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2008-06-22 Rider claims after Donington race
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 Casey Stoner today posed a serious message to everyone who written him off in championship battle by demonstrating brutal force over his rivals, which had no chance to fight with him. Rossi and Pedrosa were occupied by their own battle for championship points, but for sure they are aware of the threat from Stoner. Read rider thoughts after the race.
Casey Stoner - race winner:
This has been a great weekend for us and it's brilliant to know that we're in a position to fight that little bit harder. The last three races have gone quite well for us in general but we've taken a big step forward with the new electronic system, which worked so well at the Catalunya test and then here. After a disappointing start to the season since the opening round at Qatar it's nice to feel as though we're back on track and this weekend went well from the start. We kicked off in free practice with some good lap times and it's just got better and better since then, in wet and dry conditions. Today the bike was perfect, even at the end of the race we had really good traction and I want to thank all my team - Filippo, Vitto and all the people at Ducati - for the hard work they are doing. Now we just hope that this new electronic system will work as well at the rest of the tracks as it has done at Catalunya and Donington Park.
Valentino Rossi - 2nd:
I am quite happy about this result, although of course I would have preferred to have been fighting with Stoner for the win! I got a good start today and I tried to stay with Casey, but in some corners he was faster than me and it was impossible to keep up with his pace as the race went on. I knew that second place was important because of the points so I had to win my fight with Pedrosa in the middle of the race! Luckily we took second and now I have extended my lead by four points, which is very important for our championship. Unfortunately this weekend we made some mistakes when it was dry on Friday, and then because of the wet yesterday we weren’t able to work on them until today, when it was too late to make things perfect. Anyway we did the best we could so thanks to all my guys. We are leading the championship but Stoner showed his potential today so I think that this hard battle between us all is going to continue race by race. I am glad we only have a few days to Assen and I am looking forward to doing better there.
Dani Pedrosa - 3d:
This has been a difficult weekend with the weather changing all the time and only one day of dry practice. So, considering that and the effects of my crash during the tests at Barcelona I think that finishing on the podium is a good result for us. I pushed hard today and I really wanted to get second. Unfortunately, starting from the third row at a tight track with a short run to the first corner was never going to be easy. I got a good start, but I got a bit boxed in through the first corner and I lost some time while I was behind Dovizioso. Once I got up with Valentino we had a good battle, made a few passes but I made a couple of mistakes so I lost the possibility to finish second. My Michelin tyres worked well today but I struggled a bit through the direction changes. Anyway, we got some good points for the championship and we can look forward to getting a better result at Assen next weekend.
Colin Edwards - 4th:
I’m a bit cross even though fourth is still a good result. In the dry on Friday it was so good and I was really happy with everything. But with the rain yesterday I got thrown a bit. The geometry of the bike is quite a bit different and the weight bias quite a bit different compared to last year. So riding in the rain threw me a bit today when it was dry. Even this morning I went out and I came in and I started complaining about all these problems with the front end, yet it was exactly the same bike that I had on Friday. I got out in the race and in the first few laps I was struggling. I was riding hard but I couldn’t get into the low 29s like I was doing on a tyre that had done 24 laps on Friday. And then it kind of clicked what I needed to do but it took too long to adjust. I kept letting the front pop up and kept running wide and running wide and then I figured it out. Now you have to brake a lot deeper, harder and longer on this year’s bike with the geometry and I just got my head around it too late. Once I did that I got into the low 29s and started moving through the field. As far as lap times there was not much between me, Valentino, Dani and Casey. I kept seeing them at the same spot on the track and they weren’t pulling away. If anything I was gaining a little bit on them. I might have fought with them had I come through a bit quicker but we still did a fantastic job this weekend. The team and Michelin did a great job and I just wish I could run the race again.
