: A NAIL-BITING DAY FOR KAWASAKI IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Randy de Puniet and Anthony West will start tomorrow’s Czech Republic Grand Prix from fifth and 16th on the grid respectively after today’s qualifying practice at Brno. During the warm and dry final free practice session this morning, de Puniet rode at a terrific pace at what is one of his favourite venues. His efforts put him in third place, just behind Casey Stoner and John Hopkins, with a best time of 1’58.939 around the twisty, 5.4km circuit. During the afternoon’s qualifying session, he was initially delayed by a minor mechanical problem on his number one bike, but quickly got to grips with his number two machine to qualify on the second row. Taking his 800cc Ninja ZX-RR up to a top speed of 286kmh, with a time of 1’57.599, he came in just ahead of seven times world champion, Valentino Rossi. Qualifying practice brought with it further improvement in West’s lap times on race tyres, with the 26-year-old Australian showing a best lap of 1’59.386, and a top speed of 285.7kmh, as he continued to display increasing promise around the Czech circuit on his Bridgestone-shod Kawasaki. However, lack of familiarity with sticky qualifying tyres is proving tricky for West. This year’s new tyre regulations mean there is no opportunity to test on them during a race weekend, outside qualifying sessions and, given West only joined the Kawasaki Racing Team in June, he has not been able to perfect his use of them, which today affected his final time. On race tyres though, the former 250cc rider and World Supersport winner was on the pace and that is what will matter when the lights go off on the grid tomorrow. Aiming to continue his run of excellent finishes, West is realistic about the battle ahead, bearing in mind his starting position but, having found a suitable set up, tied with his characteristic determination, he’s still very much one to watch. Sunday’s race at the Brno Automotodrom will be the 12th out of this year’s 18-round MotoGP season and will take place after a final warm-up session for the riders in the morning. Randy De Puniet #14 – 5th – Best Lap 1’57.599 “My position isn’t as good as I’d hoped for but I’m still feeling very optimistic for the race as I’ve been going well all weekend. I had some problems in the qualifying session, so my initial lap times weren’t as strong as this morning, but we made some modifications to the bike and, towards the end, I did some pretty good times. Sure, I’m disappointed because I think the first row would have been possible today but the second row is not so bad. We have good tyres and a good set up, I like it here and I hope to do well.” Anthony West #13 – 16th – Best Lap 1’59.386 “That session wasn’t as good as I’d hoped it would be, obviously, but I was going quicker than in earlier practice sessions, which is very positive. I’m not really happy with how I qualified, and I’m still not getting the best from the qualifying tyres, but on race tyres I was going well. I’m just going to look towards tomorrow, go for it in the race and we’ll see what happens.” Fiorenzo Fanali Crew Chief – Anthony West “We’ve found a good combination of race tyres, and this afternoon we did some very good lap times in race trim, but when we tried the qualifying tyres, we weren’t able to do a better lap. For Anthony, this is only his fifth experience of qualifiers and it’s very difficult for him. But the race is tomorrow, not today. Of course, qualifying is important but tomorrow we will try to do the best race we can. Every rider, when they try a qualifying tyre for the first time, gets a big surprise because the grip level is different, you must change your riding style and you must trust in it, and that’s not easy, especially for him, in only his fifth MotoGP race and with no tests. We saw in Laguna that Anthony can start from the back but fight in the race and finish well in the points, so I think he’ll be able to do the same tomorrow. I think he can do very well here at Brno.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: HAYDEN AND PEDROSA STORM TO FRONT ROW STARTS The much-awaited hour of MotoGP qualifying at the first Grand Prix after the summer break proved to be business as usual for Casey Stoner (Ducati) who took his third consecutive pole position. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) joins him on the front row as second fastest qualifier and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) as third quickest. In bright, dry conditions, with the track temperature at 35 degrees, riders filtered out onto the imposing 5.043km of Brno tarmac. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) made the early running before a fired-up Hayden dislodged him from the top of the timesheets, putting in a 1m 58.848s lap to show his desire to get up to the sharp end of the grid and stay there. