Friday, 13 June 2008
After the Mugello-Catalunya double-header, Matt Roberts and Gavin Emmett recap the highlights from the last two GPs, with Andrea Dovizioso stopping by for a chat and James Toseland providing some musical entertainment.
Friday, 13 June 2008
James Toseland´s personal sponsor Bennetts has teamed up with MotoGP’s official charity, Riders for Health, with £2,704 already raised by bidders who have chipped in to take part in a cycle ride with the Tech 3 Yamaha rider, around Donington at this year´s Day of Champions on Thursday 19th June.
Those who were unable to secure a place on the ride can still support James and his fellow cyclists with sponsorship by visiting www.bennetts.co.uk and clicking the Riders for Health button. The donation button will take visitors to a secure donation page where any amount can be pledged to support this worthwhile cause. All cyclists taking part have also committed to raising further sponsorship funds for the charity.
Riders for Health trains African health workers in motorcycle riding and maintenance, enabling them to reach remote villages with the kind of regular, reliable healthcare the developed world takes for granted.
Across Africa, Riders is working with ministries of health and smaller, community based organisations, making sure they have vehicles that never break down, no matter how harsh the conditions. Riders has programmes in the Gambia, Nigeria, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Kenya, and is reaching over 10 million people.
All the Day of Champions cyclists will complete two laps of the track at Donington with Toseland – just three days before his first ever home race in MotoGP. Toseland will talk the group around the circuit while riding the Pinarello Prince bike given to him by bike insurance firm, Bennetts, as a 2007 World Superbike Championship-winning gift.
`I´d like to thank everybody who has supported me and this fantastic event so far and want to encourage as many people as possible to pledge some amount of sponsorship, however small to help support Riders for Health. It´s easy to take basic healthcare for granted in the UK, but we have to remember that not everybody is as fortunate as we are,´ commented Toseland
Friday, 13 June 2008
Although unfavourable weather conditions restricted the testing sessions at the Circuit de Catalunya earlier this week test rider Olivier Jacque still managed to put in 90 valuable laps as he attempted to improve the competitiveness of Kawasaki´s race package.
After further frustration at the Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya for the team, with John Hopkins injuring his back in practice before finishing tenth in the race and Anthony West continuing his run of poor form in twelfth position, Jacque is hoping he has provided some useful data for Kawasaki´s engineers and mechanics.
Hopkins only tested briefly on Monday due to his back condition before leaving early for a scan on the injury, while West headed to Japan for private tests to assist him in his current plight.
That meant the onus was on former 250cc World Champion Jacque to take forward the test work, with the Frenchman telling motogp.com, `This time after the weekend it was very difficult because John and Anthony were struggling with rear grip, so we decided to come here.´
`I tried to check the bike to work on the suspension, mainly the shocks. My feeling is that we have found some good solutions for the future so I hope it will be better for Kawasaki at the other tracks.´
Explaining why `Team Green´ had shelved development plans on their `screamer´ engine which made several test appearances earlier this year, Jacque was candid in his comments. `We had some bad tests at Le Mans, it was not very interesting so we have to try and go much further with what we already know,´ referring to reverting to work on the current, conventional Ninja ZX-RR.
Dispelling recent speculation about another supposed revolutionary Kawasaki development, Jacque also commented, `I heard about a five-cylinder in-line, but I have never seen this engine and it is just a rumour.´
Friday, 13 June 2008
With Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner making podium appearances at both Mugello and Catalunya, both GPs were considered a success for Bridgestone tyres.
Rossi took his third consecutive win of the season at his home track in Italy, but had to push hard right up to the chequered flag to fend off a competitive Stoner, who set the fastest lap of the race on his way to second place ahead of Dani Pedrosa.
In Catalunya, it was Pedrosa´s turn to take victory, but Rossi and Stoner enjoyed another closely-fought battle, with Rossi taking second and Stoner third.
Bridgestone enjoyed one of its most competitive weekends of the season so far in Mugello with a particularly strong performance from San Carlo Honda Gresini´s Alex de Angelis, who stormed to fourth place. Rossi also took the first Bridgestone-shod pole position of the season at the Italian track.
Stoner then claimed his first pole position of the year the following weekend with an impressively quick lap, the fastest ever lap by a motorcycle around the Circuit de Catalunya, with the success story noted by Bridgestone Motorsport´s Manager of Motorcycle Race Tyre Development, Tohru Ubukata.
How would you assess the back-to-back races in Mugello and Catalunya
`We enter a tough period of the season with lots of back-to-back races at circuits where our rivals have traditionally been competitive, so the results of Mugello and Catalunya were quite satisfying. Mugello is one of the few tracks where we had never seen a rider on our tyres take victory, so the fact we could enjoy our first one-two of the season with Valentino winning and Casey in second was a great result.´
What influence did the weather have on race weekend preparations?
