FIM MotoGP World Championship Shanghai, China May 4, 2008 Race Results (wet/dry conditions): 1. Valentino ROSSI (Yam YZR-M1), Bridgestone, 44:08.061 2. Dani PEDROSA (Hon RC212V), Michelin, -3.890 seconds 3. Casey STONER (Duc GP08), Bridgestone, -15.928 4. Jorge LORENZO (Yam YZR-M1), Michelin, -22.494 5. Marco MELANDRI (Duc GP08), Bridgestone, -26.957 6. Nicky HAYDEN (Hon RC212V), Michelin, -28.369 7. Colin EDWARDS (Yam YZR-M1), Michelin, -29.780 8. Toni ELIAS (Duc GP08), Bridgestone, -30.225 9. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suz GSV-R), Bridgestone, -31.440 10. Shinya NAKANO (Hon RC212V), Bridgestone, -35.969 11. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Hon RC212V), Michelin, -36.246 12. James TOSELAND (Yam YZR-M1), Michelin, -43.191 13. Randy DE PUNIET (Hon RC212V), Michelin, -43.442 14. John HOPKINS (Kaw ZX-RR), Bridgestone, -45.855 15. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Duc GP08), Bridgestone, -46.330 16. Alex DE ANGELIS (Hon RC212V), Bridgstone, -50.593 17. Anthony WEST (Kaw ZX-RR), Bridgstone, -65.593 18. Chris VERMEULEN (Suz GSV-R), Bridgestone, -16 laps, retired MotoGP World Championship Point Standings (after 4 of 18 races): 1. Pedrosa, 81 2. Lorenzo, 74 3. Rossi, 72 4. Stoner, 56 5. TIE, Capirossi/Toseland, 33 7. Edwards, 31 8. Hayden, 29 9. TIE, Dovizioso/Hopkins, 26 11. Melandri, 23 12. Nakano, 22 13. Elias, 15 14. Vermeulen, 14 15. De Puniet, 11 16. De Angelis, 7 17. Guintoli, 4 18. West, 3 More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Rossi ends win drought with China triumph Pramac Grand Prix of China – May 4th Report Day 3 Rossi returns to winning ways motogp Valentino Rossi ended his seven-race winless streak with a vintage display in the Pramac Grand Prix of China, repeating his 2005 triumph at the Shanghai International Circuit to take his first victory since the Portuguese race last September. He battled with new MotoGP World Championship leader Dani Pedrosa for the majority of the race. Starting from second on the grid, Rossi was involved in an inseparable front group for the opening laps. Eager to avoid a breakaway from Repsol Honda rider Pedrosa, the five-time MotoGP World Champion matched his Spanish rival lap-for-lap before finally sticking a move on him the ninth time around the track. After assuming control, he upped the pace to take his first victory with Bridgestone tyres, setting a new circuit record of 1´59.273 on his 18th lap. Rossi lies just nine points behind Pedrosa in the standings after becoming the fourth winner in as many races in 2008. Pedrosa tried hard to assume the early advantage, but eventually finished second to continue as the only rider to have placed on the podium at every race so far. Returning to the rostrum after two races away, 2007 World Champion Casey Stoner completed the top three comprised of each of the previous Shanghai winners. Last year´s victor was unable to play a part in the battle for the win, but now finds himself in a much healthier position in the championship despite not being completely satisfied with the final outcome. In a result as miraculous as it was mercurial, Jorge Lorenzo took fourth place with a late surge back up the field, playing through the pain of a fractured ankle and other assorted injuries on the occasion of his 21st birthday. Off the podium for the first time this season, the Spaniard nonetheless received a hero´s welcome on his return to the Fiat Yamaha garage. He is now second in the overall standings, seven points behind arch rival Pedrosa. Marco Melandri had his best result since joining Ducati, in fifth place ahead of 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden. A tightly bunched group of Tech 3 Yamaha poleman Colin Edwards, Alice Team´s Toni Elias, Suzuki veteran Loris Capirossi and San Carlo Gresini Honda rider Shinya Nakano could have seen any number of combinations to complete the top ten, whilst the only retiree from the race was Chris Vermeulen on the second Rizla Suzuki GSV-R. Valentino Rossi Race Winner “I´m very, very happy, as it´s been a long time without victory. This was a difficult period; we changed tyres and we had to work very hard. I knew that we had good potential and we felt good from Friday. This is the first time that I was able to ride at a good pace after 15 laps. “This morning I was upset when I saw rain, but when I saw it may be possible to ride in the dry I thought that I could win. I really had to push to beat Dani; it was a great victory for us.” 250cc Mika Kallio continued his fantastic run of podium finishes with victory in the 250cc Pramac Grand Prix of China, extending his lead in the World Championship. The Finn headed a Red Bull KTM one-two from teammate Hiroshi Aoyama as he took the Austrian factory´s first win at the Shanghai International Circuit, the duo starting from the front and third rows respectively on the grid. As in the 125cc race, the poleman took an early bow to leave the field wide open. Portugal race winner Alvaro Bautista had a high speed lowside on the eighth lap, whilst fellow front row starter Julian Simon was forced into retirement after losing control of his Repsol KTM machine on lap five. In third place, Mattia Pasini braved a temperamental wet tyre when the track dried, bouncing back from the disappointment of two crashes in Estoril. The Polaris World rider came out on top in a battle between himself and Marco Simoncelli, and benefitted from a last lap pair of run-offs from Yuki Takahashi when the Japanese rider seemed assured of a rostrum finish. Coupled with the surprise podium taken on the last lap in Jerez, the unluckiest rider of 2007 appears to have shaken off his demons upon arrival in the 250cc category. Behind Pasini and Simoncelli, another battle raged on between persistent rivals Lotus Aprilia´s Alex Debon and Team Toth´s Hector Barbera. Despite crashing in the incident with Simon, Debon was able to get back up and edge out his fellow Spaniard. The heartbroken Takahashi finished seventh onboard the JiR Team Scot Honda, whilst there were great results for Ratthapark Wilairot, Aleix Espargaro and Hector Faubel. Poleman Bautista eventually came in twelve for a valuable addition to his points total. 125cc Andrea Iannone was the surprise winner of the 125cc Pramac Grand Prix of China, shining in the wet conditions that had hit the Shanghai International Circuit overnight. The I.C. team rider kept his cool for his first ever World Championship victory, having started from fifth place on the grid. The Italian had faced early challenges from poleman Bradley Smith and 2007 World Champion Gabor Talmacsi, until the former crashed out on the seventh lap and the latter dropped his pace at the midway point. From then on, it was a matter of holding his nerve for a memorable win, which he eventually took by over three seconds and celebrated with a huge wheelie down the home straight. Wet weather expert Mike di Meglio took his first podium of the year from the front row, getting the better of Talmacsi as the rostrum places were decided. Too far behind the battling duo to make a top three challenge, yet in no danger of being caught, Belson Derbi rider Pol Espargaro took a comfortable fourth place. Stefan Bradl and Joan Olive completed the top six, with Olive holding off a late push from Michael Ranseder as the Australian clocked the fastest lap of the race. Nico Terol, Raffaele de Rosa and Efren Vazquez were the final riders in the top ten. There were numerous crashes in the first race of the day, with Danny Webb, Sandro Cortese and Scott Redding amongst those joining World Championship leader Simone Corsi in hitting the asphalt. Corsi still has the advantage despite not having been able to finish the Chinese race. More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP’s Loris Capirossi was deprived of at least a top five position at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai today, through a mixture of bad luck and a small mistake. Capirossi was looking to challenge for a much higher position on lap five, but an error at the end of the back straight caused the Italian racer to run off the track. He re-joined the race in 12th place and began the task of chasing down the pack in front of him. Capirossi used all his experience to close in and pass five more riders to move him into seventh on the penultimate lap, but he suffered a transmission problem on the last lap and crossed the line in ninth position. This result gave Capirossi seven points, and moved him up to fifth in the riders’ championship. Chris Vermeulen had an afternoon he would rather forget. The talented Australian had looked impressive during yesterday’s practice, but a similar technical fault to Capirossi which began directly from the start of the race caused Vermeulen to enter the pits and retire from the race at the end of lap six. Today’s race was declared ‘wet’ after heavy rain this morning, but with warm air temperatures of 22ºC drying the track, all riders started on slick tyres. A crowd of just over 20,000 witnessed former World Champion Valentino Rossi win his first race since September last year. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP now travels back to Europe for fifth round of the 2008 MotoGP World Championship at Le Mans in France the scene of Vermeulen’s premier Grand Prix victory last year on Sunday 18th May. Loris Capirossi: “It’s difficult to say that this was a positive day, but we did improve a lot and if it wasn’t for my mistake early on it could have been a lot better. I didn’t want to lose touch with the top guys and my rhythm was really good, but I ran off and that cost me some places. I got back up to seventh and then I had a technical problem and I lost two positions right at the end. Now we will go to Le Mans and make sure that we are competitive there we had the potential to do much better today!” Chris Vermeulen: “Obviously I’m not happy with today’s result; in fact that’s probably an understatement! I had a problem right from the start and the chain kept slipping making the bike really difficult to ride. I felt like my pace was quicker than the four guys in front of me, but every time I tried to pass them the chain would just slip and I’d lose my momentum. Then towards the end of lap six the chain came off and I had to go into the pits and that was the race over. I am really disappointed with what happened, but we have to learn from this and make sure that it doesn’t happen again. We now have to re-group and come back even stronger in France!” Paul Denning Team Manager: “Today has been a disappointing end to what has been a good weekend’s work. Chris suffered an extremely unusual technical problem which I know the Suzuki factory will react to very quickly and he deserved much better he’s an awesome racer who just needs his luck to change. “For Loris it was his most competitive race on a Suzuki so far, and he had the pace to finish at least in the top five if everything had gone to plan. Unfortunately he made a mistake early on which can happen when you are pushing to the maximum and although he fought back to seventh he was denied by a similar problem to Chris. “The Team is feeling very disappointed at the moment, but we have made some steps this weekend both in qualifying and with race pace, and the guys still have the confidence to look forward to Le Mans and pushing for the front positions.” Mr Masahito Nishikawa General Manager of Motorcycle Engine Design Department: “It has been a good experience for me to visit the team and work with them here in China. I will now take my report back to the Factory and make sure that we can start to be more competitive. We will try to take the steps we need to make this bike a race winner.