MotoGP Brno: Rossi and Yamaha again

Carlos Checa, Ducati Marlboro, eighth: "I was able to push hard during the first few laps but then I felt the tyre performance start to go down. I don't think we chose the best tyre for the day, it looks like Loris made the better choice. The same tyre worked well yesterday, then we tried a used version of the same tyre this morning, and though the performance went down a little, it still seemed like the right choice. We expected it to work better in the race."

Troy Bayliss, Camel Honda: 9th: “Things pretty much went as I expected today. I honestly don’t know what I have to do to go as fast as the front group, because I’m not saving myself, both in practice and the race I’m giving my all, just as my team do too. It felt like I didn’t have grip on the front and so staying ahead of Tamada, who I had a good duel with, was a slight piece of satisfaction. Ninth is better than in the last two races, but we’re not here for that.”

Makoto Tamada, Konica Minolta Honda: 10th: “We tried a new race setting today, but we had more negative sides than the positive ones, and this didn’t allow me to result sufficiently fast. I have many problems in breaking. The bike didn’t seem really stable. Compare to yesterday the grip of the bike was lightly better, but the problem in riding the turns it hasn’t been solved and this has slowed me down. The rear tyre allowed me to be really constant during the all 22 laps, but I still don’t find the maximum confidence to push it more. I hope to find a good confidence in Motegi because I want to try anyhow to remain with the fastest. I really care about that race.”

Kenny Roberts Jr., Suzuki, 11th: “It was a difficult race. I think everybody's lap times were consistent from the front to where we were at, so it was difficult to make ground up. Basically everything on the bike stayed pretty consistent and we had a tight battle where we were. I tried to get past Bayliss and Tamada at the end. I was hoping they would make a mistake with each other to help me get past. I tried to out accelerate them all the time but it just wasn’t working. Basically it was a decent race. I still don’t have a lot of energy so I don’t know what the matter is. Hopefully it’s flu or something and I can get over it in the next couple of days.”

Paul Denning, Suzuki Team Manager: “All things considered we’ve got to be very pleased with Kenny’s performance, one of his most competitive dry races of the season so far. He only completed five laps in yesterday’s qualification session and a short run in warm-up this morning. Without his illness and a better qualifying position there may well have been the opportunity to run a few places further up the field. “John’s race was - in terms of a result – less than he expected and probably less than we expected. He battled hard for the whole race but seemed to use up his rear tyre a little bit quicker than Kenny and didn’t have so much left to fight with at the end.

“We are staying on for some testing over the next couple of days and maybe we will be able to find a direction within the setting parts that we have here to take a step forward.

“Nobu did a great consistent job just outside the points on his return to MotoGP racing. As ever he is a great personality to have around the team and I’m sure he will continue his never-ending hard work over the next two days. By the end of Tuesday I think he will be sick of the sight of the Brno race circuit having turned in so many laps! “We move onto Motegi next and we have some new engine parts in the same direction of development that has been happening in the last few races. We hope that those along with the good match between the Bridgestone new generation tyres and the Japanese circuit will help us get some better results. This weekend has confirmed that the direction we are taking in terms of engine development is correct, but we need a lot, lot more to be truly competitive and that’s where everyone’s intentions are lying at the moment.”

Shinya Nakano, Kawasaki, 12th: "My start was not good and I got trapped with some of the Honda riders, there was no room to overtake or push any faster; I lost a lot of time. After five laps I found a very good pace, some 1'59s laps, and I was able to pass Bayliss and battle in the group with the Suzukis and Alex. I tried to push and escape from this group but it was not possible, although I really wanted to finish ahead of Kenny Roberts. But I struggled with rear drive traction off the turns; this was a very hard race, it seems our bike does like Brno very much."

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