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Valentino Rossi autobiography
This 288 page book goes into details of life of Valentino Rossi, one of the best MotoGP racers ever. Autobiography provides inside details of both on-track and off-track life of living motorcycle legend, allowing reader to get better understanding of life and achievement of Valentino Rossi.
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2007-09-21 Motegi free practice times and rider claims
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 Dani Pedrosa today at Motegi shown pace that was unmatched by any of his rivals, promissing to continue performance he shown in Estoril. Pedrosa was fastest in both free practice sessions, while his main rivals, Rossi and Stoner, were unable to get into the rhythm as fast. Valentino Rossi had engine blow during practice which took some valuable time for machine set-up, while Casey Stoner struggled to find settings for his Desmosedici. Surprise of the day came from Suzuki wild-card, Kousuke Akiyoshi, who set 6th time of the day. Read rider claims after first day in Motegi.
Dani Pedrosa – 1st - 1:47.865
As a first day today went quite well and the pace I could maintain was pretty fast and consistent, so I am happy so far. It was hot in the morning session and then it got even hotter in the afternoon, but still the balance of the bike felt good. I like this track and we must continue to improve the set-up tomorrow because this is only the first day and for sure our rivals will be working hard to overtake us. I am very happy to have signed for Honda again today and I hope we can continue this weekend in the positive way we have started.
Randy de Puniet - 2nd:
That wasn't a bad day! This morning we worked on the settings on the bike and this afternoon we tried a harder compound tyre, which was better for longevity because I did 20 laps on it and my time at the end of the session was still very good. We can improve a few bits and pieces, including adjusting the rear suspension slightly and perhaps working with a different rear tyre, but already, it's pretty good and I'm happy.
Marco Melandri - 3rd:
I’m really satisfied with this first day of work. The bike has improved a lot in terms of power delivery and engine braking thanks to the new mapping that we received this morning. I’m happy because the bike is much more manageable now. I’m also happy with our choice of tyres – we’ve worked well with Bridgestone today and I hope to make another small step forward with my race pace tomorrow. This is a particularly difficult track to manage fuel. The heat today was most unusual for this time of year but the forecast is for the weather to change. I’m happy because we’ll be ready for wet or dry conditions.
John Hopkins - 4th:
I had a bit of bad luck at Motegi last year when Dani Pedrosa and I touched and I ran off the track. I am pretty sure I would have got a better result than I did if that hadn’t have happened. I really like the Motegi circuit and seem to go quite well there – at least in qualifying! I’ve had some strange things happen to me in races there but I want to put on a good show for all the Suzuki staff and fans and get a good result there this year that will leave then cheering!
Casey Stoner - 5th:
I'm a bit disappointed with today because we couldn't find a good set-up and we just went around in circles. This afternoon we tried something with the chassis but it didn't work and we didn't have enough time to go back to the same settings we had this morning, so we spent a lot of time making a lot of changes and it definitely wasn't a great day. To be honest there isn't one area where we have a big problem, we just need to generally improve in a lot of areas, so tomorrow we will start again with the bike settings we had this morning and we will continue working from there in a different direction. I'm confident we can improve because this morning's set-up wasn't bad at all.
Kousuke Akiyoshi - 6th:
I am very please to riding at my home Grand Prix. I have done many miles of testing on the 800cc GSV-R and the bike has improved a lot throughout the season. I will be trying my best and hope to give Suzuki a good result as a thank-you for letting me race.
Loris Capirossi - 7th:
Here we have tried something really different on the set up. I rode four or five laps, one of them behind John [Hopkins], and I was able to be quite fast, even if I had to push really hard. Anyway, tomorrow I think we will make a few more little changes and we should have the chance to improve. It's difficult, because I'm still struggling with the power delivery. At this track you need a lot of power at low revs and we don't have so much, it's one of our limitations. We are trying to get around this problem by working on the set-up in order to find more torque. We have also made some changes to the gearbox. The team is reacting very well, we are trying many things and we hope that we can improve tomorrow.
Anthony West - 8th:
This morning I didn't feel so confident but all of a sudden, this afternoon, everything felt good on the bike. I struggled in the first session with rear grip, just spinning and sliding everywhere, then this afternoon it was so different: just from better grip I could get more of a lean angle in the corners and choose better lines. Essentially, I simply felt more comfortable on the bike. It was actually a heap easier to ride and go faster. In one corner, I even got my elbow on the ground once or twice and I've never had that before! It was all a big improvement and the times show that.
