Phillip Island greeted the MotoGP paddock with a full spectrum of
unstable conditions today, as the weather switched back and forth between
heavy rain and bright sunshine. Temperatures remained cool throughout the
day thanks to a cold wind off the Bass Straight and it was a delicate
day of set-up work for the Fiat Yamaha Team. Valentino Rossi and Colin
Edwards, both sporting a one-off red and white livery on their M1s
inspired by Fiat's famous 'Abarth' racing brand, finished the day fourth
and 15th in the combined standings.
After an extremely wet start to the day a dry line had begun to appear
by the start of MotoGP practice, although it began to rain heavily
again in the last twenty minutes of the session. Rossi made a good start to
the day and finished the first session third, with Edwards in 11th.
This afternoon's practice was a much brighter and more stable affair
weather-wise, save a few spots of rain mid-way through, and the riders had
the chance to start working towards an effective race setting to suit
the high-speed nature of the track. Rossi continued to make good
progress and finished the day happy with an overall fourth position, 0.423
seconds from Casey Stoner, who topped the time sheets. Edwards meanwhile
continued to struggle and was disappointed not to find a clear way
forward with the setting of his M1 around what is one of his favourite
tracks.
Valentino Rossi - Position: 4th Time: 1'31.934 Laps: 45
"The Weather today was unbelievable and the track went from wet to dry
four or five times, which made it very difficult to understand. The
conditions definitely weren't the best, especially because it was very,
very cold. Despite this it was not a bad day; we worked well, tried
several different settings and found some good tyre possibilities to keep
going with tomorrow. In fact we tried quite a lot of tyres, wet and dry,
and our level for the first day in this respect is not so bad, although
we will be in better shape if we have a little bit more temperature.
At the end we are fourth but it's okay, especially considering that we
have a few problems still to deal with, including not enough weight on
the front which means I'm not yet fast enough in the long corners. We
have some ideas about how to improve on things for tomorrow. I love this
track a lot and it's always a great feeling to ride here and with the
800 it is no different. Of course today it wasn't the best conditions to
be riding in or to fully enjoy the track, but hopefully tomorrow will
be better."
Colin Edwards - Position: 15th Time: 1'33.965 Laps: 32
"Today was not the day I had hoped for starting out at Phillip Island.
The bike was most definitely riding me for most of today and not the
other way around! To be honest I was just holding on for most of the time
and trying to survive and, try as we might, we couldn't seem to get to
a decent base setting. The bike felt pretty nervous and twitchy and
we're definitely going to have to change a few things to get it working.
Obviously Valentino's doing a lot better with the same bike so we need
to look at what he's doing to see if it can help us. We didn't even
really get to a stage today where we could gauge how good the tyres were
so we've really got some work to do tonight. I'm disappointed because
I'm always so excited to come here; it's one of my favourite tracks and I
haven't ridden one good lap today. Anyway, we'll have a big meeting
tonight, look at the data and I have every faith that my guys will be
able to turn things around as usual."
Davide Brivio - Team Director
"Unfortunately the weather has been quite bad at times today and the
conditions have not been easy for anyone. Despite this Valentino has made
quite a good start and he is in a good position, so now we will just
try to keep going like this tomorrow to finalise the best package for
him. Colin has had more problems today and we have some work to do to get
him into a position where he is comfortable, but it's only Friday so
we have time to study the data and make some changes. Now we hope that
we have better weather tomorrow so everyone can enjoy being here and we
can fulfil our potential."
Free Practice
Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Total Time
1, Casey Stoner, Ducati, AUS, 1'31.132
2, Marco Melandri, Honda, ITA, 1'31.555
3, Daniel Pedrosa, Honda, ESP, 1'31.802
4, Valentino Rossi, Yamaha, ITA, 1'31.934
5, Randy De Puniet, Kawasaki, FRA, 1'31.996
6, Alex Barros, Ducati, BRA, 1'32.164
7, Carlos Checa, Honda, ESP, 1'32.182
8, Loris Capirossi, Ducati, ITA, 1'32.203
9, Nicky Hayden, Honda, USA, 1'32.316
10, Anthony West, Kawasaki, AUS, 1'32.459
11, John Hopkins, Suzuki, USA, 1'33.274
12, Shinya Nakano, Honda, JPN, 1'33.838
13, Chaz Davies, Ducati, GBR, 1'33.910
14, Chris Vermeulen, Suzuki, AUS, 1'33.945
15, Colin Edwards, Yamaha, USA, 1'33.965
16, Sylvain Guintoli, Yamaha, FRA, 1'33.991
17, Toni Elias, Honda, ESP, 1'34.204
18, Makoto Tamada, Yamaha, JPN, 1'35.177
19, Kurtis Roberts, KR212V, USA, 1'36.121
Yamaha Racing Communications
Για να δουμε τωρα που ολα εχουν κριθει και (λογικα) δεν υπαρχει αγχος...την εξελιξη του αγωνα αυτου.
Ο Cash Stoner βεβαιως φανταζει αδιαφιλονικητο φαβορι...παγκοσμιος πρωταθλητης πλεον με το παρτυ να γινεται στο σπιτι του και ψυχολογια στα υψη!
τι λεει ο Γιατρος (και η Michelen) μαζι με τους υπολοιπους "μονομαχους"?
Ιδωμεν...
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