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Shinya Nakano finished sixth, closing in the final stages on Ducati's Loris Capirossi. Sachsenring Circuit Sachsenring, Germany Round 10 July 16, 2006 JULY 26, 2006 • C Y C L E N E W S 18 World Championship Road Race Series caught me by surprise because when I wanted to let the brakes off I couldn't because Nicky [Hayden] was in front of me to where it would be an issue trying to avoid him," Roberts Jr. said, "so I just ended up locking up the front brake and my bike ended up crashing into Tamada." Melandri had taken the lead from Hayden on 11 with a turn-one pass. Hayden said he'd begun to push the front and was worried about overheating his front tire, "so I backed off just scoshy (sic) and three dudes came by in about half a lap." Ending lap 11, Melandri was in front of Pedrosa, Rossi, and Hayden, with Capirossi close but about to fall back when his rear tire dropped off. Rossi took Pedrosa in everyone's favorite spot, turn 13, then set out for Melandri who he would pass in the same place a lap later, on the 13th. Pedrosa took second from Melandri in the looping right hairpin and held the spot until the 21st when Melandri recip- rocated at the bottom of the hill. Now it was the Italians in front of the Repsol riders, with Pedrosa in third until the 26th lap when Hayden made the pass in, where else? - turn 13. The leaders were covered by .662 of a second and the num- ber would shrink, first when Melandri briefly took the lead, on lap 28, then on the next lap, with Rossi back in front, and at the flag. Rossi explained that Melandri came back at him in a very fast right, leaned over at 240kph, he said, "and I was able to stay in front. And I'm good in braking on the bottom of the hill on the last corner so I'm able to stay in front and to win this, I think fantastic race - great, great battle another time." Melandri said he was too far back to use a turn-13 pass, so he waited for the final corner, "but still I was outside and I say, 'Okay, I have to try outside because I have no chance any more to do.' But I lost a little bit of front, I say 'Okay, second is better than nothing.' " Hayden wanted the 25 points that go with winning, but he was happy to finish in Kenny Roberts Jr. tries to keep pace with Rossi and Company Roberts ended up crashing while in the lead group, taking Makoto Tamada with him. Pedrosa Fourth Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa qualified on the pole for the fourth time in his rookie MotoGP season. And for the fourth time it was on a track he'd never ridden on the RC211V. The Honda-Michelin combination consumed the front row. Pedrosa was tops, lapping the predominantly left- hand 2.28-mile circuit in 1:21.815, the fastest lap ever by a motorcycle. Could he run away, as he'd done at Don- ington Park? "I don't know," he said before a very pregnant pause. "I think there is a lot of riders that they have good pace. It can more close than Donington maybe. This track, the gap from each rider is not so big [first to ninth were on the same second]. And, sure, the layout of the track makes all the gaps not that big as Donington, so let's see tomorrow how the condition is and if we can do also great start and how the other riders also go." Pedrosa's only stumble was a harmless Saturday morn- ing crash. "I was too wide and too much front brake, but fortunately, I'm okay," he said. Kenny Roberts Jr. slotted into second with a surprisingly quick final effort, considering the unease he felt on qualify- ing tires. Riding the "old-generation" KR211V chassis, Roberts Jr. came within .092 of a second of his first pole position since the 2004 Rio GP. It was his best qualifying effort since then and his second front row start this year. "The most comfortable I feel is on the front race and rear race tire," he said, "other than that, we're not exceptionally quick as far as confidence with what I've got. But the two race tires, front and rear race tires... that's when I go my quickest." Weight balance issues forced Roberts Jr. to change his riding position. In England, he could be aggressive in the slow corners, but not aggressive in the fast corners, and at the end of the race it was the exact opposite. "Even from the start it's felt like I've been a little bit more part of the machine, as far as steering and maybe midcorner, so it seems like it's been a benefit." Roberts Jr. predicted that unless Pedrosa and team- mate Nicky Hayden took off, there'd be four or five rid- ers in the front group, and he planned to among them. "I think Dani [Pedrosa] for sure and Nicky's [Hayden] time for race pace are going to be quite good and from what I've seen with mine they're comparable," Roberts Jr. said. "So, if I can be with them at the end, I'll be happy, just to be able to see what's going on or maybe have some opportunities, but I'm happy where I'm at." Repsol Honda's Hayden got knocked down to third with Junior's last-lap flyer. "The bike had felt good all weekend