Andrea Dovizioso - 5th:
This fifth position is an important result for us and I’m happy about it. I made a good start, which allowed me to make a lot of overtaking and for some laps I was there with Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa. In the first part of the race I’m generally faster than other riders and this allows me to gain some positions straight after the start. Then Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards came back at me quite quickly. I was behind Nicky for a few laps but when I saw Colin arriving I decided to overtake him and improve my rhythm. It went well with Nicky as I passed him, but not so well with Colin who beat me to the chequered flag. I was able to maintain a good pace around 1m 29s but the bike showed the same little problem of balance that we had on Friday. In Assen at the next race it will be crucial and important to produce another good result like this one.
Jorge Lorenzo - 6th:
I’m very happy with this result, because this was a very hard weekend for me and for my crew. I don’t want to think about the past, or think about what might have been if I’d started in the front rows, I only want to think about the present and my ride today. The number one aim was to finish the race without crashing or hurting myself, because at the end of the day your health is the most important thing! After the start however I started to feel more and more confident and found I was able to ride better and better, then I realised that I actually had the chance to do a very good race. I had fast pace throughout and my bike and my Michelin tyres worked very well, so thank you to all my team. Sometimes lately it has been hard to stay optimistic, motivated and happy, even though I have always tried to go out smiling and with a good attitude, but this race today was great and I am very happy tonight.
Nicky Hayden - 7th:
We learned a lot this weekend. We could’ve done with another day in the dry to really understand things. I’m actually pretty positive, we’ll try to put everything we’ve learned to good use at Assen. We didn’t really know what to expect here, everything went smooth until this morning when we had to switch bikes. The first few laps of the race went okay and then about lap nine I had a dash light come on. I didn’t know what it was for, but if a sensor goes bad you realise just how much you use traction control, engine braking control and things like that. It was nothing serious but I lost some confidence for a couple of laps, so my lap times fell and it upset my rhythm while I got my confidence back. The guys are looking into it now. It would’ve been nice to finish higher up, because I’ve got a lot of English guys in the box. The bike was pretty consistent at the end and I got back into the 29s. We learned a lot about fuel, tyre life and so on, we got a lot of information. We knew the first race might not be easy, so I hope we can build from here. Thanks to the team and to HRC for all their hard work.
Chris Vermeulen - 8th:
It was a difficult race today as we hadn’t had a lot of track time in the dry to prepare for it. For me though we have taken a big step with the bike compared to here last year in the dry - that had a lot to do with the Barcelona test and what we learnt there. I’ve got to say a big thanks to my team because they worked so hard this weekend and gave me a bike that worked really well considering the little amount of set-up time we had. Unfortunately we didn’t have the pace of the front guys, and although I rode as hard as I could for the whole race it just didn’t quite happen. Towards the end we didn’t have much grip left in the rear tyre, which was unfortunate because I felt like I had the pace to fight with other riders around me. Let’s now move on to Assen next week and see how things go there.
Shinya Nakano - 9th:
I’m happy with the race because even though I could only make ninth place I managed to get a good start and was able to run with the group immediately ahead of me for most of the race. I actually enjoyed myself on the bike and managed to set some lap times that were faster than we expected, but unfortunately from the 20th lap to the end of the race we started to suffer from chattering on the front end and I could no longer push as hard. Anyway, I’m satisfied with the feeling we found with the bike the engine and the brakes worked really well and that’s something good to take to the next race.
Anthony West - 10th:
This result shows exactly what we are capable of and I hope it will only get better from here. The bike finally feels rideable, and I was able to push right up until the end of the race, so I'm really pleased with a top ten finish. We've made a massive step forward and I feel so much more confident in the wet or dry than I have done previously. In the closing stages I came under quite a lot of pressure from Toni Elias and Randy de Puniet, but I was able to respond and maintain a good lap time throughout. The machine set-up felt good, as did the Bridgestone tyres, and although there are many more improvements to be made, I really believe we can work on these. The next round at Assen is one of my more favoured tracks so I'm really looking forward to racing there.
Toni Elias – 11th:
Let’s put it this way, I am happy for all we have done today. With my Team we have worked intensively to find the best solution possible. I would say that we have done a good job. Naturally the eleventh place doesn’t make me happy, but for how it went yesterday I can consider myself satisfied. I am an aggressive rider and I like to overtake, but I would like to be able to fight also for better positions. In four days we will back on track and I hope to continue in this direction.