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: TRICKY CONDITIONS HAMPER KAWASAKI IN SHANGHAI Kawasaki’s John Hopkins and Anthony West were left frustrated today, after rear traction problems left them unable to fulfil their true potential in this afternoon’s 22-lap Chinese Grand Prix. Hopkins finished a difficult race in 14th position, with West crossing the line a further 20 seconds back in 17th place. After qualifying on the fifth row of the grid yesterday, Hopkins was quick to make up places from the start of today’s race. The Anglo-American put himself in touch with the leaders, including eventual race winner Valentino Rossi, by riding around the outside of the field at turn one. Unfortunately, Hopkins had it all to do again after a coming together with Alex de Angelis forced him to run on at the end of the main straight, and left him nursing a painful puncture wound after catching his knee on his own foot peg. Rear traction problems hampered the 24-year-old Kawasaki pilot’s attempts to work his way back through the field, but his persistence and determination were rewarded with two valuable championship points, as he fought his way up to 14th place by race end. The main straight also caused problems for West, who was passed by his teammate after running off the track early on in the race. Like Hopkins, the 27-year-old Australian was frustrated by a lack of rear grip from the start of the race, but he also identified a lack of front-end grip under braking as being a major factor in his disappointing result. With both riders having declared themselves satisfied with the performance of their Ninja ZX-RR machines in race trim and on race tyres yesterday, the reason for such an unexpected deterioration in rear traction was not immediately apparent. Kawasaki’s engineers will now look to the data to identify the problem ahead of the next race, which takes place at Le Mans in just two weeks time. John Hopkins #21 – 14th “We went out in the wet warm-up session this morning with high hopes of a good result in the rain or dry today. By the time we got to the race, the circuit had started to dry out and we had to make a decision on tyre choice, which maybe wasn’t the best. I struggled right from the start with rear traction problems, and I pushed hard to make my way through the field. I made a few mistakes and ran off the track in places, it was a really tough race. I’m very disappointed as it’s not the result I wanted for my hundredth Grand Prix, but we must stay focussed and try to make amends at the next round.” Anthony West #13 – 17th “I was looking for a better result than this today. The conditions were not ideal as the track was quite slippery after being wet this morning and it gradually dried out during the race. I followed John for a few laps and I think we were both experiencing similar problems with a lack of rear grip. I ran off the track in places because I just couldn’t make the bike stick. I’m frustrated, as we need to make headway with these issues we’ve been having, but I’m determined for us to make a step forwards very soon.” Michael Bartholemy Kawasaki Competition Manager “I am disappointed with the result today as it isn’t where I predicted us to be. We are not here to finish in the positions we achieved in the race. Shanghai is a circuit that we’ve performed quite well at in the past and I felt that we would gain better results here than in the opening rounds of the season. We suffered with rear traction problems in the race and both riders struggled to find grip. Now we have to look forward to Le Mans and everybody must work hard to improve our results there.” More, from a press release issued by JiR Team Scot Honda: Shanghai positive for Andrea Dovizioso despite final position of 11th The Chinese Grand Prix weekend has been one of extremes in weather. First high temperatures yesterday and Friday, then overnight rain and then more heavy rain this morning, which only stopped at the start of the 250cc race. So, when the MotoGP race began everyone was on slick tyres, but the temperature was much lower than yesterday. Despite this, Andrea Dovizioso was able to move forward from his grid slot and able to fight for fourth position with Nicky Hayden, Marco Melandri and Colin Edwards. Once more the JiR Team Scot rider was able to show his quality, fighting spirit and determination. He ran an excellent race, but was affected at the end with a loss of grip, which saw him slip down to 11th position at the flag. Cirano Mularoni Team Manager, JiR Team Scot “It has been a tough weekend. The weather conditions changed so much during practice and then the rain overnight and this morning changed completely the grip levels of the track. During warm-up under wet conditions we were confident with the technical choices we had made, but before the start of the race in the dry we had to go for a tyre solution that we hadn’t tried before in those conditions. Andrea showed that he was able to fight as usual with the top riders and he only had to give up at the end of the race thanks to a loss of grip.” Andrea Dovizioso Rider, JiR Team Scot MotoGP HONDA RC212V Final position: 11th 9th best lap: 2′ 00.619″ “The final result of today doesn’t show our real potential. From 11th on the grid I knew I was still in a good condition to come up to the head of the race and fight for the top positions. During the first part of race I could really show my potential for a good result. I was so sorry to be further back at the chequered flag but the weather conditions forced us to make some technical choices that we had not really tested in these conditions. I tried to resist the attacks from Hayden and Melandri, but unfortunately the situation we had got worse and I had to slow down a lot meaning I didn’t have the chance to fight. I’m sorry for the team as they all worked so hard and I was looking for a better result, which would give us more satisfaction after so much hard work was done over the course of the weekend.” Gianni Berti Technical Co-ordinator, JiR Team Scot During practice the temperature went as high as 46 degrees and in those conditions we had a very good balance of the bike. Also we were sure that in wet conditions, which we experienced in warm-up this morning we knew that we could also be competitive. These were very positive indications, but in the end the rain on the track dried completely and the temperature was just 21 degrees, so we had to make a quick choice, which unfortunately didn’t help us in the second part of the race.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Rossi takes maiden Bridgestone win in China, Stoner scores podium Round 4: China Race Shanghai International Circuit, Sunday 4 May 2008 Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi took a triumphant victory at the Shanghai International Circuit in China this afternoon to secure his first ever MotoGP victory using Bridgestone tyres. The Italian was embroiled in a race-long battle with Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, but a string of record-breaking lap times in the closing laps ensured a well earned first win of the season, 3.8 seconds clear of Pedrosa. Rossi becomes the sixth rider to take MotoGP victory using Bridgestone tyres after Makoto Tamada, Loris Capirossi, Troy Bayliss, Chris Vermeulen and Casey Stoner. Ducati’s Casey Stoner took his second podium result of the season after a fine run to third place, while his team-mate Marco Melandri also rode superbly to a season-best fifth position. All three riders used medium compound rear tyres of the same construction. Three additional Bridgestone-shod riders scored top ten results with Toni Elias underlining the strong performance of Ducati with eighth place for the Alice Team, Loris Capirossi in ninth for Suzuki and Honda Gresini’s Shinya Nakano in tenth. Morning rain made last minute race preparations complicated. Bridgestone’s tyre fitters worked diligently to prepare tyres to suit all conditions with shallow and full wet weather tyres, cut and full slick tyres all readied for the starting grid. Ultimately, a dry line had emerged by the end of the 125 and 250cc races to allow full slicks to be used. Most riders, however, used softer specification tyres compared to the practice sessions in a bid to combat the lower track temperatures, with the majority of riders opting to use the medium compound range rather than the hard. Osamu Inoue Bridgestone Corporation Senior Vice President “I would like to say many congratulations to the Fiat Yamaha Team and to Valentino Rossi for their first MotoGP win using our tyres, in only their fourth race weekend working together with Bridgestone. Ducati also performed very well this weekend with Casey Stoner on the podium. The weather was very unpredictable today, which did not make the job straight-forward for anyone, so it was a good job and I thank all the teams, manufacturers and riders we work with for their continued support to Bridgestone.” Hirohide Hamashima Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Race Tyre Development “I am satisifed with the performance of our tyres here in Shanghai this weekend. We could see from the practice sessions that our latest slick tyres, both medium and hard specifications, performed well and allowed us to find renewed competitiveness after two difficult weekends in Jerez and Estoril. It was a great and hard-fought victory by Valentino and Yamaha today. Ducati, too, had a strong weekend with three riders in the top eight and Casey on the podium. The tyre choice was not so easy with the morning rain which left track conditions much cooler than at any other time over the weekend, but the results show some impressive performances by a lot of Bridgestone riders even with the changed conditions. Our tyre fitters and engineers had to prepare more tyres than usual because of the changed weather and they did an excellent job to cover all eventualities at the start of the race.” Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team Race Winner “I am very pleased with this result because it has been a long time without a victory. This is also my first victory using Bridgestone tyres, so it is an important result. We have worked hard with the change to Bridgestone, but the results have been improving all the time and we have now taken a win after two podiums. I knew that we had good potential and we felt good from Friday practice. I had to push hard because Dani kept coming with me, but we had a quick pace right up to the end and we could set some very quick lap times.” Bridgestone-shod Riders’ Race Results and Tyre Choices Pos. Rider Team Race Time Gap Front Tyre (all 16.5”) Rear Tyre (all 16.5”) P1 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 44m08.061s WINNER Slick-Medium Slick-Medium P3 Casey Stoner Ducati Corse 44m23.989s +15.928s Slick-Medium Slick-Medium P5 Marco Melandri Ducati Corse 44m35.018s +26.957s Slick-Medium Slick-Medium P8 Toni Elias Alice Team 44m38.286s +30.225s Slick-Medium Slick-Medium P9 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 44m39.501s +31.440s Slick-Medium Slick-Medium P10 Shinya Nakano San Carlo Honda Gresini 44m44.030s +35.969s Slick-Hard Slick-Medium P14 John Hopkins Kawasaki Racing Team 44m53.916s +45.855s Slick-Medium Slick-Hard P15 Sylvain Guintoli Alice Team 44m54.391s +46.330s Slick-Medium Slick-Medium P16 Alex de Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 44m58.654s +50.593s Slick-Medium Slick-Hard P17 Anthony West Kawasaki Racing Team 45m13.654s +1m05.593s Slick-Medium Slick-Hard DNF Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 12m37.734s +16 laps Slick-Medium Slick-Medium Weather: Dry Air 20°C, Track 25°C ( Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: REPSOL HONDA’S PEDROSA MOVES INTO POINTS LEAD, HAYDEN TAKES HARD-FOUGHT SIXTH Race Day Attendance: 20,379 Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai Race day, Sunday May 4 2008 Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa took a brilliant second-place finish at Shanghai this afternoon following a race-long battle with winner Valentino