Rd 2 MotoGP: Rossi fights back

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Makoto Tamada, Konica Minolta Honda: 14th "I did not expect to have such a difficult season starting. I'm not able to drive as I would my RC211V yet. It is hard to be fast in the corner without having the right feeling. I am sorry I have not had to possibility to give any satisfaction to KONICA MINOLTA, to Honda and to all team guys that are constantly working to create the best conditions."

John Hopkins, Rizla Suzuki MotoGP, DNF: “It’s a really big shame with what happened to me and Chris - I know that he is as frustrated as I am. I got a great start and I felt extremely good during the first couple of laps and made a lot of passes. I felt like I could have got past the guys in front of me but then the bike gradually lost performance and that was it – it was all over. I am really disappointed, all my team and everyone here at Rizla Suzuki have worked hard all weekend and it’s such a shame for all of us that it has happened like this.”

Chris Vermeulen, Rizla Suzuki MotoGP, DNF: “I got a better start than I did at Jerez. I was baulked a bit on the first lap and then I lost a bit of time when another rider crashed. I passed Kenny Roberts Jr and I was up with the group in front of me, but then it looked like John’s bike started to leak fluid. This made the track slippery and we all dropped back. I was doing ok and was in the 1 minute 58 seconds lap-time bracket but then I had a problem of some kind and the bike slowed down – I realised how slow it had become when another rider passed me doing about 100kph more than I was! So I just headed for the pits and that was the end of my race. We’ve all worked hard in Qatar and it was a big disappointment.”

Paul Denning, Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Team Manager: “John, Chris and the whole Rizla Suzuki team deserved so much more than this. The effort that the crew and riders have put in this weekend has been incredible. Without going into detail, it has been an extremely difficult weekend. For John in particular today was very disappointing as his bike felt so much better than it had done all weekend. He made a good start and he was sure that he could catch the riders in front of him. Unfortunately, the performance of the bike tapered off to a point where it finally stopped. John was obviously visibly upset and after the weekend that he has had I don’t think it would be human not to let some of that frustration out – and nothing more will be said on the subject.

Randy de Puniet, Kawasaki MotoGP, DNF: "I got a good start and I felt comfortable on the bike, but after overtaking Alex Hofmann going into the slow left hander the rear just came round on me. I don't know why yet; hopefully the telemetry will tell us something when we get the bike back to the pit box. This is the worst possible end to a difficult weekend for me. My hand injury was a problem on Thursday, but this improved throughout the weekend and I was looking for a good result today. Obviously I am disappointed to have crashed out on the first lap, but the only thing I can do is look at why it happened, learn from it, and then put it behind me so that I can concentrate on preparing for the next race in Istanbul."

The World Championship points standings look like this after two of 17 rounds: Capirossi 41, Hayden 36, Rossi 30. Race Classification MotoGP : (22 laps = 118.36 km) Pos/ Rider / Nat / Team / Motorcycle / Time/ KM/H / Gap 1 / Valentino ROSSI / ITA / Camel Yamaha Team / YAMAHA / 43'22.229 / 163.742 2 / Nicky HAYDEN / USA / Repsol Honda Team / HONDA / 43'23.129 / 163.686 / 0.9 3 / Loris CAPIROSSI / ITA / Ducati Marlboro Team / DUCATI / 43'23.723 / 163.648 / 1.494 4 / Sete GIBERNAU / SPA / Ducati Marlboro Team / DUCATI / 43'26.867 / 163.451 / 4.638 5 / Casey STONER / AUS / Honda LCR / HONDA / 43'29.804 / 163.267 / 7.575 6 / Dani PEDROSA / SPA / Repsol Honda Team / HONDA / 43'33.049 / 163.064 / 10.82 7 / Marco MELANDRI / ITA / Fortuna Honda / HONDA / 43'34.013 / 163.004 / 11.784 8 / Toni ELIAS / SPA / Fortuna Honda / HONDA / 43'41.710 / 162.525 / 19.481 9 / Colin EDWARDS / USA / Camel Yamaha Team / YAMAHA / 43'45.149 / 162.313 / 22.92 10 / Kenny ROBERTS JR / USA / Team Roberts / KR211V / 43'56.515 / 161.613 / 34.286 11 / Shinya NAKANO / JPN / Kawasaki Racing Team / KAWASAKI / 43'57.545 / 161.55 / 35.316 12 / Carlos CHECA / SPA / Tech 3 Yamaha / YAMAHA / 44'11.474 / 160.701 / 49.245 13 / James ELLISON / GBR / Tech 3 Yamaha / YAMAHA / 44'23.698 / 159.964 / 1'01.469 14 / Makoto TAMADA / JPN / Konica Minolta Honda / HONDA / 44'33.007 / 159.406 / 1'10.778 15 / Alex HOFMANN / GER / Pramac d'Antín MotoGP / DUCATI / 44'44.280 / 158.737 / 1'22.051

Pole Position:Loris Casey STONER 1'55.683 167.423 Km/h Fastest Lap:Lap 3 - Valentino ROSSI 1'57.305 165.108 Km/h Circuit Record Lap:2005 - Nicky HAYDEN 1'57.903 164.270 Km/h Circuit Best Lap:2006 - Casey STONER 1'55.683 167.423

World Championship Positions:

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