Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

toroil, Glqror MOTOGP Round 3 April 9, 2O05 Wopld Championship Road Racing Series Behind Gadea came Mattia Pasini, the third member of the Master-IYVA AsPar team. Pasini made contact with Derbi Racing's Lukas Pesek as he passed him on the final lap, with Pesek falling, unhurt, but angry Bautista leads Kallio by l7 points, 50- 33, after wvo oI 16 races. Pasini is third with 29 MOTOGP Stoner got the jump from his Pole poshion, then came Hayden, Capirossi, and Rossi, Before long de Puniet was pickinS him- self up out ofthe gravel trap after the rear end came around. "This is the worst possible eod to a dif- flcult weekend for me," he said. Rossi was into third by the end of the opening lap and the order of the front three remained constant until lap six. Then it was Rossi and Hayden Passing each other five times on the sixth lap with Rossi coming out on top. Four laps later and he was by Stoner for the lead. "He rides a lot like a 250 and when he has 100 percent of grip of the tire, he is faster than us, also compared to me and Nicky," Rossi said of Stoner. ''But for sure he push a lot on the tires and when the tires start to 8o down the guys with more experience come back and the bike is more hard to ride, but more normal for us in the second part ofthe race. The bike moves a lot and in that moment the vibra- tion was for me completely disappeared and l'm able to ride the lY I like last year, so good lap time with good precision. ' Hayden was delayed three laps by Sroner, then ioined Rossi at the front on lap 12. With l0 to go Hayden was push- ing Rossi, the champion unable to pull a disappearing act. Hayden drove hard out of the final turn on the l9th lap and passed Rossi Soing into turn one, a certain wakeup call. "From that moment the battle becomes more strong," Rossisaid. "l look behind and have also Loris [Capirossi] coming back. So I tr/ to push 100 percent for the last three laps and is okay, because anyway, the feeling of the bike is 8ood." Turn one was where Rossi retook the lead, this time {or good. Hayden kePt uP rhe pressure, but a last-lap bobble killed his chances. "To start the last lap in the last left-han- dei I gor in a nice little shde and Valentino gapped me pretty good and pulled out an advantage and was hard to recover the last lap," he said. "Six podiums is cool, but I definitely need to get a few wins along the way," he added. Capirossi eased by Stoner on the l3th lap with Gibernau making the pass three laps from the end. The three-four finish for the Bridgestone-shod Ducati was a I \ \ Stons llme! assened. despite being sixth. But he wa'- n't predictin8 victory The front-end chat- ter isn't Soing away, he said, and there was another issue, "lt's tl/vo different problenE," he began. "Now we don't need to find which problem gives the chattet We need to understand why every problem we have with our bike alri\aes the chatte.ing. Extre trip end more corner speed - vibration- llre grip toes down and more sliding whh less weight on the front - vibration. Two dillerent things, but at the end. iis the same problern." They'll take one problem ar a time end "the llrst one i5 the race lomoffow. k will not be a I @-percent ra.e for me or a fightinS race. I need more to preserve, beGuse it's important for me to take sorne good points. But then we must have clear ideas to work in the thr€e weeks we have off to try and fx the problem in Turkey. But I don't know. I think there is sornething wrong in the ahassis." Marlboro Ducatis Sete Gibernau was rnarginalt in front of Camel Yamaha's The youth mol/ement that betan in Jerez con- (inued in Qatar. This time h was 2o-year-old Arsralian Casey Stoner $ealing the spodiStt wirh a series of fast l+s in practice. and culmi. naaing with the fastest-ever lap around ttle Losail Circuit, and the distinction of being the youngest-ever MotoGP pole winnen Only Freddie Spencer was younger in taking a pole in the premier clast - at Jarama in 1982. This coold not have been predi.ted from the start of Stoner's weekend. A series of travel catastrophes con+ired to land him in Doha at 8:20 a.m. Thursday, barely time to 8et to the circuit for the l0 a.m. free practit_e. Fonilied with.iocolate and Red Bu!