Rossi. The result maintained the Spaniard’s 100 per cent 2008 podium record and most importantly moved him into the World Championship points lead. Nicky Hayden enjoyed a busy race during which he battled long and hard for a sixth-place finish. The race, which started on a dry track after heavy morning rainfall, belonged to Pedrosa and Rossi. The pair quickly built a huge advantage over the rest of the pack, lapping faster and faster as the race went on despite a few spots of rain falling mid-race. Pedrosa had taken the lead from Colin Edwards on lap two then rode wheel to wheel with Rossi until easing his pace in the final stages to secure second place. Going into this race the Spaniard had been joint leader of the World Championship, now he sits seven points ahead of Jorge Lorenzo with four of 18 races run. Hayden made a great start from the fourth row of the grid and spent the race fighting back and forth with a number of rivals including Marco Melandri, Andrea Dovizioso, Colin Edwards and Lorenzo. Down in eighth at one stage, he modified his lines and adjusted his traction control to fight back to take sixth during the final few laps. Dani Pedrosa finished 2nd, World Championship leader Front tyre: 16″ Michelin slick hard Rear tyre: 16.5″ Michelin slick medium “I’m very happy with today’s result. We had been expecting a wet race, so to get second today is fantastic and it’s 20 good points for the championship. I started a bit cautious during the early laps because I didn’t know what the track conditions were like, but then Valentino and I began to set an extremely fast pace. Lap by lap our rhythm got faster. I had the advantage through the middle section of the track, he had the advantage through the first and last sections. My Michelin tyres were working really well and we were riding at lap record pace all through the race. The wind was very strong today, so my engine was over-revving, which is why I decided to ride a little more conservatively in the final laps to secure second place and the world championship lead.” Nicky Hayden finished 6th, 8th in World Championship Front tyre: 16″ Michelin slick hard Rear tyre: 16.5” Michelin slick medium “We knew starting tenth was never going to be easy. I crashed my number one bike in qualifying, then this morning I rode the other bike, so I started the race with the bike I’d crashed but it was fine. I got a really good start and a good first corner too, but I just couldn’t go with the lead group today. We had a huge tailwind on the back straightaway, so I was running out of gear. It made it so hard to get it stopped for the corner at the end of the straight, so a lot of guys were running wide. Mid-race I had a few problems, felt a few drops of rain, and my corner speed in the long corners wasn’t so good. Towards the end I changed a few little things with my lines and the traction control settings. I started to move forward and at the end I was going pretty good. There was a lot of good battling going on but it would’ve been better to have been battling for a better position. I didn’t give up, kept pushing and picked off a few guys near the end.” Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager “We are happy with Dani’s result he did a great job and this second position is important for the championship, especially considering that today’s weather and track conditions were very complicated. Of course, we would have preferred to win, but second position was very good. Nicky finished sixth after some good battles, so he and his team also did a good job in changeable weather conditions. We have listened to his comments and we will work with him to keep improving.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: Weather: damp, breezy Temperature: 20-degree ambient, 20-degree track Humidity: 95% Crowd: 20,000 PEDROSA PUTS IN DETERMINED RIDE TO TAKE SECOND Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) rode a coolly calculating race at rapid pace to settle for second place behind winner Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) and ahead of third-placed Casey Stoner (Ducati). Dani has now finished on the podium at the last five Grands Prix. Rain fell before the earlier 125 and 250cc races but the track was largely dry when the grid formed for the premier class encounter. Some runners thought about riding with intermediates but then settled on slicks for this 22-lap Grand Prix. Stoner fired his machine off the line to head the pack into turn one with poleman Colin Edwards (Yamaha) on his tail and then Rossi holding an early third spot as the field poured out of one of the tightest turns in Grand Prix racing without incident. Dani lay fourth at this early stage. It first looked as though Edwards might have a significant advantage as the Texan rider opened up a half second lead on Stoner and Rossi as a fast-starting Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) worked on getting past Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) for fifth place. But it was Dani who took control at the head of the field on lap two when he scythed past Rossi for third, before dispatching Stoner in second and then on the same lap taking Edwards for the lead. Rossi saw the danger of Dani making a big break and the Italian immediately upped his pace to chase the rapidly disappearing Dani. By lap three Pedrosa held a 1.1 second advantage as Rossi dived past Edwards to make chase. Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Scot Honda RC212V) too was on the move, the rookie star snatching fifth as Dani put in an early fastest lap of 2m 00.585s to hold a 0.2 second advantage over Rossi. But Rossi made his move on Dani on lap five and by the end of that lap he had extended a 0.35 second lead over the Honda man. Edwards meanwhile had run wide at turn one and dropped from third to seventh. No one could stay with Rossi and Pedrosa and the duo were two seconds ahead of the pursuing Stoner by lap eight. Nicky was fourth at this stage ahead of a revitalized Marco Melandri (Ducati) in fifth. Dani put in another fastest lap on lap ten as he tried to stay with Rossi. Stoner by now was almost out of sight, a full seven seconds shy of the leaders, such was the dominance of the leading pair. As Rossi upped the pace still further he managed to put 0.6 seconds between him and Dani. The big fight was for fourth place between Melandri, Dovi, Edwards and Lorenzo. This was acted out while Rossi’s lead over Dani varied between half a second at best and quarter of a second when Dani worked his RC 212V out the turns to claw back some ground. As the race entered the closing laps Rossi fired in a 1m 59.273s fastest lap to make Dani realize his pursuit might be in vain. Sure enough by lap 20 of this 22-lap affair, the Italian former World Champion was enjoying a comparatively comfortable one second cushion over Pedrosa. At the flag the clock showed 3.7 seconds, Dani having decided that a safe second place at this early stage of an 18-race season was of far higher value than the risk of throwing away vital points in a vain attempt to pass the leader in only the fourth race. There have now been four different winners of these four races and with Lorenzo finishing fourth, the title race now shows Dani leading the pack on 81 points, Lorenzo second with 74, Rossi on 72 and Stoner fourth on 56. Nicky lies eighth with 29 after a sixth place finish today. Dani said: “I’m very happy with today’s result. We had been expecting a wet race, so to get second today is fantastic and it’s 20 good points for the Championship. I started a bit cautious during the early laps because I didn’t know what the track conditions were like, but then Valentino and I began to set an extremely fast pace. Lap by lap our rhythm got faster. I had the advantage through the middle section of the track, he had the advantage through the first and last sections. My Michelin tyres were working really well and we were riding at lap record pace all through the race. The wind was very strong today, so my engine was over-revving, which is why I decided to ride a little more conservatively in the final laps to secure second place and the World Championship lead.” Nicky said: “We knew starting tenth was never going to be easy. I got a really good start and a good first corner too, but I just couldn’t go with the lead group today. We had a huge tailwind on the back straightaway, so I was running out of gear. It made it so hard to get it stopped for the corner at the end of the straight, so a lot of guys were running wide. Mid-race I had a few problems, felt a few drops of rain, and my corner speed in the long turns wasn’t so good. Towards the end I changed a few little things with my lines and the traction control settings. There was a lot of good battling going on but it would’ve been better to have been battling for a better position.” Shinya Nakano (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V), a relatively encouraging tenth, said: “The track conditions weren’t easy today because there were still damp patches when we started. It wasn’t actually a bad start for me and I made up some positions. In the second half of the race my pace improved and I was able to pass Dovizioso for tenth, although I’m not satisfied with that. Now we have to take the positives out of this weekend for the next race in France.” Dovi was 11th at the flag after he lost grip late on the race. He said: “The final result doesn’t show our real potential. From 11th on the grid I knew I was still in a good condition to fight for the top positions. During the first part of race I could really show my potential for a good result. I was so sorry to be further back at the chequered flag but the weather conditions forced us to make some technical choices that we had not really tested in these conditions. I tried to resist the attacks from Hayden and Melandri, but unfortunately I didn’t have the chance to fight.” Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) finished 13th and said: “My start was bad but at the end of the first lap before the main straight Hopkins tried to overtake but made a big mistake and I went wide. I was able to stay up to continue my race but the front-end wasn’t quite working well enough. The situation improved after some laps when I passed Guintoli. I also tried my best to pass Toseland but it was not possible. Honestly we expected a better result here and I hope to do a good race in Le Mans.” Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) was 16th. He said: “We knew it wouldn’t be easy for us in the dry but early in the race I was hit by Hopkins when we were braking into turn one and we both ran wide, although thankfully neither of us crashed. From then on it wasn’t easy to stay in touch with the group and virtually impossible to get amongst them. The bike was becoming harder to ride as the race wore on and we have to study the telemetry to find out why. I think we need to go back to the setting we had in pre-season and start again.” 250cc Grand Prix Perhaps the most unfortunate rider here in Shanghai this weekend was Yuki Takahashi (JiR Scot Honda RS250RW) who had a valiant third-place finish snatched from his grasp by mechanical failure on the final lap of this race. Mika Kallio won from team-mate Hiro Aoyama (both KTM) with Mattia Pasini (Aprilia) inheriting the final podium place from the luckless Takahashi. As the track dried towards the end of this 21-lap race, Takahashi was setting fastest laps in his pursuit of Japanese rival Aoyama and on a track where top speed is at a premium his riding in tricky conditions was worthy of greater reward. An eventual seventh, he said: “I started well and didn’t push too hard, as I didn’t want to take risks and crash, as the conditions were very difficult. There was a lot of stress in the race as everybody wanted to lead. I saw Kallio try and pull away and I decided to push harder so I wouldn’t lose the leading group. I was able to use the slipstream on the long straight and was able to maintain a good rhythm, but then on the last corner something stopped working and I slipped down to seventh position.” Ratthapark Wilairot (Stop And Go Racing RS250RW) finished a strong eighth, equaling his best result in Grands Prix so far. He said: “I didn’t make a good start, but in the beginning of the race my bike was working very well just perfect. But when the track conditions started to dry and the temperature got up my tyres started sliding a lot and I couldn’t push any harder. But I’m very happy because I started from 18th on the grid and finished eighth.” Kallio heads the World Championship points standings with 82 to second placed Pasini on 61 with Hector Barbera (Aprilia) on 49 and the dogged Takahashi with 46. 