Nicky Hayden – 9th:
This morning went relatively smoothly but this afternoon I had a few problems and couldn’t find a good rhythm. I made a few mistakes and almost crashed one time and was in the dirt another time. It just wasn’t really flowing really well and I’ll definitely have to clean that up for tomorrow. It wasn’t the
greatest of starts and for sure I’d like to be closer to the front right out of the gate. The track temperature is quite warm and it’s going to be important to get some good feel and traction. A lot of riders seem pretty close right now so we’ll have to make some improvements for tomorrow morning.
Colin Edwards - 11th:
This morning and early this afternoon things were not looking good at all! We couldn't find the right setting or the right tyre and we were crossing our fingers that something was going to work out for us. Mid-way through the afternoon however we tried our last tyre and we were immediately one second faster, so at least there's no doubt now that's the right direction to follow. We've got a lot more work to do, both on setting and with the tyres, so we need to have a good look at the situation tonight to make sure we make the most of the time we've got left to us. We were two seconds off the pace and now we've closed that gap to one but that's still way too much and we're really going to have to pull out all the stops tomorrow.
Valentino Rossi - 14th:
Today was very, very hot, much more than we expected. We're a long way behind because unfortunately we were following different set-ups with my two bikes and the one that was working better had a technical problem. On my second bike, with the different setting, I wasn't able to improve and so here I am in 14th. The situation with the tyres is not so good and we have a lot of work to do, even if we know that Michelin can work here because they are in front with another rider. For us the situation isn't great at the moment and we need to find a way to turn this around. It's the first day and I know that if we can improve a few things then we can be in a better position. We have to do the maximum tomorrow and see where we get to.
Toni Elias - 15th:
We’ ve done a lot of good work with the team today and in general I am happy. We tested a lot of things – not everything gave the result we were looking for but it was important for us to find the right way to work. The Bridgestone tyres are working very well here and because of the intense heat we decided to save some of the softer tyres for tomorrow.
Alex Barros - 17th:
Today we used two bikes with different transmissions. I found that one had a better general balance, but I wasn’t able to adapt to the gearbox. The set-up isn’t correct, and we have a margin to improve both on the front and the rear. Tomorrow I will go out with a new motor, which will give me something extra, and for sure this will be reflected in my times.
Chris Vermeulen - 18th:
I enjoyed my first time in Japan last year and although the track was quite difficult to learn at first, I managed to get to grips with it on race day and finished as the first Suzuki home. I will certainly want to repeat that this weekend but I am planning that it will be a lot higher up than the 11th place I got last year. We are still working hard to improve the bike at every race and we know we still have a bit of work to do, but we will be trying to get as many points from the rest of the season as possible and be as strong as we can be for next year.
Akira Yanagawa - 19th:
I feel okay. I have a little problem with chatter on entering the corners but I suspect some of that may be down to me because my riding style is not suited yet to this bike. We need to find a solution to that, if we have time. Anyway, I have to compromise and I need to put in some more laps to get used to the feeling of the Ninja. This bike is like nothing I've ever ridden: like the chassis of a 125 with the engine of a rocket ship! I think you probably need a special technique for riding it but I'm sure we can make some further adjustments to help me get more from it.
Shinichi Ito - 20th:
At the moment, I don’t have the right feeling with the bike at Motegi. The settings aren’t adequate, and I don’t have confidence over both axles to ride aggressively and get everything out of the GP7. The motor goes very well, and when I have the set-up at a good point I will surely lower my times.
Combined free practice times - day 1 - Motegi
1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1'47.865
2. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team 1'48.254
3. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda Gresini 1'48.351
4. John Hopkins (USA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'48.361
5. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 1'48.444
6. K Akiyoshi (JPN) Suzuki 1'48.457
7. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team 1'48.499
8. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki 1'48.529
9. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team 1'48.552
10. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 1'48.581
11. Colin Edwards (USA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'48.614
12. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Konica Minolta Honda 1'48.697
13. Carlos Checa (SPA) Honda LCR 1'48.715
14. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'48.736
15. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda Gresini 1'48.827
16. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 1'49.207
17. Alex Barros (BRA) Pramac d'Antin 1'49.392
18. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'49.555
19. A Yanagawa (JPN) Kawasaki Racing Team 1'50.229
20. S Ito (JPN) Pramac d'Antin 1'50.769
21. Kurtis Roberts (USA) Team Roberts 1'51.167
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Valentino Rossi t-shirt
Yellow Valentino Rossi t-shirt, featuring sun and moon symbols on sleeves. Made of 100% cotton, VR-46 logo on the chest.
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