|, the LCR Honda rider stormed to the fast time, a feat he repeat- ed in Friday moming's free practice. ln quarirying. Sloner and Jerez wnner Loris Capirossi shared the top spot for most of the hour. Wirh iust over nine minr.ltes to run, Stoner lo\ i€red the mark to l:55.681. more than a second under the previols best lap of I :56.917 held by Capirossi. When the time held up afler the last minute attacks, Stoner was as surpnsed 6 anyone. T t 5 t I l" lB \ft I ''l tholrght it would take me at least a couple o{ years to 8et into dl€ position we've been in," he said. "We've been fast in every sessi,on To be pole, this ii something, honestly, I did nol $ink I'd he able to do ahead of people like Loris [Capirossi]. I love watching them do their laps on the qualifyinS drEs. I Suesr we iust had a Sood enouSh setuP that when we did put dle qualirying tires on we managed just to stay ahead." Did he think he could win? "we'll hop€full), be in there for a fight, maybe rot to win the race," he began, "bfi anothe. top-five position would be really apprecaaled at His skepricism could have come from a Slance at the ti.ne sheets: the top I I ride6 were covered by 0.671 of a second. lercz pole and race winner C+iro6si was se(ond on a track that doesn't favor the Ducati or the Bridtesrone tires. "l'm thinking the first race for me is amazing - lwin," he said. "ln dlat moment lwould like to try my best a[w"ays. ln that moment we are sure in the Sood porition because of the ds/doPment of the bike and tires is comint better and beEer and for the chamPionshiP is com- ing more interestin8." Fonuna Honda's Toni Elias. 23. was on his first MotoGP from row. despite fithting a prsistem flu. "Tornorrow will be a difllcult race," he said. "Lon8 race, very hot, the tires are very hot, also (he bike, riders. Wll be ver/ dilficult. The mGt important thint will be the start. I hope to start very well tomor_ row. For me the most important thing now is recoverinS b€cause l'm ver,, sick. SurE the Clinica Mobile help me a lot. Also helP rne these two days and su.e tomorrow will be better in that condition than today." The Repsol Hordas of Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa led ofl row !wo, whfi Camel Yamaha's Valemino Rossi an uncharacteristic sixth, Hayden missed out on the pole by 0- I I 0 of a second after a linal bP 6at he wished he.ould do over. "The last split, the qualifier before \rEsn t *lat great for a whole l+, and I Md a few big slides and I iust lost a little bit o[ conliden.e in that last split," he said after a lap that put him founh fastest. "The tire I did my best lap on worked and was Sood the whole lap. After the tire before, I had a few bit moment1 lnsteid of hininS the switch in the last couple of corners, I kind of iust rolled it on a little bi! and in T4. I was deep in T4. Yeah. one-tenth off pole, that huns." Pedrosa was tie first of 6e l4otocP fallers, the lerez runner-up .rashing on the dusty paint on the outside ofa double riSht in the Fri- day moming session- BtJt he wasn't hurt aM r€ca,vered to take fifth in qualifyinS, one spot and 0.068 ol a second in front of Rosti, "l think I will be on the pac€ for the whole aace tomorrow," Rossi Colin Edwards, with Kawasaki's Shinfa Nakano fillint out row ltEee. Gibernau said the front end was Frsfiin8, and a solution wasnt imminent. "You .an t llick it. You can't use the griP fiom d€ r6ai Thal's why I could ont 80 half a second Iaster on my q'rdiryin8 tire than rY race tire," Edwards, Iike Rossi, conrinued to struSSle with the M I "We'r€ iust kind of undersEnding a little bit of what we like to call 'anti-dive' goinS on,'' he sanl. "You jr6t brake; it's like a streetbike whh ABS- lt iu* kind of sits down but it doesn't Pit h forward. but Sets you into dle corners. Vvhen you don t have to weiSht on the fi'ont it's goine ro chatter. that's ju5t how it is. That's what we're-fightinS, iust trying to get that transfer and ge! it to squish the fiont tire and tet h to roll in." Nakano was another with no resolution for both-ends chatter. "Since ygterday we ve been nruggling with chaaer from the from and r€ar of the bike, and dthough we've nBnaged to make a small improvement throu8h changes to the bike setup, it's $ill a maior prob- lem," he said. Kenny Robers Jr., Thursday's surprise fast rftler, could do no better than loth a day later. "l'd rdher just do race tires. because you know where you're at," he said. "Qualifiing is hard for me, because I her,ent done it to be in a good position for a long time." Chris Vermuelen, who replaced him on the Suruki MotoGP team, was one spot back and, like many others here. was struggling a lot with 8nP "Reall},, trip and chatter," he said. ''We have no trip and we have chatter, which is kind of an unusual thin8, which is ven/ different trdck condition to other places." Vermeulen sard he was "aiming to linish inside the toP I I becaule I linish€d I lth in my two GP's last year and qualified I lth in three GP's now. lt's been a fr]nny number for me." Not a funny number was 12, the spot where Fortuna Honda's Marco Melandri qualifi ed. "l couldnt ride," he said.'My bike wEs losing the front. I couldn't close the corner. I couldn't be fast." Rizla Suzuki's John Hopkins was one row back and sayinS, 'lt's difli- cult to give a quote whefi you feel as disaPpointed as I do at the moment.' Unstated technical problems held him back.llsession and delayed his qudirying lap. Next carne Tech 3 Yamaha's Cados Checa, stru88ling with strenSth in his left arm and optlng not to use a Dunlop qualilier, and lqwasaki's Randy de Puniet, who had issues with his riSlt hand that was injur€d two we€ls a8o in Jerez. 22 APR|L 19,2006 . 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