125cc Grand Prix This race ran in wet conditions and was won by Andrea Iannone (Aprilia), his first win in the class, with Mike di Meglio (Derbi) 3.35 seconds behind and reigning World Champion Gabor Talmacsi (Aprilia) third. As the track began to dry in the closing laps Iannone looked comfortable in the lead and his margin of victory at the flag allowed this stranger to the top placings some lurid celebration wheelies as he savoured his maiden win. Louis Rossi (FFM Racing Honda RS125R) finished a creditable 18th in tough conditions. He said: “It’s a strange feeling riding on a slippery track. It’s very easy to get caught out. I’m disappointed not to have held a better position as riders overtook me, and it took time to find a steady rhythm. In the morning warm up I felt comfortable because there was a lot of water on the track, but towards the end of the race the track wasn’t as wet, even drying in places, and that wasn’t easy. It was a good experience.” Honda rider quotes China GP race May 4,2008. MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 2nd. “I’m very happy with today’s result. We had been expecting a wet race, so to get second today is fantastic and it’s 20 good points for the championship. I started a bit cautious during the early laps because I didn’t know what the track conditions were like, but then Valentino and I began to set an extremely fast pace. Lap by lap our rhythm got faster. I had the advantage through the middle section of the track, he had the advantage through the first and last sections. My Michelin tyres were working really well and we were riding at lap record pace all through the race. The wind was very strong today, so my engine was over-revving, which is why I decided to ride a little more conservatively in the final laps to secure second place and the world championship lead.” Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 6th. “We knew starting tenth was never going to be easy. I crashed my number one bike in qualifying, then this morning I rode the other bike, so I started the race with the bike I’d crashed but it was fine. I got a really good start and a good first corner too, but I just couldn’t go with the lead group today. We had a huge tailwind on the back straightaway, so I was running out of gear. It made it so hard to get it stopped for the corner at the end of the straight, so a lot of guys were running wide. Mid-race I had a few problems, felt a few drops of rain, and my corner speed in the long corners wasn’t so good. Towards the end I changed a few little things with my lines and the traction control settings. I started to move forward and at the end I was going pretty good. There was a lot of good battling going on but it would’ve been better to have been battling for a better position. I didn’t give up, kept pushing and picked off a few guys near the end.” Shinya Nakano, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 10th. “The track conditions weren’t easy today because there were still damp patches when we started. It wasn’t actually a bad start for me and I made up some positions. In the second half of the race my pace improved and I was able to pass Dovizioso for tenth, although I’m not satisfied with that. Now we have to take the positives out of this weekend for the next race in France. If we can show the same kind of pace that we did here in practice and get a good grid position then I’m sure we can look forward to much better at Le Mans.” Andrea Dovizioso, JiR Scot Honda: 11th. “The final result of today doesn’t show our real potential. From 11th on the grid I knew I was still in a good condition to come up to the head of the race and fight for the top positions. During the first part of the race I could really show my potential for a good result. I was so sorry to be further back at the chequered flag but the weather conditions forced us to make some technical choices that we had not really tested in these conditions. I tried to resist the attacks from Hayden and Melandri, but unfortunately the situation we had got worse and I had to slow down a lot meaning I didn’t have the chance to fight. I’m sorry for the team as they all worked so hard and I was looking for a better result, which would give us more satisfaction after so much hard work was done over the course of the weekend.” Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda: 13th. “I am very disappointed! My start was bad but at the end of the first lap before the main straight Hopkins tried to overtake me but he made a big mistake and I went wide. I was able to stay up to continue my race but the front-end did not work in the best way. The situation improved after some laps when I passed Guintoli. I also tried my best to pass Toseland but it was not possible. Honestly we expected a better result here and I hope to do a good race in Le Mans”. Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 16th. “We knew it wouldn’t be easy for us in the dry but early in the race I was hit by Hopkins when we were braking into turn one and we both ran wide, although thankfully neither of us crashed. From then on it wasn’t easy to stay in touch with the group and virtually impossible to get amongst them. The bike was becoming harder to ride as the race wore on and we have to study the telemetry to find out why. I think we need to go back to the setting we had in preseason and start again.” 250cc: Yukio Takahashi, JiR Scot Honda: 7th. “How unlucky! I’m very sorry for my team as here in China they worked like crazy for me and I was able to ride a very well set up bike. I started well and didn’t push too hard, as I didn’t want to take risks and crash, as the conditions were very difficult. There was a lot of stress in the race as everybody wanted to lead. I saw Kallio try and pull away and I decided to push harder so I wouldn’t lose the leading group. I rode a good, hard race, I was feeling well despite the crash from yesterday and I was able to sit in third position. I was able to use the slipstream on the long straight and was able to maintain a good rhythm, but then on the last corner something stopped working and I slipped down to seventh position.” Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT SAG: 8th. “I didn’t make a good start, but in the beginning of the race my bike was working very well, almost perfect and I made up several positions. But when the track conditions started to dry and the temperature got up my tyres started sliding a lot and I couldn’t push any harder. But I’m very happy because I started from 18th on the grid and finished eighth.” 125cc: Louis Rossi, FFM Honda: 18th. “It is a strange feeling to be riding on a track made slippery by the rain. It is very easy to get caught out. I remained focused in order not to make any mistakes and to finish the race. I had a fairly good start, but I am disappointed not to have been able to contain the attacks from the pack of riders behind me. They overtook me and it took me time to manage to find a more steady rhythm. In the morning warm up I felt more comfortable because there was a lot of water on the track, but towards the end of the race the track wasn¹t as wet, even drying in places, and that wasn¹t so easy. It was a good experience! ” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM BOUNCE BACK TO FORM IN CHINA The Grand Prix of China saw both Ducati Marlboro Team riders return to the top five as Casey Stoner clinched third place and Marco Melandri produced his best performance of the season with a battle to fifth. Stoner had hoped to be more involved in the battle for victory but a dramatic change in the track conditions led to a different tyre choice than in practice, which limited the Australian’s performance. However, the podium is still a positive finish to the weekend for the World Champion, who remains fourth in the championship. Marco Melandri worked hard all weekend to improve his feeling with the bike and his efforts bore fruit today with an exciting charge through the pack that led him to a merited fifth place, providing a timely confidence boost ahead of the return to Europe. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 3rd “I’m disappointed to be honest because I know we could have done better today. The bike has worked really well in practice and we thought we had the ideal set-up for today but we changed a couple of things and for one reason or another the package just wasn’t as good as before. I made a good start and I was happy with that but even in the first corner I couldn’t get the bike turned, Colin Edwards came past me, and that was the story of the race. As the race wore on my lap times improved but it was too little too late and in any case it wouldn’t have been enough for me to stick with the lead guys. I’m disappointed this has happened today – not so really for third place which is a good result but for the big gap from the lead. I know we can do much better so we will put this behind us, wipe the slate clean and try to do better next time out.”¢ MARCO MELANDRI – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 5th “This was an important day – I think I did the best race possible and in general fifth place isn’t bad. The team have done a great job, we’ve found a much better balance with the bike and the changes Ducati have made to the traction control allow me to have a much better feel for the engine. Things had started to look up yesterday and today we confirmed it. I got a good start, put my rhythm together and was able to get into some decent times. It was good fun and now I finally feel like I can ride my Ducati. Filippo (Preziosi) has always worked so hard to help me and now I hope we can continue in this direction. Spirits are high now and I can’t wait for the next race.” LIVIO SUPPO Ducati MotoGP Project leader “This was a great team performance, with both our riders in the top five and three Ducatis in the top eight. This is very satisfying after two difficult races. Unfortunately Casey wasn’t able to go as well as he did in practice, mainly because of the change in temperature that led us to make a gamble with tyre choice, so even if a podium is a decent result, it is less than we’d hoped for, mostly because of the gap from the lead. We have to keep working to repeat the level of performance we showed here in practice and with more hard work from our mechanics and the brilliant relationship we have with Bridgestone we will achieve that. We’re also delighted with Marco, who has made an incredible step forward. I always said that we hadn’t lost faith in him and I’m sure his season will start here.