Valentino Rossi, 2nd
That was an amazing race and a very important result for me. I am in a better position as far as the points are concerned and that is more important than winning the race. To be honest after Assen I wasn't sure if it would be possible to fight for a top result here but I wanted it so much because Donington is a very special place to me and the fans give me such incredible support every year. We were really surprised that the bike didn't work on Friday but the whole team worked really hard to find the right setting and the right tyre.
After qualifying we decided we would try some new things this morning but the wet warm-up meant we had no chance to do that so we just took a gamble with the setting and it worked. It took me eight laps to understand just how good my pace could be and from that point I realised that my goal had to be the podium. I had some hard battles along the way but when I got up to Melandri it got even harder! We had real fun and neither of us wanted to back down. He was faster than me in some places and I was faster than him in others.
In the end it came down to the last hairpin and we both braked around 20 or 30 metres deeper than normal. We both ran wide but luckily Marco went even wider than me and I was able to get in from of him. I finished second but today it felt like a win.

Marco Melandri, 3rd
Today was an incredible day! Bearing in mind my physical condition two weeks ago, I have to be very satisfied. I want to thank the Clinica Mobile for the work they did to allow me to race here in good shape. After the first few laps I could feel that my strength was going, but I made a big effort to maintain my pace. The first part of circuit was harder for me to negotiate, but as the race went on I improved on that part and the bike worked perfectly. It’s a shame I lost second because of a small error on the penultimate corner, but the battle with Valentino was great and I think the fans really enjoyed the spectacle.

Casey Stoner, 4th
I got a good start and then got shuffled back by the Suzukis. I thought I could pull it back but they tyre didnt want to seem to kick in. I had a hard time finding enough drive. I was bit far away at the end but weve just got to keep going the way we are. I didnt get a podium when I might have done, but thats the way it goes.

Kenny Roberts Jr, 5th
I got away OK, but then the balance of the bike shifted its bias forward and then back. The flowing sections were tough and braking good and then the opposite. I really tried but didnt want to risk not finishing here. I saw Marco hit the kerb and lose the front and he did a fantastic job saving it. This bike had a podium in it today, but I didnt quite get it there.

Colin Edwards, 6th
It just hasn't clicked for us this weekend and I'm really disappointed, even though sixth place brings in a few decent points. Last year everything came easily here but from the first practice it was clear that it wasn't going to be the case this time around and we never really found our way, it was as simple as that. The bike wasn't too bad for the race and I could catch other riders easily but we didn't have the set-up to get past people on the brakes. That made life really difficult and the race was a struggle from start to finish. It's been a hard few weeks but now I have a bit of a change of scenery as I will head out to Japan to prepare for the 8 hour. I hope we'll be in better position to fight at Sachsenring in a couple of week's time.

Nicky Hayden, 7th
It’s been quite a tough weekend and things didn’t quite go for us here. This morning, being fastest in the warm-up in the wet was quite positive and had me hoping for rain in the race, though really we needed that 20 minutes to try a few more things out. We used a quite lot of time on Friday testing some new parts and yesterday we made some progress, though we had a little electrical problem in the afternoon. That’s all excuses though and the bottom line is that we didn’t get it done this weekend. I was coming through the field and making up some places when I made a mistake, got into the chicane bit hot and went straight on. That hurt, but I got back on the track, put my head down and clawed back a few places. We’ll regroup now, think about what didn’t go so well this weekend and try to do better in Sachsenring. Everyone in the team worked really hard this weekend we’ll come back strong at the next race.

John Hopkins, 8th
I’m pretty disappointed because I would have liked to have finished a lot higher, maybe in the top five or six. It just wasn’t on the cards today! I did everything I could and got the maximum out of all that I had today. The Suzuki was working really good and the Bridgestones had been working really well in the early laps. We had a minor difficulty and lost a lot of grip but we just kept at it and tried to pick up as many points as I could. I have got into the top 10 and my ultimate goal this year is to get up into the top five. We just need to keep doing well and firstly we need to get some good points in Germany and then I am really looking forward to my home Grand Prix in America!

Loris Capirossi, 9th
Today was better than Assen but I am completely finished. It was very hard because I couldn't ride the way I want to ride. I tried to rest as much as possible here, which interfered with my tyre choice. I was smiling when it started raining this morning because I thought that would help us on tyres, but we don't get to choose the weather! After ten laps or so I started sliding around and also feeling the pain, so I just tried to keep Randy (de Puniet) behind me. Now we have two weeks before the next race, so I hope I will arrive at the Sachsenring in good shape, otherwise it will be another difficult weekend. We haven't had the results we deserve at the last three races, we deserve more than finishing eighth or ninth which makes me sad.

