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Positive test for Stoner

After the well deserved podium earned at the Catalunya GP, allowing him to maintain his joint lead in the classification, Casey Stoner yesterday returned to the same track, despite his weariness, to participate in a post-race test session.

The Australian rider was still feeling weak and under the weather, so much so as to have to terminate the testing two hours early, having completed just 38 laps, but he was nonetheless satisfied with the work that was completed with the GP9.

“This morning, when I woke up, I had some cramp in my legs and a backache so I did some physiotherapy con Freddy (Dente, the team's physiotherapist) and then got on the bike. I was not in perfect shape and I couldn't make more than a couple of runs at a time”, he explained. “Despite this, we managed to test what we needed to test, the set-up of the bike, the carbon fork and a new rear shock. I'm fairly happy because the test has confirmed what we thought and I think we are improving bit by bit. We are still lacking some rear grip but we we've found a few ways to improve the bike and I am optimistic. Now I'm looking forward to resting and to getting back to 100% fitness in time for Assen.”

Nicky Hayden barely got off his bike but was still unable to get the maximum from the latest updates for his machine. Nevertheless, his team were able to collect a great amount of data and this will be analysed in order to give Nicky the best possible chance at Assen so that he can develop on the progress made over the Catalunya race weekend.

“It wasn't the day I had hoped for, seeing the progress we had made over the weekend”, he said. “In Saturday morning's practice, when it was a little cooler and the conditions were similar to those of today, I lapped in 1m43.6 while here today I haven't gone under 1m44 and right from the start I didn't have the same feeling as I had over the weekend. I don't know why, also because we worked so hard, but I hope that the data collected is of use to the engineers so we can prepare well for Assen.”

Source: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com

Rossi happy with Catalunya test

After Sunday's breathtaking conclusion to the Grand Prix of Catalunya, race winner Valentino Rossi returned to the scene of his last turn triumph over Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo for one of only two days of testing available during the race season.

Understanding perhaps, the reigning six time MotoGP world champion made a later start than most - only the sick Casey Stoner completed less laps - but the Italian found time to test electronics, tyres and a 'long life' version of the YZR-M1 engine during his 58 laps.

The 'long life' engine will be needed from Brno (round eleven of 17) onwards, when new rules will limit each rider to five engines until the end of the season. The penalty for any additional changes will be 10 points and - with Rossi, Lorenzo and Stoner now tied at the top on 106 points - such a penalty could prove disastrous.

Rossi finished the test second fastest, 0.204 seconds behind Repsol Honda's Andrea Dovizioso and just 0.012s ahead of Lorenzo.

"It was hard to test after yesterday but it was a good day and we found out some important things," said Rossi. "We worked on electronics to try to find a better power delivery and we also checked a different version of the engine for the second half of the season. Finally we also tried a new tyre with Bridgestone.

"We got good feedback and hopefully today should mean I can feel even better on my M1 than I did at the weekend, which was already pretty good. At the end we also tried to set some fast qualifying' laps and I made a good time, so we're happy. Now I am going home to Italy to have some rest."

"Of course it wasn't easy to go back to work after such an intense day yesterday and to ask Valentino to get back on the bike, but we tested all afternoon and it was well worth the effort, added team manager Davide Brivio. We did some good work and collected important information that will help us through the next busy stage of the championship."

Rossi will fight for his 100th grand prix victory next time out at the Dutch TT, held at Assen.

Crash.net / Eurosport

Source: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com

Melandri cracks hand at Catalunya test

Marco Melandri cracked a bone in his right hand during a big accident at the end of Monday's Catalunya MotoGP test.

The Hayate rider, 14th in Sunday's grand prix and eleventh out of 15 riders at the test, was thrown from his ZX-RR at Turn Six and sustained “a partial break of the 5th metacarpal in his right hand”, according to the Clinica Mobile.

The Italian also suffered a heavy hit to the head and some leg damage, but is expected to be fit for Assen on June 27.

Melandri currently holds seventh in the world championship standings, after six of 17 rounds.

Source: http://www.crash.net

Short testing stint productive for Stoner

Casey Stoner was the fifth fastest rider at the post-race Barcelona test on Monday, working in small doses on development of the Ducati Desmosedici GP9 after an exhausting Sunday race. The Australian posted a fastest lap of 1’42.763, slightly quicker than his best race lap, as he performed a reduced testing schedule.

“I had a bit of work on my arms and legs when I got out of bed this morning, because I was cramping up,” said Stoner, who had been suffering from illness all weekend before the tough podium fight. “We seem to be able to do a couple of laps on the bike at least, so we could get a few things done.”

The Ducati Marlboro rider left the extensive work to teammate Nicky Hayden, but still used the test constructively to confirm settings and further examine the usage of a carbon swingarm.

“We’ve been trying the carbon swingarm again with a few more settings, and we found a few positive things. We haven’t done a lot of laps today, but the bike was feeling good. We still need to improve the rear traction. We worked a little on the new engine management system to try to find out how to make it work a little better. Everything seems to be working well, but today was just to make sure that everything was ok. I cut the test short because I was still sore and too tired after a couple of laps,” continued the 2007 World Champion, who went on to explain the differences between the carbon fibre version and its aluminium equivalent.

“The carbon fibre swingarm is more stable, but sometimes it is too stiff. I’ve been using the aluminium one recently because I find that it can conserve the tyres towards the end of the race –it has got a lot more grip, but you just lose some of the stability. We can do roughly the same lap times on both of them.”

