British MotoGP: Rossi in a class of his own

from Motorcycles (340 articles)

A-

A+

Page: 1 2 3 4 5

British MotoGP: Rossi in a class of his own

Click image to enlarge

Image Gallery ( 18 images )

Loris Capirossi, Ducati Marlboro, sixth: "Thank God it rained. We were pretty fast in the damp warm-up, so I was hoping for a wet race and that's what we got. At the beginning I had an engine glitch, maybe some rain got in an ignition coil, which lost me contact with the front group. If I hadn't had that problem and I'd got a better start, maybe I could have made the podium. The track was very dangerous, flooded and with small rivers everywhere, plus visibility was really bad. In these conditions I prefer to get sixth, rather than lose everything with a crash. Today's race showed that the bike and tyre package worked well - Bridgestone has made great progress with its rain tyres. A difficult weekend, but I'm finally satisfied."

Makoto Tamada, Konica Minolta Honda: 7th: “Today it wasn’t easy to control the power of the RCV with this track’s conditions. While accelerating the rear tyre skidded a little. The track was at its limit. For me this has been the first race with Michelin tyres on a completely soaked track. Today’s positive thing is that after having found the right confidence with the bike, between the fifteenth and the twenty-fifth lap, I made it to keep a good rhythm at the same level of the fastest. This made us think well to be at a good level of competitiveness also in these conditions in the next Grand Prix.”

Alex Hofmann, Team Kawasaki, Eighth: "That was a cold and tough race, but my best ever result so I'm very happy about that. The conditions were unpredictable and very slippery, but I was able to control the sliding and over the final ten laps I was running at the same pace as Capirossi and Tamada ahead of me, but we had lost contact with the front group. At the start I was in the group with Shinya and Carlos when we got to Elias and he was braking very early and I ran wide to avoid him at the chicane and lost five places. I had to do it all again and would have liked to have been closer to the front, but I can't complain, it was a good result for me today."

Ichiro Yoda, Team Kawasaki Technical Director: "The clutch on Shinya's bike would not open properly and this led to the downshift problem, so we need to investigate this situation. In the heavy rain conditions of today's race we again saw the potential of the Bridgestone wet weather tyres."

Harald Eckl, Team Kawasaki Manager: "That was great effort by Alex to achieve his best ever MotoGP result in these conditions, it was a very difficult race. It was unfortunate that Shinya had a problem and crashed, which has cost him some valuable points in the championship."

Toni Elias, Fortuna Yamaha Team, 9th: “Although I did not get a good start, and Hopkins hit me from behind, I felt comfortable and was able to pass a few riders in the opening stages. But I soon saw there was hardly any grip and the bike kept skidding at the front leaving me aquaplaning all the time. After a few scares I tried to follow Checa and Capirossi and just get a finish - that was the most important thing, to score more points. My injury responded well to the conditions and now I am looking forward to Germany as I am getting better all the time.”

Troy Bayliss, Camel Honda, DNF: “I got a good start, and despite the conditions being awful, I felt comfortable in the front group, and I was right in there. Unfortunately when Marco crashed in front of me he was too close and I tried to avoid him but I touched him and I was forced out onto the grass where I couldn’t control my bike. There’s no point saying how disappointed I am, but it was just a racing incident.”

Sete Gibernau, Movistar Honda, DNF: “It’s obvious this is not our year. I tried to get a good start and set my own pace and I wasn’t pushing. My first scare was my crash. It was a fast crash and nothing more. I’m sorry for my team after all the work they’ve done, this is tough for all of us, but we’ll get back to work next week and go from there.”

...continued

Page: 1 2 3 4 5