Carlos Checa, 10th
It was a very hard race and I was pushing all the time. We changed some things from yesterday but in the warm up we couldn't test them because of the wet track. At the start of the race with the different settings it took a few laps before I could get the good feeling from the front and rear tyres but then I got the confidence to start pushing the pace. It was not easy to pass Tamada at first, but when I got the rhythm my pace was a bit faster than him and I was able to overtake him and get away. This was a good feeling for me to pass a factory Honda and then to be able to catch De Puniet and pass him as well.
It was a question mark for me to know the endurance of the tyre because of the changed settings but basically we've been growing and learning more about the set-up with the tyres as the Dunlops improve. We must be satisfied with the result as the starting point here wasn't easy. We made good progress through the weekend and I'm happy with the job that the mechanics and the team did, as well as the performance of the Dunlop tyres. I wish, I hope and I want to keep going like this and improve overall to get even better results in the next races.

Makoto Tamada, 11th
I started the race with different settings to those I used in qualifying. My start was not so bad but I was wide in the first corner. The bike was understeering in the fast corners today but not as much as yesterday. After the opening laps I held the same position for almost the whole race.

Randy De Puniet, 12th
I got a bad start, once again, but for the first half of the race I was able to follow the group with Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, Colin Edwards and Shinya, but then I started to lose grip at the rear in the middle of the race and I wasn't able to continue at the same pace. My original strategy for the race was to try and stay with the leading group from the start, and for that reason we opted to go with the softer of the two rear tyre compounds we had available. A disappointing start put paid to that plan. I just tried to keep pushing as hard as I could when the rear tyre started to go off, but I think I was losing one second each lap, which allowed Carlos Checa and Makoto Tamada to catch me towards the end. I was hoping for better than 12th today after good practice and qualifying sessions yesterday, but my pace during the early part of the race was encouraging and I'm happy to have another race finish behind me.

Alex Hofmann, 13th
We had problems all weekend, our tyre wear was a little too much for race distance, though we did improve tyre wear compared to the first day. It was a difficult choice but I chose quite a hard rear which initially didn't give me the feeling I wanted. It was difficult to pick up the pace, then when I did put in some strong laps and caught (Carlos) Checa, I couldn't keep that pace because I lost some grip. I feel pretty down because this will probably be my last race for the reds and I wanted to do extra good, I wanted to do improve on Assen but we had a tougher weekend here. Anyway, we did our maximum and I'd like to say thanks to everyone for giving me this chance.

James Ellison, 14th
I got a good start but after that it all went a bit downhill. We made a few changes after qualifying so we didn't get a chance to test them in the morning warm up because of the rain so as a result during the race we didn't have any grip in the rear. Once we got a bit of wear on the edge of the tyre we started dropping back which was disappointing as I was running wide everywhere. Early in the race I was in front of Carlos and I wanted to stay there to have a good fight with him but it didn't happen. On the positive side I think we have learnt a lot more about the setup that will help us in a couple of weeks with the nature of the Sachsenring track where we go to next. I was happy to have raced and finish in the points in front of the British crowd but I wish I could've done better

Jose Luis Cardoso, 15th
To say the truth, I’m glad because today everything went better. During the race, I made my best laptime of the whole weekend and I also improved my rhythm. I had a better feeling with the bike after the modifications we did on its set-up before the race. In the first laps, I was with Ellison, then the performance of my tyres slightly decreased and that’s why my rhythm increased. 15th at the arrival, I obtained one point, and this is quite satisfactory. I hope we will go on improving in Germany, my aim is to get more points for the general classification. I really want to thank my whole Team, not only my technical staff but every single member of the Team, because they helped me a lot to get better in a moment of difficulty, demonstrating solidarity and an authentic team spirit.

Chris Vermeulen, 16th
The start of the race was ok, I knew I had a hard race tyre and I was quite comfortable where I was in the pack. Colin went past me and he went a little deep so I tried to go up the inside of him but he turned the bike back in and I had nowhere to go. I went over and bent the handlebar into the frame so I had to come into the garage and get the bike fixed up. We went out again and I was able ride at a reasonable pace but I had no brake adjuster and it was getting a bit difficult to ride, plus the footrest was rubbing on the chain so it wasn’t the best! We made big steps this weekend and before I crashed we were a lot closer to the leaders than we have been. We now have to take this forward to Sachsenring – a circuit I’ve never been to before – and see how we go there.

Shinya Nakano, DNF
Right from the beginning of the race I was struggling with a gearbox problem that made it difficult to shift down through the gears. After a few laps I figured out how to compensate for this problem using the clutch. I was pushing as hard as I could to catch the group of riders in front of me, but then I felt the engine suddenly lose power and I had no other option but to retire from the race. It's disappointing after finishing so well in Assen, but now we need to concentrate on our preparations for the next race at Sachsenring, which is an important one for the Kawasaki Racing Team.

Ivan Silva, DNF
It has been a real pity to crash yesterday during the qualifying practice because it really compromised my race. I couldn’t finish it and I’m sorry not to have been at 100%, also because DUNLOP had worked so well, the material they supplied us this weekend was better than the one we had in Assen and in fact the distance we had from the other riders decreased. The experience in MotoGP has been very positive, I hope to get other opportunities to get more experience and demonstrate my bravery. I want to thank Luis d’Antín, PRAMAC, all the sponsors and obviously the whole Team that has worked really well and has made my adaptation easier than it should have been.