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) then notched up a 1m 58.074s lap to take the early provisional pole slot from Nicky and establish himself as one of the contenders for at least a front row start. At the halfway point of the session, the order was Capirossi, Stoner, John Hopkins (Suzuki) and then Nicky and Dani. Dani then got into the groove to move up to third, relegating Nicky to fifth as the duo worked on finding the best set-up with a raft of new HRC parts and settings developed by the factory before and during the month-long lay-off before this Grand Prix. The surprise of the session was Yamaha rider Sylvain Guintoli who was fastest yesterday and proved to be a quick man today too when he moved up to second fastest with just over 20 minutes to go. But Vermeulen laid a claim on second just minutes later until Guintoli responded by snatching pole with a swift 1m 58.044s lap. Suzuki man Hopkins then grabbed the top slot with a 1m 57.857s lap before Stoner deprived the American of his brief tenure at the front with a 1m 57.066s lap. The pace was getting hotter and both Dani and Nicky were ready to respond. Stoner’s time was already 0.875 seconds better than Rossi’s pole time of 2006 and as Nicky moved up to second with 15 minutes left to run, qualifying rubber was ready to be fitted and riders prepared to make the most of these super-sticky tyres. Capirossi showed his hand by climbing to third place with ten minutes to go and the gritty Toni Elias (Gresini Honda RC212V), riding while only 60% recovered from the broken leg he suffered at Assen in June, moved up to eighth. With Dani lying second and Nicky fourth, both Repsol riders were poised to make the most of this strong position and as Stoner romped to a 1m 56.884s time, the first rider to dip into the fifty-sixes, Nicky showed he was right in the hunt for pole with a 1m 57.164s effort which consolidated second for the reigning World Champion. With two minutes left on the clock Dani took third with a 1m 57.1798s time. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) struggled to fifth on the grid, while Hopkins fell in the final minute making efforts to get on terms at the front. Two Honda men then had a hold on the front row, but there would be no other Honda riders in the top ten. Shinya Nakano (Konica Minolta Honda RC212V) managed 11th, Carlos Checa (LCR Honda RC212V) 12th, the tough Elias 14th and Kurtis Roberts (Roberts KR212V) 17th. Marco Melandri (Gresini Honda RC212V) sat out this session and will not ride in tomorrow’s 22-lap race after suffering a herniated disc in his back. The Italian will rest and prepare for the Misano, Italy event in early September. Nicky Hayden, just 0.280 seconds shy of pole, said: “This weekend, even though we haven’t put in the one quick lap in every session, we’ve been reasonably close to the pace and perhaps a bit better than it looked on paper. I quite enjoyed my qualifying laps. My first run went pretty well and on my second one I hung it out a little bit further and was able to go a couple of tenths faster it was fun. For the afternoon session we changed the bike geometry around which seemed to help us. We’ll see what happens in the race tomorrow, but nonetheless that’s my first front row of the season so I’ll try to get a good start and turn it into a good result.” Dani Pedrosa said: “In qualifying we improved our position quite a lot and the Michelin qualifying tyres worked very well. I’m happy to be on the front row of course and this gives us a good chance to get away at the front in the race. We still need to make the final decisions on which race tyres to choose, based on what we learned today. A good start is going to be essential tomorrow and I hope that we can find a package that will let us fight with the front group and challenge for the win. It’s going to be a tough race and I’m looking forward to it.” Nakano, in 11th, just over a second off the pole time, said: “We’ve gone much better than yesterday. To be honest we expected a difficult session or two with the new parts as it obviously takes time to find the perfect set-up. Today was an improvement as we’ve found a much better balance between the front and rear of the bike, so I’m feeling more comfortable. The improvement from the engine is very noticeable: it’s provides smoother acceleration and better engine braking. Overall, this makes the bike much easier to ride. The only problem we have now is a little chattering still from the front-end of the bike.” Checa, 12th fastest, said: “The warmer weather today helped the tyre performance and a hotter race day will even be better. On race tyres I was running times in the top seven, but I couldn’t improve on the final qualifying tyre. There was some traffic plus I didn’t have enough mid-corner speed today. We tried many adjustments and made some small gains, but the set-up is still not perfect. The top speed and engine response is much better but we still need to find some solutions. I think we have a good tyre choice for the race and a strong top ten finish should be achievable.” Elias, in 14th, said: “I am quite satisfied with my qualifying but I