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: PERFECT RIDE IN CHINA SEES ROSSI RETURN TO TOP OF THE PODIUM Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi took an impressive victory in Shanghai today, his second at the circuit having won the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix with Yamaha in 2005. It was Rossi’s 89th career victory but his first in seven races, since Estoril last year, as well as his first on Bridgestone tyres. Rossi had looked strong from Friday morning and he was clearly in good shape for the race, but after two days of high temperatures and sunshine, heavy rain throughout the morning threatened to turn the established order on its head. The rain ceased in the late morning however and the track began to dry out with the aid of a warm wind, meaning the race was finally declared dry. Starting from second on the grid behind Colin Edwards, Rossi crossed the line first time in fourth but had made it back to second by the end of the third lap, passing Casey Stoner and pole-sitter Colin Edwards in the process. His next target was Dani Pedrosa and he made his move on the Spaniard at the end of the back straight to take the lead. From then on the Italian led to the chequered flag but it was nail-bitingly close for the majority of the remaining 17 laps, with less than half a second between them and the pair the only two lapping consistently in the 1’59s. On lap 19 Pedrosa began to tail off and Rossi eventually took victory by 3.890 seconds, with Casey Stoner over 15 seconds back in third. The other side of the garage had an almost equally happy day as Jorge Lorenzo shook off the pain from his fractured ankle to take a brave fourth place, something that was unimaginable after his crash on Friday morning. Rossi is the fourth different rider to win in four races this season and the championship is wide open, with Lorenzo seven points off Pedrosa in second and Rossi just two points behind him in third. Valentino Rossi Position: 1 Time: 44’08.061 “After seven races it is a great feeling to win again; I am very happy! This is a very important result for us because above all I was able to ride exactly how I wanted from start to finish and this was great fun for me. I had a great battle with Pedrosa and he pushed me hard and to be doing 1’59s until the end was unbelievable! All weekend we were hoping the rain wouldn’t come so when we saw it this morning we were quite disappointed, then it started to dry out so we were praying that it would dry completely; we were lucky today! We worked very well with Bridgestone and together with their technicians we made a late tyre change and it was the right choice because my tyre worked very well until the end, as my times showed! It’s the first win for us with Bridgestone so this is a great moment also for this reason and I want to say thank you to them. We were fast from Friday morning here and step by step we’ve found the perfect set-up and today the hard work paid off for everyone. We’ve had four races and four different winners so this shows how close the championship is, now we need to keep going because our rivals are all very near. Lorenzo did a great race today with his injuries, so this is a good day for everyone in the team. Thank you to my team and everyone at Yamaha, it’s great to be here again.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “We needed this! It’s a fantastic feeling for everyone to win again and Valentino did a perfect job today. There are many good things about this particular win; it’s the first with Bridgestone, the first for a long time and also it’s put us right back in touch for the championship after a poor start in Qatar. It’s important that we continue like this but everyone has a great motivation and confidence is running high in our garage. Congratulations to Jorge for a great result in his condition, it’s just the fourth race but our team is in good shape!” Masahiko Nakajima Team Director “We’ve waited a long time to get back to winning ways! All of the Yamaha staff are very happy to win again with Valentino and I want to share this moment with Valentino’s fans around the world! It’s been a tough weekend and it was a big battle with Pedrosa, but it was an exciting and impressive race. I really want to congratulate Valentino and now we want to continue to improve the bike for the championship fight. We’ve done a great job with Bridgestone this weekend and we really appreciate their work, they helped us to win today!” More, from another press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: BIRTHDAY BOY LORENZO MAKES HEROIC RIDE TO FOURTH IN CHINA Jorge Lorenzo, the Fiat Yamaha Team’s outstanding rookie, shook off the injuries he suffered in his crash on Friday to take a superb fourth place in China today on his 21st birthday. After fracturing his left ankle and badly bruising parts of his right leg, it was easy to forget that the Spaniard had also undergone surgery on his right arm less than a fortnight ago, leaving him to contest today’s race with only one limb in full working order! With the weather turning bad today it was a nervous morning for the riders but it gradually dried out throughout the middle of the day and the 22-lap race was run in the dry. Lorenzo started from fourth but the early part of the race was a trial of endurance for the Michelin-shod rider as he slipped back through the field to as low as 9th at one stage. He then settled in 8th for seven laps before suddenly finding his rhythm on lap 12 and going on to pass four riders in as many laps. With Casey Stoner some way in front of him, fourth was as far as he could go but it was a brilliant result for the youngest rider on the grid after what has been one of the most difficult weekends of his career. His team-mate Valentino Rossi made a triumphant return to the top of the podium with a masterful victory over Dani Pedrosa, topping a great day for the team. Lorenzo’s hard-fought 13 points mean he is now seven points off Pedrosa in second, whilst Rossi stays in third but closes the gap to just two points. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 4 Time: +22.494 “Without a doubt, this result today is like a victory for me. On Friday I couldn’t imagine being able to ride, then yesterday it was a little bit better and then finally today I was not able just to ride, but to be competitive and enjoy myself as well! I’ve ridden with a lot of pain in both legs but the staff of the Clinica Mobile made it possible for me to keep going, so I want to thank them. I lost a lot of places early on but in the second half of the race I found my rhythm and then step by step I started to move forwards; in fact I think I made more overtakes than in any race so far in this category! I stalled the engine on the start line for the warm-up lap, which was a scary moment, but luckily I was able to restart and it wasn’t a problem. I want to say congratulations to Valentino for a great victory today as well, I think it’s going to be an exciting year. I didn’t have any pain in my arms today so hopefully the recent operation has been a success. Now I’m flying back to Barcelona to have treatment on my ankles and I will do everything I can to be back to my physical best in Le Mans. I want to thank Michelin, because my tyres were very good today, as well as Yamaha and all of my guys. I’ve had a great 21st birthday!” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “Jorge did an incredible job today, I don’t think that anyone expected him to do this well after what happened on Friday and in his current physical condition. We were luckily able to find a good set-up very quickly despite missing out on the first day, and overall I think that we can be very happy with a job well done. We found a good tyre with Michelin and it seems that Jorge was able to find a good rhythm. Thank you to the staff of the Clinica Mobile because they played a huge part in enabling Jorge to ride like this. Congratulations to Valentino for his win, I hope that we can all keep going strongly!” Masahiko Nakajima Team Director “For Jorge it was a very tough weekend but he tried his best throughout to ride the bike and the team staff did an excellent job to make a bike which could be ridden by such an injured rider. It was very good team-work and an amazing result today. It was a hard, hard race for him but he showed how strong he is. Michelin provided us with good tyres, both for qualifying and the race, and I am very happy for all of our staff and look forward to the next race.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Media Service: DANI PEDROSA, SECOND IN CHINA, STANDS OUT IN THE LEAD OF THE GENERAL CLASSIFICATION The Repsol Honda Team rider takes his fourth consecutive podium at the Chinese Grand Prix. Nicky Hayden was sixth in a difficult race for the American Repsol rider Dani Pedrosa ran another superb race at the China Grand Prix, fourth test for points in the 2008 World Motorcycling Championship. Pedrosa, who arrived in China sharing the lead of the general classification with fellow countryman Lorenzo, left the Shanghai track today with an advantage of 7 points, after he took his fourth consecutive podium in the top category. Today’s second position almost tasted of victory, bearing in mind that the day kicked off under intense rain, and where the 125cc and 250cc races were disputed under the downpour. Though Dani is not an expert at riding under wet conditions, today, during the warm-up, Pedrosa showed an impressive improvement on the wet surface of the Shanghai Circuit, running the third fastest time this morning. The Repsol Honda Team rider was ready to face today’s race under the rain with hopes of taking the victory. Fortunately, he did not need to demonstrate his abilities under these conditions as halfway through the 250cc race, the rain stopped and the track dried out in time for the MotoGP race. The race started with Edwards in the lead, Stoner in second position, Rossi third, and Pedrosa fourth, though by the end of the first lap, the Repsol Honda Team rider took control of the race after overtaking Stoner and Edwards, taking a solitary lead. After managing an advantage of a second over his rivals, Rossi detached himself from the pack he was leading and went after the Spaniard. The rest of the race was a duel between Pedrosa and Rossi. The Italian took first position before the race was halfway through, and held his place until the end of the race. Pedrosa stayed behind the Italian’s wheel almost until the end of the race, but 6 laps from the end he decided to make do with the 20 points awarded to the second classified, and reduced his pace in order to preserve the engine of his bike when he realised it was revving too high due to the wind blowing from behind at some points of the circuit. Nicky Hayden, who started off from the fourth row of the starting grid after yesterday’s tenth fastest lap time, took off at lightning speed and by the end of the first lap was already in sixth position. The American looked set to catch up with the leading pack, but after a few more laps he started to slow down his pace, while a number of rivals overtook him. The setup of his bike was not the ideal today, and the Repsol Honda Team rider finished in sixth position after recovering a few positions during the race. In the 250cc category, what could have been a good race for Julián Simón ended up in zero points in his chart. A fault in the engine of his KTM FRR 250 prevented the Repsol rider from giving a good performance. Simón got off to a good start and maintained his fourth position on the starting grid during the first few bends, finishing his first lap in third place. Running the first laps in the leading pack alongside Bautista, Kallio, Simoncelli and Barbera, his engine collapsed during the fifth lap and the Repsol KTM rider was forced to head for boxes, desolate. A special mention for the double victory of the two KTM riders with technical support from Repsol, Mika Kallio and Hiroshi Aoyama. The Finnish rider won the race and the Japanese rider completed a fine weekend for KTM by taking the second step on the podium. In the 125cc category, an important day for young Marc Màrquez, who in the second Grand Prix of his life, at only 15 years of age, has become a member of the club of the youngest riders to have scored points in a World Motorcycling Championship. Today Màrquez