Source: http://www.motogp.com

Dovizioso so close to rostrum yet again

Having been beaten to the line by a tight margin by team-mate Dani Pedrosa at Le Mans and by Valentino Rossi at Mugello, it was Casey Stoner who thwarted Andrea Dovizioso at the Circuit de Catalunya, as the Italian youngster crossed the line just 0.052s behind the former MotoGP World Champion.

Dovizioso got his move into the factory Repsol Honda team for this season courtesy of a highly consistent debut campaign on satellite machinery in 2008, with his only podium finish in the premier class to date coming towards the end of last year in the form of his third place finish in Malaysia.

The 2009 campaign has commenced with six solid results, two fifth places in the opening two rounds, eighth in Jerez and now three consecutive fourths, as he makes obvious but steady progress.

Such is Dovizioso’s competitive nature - and the expectation in the Repsol Honda team, who have now gone a year without a race victory - the 23 year-old will want to start turning those fourth places into podium results sooner rather than later, even if he is regularly battling against the three current best riders in the World Championship in races, namely Rossi, Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo.

Taking the positives from the sixth round of the season Dovizioso commented, “I pushed all the race, overtaking Randy de Puniet and Dani and then to try and close the gap with Casey. In the last six laps I tried to reserve some power because it was so hot in the race and the spinning of the tyres was unbelievable. I couldn’t try to overtake Casey on the last lap because he was pushing at 100%, so it was a shame I couldn’t get the podium, but I’m very satisfied about this weekend.”

“I’m really happy about the race in general as we finished only nine seconds behind the winner and this is really important. Unfortunately I didn’t make a good start because I have a different clutch to the rest of the Honda riders, which is good for me when I am braking but it is much worse for starting, so that made it a difficult race.”

Source: http://www.motogp.com

Fabrizio Earns Front Row Spot on Tomorrows's Grid at Miller

Michel Fabrizio and Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox) this afternoon took part in an entertaining Superpole session at Miller Motorsport park, with the onset of rain mid-way through the session causing extra excitement. Michel remained strong in each of the three mini-Superpole sessions, to snatch a valuable place on tomorrow’s front row, in fourth position. Noriyuki, in pain after a heavy fall this morning, concluded the day in ninth place. Rain started to fall on parts of the track mid-way through the second phase of the Superpole but thankfully was not heavy enough to disrupt the final phase too much.

In the morning’s qualifying both Michel Fabrizio and Noriyuki Haga were losing valuable time in the first split. The two riders and their teams made modifications to enable them to improve over that section and in the final minutes of the session, Michel made a big improvement over the first split which allowed him to register the fastest time of the session just a couple of minutes from the end. At exactly the same time Noriyuki was also picking up his pace but pushed perhaps a little too hard and was victim of a high-side. Noriyuki visited the medical centre but was fortunately found to be unhurt apart from a bad bruising to his back; Haga qualified for the subsequent Superpole in eighth position.

Michel Fabrizio 1m49.4s
“In the qualifying this morning I was losing time in the first split, the part of the track I like least and on which we’ve been working since yesterday, but I put this to rights with a fast time in the second phase of the Superpole. It’s just a shame that I then made a small mistake exiting a corner on a fast lap in the third phase which cost me a higher position on the grid, as I’m sure I could have finished second had I not made that error. Anyway starting from the front row is of course not bad and I hope to be able to make two good races as I did here last year.”

Noriyuki Haga 1m49.5s
"Well I’m not a great fan of Saturday mornings at Miller! Last year I broke my collarbone and today I crashed again, perhaps my fault for pushing a little too hard while doing a long-run but fortunately the only consequence is a very sore back, that I hope doesn’t cause me too many problems tomorrow. Anyway, I did my best in Superpole this afternoon; I could have been on the second row but I found traffic on track in the first two sessions and when I was about to go out again at the end of the second phase it started to rain. Tomorrow’s races will be really hard and if Ben, as I’m sure he will, takes off, then I don’t know whether I’ll be able to stick with him but I’ll try my best to take as many points as possible.”

TIMES (Superpole)
1. Spies (Yamaha) 1m48.3s
2. Checa (Honda) 1m48.9s
3. Kiyonari (Honda) 1m49.2s
4. Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) 1m49.4s
5. Smrz (Ducati) 1m49.6s
6. Byrne (Ducati) 1m49.9s
7. Parkes (Kawasaki) 1m51.3s
8. Hacking (Kawasaki) 1m51.4s
9. Haga (Ducati Xerox) 1m49.5s

Source: http://www.ducati.com

Lanzi satisfied with WSBK return

Lorenzo Lanzi is confident of a better showing at Misano after describing his return to the World Superbike Championship with DFX Corse in the United States as 'difficult but positive'.

The Italian made his debut with the team at Miller Motorsports Park as the replacement for the injured Regis Laconi, Lanzi proceeding to make a respectable showing off himself having been out of international action for several months.

Reaching Superpole at his first attempt, although his rustiness would hurt his chances at the start of the first race, Lanzi pushed on in the second to record two points in 14th position.

Although Lanzi wasn't delighted with the result, he was content that he and the team were able to make improvements throughout the weekend.

“It was a very difficult but positive weekend. I knew that it would be hard for us, but thanks to the hard work of all the team, we were able to consistently improve. I had to practically start again from zero, which explains why I made a mistake in Superpole and again at the start of race one. At the restart I didn't make any mistakes, but from there it was impossible to do any more.

“In race two things went better, and I got into a very fast rhythm which enabled me to fight in the group chasing the leaders. I made a few overtaking moves, but above all I was quicker than in the same race last season.

“I like the bike and there are ample margins to improve it, and there's a nice, calm atmosphere within the team which allows me to look to the future with confidence. They're the first two points of 2009, a small but significant haul to build upon, right from the next test at Misano.”

Source: http://www.crash.net