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laps to get used to the bike, then I could get my rhythm." His crew chief Jerry Burgess wouldn't enlarge on what they did, but said: "It was such a big change you wouldn't believe it." Second, said Rossi, was "like a win for me," - given his physical condition and the bike problems, since [Pedrosa aside] his main title rivals were all behind him - especially points leader Nicky Hayden and his Repsol Honda, who battled to a distant seventh after running off early in the race, troubled by bad set-up prob- lems. Hayden still leads, but the margin to Rossi, now third, shrank by 11 points to 35. He had lost time because a new chas- sis and swingarm had arrived (at last!) from Honda. They spent Friday trying to make it work, without success, switched to the old bike on Saturday, only to lose time with an electrical fault, and then also lost the now crucially important race-day C Y C L E N E W S • JULY 12, 2006 25 Almost all the riders were happy with the prospect of a weekend off after three races on the trot - except for Colin Edwards. The American flies to Japan instead, for tests with teammate Nori Haga for the forthcoming Suzuka 8 Hours. Edwards will return straight to Germany for that GP in two weeks time, fly off to Laguna for the U.S. GP, and then return to Japan for the 8 Hours the following weekend. An exhaust- ing schedule, even for a former winner of Japan's most important race - and an indica- tion of how hard he is trying to keep his job with Yamaha. The annual Riders for Health "Day of Champions" broke records again, netting $353,000 for the England-based charity, which supports health-care programs in rural Africa, serviced by motorcycles. More than 5000 fans came to the track on Thurs- day for a chance to meet their heroes face to face, and pay generously for sundry rac- ing artifacts in the charity auction. Valentino Rossi's first-ever injury at a race at Assen last weekend, maintained an enviable record of consecutive starts: the multiclass multichampion has not missed an event since his GP debut on a 125 in Malaysia in 1996. But he will take at least two more seasons after this to catch up the longest ever run, set by his deadly rival Max Biaggi. Rossi's total (after Assen) was 165. Biaggi ran 201. (And in third, Alex Barros, with 158.) In the 500cc class alone, Barros' 158 heads Biaggi on 127, Abe (119), Giber- nau (112) and Rossi (105). In terms of con- secutive finishes in the points, Colin Edwards' remount at Assen last week was his 29th, moving him one ahead of Eddie Lawson, and one behind Wayne Gardner. Mick Doohan has the most, on 37. Loris Capirossi's chest injury was still very troublesome at Donington Park, and he missed one Friday practice session alto- gether. "It was a good idea, because when I am rested and relaxed I can ride much bet- ter," he said. But there was no such chance on Saturday. "Alex [Hofmann, substituting for Sete Gibernau] uses different tires, so the work he does is not so useful for me. As usual, my chest started to hurt after about 30 minutes of riding. I did a 14-lap run, but the race is 30 laps." He elected to miss morning warmup as well, to save him- self for the race. Nicky Hayden finally got the long-awaited new parts for his exclusive factory Honda at Donington Park - mainly, he said, a different swingarm. "One exhaust comes out the other side because of the shape of the swingarm, and the chassis had to be changed to fit it, but it's basically the same as the old one," he said. Lack of time was the problem, after the bike felt queasy on the first day. "It helps a bit at the rear [he has complained of traction problems all year], but I lost all confidence with the front," he said. It is hard to see when he will get a chance to test the new stuff. The team had tried to arrange a test after the British GP, but noise regulations made it impossible. The next scheduled test will be after the summer break, after the Brno GP. Briefly... Continued on page 27 (Above) Pedrosa (26) had a big moment early in the race, but once through to the lead for a second time he was able to pull away from Melandri (33). (Below) If Pedrosa was the man of the race, then Valentino Rossi (46) was a close runner-up. Rossi charged through from the fourth row to battle with Melandri (33) and Casey Stoner (27), eventually winning the battle for second on the final lap.