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MOTOGP Ro§§i'§ Fir§t. Yamaha Pole "This is pro bably one of the greatest moments of my career so far, but now we need to win a race," Valentino Rossisaid about givingYamahathe pole position in his first race for the team. But, he cautioned, "Tomorrow is going to be very difficult. I don't know how the bike willperform on race tires , and we still have more work to do . We're not going to change anything on the bike for tomo rrow." Rossi was a man on a mission all weekend , the talented Italianattac king the course like no other. It paid off with the fast time in every practice and qualifying session, including the 21st pole of his career. "We are in a very good level," Rossi said after turning the fastest-ever lap on the 2.64-mile track , a I:32.647. "I have a good feeling with the bike stra ight away in Barcelona with the soft tire, so I know it's possible to make a very good lap to try for pole position. I'm able... I go faste r than last year. I make a fantast ic time, so I'm very, very happy." The unanswered question was wh ether he could contain his intensity and speed for 28 laps. Privately he was telling people the tires wouldn't make the race distance, something he hinted at after qualifying. "Yes, for the race is a little bit more difficult, ,t he said. "The situation for us is better than yesterday because improve the setting of the bike. The bike remains a little bit nervous, a Iitde bit more difficult to ride, especially with race tire. But anyway my rhythm is quite good . I think is possible to try to fight for win the race. And I think tomorro w will be a great race. That he would be on pole after only three months of development on what was considered an uncompetitive machine was a testam ent to both his skilland that of his crew, led by longtime crew chief jeremy Burgess. "For sure this one is special; it's very important," Rossi said. "We wor k a lot; we work very well. We improve a lot in a short, short time. So for us is already a victory at this level." Saturday 's one -hour session began under cloudless blue skies and a warm breeze. Rossi's provisional qualifying time he ld up until just unde r 10 minutes rem ained in the sess ion. Then a shock : Fuchs Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano put the much-malig ned green bike at the top of the list. His reign wo uld last about two minutes . Biagg took over with just under eight to go, i dropping Rossi to third behind Nakano. Then came Gibernau, just before the six-minute mark, shaving .003 of a second off Biaggi's time and temporarily relegat ing Rossi to row two . Gibernau came down from the top with about 4:30 rema iningwhen Repsol Honda 's Nicky Hayden shot to the lead w ith a lap of It 14 Round 1 Apr. 18 , 2004 ~ I:33.098. It would take a 1:32 to move him out , and Rossihad it in him barely a minute late r, with a lap of I:32.82B. On his next flying lap, Rossi was under that mark by .183 of a second at the first timed interval, .148 after the second , .2 13 after the third, and nearly four-tenths clear of his 90-second-old mark by the time he crossed the line. The new target was 1:32.647, and there were about two minutes to go. Hayden, Biaggi, and Gibernau were all on the track . just before Rossi's record lap, Biaggi had dropped Hayden to fourth, and the Kentuckian couldn't respond. Gibernau had one more in him, and he came close . The lap ended with about 20 seconds to go, his final tour of I:32.682 nearly earning him the pole. Instead, it was Rossi followed by four Hondas. Colin Edwards, Gibernau 's teammate, moved up to fifth at the very end , Nakano holding onto the final spot on the second row. Marco Melandri, Alex Barros, and Loris Capirossi would make up row three . The Honda riders were de moralized by Rossi's performance on a wee kend when they we re strugglingwith machinery. The sate llite team s had bee n given 2004 machines for the final two tests of the season , at jerez and Barcelona, Spain, but both were hit by bad wea ther, so virtually no developmen t was done. Telefonica MoviStar Honda's Sete Gibe rnau and Camel Honda 's Max Biaggi spent the first tw o sessions deciding which machine to choose with neither finding the practice acceptable. "We are a little bit struggling because of that situation," Gibema u said of the rain in jerez and Barce lona. "We have not been able to try the new bike. And here we 're riding and racing and also testing at the same time. So it's a little bit difficult for us. All the things we knew from the other bike, they' re not wort h testing any more, and we' re just trying to keep up the pace with the new chassis and new frame . Gibemau went with the new bike, but with little confidence. "Right now ' don't know; right now I don't have the pace," Gibernau said. "I had the pace in the whole preseason [prior to the finallRTAtests ], and I was very confident of being able to run for victory in every race, but right now here today I don't have the pace ." The new chassis offers better edge grip and throttle connection when you get the correct balance, but until you get the correct balance, there's no benefit. Biaggisaid the new machine was more cons istent than the old one, but he admit ted he didn't have great speed. "Y I think the new chassis has some es, potential. but we are trying to discover time by time ," he said. "Four hours [of practice and qualifying] is not enough to understand the [ob, But Igot a good feeling. So that 's why I choose this chassis." The question for Biaggi was how it would react at the end of the race. APRil 28, 2004 • CYC LE N EWS t ire s go away. Th at w as disproved t oda y. Biaggi overcame a duff start to pass Gibernau on the first lap, "an d then I come clo se to Rossi, an d the tire started movi ng, but I can han dle . It was good. We cha nged po sition a few times . T he pace w as ve ry fast . When I looked at my lap timer, w e w ere go ing ve ry fast . We had se cond po sition , two tenths behi nd, so t hat w asn't too bad for the ch ampionship," Gibernau so und ed de feated o n Satu rd ay. The Honda satellite team riders d idn't have enough time on the 2004 c hassis to sort it out properl y. Despite q ualifying se cond , Gibemau wasn't confident for the race. His fears were borne ou t ea rly on . "The bike we knew, w e did n't have th e pace," he said , late r adding: '~t the end of the day, it's th e work that we do in q ualifying that's go ing to he lp us out in the race, and fo r whateve r reaso n we we re not as good as Valentin o and Max . No e xcuse. They did a better jo b th an us . I t hink to start to be competitive in th e ne xt race you have to admit that they were a little bit more competitive than us here . I don't wa nt to give any e xcuse. I It 40th Anniversary ne ve r have in my life. So ne xt rac e , I'll go fo r t he w in," Rossi assumed his usual spot atop t he champio nship standings with th e wi n. With 15 races to ru n, he leads Biaggi 2S to 20 , w ith Gibe rnau thi rd at 16. Fo urth on the day w e nt to Braz ilian AJex Bar ros on the Repsol Honda. Barros' d ebut with th e team was en courag ing because he 's not at full strength physically an d becaus e he had to co me from the t hird row of t he grid. N inth off the start, he method ically cut th rough the field to move by te ammate N icky Hayden int o fourth o n the 12th of 28 laps . "This track is difficult to overtake o n w ith not so much gr ip off the main line ," Barros said. "We had a small problem today w ith th at. We had never had that be fore. " Until his shoulder is completely healed , he said he w o uld n't be able to keep up Gibernau tri ed desperately to stay w ith Rossi a nd Biaggi, b ut the Spa niard event ually had to se tt le for thi rd p lace.