ran a superb race under the intense rain pouring down on the Chinese track. Warned by his team of the possible falls and of the many errors of his rivals under these conditions, the young Repsol KTM Team 125cc rider chose not to take too many risks and waited to see how things developed. Finally, and after a duel with teammate Esteve Rabat, Márquez finished in a well-deserved twelfth position, taking his first four points in the World Motorcycling Championship. Teammate Esteve Rabat, in a weekend he will want to forget, also won some valuable points -5-, after finishing in eleventh position. Rabat tried to recover positions throughout the race, but the limitations of his bike forced him to take many risks, with the result that he skidded off the track on a couple of occasions. A final eleventh position Rabat and twelfth place for Márquez in this fourth Grand Prix of the 2008 season. Quotes MotoGP Dani Pedrosa >> finished 2nd, World Championship leader “I’m very happy with today’s result. We had been expecting a wet race, so to get second today is fantastic and it’s 20 good points for the championship. I started a bit cautious during the early laps because I didn’t know what the track conditions were like, but then Valentino and I began to set an extremely fast pace. Lap by lap our rhythm got faster. I had the advantage through the middle section of the track, he had the advantage through the first and last sections. My Michelin tyres were working really well and we were riding at lap record pace all through the race. The wind was very strong today, so my engine was over-revving, which is why I decided to ride a little more conservatively in the final laps to secure second place and the world championship lead.” Nicky Hayden >> finished 6th, 8th in World Championship “We knew starting tenth was never going to be easy. I crashed my number one bike in qualifying, then this morning I rode the other bike, so I started the race with the bike I’d crashed but it was fine. I got a really good start and a good first corner too, but I just couldn’t go with the lead group today. We had a huge tailwind on the back straightaway, so I was running out of gear. It made it so hard to get it stopped for the corner at the end of the straight, so a lot of guys were running wide. Mid-race I had a few problems, felt a few drops of rain, and my corner speed in the long corners wasn’t so good. Towards the end I changed a few little things with my lines and the traction control settings. I started to move forward and at the end I was going pretty good. There was a lot of good battling going on but it would’ve been better to have been battling for a better position. I didn’t give up, kept pushing and picked off a few guys near the end.” 250cc Julián Simón >> withdrawn “I think that this weekend we did a very good job and managed to find some very good adjustments. I’m grateful to the team and the mechanics for their help, they’ve supported me at all times and thanks to them I enjoyed the first laps of the race. We broke the engine, these things happen during races. Now we have to concentrate on France and learn as much as we can from what happened here, which was quite a lot. The weekend didn’t end well, but we have all the good work we did during those first few laps. It’s a shame. As for me, the problem in my arm has also been solved, so I think that by the time we reach France it will be OK. And we’ll continue to work on trying to get a good result as soon as possible.” 125cc Esteve Rabat >> 11º at 41.139 secs. “We’ve had a lot of problems with the bike throughout the weekend, and it broke down quite often. The truth is that it’s not as fast as we hoped. But it’s what we’ve got, we have to fight with it, try to get ahead, and we’ll see if KTM can help us out a bit more. The race was very complicated. I got off to a bad start, way back, though I did very well during the first lap. But at the end of the long straightaway I made a mistake, and it happened again during the second lap. I recovered positions, and I made yet another mistake. Near the end, Aegerter fell right in front of me -I almost ran over him-, and I had to ride off the track. Let’s hope we do better in the next race. I finally managed an eleventh position, it’s five points, which are very welcome.” Marc Márquez >> 12º at 43.677 secs. “This was my second race and I managed to win points, so to tell the truth it was a complete success for me. I know very few riders have managed that, though now what we have to do is concentrate on the next race and continue improving. The race was quite difficult due to the rain. The team asked me not to make any mistakes, to just try and finish the race, as the rest of the riders were sure to make mistakes. In the end that was my tactic, and it worked well for me. I’ve seen how aggressive a World Championship can be, as I was struggling to maintain my position and was brushed by a couple of riders. But I know that’s what the World Championship is about, and I need to be more aggressive. I gained a lot of experience today and learned a lot.” More, from a press release issued by Michelin: MICHELIN MAN PEDROSA BATTLES FOR SHANGHAI VICTORY & GRABS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD Michelin man Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) scored an important second-place finish at Shanghai today to take the World Championship lead after starting this race level on points with fellow Michelin man Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin). Lorenzo rode a hero’s race to fourth, safeguarding second place in the points chase, despite injuring both his ankles when he crashed in Friday practice. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) took a hard-fought sixth-place finish just ahead of pole-position man Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) to make it four Michelin men in the top seven. The race was run on a dry track under threatening skies following a soaking wet morning warm-up session. Pedrosa set the early pace, then settled into a tense duel with Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1). The pair upped the pace throughout, Pedrosa right with his rival until the last few laps. Lorenzo, Hayden and Edwards had frantic races in a busy pack, Ed wards running third in the early stages before outbraking himself and running wide. Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot Honda RC212V-Michelin) rode with the two Americans but slipped back to 11th at the finish. “Obviously we were most concerned about the weather, because it looked like it might rain again during the race,” Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing. “Luckily it stayed dry, apart from a few drops of rain, but the conditions were much cooler than yesterday. The track temperature was 25 degrees [77? F], while yesterday it was 48 degrees [118? F]. Dani chose to race the same tires he chose yesterday, so this was a good test for our tires. He was very fast from the start, which proved the warm-up performance of our tires, and was then able to fight for the lead throughout, which proved that our tires now have an excellent operating range, considering that the track was 23 degrees cooler today. “Dani rode a great race, he was able to fight hard throughout. Jorge was also amazing, riding so hard despite his injury and despite the fact that he didn’t ride many laps in practice. He also chose tires he used yesterday. Nicky did a good job, Colin too. Andrea decided to use a softer tire than yesterday, so his lap times dropped off in the final laps more than those of the other riders.” Pedrosa, who now leads Lorenzo by seven points after four rounds, was happy with his fourth podium from four races. “I’m very happy with this result because it was a great race,” he said. “My Michelin tires were working really well and we were lapping at lap-record pace throughout. Nobody expected the race to be so fast. As the race went on I changed my style a little bit to get the best out of the tires. In the end I decided to make sure of second place because the strong tail wind was making my engine over-rev. This is an important result for us.” More, from a press release issued by Alice Ducati: ELIAS IN EIGHT POSITION IN THE PRAMAC GRAND PRIX OF CHINA, ANOTHER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT FOR GUINTOLI The fourth 2008 MotoGP race started with uncertain track condition. The asphalt has completely dried out a few minutes before the start of the Pramac Grand Prix of China, where the Alice Team riders have respectively started from fifteenth and fourteenth position. Guintoli has done better than his team-mate at the beginning maintaining the thirteenth position until the eighteenth lap when he lost two position and concluded in fifteenth. The opposite has done Toni Elias, who in the sixth lap was in seventeenth position, but after a few laps the Spanish rider found the right rhythm which allowed him to come back and finish the race in eight position. A pity for the not so happy start, seen Toni has registered the fifth fastest lap in the race, not too far from the fastest. A sensible step forward for the Catalan rider who hopes to keep growing in two weeks time, on May 18th, when there will be the Alice Grand Prix of France. Luis d’Antin – Team Principal “We are happy we found the right way to work. With Elias we miss a bit of competitiveness in the first laps. Ducati is working very well to give us an even more competitive bike. Toni is accumulating confidence and he is improving race by race. Sylvain must improve. He has to work more on the bike set up. Next race in Le Mans will be important for him as he will have more motivations at his home race. I thanks the Team who has given its best all the time, even when results weren’t coming.” Fabiano Sterlacchini – Technical Director “Surely a positive race for us. We start to see the results of our work. Unluckily we didn’t start too well, Toni felt the bike too heavy in the front part. In addition the track conditions, still a bid humid, have complicated his work even more. We could have done better seen the rhythm Toni had during the weekend, but this result give us morale for the continuing part of the season. In the next race we believe to do well also with Sylvain, who will give his best at his home race.” Toni Elias – Alice Team rider (8th position in the race, 13th in MotoGP Classification) “Better I would say, but I expected more. Unluckily at the beginning of the race I lose too much time and after five or six laps I always have to come back. If we manage to solve the problems we encountered in the first part of the race I am sure we can obtain better results. The race rhythm was in fact good. I made it to pass other riders without many complications, in fact, I registered the fifth fastest lap in the race really close to Lorenzo who finished fourth. We have to work hard and I am sure we can do better starting from Le Mans. The Team is working well, like Bridgestone and Ducati.” Sylvain Guintoli – Alice Team rider (15th position in the race, 17th in MotoGP Classification) “In the first laps I made it to remain with the group, but slowly I lost the rhythm not making to recuperate. A pity that in the last few laps I lost two positions. The only thing I can do is work even more to try to improve. I am trying hard, the distance from the fastest is getting lower race after race. I hope that in Le Mans I will make it also to improve the final position. I really care of doing well there. I must congratulate with Toni who has done a good race. He has demonstrated that we have the potential to be competitive.