hope for a better result in the race. Today I had much more pain in my injured leg because of the stress I put on the leg yesterday. I know it will be a very difficult race and I have only put in four laps in a row in practice and qualifying and the race tomorrow is 22 laps! I worked very hard on my condition in the month before Brno but I know I cannot expect too much from the race.” Roberts, who qualified 17th fastest, said: “We’ve been on the new chassis since Laguna, but doesn’t make up for the lack of horsepower. That’s been an issue all year. We can only do so much with what we have, and we’re doing it. I prefer the feel of the new chassis. It holds a corner line a little better. We still need more, but it’s an improvement.” A philosophical, but understandably disappointed, Melandri said: “I’m very sorry to give up on this race. I really wanted to try qualifying but the pain was too much. The movement on my helmet while braking put pressure on the compressed nerve and sent too much pain down my left arm. Riding like that would be dangerous for myself and the others. Now I’ll get ready for Misano.” Jorge Lorenzo (Aprilia) took pole in the 250cc class with fellow Aprilia rider Alex Debon second on the grid, Andrea Dovizioso (Scot Honda RS250RW) qualified third fastest with Alex de Angelis (Aprilia) completing the front row in fourth. Yuki Takahashi (Scot Honda RS250RW) will start from sixth on the grid and Julian Simon (Repsol Honda RS250RW) and Shuhei Aoyama (Repsol Honda RS250RW) will join the Japanese man on row two as seventh and eighth fastest qualifiers. Takahashi is 1.2 seconds off the pole time though. Dovizioso said: “I’m very satisfied about the lap time I made today on race tyres, we have been very fast considering that this isn’t our favourite track. So for that reason this result make me confident. I’m happy about the team’s work and the improvements made session after session, there is still some work to do in order to find increased the grip but for the rest I think we are quite ok. Tomorrow it will be a long, difficult and tiring race. For me, for the team and for the final standing I have to win and I’ll try until the end.” Takahashi said: “I’m very happy to start from the second row, it was my aim and I reached it. Tomorrow it is very important to start well. In the second part of the Championship and to gain points as many points as possible for the general standing. The bike is quite good, there still some work to do on suspension in order to improve the bike and find a little better set-up. I’m confident, physically I have recovered a lot in this summer break and I want to demonstrate that tomorrow.” Simon said: “I think we could have gone a little faster but it was not to be. Improve a few things and we can go faster. I’m pleased though because I did my best and looking forward to tomorrow we’ll try a few new things in warm-up so I feel comfortable on the bike. Then I can tackle the race in a strong frame of mind.” Aoyama said: “I had some problems in the afternoon with the rear-end settings, right up to the end of the session both tyre and suspension but we made some changes and things went better. I don’t know what type of race it will be tomorrow but I’m sure it won’t be easy as the times set were all pretty similar.” Hungarian hotshot Gabor Talmacsi took pole in the 125cc class with Hector Faubel second fastest man with Mattia Pasini (all Aprilia) third on the grid and Lukas Pesek (Derbi) completing the front row. Local man Pesek headed the timesheet early in the session with a 2m 08.201s time from yesterday’s session with Faubel in touch with a 2m 08.413s best. Then Pesek fell with 16 minutes left and Talmacsi posted a 2m 07.434s lap time to snatch pole. Faubel then went faster until Talmacsi recorded a 2m 06.861s lap to make the number one grid slot his own with two minutes of the half-hour session left. Britain’s Bradley Smith (Repsol Honda RS125R) qualified 13th and Alex Masbou (FFM Racing Honda RS125R) from 15th. Smith said: “I only found a fast lap time over the last four laps of final qualifying. No matter what I tried yesterday I could not get the bike to turn, even changing lines and braking points, I could do nothing to improve that. The bad weather overnight left the track in a different condition and I could not run as fast. At the places I normally run fast and have good braking points I was slower than expected. We changed the front forks and raised the rear-end a bit and that helped me. I can’t do anymore, I’m riding hard.” His team-mate Tito Rabat, Repsol Honda RS125R) qualified 18th and said: “This morning everything was feeling OK but in the qualifying session I had a few problems with front-end chatter and I couldn’t get the bike to turn fast enough. I only improved my time by a tenth of a second from morning practice. The engine is OK but I can’t make use of anyone’s slipstream. We have the warm-up to check the improvements to the front-end and I’m sure the team will find a solution.” Honda rider quotes GP CZ Brno from qualifying. MotoGP. Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 2nd. “This weekend, even though we haven’t put in the one quick lap in every session, we’ve quietly been reasonably close to the pace and perhaps a bit better than it looked on paper. This afternoon the warmer temperature helped us, the tyres worked better and straight away we were able to get down into those 1m 58s laps where we need to be. I quite enjoyed my qualifying laps. My first run went pretty well and on my second one I hung it out a little bit further and was able to go a couple of tenths faster – it was fun. For the afternoon session we changed the bike geometry around which seemed to help us. We’ll see what happens in the race tomorrow, but nonetheless that’s my first front row of the season so I’ll try to get a good start and turn it into a good result.” Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 3rd. “In qualifying we improved our position quite a lot and the Michelin qualifying tyres worked very well. I’m happy to be on the front row of course and this gives us a good chance to get away at the front in the race. The warmer conditions also helped our performance as expected this afternoon, though we must continue to work on our race settings tonight and tomorrow morning. We still need to make the final decisions on which race tyres to choose, based on what we learned today. A good start is going to be essential tomorrow and I hope that we can find a package that will let us fight with the front group and challenge for the win. It’s going to be a tough race and I’m looking forward to it.” Carlos Checa, LCR Honda: 12th. “The warmer weather today helped the tyre performance and a hotter race day will even be better. On race tyres I was running times in the top seven, but I couldn’t improve on the final qualifying tyre, there was some traffic plus I didn’t have a enough mid-corner speed today. We tried many adjustments and made some small gains, but the set-up is still not perfect. The top speed and engine response is much better but we still need to find some solutions. I think we have a good tyre choice for the race and a strong top ten finish should be achievable.” Shinya Nakano, Konica Minolta Honda: 11th. “We’ve gone much better than yesterday. To be honest we expected a difficult session or two with the new parts as it obviously takes time to find the perfect set-up. Today was an improvement as we’ve found a much better balance between the front and rear of the bike, so I’m feeling more comfortable. The improvement from the engine is very noticeable: it’s provides smoother acceleration and better engine braking. Overall, this makes the bike much easier to ride. The only problem we have now is a little chattering still from the front-end of the bike. This chattering effectively limits the corner entry and mid-corner speed, while the improved motor makes things easier for us than before on the corner exit. This chatter means I cannot push as I would like in the corner, but we have some options to try and a different tyre to look at tomorrow. We are hoping that tomorrow’s weather conditions and track temperatures should be similar to today, which would be better for us.” Toni Elias, Gresini Honda: 14th.”I am quite satisfied with my qualifying but I hope for a better result in the race. Today I had much more pain in my injured leg because of the stress I put on the leg yesterday. I know it will be a very difficult race and I have only put in four laps in a row in practice and qualifying and the race tomorrow is 22 laps! I worked very hard on my condition in the month before Brno but I know I cannot expect too much from the race.” Kurtis Roberts, KR212V: 17th. “We’ve been on the new chassis since Laguna, but doesn’t make up for the lack of horsepower. That’s been an issue all year. We can only do so much with what we have, and we’re doing it. I prefer the feel of the new chassis. It holds a corner line a little better. We still need more, but it’s an improvement. One problem is Michelin brought us three or four bike turn. There’s so much now: how the motor’s working, the tyres, the construction all affect the way the bike turns. And ours is different every week. It’s hard to get a base line and get consistent, when we keep having these surprises thrown at us.” Chuck Aksland – Team Manager Team Roberts. He was having a good qualifying run when he got behind Anthony West. I think he expected Anthony would pull him along a bit, but in hindsight it probably held him up. That’s part of what he’s referring to … if he’d had a bit of horsepower to get around Anthony he’d have a better time. Still, we’ve improved things for the tyres we have here. It’s a big part of the game. We started with a lot of different compounds and a lot of different rear-tyre constructions. Some are working better than others. That seems the biggest area we could improve things, apart from horsepower. It seems every racetrack we go to there’s something different and we start from zero again. But he’s closing the gap, he’s closer to other satellite Hondas, and he’s doing a good job. All the signs point to the new chassis being better. On Monday we should have plenty of time to confirm we are going the right way. Hopefully we’ll be able to work through a range of tyres too, to give us a baseline in that area. Marco Melandri, Gresini Honda: “I’m very sorry to give up on this race. I really wanted to try qualifying but the pain was too much. The movement on my helmet while braking put pressure on the compressed nerve and sent too much pain down my left arm. Riding like that would be dangerous for myself and the others. Now I’ll get ready for Misano.” 