Italian MotoGP - Italian tour de force
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Image Gallery ( 24 images )Makoto Tamada, Konica Minolta Honda Rider: 8th: “My ambitions are much different, but due to what happened until this moment I consider my self satisfied to have ended the race, because my right hand has caused me some problems, anyhow the eight place is the same position I finished the first Grand Prix of the season. Today I didn’t start too well and I have lost contact with the leaders of the race after only a few laps. I felt well on the bike and the only problem was when exiting the turns where probably the maybe too soft set up has penalized my performance. During the next weekend we’ll surely solve this problem. We are missing the kilometres we didn’t cover during the last three races and today this fact has clearly emerged. I want to thank the Konica Minolta Honda Team for the great job done during these three days of work to adapt the bike to my characteristics. I hope I will have the chance to cover as many laps possible in Catalunya.”
Colin Edwards, Gauloises Yamaha Team, ninth: “It’s hard to know what to say after a weekend like this because I’m as mystified as anyone else. We made a great start to the weekend on Friday morning but didn’t seem to move on from there. Every refinement we made to the bike seemed to leave us in exactly the same position. Today my start was not good and I was way back at the first split. I passed about four people on the first lap but from then on it was an uphill battle. We made a lot of progress with the base set-up at Le Mans but we’ve struggled to get it working at this track – hopefully we can be back where we need to be in Barcelona.”
Shinya Nakano, Team Kawasaki, tenth: "Tenth place is not the result I wanted, but that was the maximum I could do today in these conditions. My start was okay, but I couldn't really stay with the front group and then I had a very hard battle with John Hopkins. It took a long time to pass him, but then I was able to hold tenth place to the finish. I raced with the best tyre and chassis set-up that was available to us, but for this track but we need to work on getting more acceleration, and also braking."
Harald Eckl, Team Kawasaki, Team Manager; "Both Shinya and Alex did an excellent job today, their results were the maximum that was achievable at this track. We came away with some good points, but for sure Mugello remains a circuit that does not exactly suit the ZX-RR in its current stage of development. Alex made a very strong comeback from injury and overcame a small electronic problem with his engine which slowed him mid-race."
John Hopkins , Team SUZUKI MotoGP, eleventh: “I wouldn’t say I was surprised where we finished. It wasn’t that I didn’t want it better, but if you look at all the qualifying sessions that is exactly where we have been. Bridgestone came out with such an awesome qualifying tyre yesterday, it showed that when we have grip, we definitely have pace and can get the full potential out of the GSV-R. Today I just kept my head down and tried to stay with the leaders as long as possible. I got into a rhythm and then into a race with Nakano and did all I could to stay with him, but he rode really well. I figured that three laps from the end I could either not finish another race, or finish and get a couple of points and move onto Catalunya where our bike will react better, so that’s what I did.”
Team SUZUKI MotoGP Team Manager Paul Denning: “John’s effort and discipline were first class. We got everything we could have done out of the tyre and bike combination. The position isn’t what we want but I’m encouraged by the level of commitment. There will be better tracks for us and better results to come. Kenny couldn’t get the bike to do what he wanted over race distance and seemed quite lost in terms of the direction to go. We’re going to have to take the short break before Catalunya with Kenny and hope that we can come out fighting with the new parts that the factory are delivering there. Good points to take from the weekend are John’s performance – particularly in qualifying - and the reliability of the GSV-R as the bikes were consistent all race distance. Both riders finished inside the points for the first time this season so we have some positives to start building on and let’s start building on those next weekend in Catalunya.”
Alex Hofmann, Team Kawasaki, twelfth: "That was a very hard race, it has been a long time I've been away from the track and I'm just happy to score some good points today. From the start the speed came easily and I was comfortable and able to close the gap a little to Shinya. But then my engine sounded strange, it felt like a misfire and I slowed for a couple laps. For the rest of the race the engine braking was not constant, but I was able to chase Bayliss and pass him as I could carry more corner speed. For sure my wrist is not yet 100% but today's race was good therapy, and I didn't need to use painkillers."
Troy Bayliss, Camel Honda, 13th: “A really, really difficult weekend. In the race I was unable to make any sort of progress. I finished thirteenth, which isn’t exactly a great position. I took some points but what I really want now is a good result. We have another race this coming Sunday, so we’ll see what happens there.”
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