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Perfect ride in China sees Rossi to top of the podium Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi took an impressive victory in Shanghai today, his second at the circuit having won the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix with Yamaha in 2005. It was Rossi’s 89th career victory but his first in seven races, since Estoril last year, as well as his first on Bridgestone tyres. Rossi had looked strong from Friday morning and he was clearly in good shape for the race, but after two days of high temperatures and sunshine, heavy rain throughout the morning threatened to turn the established order on its head. The rain ceased in the late morning however and the track began to dry out with the aid of a warm wind, meaning the race was finally declared dry. Starting from second on the grid behind Colin Edwards, Rossi crossed the line first time in fourth but had made it back to second by the end of the third lap, passing Casey Stoner and pole-sitter Colin Edwards in the process. His next target was Dani Pedrosa and he made his move on the Spaniard at the end of the back straight to take the lead. From then on the Italian led to the chequered flag but it was nail-bitingly close for the majority of the remaining 17 laps, with less than half a second between them and the pair the only two lapping consistently in the 1’59s. On lap 19 Pedrosa began to tail off and Rossi eventually took victory by 3.890 seconds, with Casey Stoner over 15 seconds back in third. The other side of the garage had an almost equally happy day as Jorge Lorenzo shook off the pain from his fractured ankle to take a brave fourth place, something that was unimaginable after his crash on Friday morning. Rossi is the fourth different rider to win in four races this season and the championship is wide open, with Lorenzo seven points off Pedrosa in second and Rossi just two points behind him in third. Valentino Rossi – Position: 1 Time: 44’08.061 “After seven races it is a great feeling to win again; I am very happy! This is a very important result for us because above all I was able to ride exactly how I wanted from start to finish and this was great fun for me. I had a great battle with Pedrosa and he pushed me hard and to be doing 1’59s until the end was unbelievable! All weekend we were hoping the rain wouldn’t come so when we saw it this morning we were quite disappointed, then it started to dry out so we were praying that it would dry completely; we were lucky today! We worked very well with Bridgestone and together with their technicians we made a late tyre change and it was the right choice because my tyre worked very well until the end, as my times showed! It’s the first win for us with Bridgestone so this is a great moment also for this reason and I want to say thank you to them. We were fast from Friday morning here and step by step we’ve found the perfect set-up and today the hard work paid off for everyone. We’ve had four races and four different winners so this shows how close the championship is, now we need to keep going because our rivals are all very near. Lorenzo did a great race today with his injuries, so this is a good day for everyone in the team. Thank you to my team and everyone at Yamaha, it’s great to be here again.” Davide Brivio – Team Manager “We needed this! It’s a fantastic feeling for everyone to win again and Valentino did a perfect job today. There are many good things about this particular win; it’s the first with Bridgestone, the first for a long time and also it’s put us right back in touch for the championship after a poor start in Qatar. It’s important that we continue like this but everyone has a great motivation and confidence is running high in our garage. Congratulations to Jorge for a great result in his condition, it’s just the fourth race but our team is in good shape!” Jorge Lorenzo, the Fiat Yamaha Team’s outstanding rookie, shook off the injuries he suffered in his crash on Friday to take a superb fourth place in China today on his 21st birthday. After fracturing his left ankle and badly bruising parts of his right leg, it was easy to forget that the Spaniard had also undergone surgery on his right arm less than a fortnight ago, leaving him to contest today’s race with only one limb in full working order! With the weather turning bad today it was a nervous morning for the riders but it gradually dried out throughout the middle of the day and the 22-lap race was run in the dry. Lorenzo started from fourth but the early part of the race was a trial of endurance for the Michelin-shod rider as he slipped back through the field to as low as 9th at one stage. He then settled in 8th for seven laps before suddenly finding his rhythm on lap 12 and going on to pass four riders in as many laps.With Casey Stoner some way in front of him, fourth was as far as he could go but it was a brilliant result for the youngest rider on the grid after what has been one of the most difficult weekends of his career. Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 4 Time: +0’22.494 “Without a doubt, this result today is like a victory for me. On Friday I couldn’t imagine being able to ride, then yesterday it was a little bit better and then finally today I was not able just to ride, but to be competitive and enjoy myself as well! I’ve ridden with a lot of pain in both legs but the staff of the Clinica Mobile made it possible for me to keep going, so I want to thank them. I lost a lot of places early on but in the second half of the race I found my rhythm and then step by step I started to move forwards; in fact I think I made more overtakes than in any race so far in this category! I stalled the engine on the start line for the warm-up lap, which was a scary moment, but luckily I was able to restart and it wasn’t a problem. I want to say congratulations to Valentino for a great victory today as well, I think it’s going to be an exciting year. I didn’t have any pain in my arms today so hopefully the recent operation has been a success. Now I’m flying back to Barcelona to have treatment on my ankles and I will do everything I can to be back to my physical best in Le Mans. I want to thank Michelin, because my tyres were very good today, as well as Yamaha and all of my guys. I’ve had a great 21st birthday!” Daniele Romagnoli – Team Manager “Jorge did an incredible job today, I don’t think that anyone expected him to do this well after what happened on Friday and in his current physical condition. We were luckily able to find a good set-up very quickly despite missing out on the first day, and overall I think that we can be very happy with a job well done. We found a good tyre with Michelin and it seems that Jorge was able to find a good rhythm. Thank you to the staff of the Clinica Mobile because they played a huge part in enabling Jorge to ride like this. Congratulations to Valentino for his win, I hope that we can all keep going strongly!” Masahiko Nakajima – Team Director “We’ve waited a long time to get back to winning ways! All of the Yamaha staff are very happy to win again with Valentino and I want to share this moment with Valentino’s fans around the world! It’s been a tough weekend and it was a big battle with Pedrosa, but it was an exciting and impressive race. I really want to congratulate Valentino and now we want to continue to improve the bike for the championship fight. We’ve done a great job with Bridgestone this weekend and we really appreciate their work, they helped us to win today! For Jorge it was a very tough weekend but he tried his best throughout to ride the bike and the team staff did an excellent job to make a bike which could be ridden by such an injured rider. It was very good team-work and an amazing result today. It was a hard, hard race for him but he showed how strong he is. Michelin provided us with good tyres, both for qualifying and the race, and I am very happy for all of our staff and look forward to the next race.” Edwards and Toseland secure solid points for Tech 3 in Shanghai The Tech 3 Yamaha team consolidated fourth position in the Team world championship today after Colin Edwards and James Toseland collected a solid points haul in a tough Shanghai MotoGP race. Edwards, who started from pole position for the third time in his career, had to settle for eighth place after his podium challenge ended when he ran off track at the end of the back straight on lap six. Edwards was holding a comfortable third place at the time and pulling away from reigning world champion Casey Stoner. Edwards lost four places, which he was never able to recover despite a determined ride in the second half of the 22-lap race. James Toseland had a tough Shanghai debut as today’s race was run in much cooler conditions than the first two days. Heavy rain that fell earlier the 125 and 250 races cleared in time for the MotoGP clash, but despite a typically dogged display, the British rider finished 12th. Colin Edwards – Position: 7 Time: +0’29.780 “I’m not particularly happy with that if I’m being honest. I knew what pace I could run and was just pushing as hard as I could in the beginning to try and get away from the guys behind me. I knew Casey was going to be there but I don’t know what Valentino and Dani had but they were flying. As soon as they passed me they were gone. I was running third and I came into the hairpin after the back straight and braked at the same place but the rear end came up and I did the longest nose wheelie I’ve ever done in my entire life. I kept waiting for it to come back but at the end I had to let the brake off to get the rear wheel on the ground and I ran wide. I only lost three seconds but it was the places I lost that mattered. I rode as hard as I could and I’m tired of saying it, but I could not do anything else. We just missed something in the package today. At the end we needed to refine a couple of things to make it a little bit better but at the end of the day I made a mistake. But if I hadn’t made it I still wasn’t going to be on the podium. It just wasn’t going to happen today. I wanted the temperature to be cooler but maybe not as cool as it was. I was licking my lips in the beginning because I thought some other guys had packages that would have worked better when it was hotter but it didn’t happen. I have to say thanks to my guys for their effort this weekend. We got a pole position but obviously I expected more in the race. We’ll look to put things right in Le Mans when I’ll be giving it my all for Tech 3 and Michelin in their home race.” James Toseland – Position: 12 Time: +0’43.191 “I don’t want to be finishing 12th but in my first season this type of result is going to happen. I had a few problems with the set-up all weekend, which hasn’t helped with me learning the track. I got a decent start but really found it difficult with the setting I had. We were going to try something this morning but it was wet and we gambled with it for the race. On paper it looked really good but unfortunately it wasn’t quite right. You don’t need too many problems to finish 12th in MotoGP. I had a small problem and it was costing me a lot of time in the important places and that was the difference between a top eight finish and being down in 12th. On the brakes the weight transfer was really fast. As I was on the brakes and turning in the rear was skating and not planted on the way into the corner. I was waiting too long for it to load up again before I could get on the power. The problem with the 800s is they don’t have a great deal of torque so you have got to keep the corner speed up. If you are struggling to get into the corner and carry that corner speed you can’t square anything off so I was finding it difficult on the entry and exit. Because of that I was slow mid-corner and on the exit, but losing that time costs you a second a lap and that is massive against these guys. That is the disadvantage of not knowing the track though. My guys worked really hard to help me learn the track and I’ll try and pay them back with a good result in France next time out. This is a French team and I’ll be desperate