and he was close, but still needed to find a few tenths of race pace - get a little bit more life out of the front tire," he said. "We'll see what's happening tomorrow. If we can get a couple of tenths faster, we should be able to be in the fight [which he expects to go to the end]. This track can be quite fun racing, because at the end the tires go off quite a lot and a lot of slipping and sliding, which can be kind of fun." And he expected company from Valentino Rossi. Rossi qualified 11th, struggling with qualifiers, though better on race tires. "We have a lot of problems with the bike," he said. "By the end of today we had tried many, many different things, but we haven't solved the problem. With the race tire I have quite a good pace; nothing special, but consis- tently in the 23s. With the qualifying tire it's something completely different, like a different bike. It's not chatter, like earlier in the year, but with the extra grip, I have too much weight on the front and I nearly crashed a few times. I also lost a lot of the feeling. With the qualifying tire we really have the same pace as last year." In the T2 section Rossi was losing .6 of a second and teammate Colin Edwards was losing nearly the same. "If you follow a Honda it is a bad feeling because it's like they are on another racetrack," Rossi said. "But I will try. For sure it will be difficult, especially with the two Rep- sol Hondas on the front row. Now we speak with Michelin to try and improve the situation but sure it is difficult." Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano crashed twice in practice; a highside on Saturday morning and another crash on Sunday morning. In between he managed to set the fourth fastest time in what's considered his Germany-based team's home race. The team's headquarters are 200 kilometers south of the Sachsenring, in the Bavarian town of Vohenstrauss. Nakano finished .056 of a second in front of fellow Bridgestone-runner Loris Capirossi and his Marlboro Ducati. Capirossi is still not at full fitness following last month's Catalunya GP, but he was consistently fast on race tires. "My feeling is still not 100 percent, but it is coming much better," he said. "Riding the bike, the pain is not too bad, it is not completely gone but it is nothing like in Assen and Donington. I wanted to check my condition for the race dis- tance and the most I did together was 17 [laps] and my con- dition was not too bad. I prefer the hot conditions because it is better for me, the bike and the Bridgestone tires. This track is not the best for our bike, especially because there are a lot of bumps and our bike isn't so stable." Fortuna Honda's Marco Melandri was another recov- ering rider. Weeks after the accident, Melandri was told that he'd broken his right collarbone in the Catalunya crash. It was discovered on the Monday prior to the race and there was little that could be done. "Tomorrow it will be a very long race so I am pleased that my physical condition has improved a lot from the last race," he said. "My right shoulder should not be too badly affected as there are so many left-hand corners." Spaniard Sete Gibernau returned for the first time since the Catalunya crash. Pain wasn't an issue, but he didn't have strength in his arm, "so after all the left-handers here I'm really struggling during braking for the two last corners," the Marlboro Ducati rider said after qualifying seventh. Honda LCR's Casey Stoner qualified eighth on a new Honda chassis that he crashed twice. The first time was in Saturday practice and the second in the Sunday morning warmup. It was unclear whether the bike could be fixed in time for the race. John Hopkins was the last rider on the same second as Pedrosa, putting the Rizla Suzuki in ninth. Hopkins wasn't happy about the time, the bike, or the tires, and wasn't looking forward to starting from the third row. Teammate Chris Vermeulen was even further down in 14th. "Not our best qualifying effort of the year, but it was another circuit I didn't know," he said. Konica Minolta Honda's Makoto Tamada led off row four from Rossi and Tech 3 Yamaha's Carlos Checa, the first of the Dunlop riders. Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet was back on row five with Vermeulen and Colin Edwards. Edwards echoed Rossi's comments on the difficulty of finding a setting for the M1. "Honestly, I think the team has worked harder here than at any other circuit this year, but it's just not happen- ing for us and we need a miracle now," he said. Fortuna Honda's Toni Elias was suffering worse than his teammate. Elias was returning after fracturing his shoulder in a practice crash at Assen. He'd missed the Dutch and British rounds and rode in pain to the 16th fastest time. "Right now I am very tired and hurting a lot," he said. Behind him came the lone German in the field, Pramac d'Antin Ducati's Alex Hofmann, with Tech 3 Yamaha's James Ellison 18th and Jose Luis Cardoso 19th on the sec- ond Pramac d'Antin Ducati.