`It seems that the rain is following MotoGP this season! Both Mugello and Catalunya race weekends were affected by rain, which made tyre choice for the race more difficult. We had limited dry running in the practice sessions, which prevented us from carrying out the usual longer runs with the preferred tyre specification. When we do not have the chance to assess the tyre performance over medium-long runs in practice, there is always a question mark for the race, so I was particularly pleased with the performance over the full race distance in both events.´
For both races, there was a Bridgestone-shod rider on pole position, was this a surprise?
`It is no secret that qualifying has not been one of our strengths this year, but we have been making important progress with our qualifying tyres in recent race weekends. In Mugello, we enjoyed our most competitive qualifying session of the season with Valentino taking his first pole position on our tyres. Loris Capirossi also qualified on the front row for the first time since the end of 2006, which was very nice to see, while Casey was not far off the front row in fourth. At Catalunya, Casey did an amazing lap and a great job to take pole position, but it was the rider who made the difference.´
What did Bridgestone work on in the post-Catalunya test?
`In the post-Catalunya test, we worked mainly on rear compound and construction tests for fundamental development. The weather again played its part, though, and we were limited with our running on Tuesday. We were able to look at the tyre performance in hotter conditions on Monday with the track temperature over forty degrees, so this will help us prepare for races like Sachsenring, which is traditionally a hot race weekend. Our busy schedule continues with back-to-back races in Donington and Assen, while we also have a important test in Brno next week. The track has been totally resurfaced since last year´s event and the revised tyre regulations allow us to carry out a two-day test ahead of the race weekend, so this test will be crucial in our preparations for this year´s event.´
Friday, 13 June 2008
Repsol Honda´s Dani Pedrosa goes into the eighth GP of the year at Donington on a superb run of form, and with time to recover from a highside crash at the Circuit de Catalunya in testing on Monday after his sensational home win, he is expected to be as competitive as ever on British soil.
Although his team-mate Nicky Hayden could switch to the new pneumatic-valve engine at Donington, Pedrosa will continue with the conventional spring-valve engine for the trip to England. The Spaniard suffered a heavy fall on the first day of post-Catalunya testing and was thus unable to fully acquaint himself with the pneumatic-valve version – and therefore prefers to stay with the machine he is more acquainted with.
Given Pedrosa´s form of late and the general view that top-end power (which the new motor is aimed at delivery more of) is not crucial to success at Donington, the Catalan rider´s decision to stick with a winning formula is the logical choice.
Trailing general standings leader Valentino Rossi by seven points – the Italian having taken the championship advantage with three consecutive wins in China, France and Italy – Pedrosa is nonetheless the in-form rider in the premier class over the last ten races, with a highly consistent run which commenced towards the end of last season.
In the ten Grands Prix since he crashed out in Japan last year Pedrosa has only twice finished off the podium (he was fourth on both of those occasions), has similarly only twice failed to qualify on the front row, has achieved three victories and has taken four pole positions.
During that period the 22 year-old has accumulated a total of 189 points, more than any other rider in the class – a return which compares to 162 points for Casey Stoner over the same period and 169 points for Rossi.
Having won the 2006 MotoGP race and the 2004 250cc contest at Donington Pedrosa will take his good form into the British round of the championship knowing he is one of the hot favourites for another victory, but in his typical down-to-earth style he is taking nothing for granted.
`Winning in Catalunya was great but there are still many races to go, so we have to keep pushing,´ says the man from Sabadell, just outside Barcelona. `I crashed on the day after my home race, hurting my back and shoulders, but I will be okay for the next one.´
Assessing the peculiarities of the Donington track, Pedrosa continued, `It is quite a strange circuit, quite smooth but not so grippy, and it often rains there. My favourite part of the track is the uphill section all the way to Coppice. I don´t like the last part, it´s very slow and tight. You need a set-up similar to Le Mans, so the bike accelerates hard and brakes well too. You also need as much grip as you can get because the surface is quite slippery.´
`The two different parts of the circuit require different riding styles. The first requires a smooth style, the second a very aggressive style,´ he concluded.
Friday, 13 June 2008
Dr Xavier Mir confirmed that the graft had bonded well and that the injury was healing in a satisfactory manner, as the 21-year-old battles to be fit in time for the British Grand Prix at Donington Park next week.
Lorenzo will undergo a further check-up on Monday before hopefully traveling to his home in London and beginning preparations for the eighth round of the MotoGP World Championship.
Press release courtesy of Fiat Yamaha