to do well for them.” Herve Poncharal – Tech 3 Yamaha Team Manager “It was an incredible feeling yesterday to get our first pole position since 2002 and thanks to Colin and Michelin for that. Colin did a great job but we knew it was going to be a difficult race. Colin had a really good start and he led the first lap, and even when Valentino and Dani pulled away we were confident we could get a podium finish. Casey wasn’t catching Colin and at one stage Colin was pulling away. But then he went straight on at the hairpin and he lost a bit of time. It is a great shame because although we were not going for the win, I think a podium was a possibility. We missed it this time but I’m sure there will be other opportunities. We still got some good points from both riders and I am not too disappointed. James had a tough weekend but as always he applied himself 100 per cent and he never stopped trying to improve. He will have learned a lot again and he was aggressive as usual in the first few laps. Overall it was a good weekend. We got a pole position, James and Colin are sixth and seventh in the championship so now we have to keep working and getting more confident. Colin was the first non-factory rider today so there are a lot of positives to be taken from the weekend.” More, from a press release issued by Indianapolis Motor Speedway: MotoGP RACE REPORT: GRAND PRIX OF CHINA Rossi ends drought with victory; Americans Hayden sixth, Edwards seventh INDIANAPOLIS, Sunday, May 4, 2008 The drought finally is over for Valentino Rossi. Five-time MotoGP World Champion Rossi ended the longest dry spell of his career at the top level of the sport, halting a seven-race winless streak by triumphing May 4 in the Grand Prix of China at the Shanghai International Circuit. Rossi prevailed in a race-long duel with Dani Pedrosa, taking the checkered flag by 3.890 seconds over his Spanish rival. “After seven races, it is a great feeling to win again. I am very happy!” Rossi said. “This is a very important result for us because, above all, I was able to ride exactly how I wanted from start to finish, and this was great fun for me.” Defending World Champion Casey Stoner finished third on his Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati/Bridgestone. Rookie sensation Jorge Lorenzo was fourth on his Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha/Michelin, an incredible result considering Lorenzo raced with broken bones in both ankles suffered in a practice crash Friday. 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden led the American contingent in sixth place on his Repsol Honda Team Honda/Michelin. American standout Colin Edwards finished seventh on his Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha/Michelin, but it was a disappointing result after capturing his third career pole Saturday. “I’m not particularly happy with that, if I’m being honest,” Edwards said. “At the end, we needed to refine a couple of things to make it a little bit better, but at the end of the day, I made a mistake. But if I hadn’t made it, I still wasn’t going to be on the podium. It just wasn’t going to happen today.” John Hopkins rounded out the American finishers in 14th on his Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki/Bridgestone. All 18 starters were confounded by changing conditions at the 3.281-mile circuit. There was heavy rain in the morning before the race, but riders started on slick tires due to warm conditions causing rapid drying of the track. Rossi dropped to fourth on the first lap after starting second on his Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha/Bridgestone, but he passed Stoner and Edwards on Lap 3 of the 22-lap race for second place. Rossi then zeroed in on leader Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda Team Honda/Michelin, passing Pedrosa on the backstraight on Lap 4. Points leader Pedrosa hung close to Rossi, and the pair clicked off a series of fast laps in lockstep before Rossi pulled away over the final three laps. The next race is the Grand Prix of France on May 18 at Le Mans. The inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP is Sunday, Sept. 14 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. RESULTS SHANGHAI, China Results of the 22-lap Grand Prix of China MotoGP race, with position, rider, country, motorcycle/tire, time behind winner: 1. Valentino Rossi Italy Yamaha/Bridgestone 2. Dani Pedrosa Spain Honda/Michelin +3.890 seconds 3. Casey Stoner Australia Ducati/Bridgestone +15.928 4. Jorge Lorenzo Spain Yamaha/Michelin +22.494 5. Marco Melandri Italy Ducati/Bridgestone +26.957 6. Nicky Hayden United States Honda/Michelin +28.369 7. Colin Edwards United States Yamaha/Michelin +29.780 8. Toni Elias Spain Ducati/Bridgestone +30.225 9. Loris Capirossi Italy Suzuki/Bridgestone +31.440 10. Shinya Nakano Japan Honda/Bridgestone +35.969 11. Andrea Dovizioso Italy Honda/Michelin +36.246 12. James Toseland Great Britain Yamaha/Michelin +43.191 13. Randy De Puniet France Honda/Michelin +43.442 14. John Hopkins United States Kawasaki/Bridgestone +45.855 15. Sylvain Guintoli France Ducati/Bridgestone +46.330 16. Alex De Angelis San Marino Honda/Bridgestone +50.593 17. Anthony West Australia Kawasaki/Bridgestone +1:05.593 18. Chris Vermeulen Australia Suzuki/Bridgestone +16 laps Fastest lap: Rossi, 1:59.273, Lap 18 Pole lap: Edwards, 1:58.139 POINTS Riders: Pedrosa 81, Lorenzo 74, Rossi 72, Stoner 56, Capirossi 33, Toseland 33, Edwards 31, Hayden 29, Dovizioso 26, Hopkins 26, Melandri 23, Nakano 22, Elias 15, Vermeulen 14, De Puniet 11, De Angelis 7, Guintoli 4, West 3. Manufacturers: Yamaha 90, Honda 81, Ducati 56, Suzuki 34, Kawasaki 26. PODIUM QUOTES VALENTINO ROSSI (Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha/Bridgestone, winner): “After seven races, it is a great feeling to win again. I am very happy! This is a very important result for us because, above all, I was able to ride exactly how I wanted from start to finish, and this was great fun for me. I had a great battle with Pedrosa, and he pushed me hard, and to be doing 1:59s until the end was unbelievable! All weekend we were hoping the rain wouldn’t come, so when we saw it this morning, we were quite disappointed. Then it started to dry out, so we were praying that it would dry completely. We were lucky today! We’ve had four races and four different winners so this shows how close the championship is.” DANI PEDROSA (Repsol Honda Team Honda/Michelin, second): “I’m very happy with today’s result. We had been expecting a wet race, so to get second today is fantastic, and it’s 20 good points for the championship. I started a bit cautious during the early laps because I didn’t know what the track conditions were like, but then Valentino and I began to set an extremely fast pace. Lap by lap, our rhythm got faster. I had the advantage through the middle section of the track; he had the advantage through the first and last sections. My Michelin tires were working really well, and we were riding at lap record pace all through the race. The wind was very strong today, so my engine was over-revving, which is why I decided to ride a little more conservatively in the final laps to secure second place and the world championship lead.” CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati/Bridgestone, third): “I’m disappointed, to be honest, because I know we could have done better today. The bike has worked really well in practice, and we thought we had the ideal setup for today. But we changed a couple of things, and for one reason or another, the package just wasn’t as good as before. I made a good start, and I was happy with that. But even in the first corner I couldn’t get the bike turned, Colin Edwards came past me, and that was the story of the race. As the race wore on, my lap times improved, but it was too little too late, and in any case it wouldn’t have been enough for me to stick with the lead guys. I’m disappointed this has happened today not so really for third place, which is a good result but for the big gap from the lead.” AMERICAN RIDER QUOTES NICKY HAYDEN (Repsol Honda Team Honda/Michelin, sixth): “We knew starting 10th was never going to be easy. I crashed my number-one bike in qualifying, then this morning I rode the other bike, so I started the race with the bike I’d crashed, but it was fine. I got a really good start and a good first corner, too, but I just couldn’t go with the lead group today. We had a huge tailwind on the back straightaway, so I was running out of gear. It made it so hard to get it stopped for the corner at the end of the straight, so a lot of guys were running wide. Mid-race, I had a few problems, felt a few drops of rain, and my corner speed in the long corners wasn’t so good. Toward the end, I changed a few little things with my lines and the traction control settings. I started to move forward, and at the end I was going pretty good. There was a lot of good battling going on but it would’ve been better to have been battling for a better position. I didn’t give up, kept pushing and picke d off a few guys near the end.” COLIN EDWARDS (Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha/Michelin, seventh): “I’m not particularly happy with that, if I’m being honest. I knew what pace I could run and was just pushing as hard as I could in the beginning to try and get away from the guys behind me. I knew Casey was going to be there, but I don’t know what Valentino and Dani had, but they were flying. As soon as they passed me, they were gone. I was running third, and I came into the hairpin after the back straight and braked at the same place, but the rear end came up and I did the longest nose-wheelie I’ve ever done in my entire life. I kept waiting for it to come back, but at the end, I had to let the brake off to get the rear wheel on the ground and I ran wide. I only lost three seconds, but it was the places I lost that mattered. I rode as hard as I could, and I’m tired of saying it, but I could not do anything else. We just missed something in the package today. At the end, we needed to refine a couple of things to make it a little bit better, but at the end of the day, I made a mistake. But if I hadn’t made it, I still wasn’t going to be on the podium. It just wasn’t going to happen today.” JOHN HOPKINS (Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki/Bridgestone, 14th): “We went out in the wet warmup session this morning with high hopes of a good result in the rain or dry today. By the time we got to the race, the circuit had started to dry out, and we had to make a decision on tire choice, which maybe wasn’t the best. I struggled right from the start with rear traction problems, and I pushed hard to make my way through the field. I made a few mistakes and ran off the track in places; it was a really tough race. I’m very disappointed, as it’s not the result I wanted for my 100th Grand Prix.” MotoGP SUPPORT CLASS WINNERS 250cc: Mika Kallio, Finland, Red Bull KTM 250 125cc: Andrea Iannone, Italy, I.C. Team. American Stevie Bonsey finished 14th and is 10th in series points. NEXT RACE Grand Prix of France, Le Mans, May 18. Round 5 of 18. Red Bull Indianapolis GP tickets: Tickets are on sale for the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Sept. 14, 2008. Tickets can be purchased either online at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com at any time; on the phone by calling (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area or (317) 492-6700 locally between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday; or visiting the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Ticket Office on the first floor of the IMS Administration Building at 4790 W. 16th St. in Indianapolis from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. All tickets for this event are three-day tickets, with both reserved and general admission seating available.