250cc: Andrea Dovizioso, Kopron Scot Honda: 3rd.”I’m very satisfied about the lap time I made today on race tyres, we have been very fast considering that this isn’t our favourite track. So for that reason this result make me confident. I’m happy about the team’s work and the improvements made session after session, there is still some work to do in order to find increased the grip but for the rest I think we are quite ok. Tomorrow it will be a long, difficult and tiring race. For me, for the team and for the final standing I have to win and I’ll try until the end.” Yukio Takahashi, Kopron Scot Honda: 6th.”I’m very happy to start from the second row, it was my aim and I reached it. Tomorrow it is very important to start well. In the second part of the Championship and to gain points as many points as possible for the general standing. The bike is quite good, there still some work to do on suspension in order to improve the bike and find a little better set-up. I’m confident, physically I have recovered a lot in this summer break and I want to demonstrate that tomorrow.” Julian Simon, Repsol Honda: 7th “These were tough training sessions where the riders were very fast. Those at the front beat the record for the circuit. Both the mechanics and I did all we could. I think that we could have gone a little faster but it was not to be. Improving a few things we can go faster. I am pleased because I did my best and looking forward to tomorrow we will try a few new things in the warm-up so that I feel comfortable on the bike and can tackle the race in a better frame of mind. I am very motivated, the holidays have been good for me and tomorrow I am dying to get among the leaders and fight for a podium finish.” Shuhei Aoyama, Repsol Honda: 8th.”This morning the result was not so good, but the sensations on the bike were better. Perhaps I could have gone a little faster seeing the times I set. I had some problems in the afternoon, right to the end of the session, with the rear end settings both the tyre and the suspension but we made some changes and things went better. I do not know what type of race it will be tomorrow but I am sure it will not be easy as the times set were all very similar.” Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT-SAG: 19th.”I’m satisfied with today’s result and the work we did to improve the bike set-up. This morning, there wasn’t much grip out there and I was kind of short on mileage as yesterday the rain prevented us to do everything we had planned. Despite all of this, I finished the session just 3.5s off the pole position time, in a relatively good position. Tomorrow I hope I can do a good start and join the battle for points as soon as possible.” Eugene Laverty, LCR Honda: 25th.”I know I can go much faster than this and hopefully we can find a front set-up to handle the bumps here, that is my big problem. I’ve learnt the track no problem, but as soon as I try to go faster I struggle with the bumps.” 125cc. Bradley Smith, Repsol Honda: 13th.”I only found a fast lap time over the last four laps of final qualifying. No matter what I tried yesterday I could not get the bike to turn, changing lines braking points, I could do nothing to improve. The overnight bad weather left the track different condition and I could not run as fast. At the places I normally run fast and have good braking points I was slower than I expected. We changed the front forks and raised the rear end a bit and that helped me. I cant do anymore, I’m riding hard.” Tito Rabat, Repsol Honda: 18th.”This morning everything was feeling OK but in the qualifying session I ad a few problems with front end chatter and I couldn’t get the bike to turn fast enough. I only improved my time by a tenth of a second from morning practice. The engine is OK but I cannot make use of the slipstream. We have the warm up to check the improvements to the front end and I’m sure the team will find a solution.” Mike Di Meglio, Kopron Scot Honda: 19th.”This afternoon I went fast at the beginning of the session and in fact I lowered my lap time quickly. Sure we have improved but not enough, it won’t be easy starting from 19th place tomorrow. We had a small carburation problem but that’s OK now. The engine is good enough to pass other riders from the slipstream. I normally don’t like the track, it’s very bumpy but this weekend I feel I can make a good result here. All I need is a good start and get with the fast group.” Alexis Masbou, FFM Honda:15th. “The summer break was very positive. I had time to relax and feel much more confident and detached for this Grand Prix. We worked on the Honda¹s chassis and if that bothered me during the first sessions it worked out as an advantage in the end. In fact I realised that I was using the full potential of this new set-up, because even if the bike felt easier to flick between the corners, I still found it wouldn¹t turn as I would have liked. In the last session I thought things over in my mind, we worked on the front end again and eventually it all worked out. In the warm-up tomorrow morning I will concentrate on riding several laps at the same pace as my qualifying time. I hope to obtain a good race result on this racetrack, which I really appreciate and which puts the accent on corner entries, which is my good point!” Mike Di Meglio, Kopron Scot Honda: 19th. “My qualifying was so so much as the weekend. I don’t really know why I’m not faster, maybe I’m thinking I don’t want to crash again even though my injuries have healed. We had a small carburation problem but that’s OK now. The engine is good enough to pass other riders from the slipstream. I normally don’t like the track, it’s very bumpy but this weekend I feel I can make a good result here. All I need is a good start and get with the fast group.” Joey Litjens, Molenaar Honda: 28th.”I started the morning free practice only looking to find the best possible set up for the race. I found a good setting very quickly and was aiming to run low 2m 11s times but I was into 2m 10s. So after that I came in changed tyres made a few carburation adjustments. I only beat my best time by one tenth of a second but made a mistake at T3, which is normally my fastest section so I am very confident I can run faster times tomorrow. The bike is good, engine chassis and tyres. I need one of my fast starts because it’s a long way to the first corner.” Danny Webb, Molenaar Honda: 30th. “I am so frustrated with today, free practice and qualifying. In the morning I had an electrical problem that caused the engine revs to drop off for a few seconds then fire up again. The team changed some things on the bike for the qualifying session but the bike stopped at turn one on the first lap out. We got the bike back to the box quickly and changed the entire ignition system and the kill switch. But all that cost me time and I only got in four flying laps. The time is better than yesterday and now the problems are fixed I am confident thebike will be good for the warm up and race.” Dino Lombardi, Kopron Scot Honda: 34th. “The problems I had yesterday still persist. This morning I improved my time by about two tenths of a second and I thought to improve today but on the contrary I wasn’t able to. I hope only to have a good start tomorrow and don’t lose the contact with the group in order to try a recover.” More, from a press release issued by Gresini Racing Honda: ELIAS READY FOR RACE RETURN BUT MELANDRI RULED OUT It will be a bittersweet day for Team Honda Gresini tomorrow as the team look forward to seeing Toni Elias return to action after missing three races with a broken femur but with Marco Melandri missing after the Italian picked up an unexpected injury during practice. Marco suffered an exposed discal hernia between the C5 and C6 vertebrae when exiting a corner in free practice yesterday morning. After undergoing intense physiotherapy since then he was hoping to at least take part in this afternoon’s qualifying session but the pain was too intense and he will now be forced to wait and hope for a return in the next round at Misano on September 2. He will undergo further examination on Tuesday in Italy before the full rehabilitation programme is established. The bright side for the team has been the performance of Elias, who fought through his own physical problems to qualify in 14th place for tomorrow’s race. TONI ELIAS (14th, 1’58″264): “I’m quite satisfied because even though I’m capable of a much better result I couldn’t ask for much more from my body today. The pain in my leg is getting worse and I think it will be a tough race tomorrow. Today we tried a few different things and I didn’t do more than four laps at a time to try not to force it but there are 22 laps to get through tomorrow. Anyway, I’m quite satisfied and I have to treat this whole weekend as a test.” MARCO MELANDRI: “I’m really disappointed to pull out – in my head I wanted to get back on track but the pain was just too much. Just the sheer force of the wind under braking pushes the nerve out of position and that takes away all the strength and feeling from my arm. They’ve tried everything at the Clinica but it hasn’t worked. On Tuesday I’ll see a specialist and we’ll decide what is the best way to fix it. Hopefully I can be fit for Misano, which is an important race for the team because the base is so close to the track.”