Randy De Puniet - 12th:
It was a difficult race for me. After the start, when Toseland crashed I was behind him and went wide loosing some positions. After that I lost some confidence and was not easy passing the other riders especially in the braking points. On lap 7 I was behind Hopkins and West but could not pass them because the bike was to heavy and could not change directions easily and could not brake as late as I wanted. I struggled for the rest of the race trying to set good lap times without making any mistake. On the last lap some people started to run close to the race track and I lost the concentration for a while so Elias passed me on the straight. This is not a brilliant performance but after the crashes we had in the recent races we are trying to set up the bike in the right way but we still miss something. We will work it out in Assen in the next days.
Sylvain Guintoli – 13th:
I started well and I remained in eleventh position for many laps. I didn’t push too hard in the first half of the race because today we tried a new front tyre that I never used before and we have done many modifications in the front part of the bike. After ten laps I found a good rhythm on 1’30. I made it to maintain it until the end, but even if it was a rhythm much better compare to my lap time registered on Friday, I didn’t make it to step up in the classification.
Ben Spies - 14th:
It was a tough race as I was still trying to learn the tyres, the bike and the track in the first few laps. The first half of the race felt like garbage to me, but the second half was really good! I was running times towards the end that would have put us in the top-10 so I’m quite pleased with that. I was catching the guys in front and reeling them in lap-by-lap, but I just didn’t have enough laps to get up and past them. I was definitely getting more comfortable on the bike and even though the result wasn’t what I wanted the times at the end were really fast and I’m happy with that!
Alex De Angelis - 15th:
That was a really unlucky race for me because we’ve been fast all weekend in the dry here. I made a good start and quickly got up to speed but I started to notice a chattering problem from the end of the first lap and it was intensifying with every corner. At the end of the second lap it caused me to crash but I decided to get back on and try to finish what was always going to be a tough race for me. Despite the result I’m consoled by the fact it was just a tyre defect that slowed us today. It was the same kind of tyre I used on Friday, when I was really fast in free practice, and in the warm-up this morning so I guess it’s just one of those things.
Marco Melandri - 16th:
I am so, so disappointed with this and I'm sorry for the team. Probably the only thing we can do right now is put this Grand Prix behind us and try to think about the next race. In such a difficult situation as this, to not even have two consecutive days with the same weather conditions is a huge obstacle because we just haven't got time to find the right way forward. Today I didn't even get the feeling back that I had on Friday in the dry, which wasn't amazing but definitely better than today. Now we have to reset and start again from zero on Thursday.
James Toseland - 17th:
It is hard to explain just how disappointed how I am. I really wanted to get a good result for my home crowd but it was always going to be difficult after the problems of yesterday. Starting from 16th was always going to be tough but I decided to attack from the start. I made a good start and passed a few people and didn’t think I was too fast into the first corner but the rear end came round and I was down. I could have just cruised back to the pits but a lot of people had come to see me ride. I was hurting because I hit my head pretty hard and I smacked my right hand down on the tarmac. And the right footpeg had snapped off, but I soldiered on because I wanted to get to that chequered flag more than anything. I was going to finish for all those fans, who have been unbelievable supporting me since I arrived here. I will bounce back from this but it has got to be one of the biggest disappointments of my career. It is not in my nature to give up and I didn’t today, and I know my turn will come. I am obviously disappointed, but I have to congratulate Scott Redding. He did an amazing job and it was great for the British fans to see him do that.
John Hopkins - DNF:
It's difficult to express how frustrated I feel after today's race. I got away from the start pretty well, but then Toseland highsided right in front of me exiting the first turn and, while he slid off the track, I had to brake almost to a standstill to avoid his bike. This left me dead last on the opening lap, but I got my head down and fought my way back through the field, eventually passing Anthony to take tenth position. I think it was possible to close the gap on the group ahead of me, but then the bike just stopped at the Old Hairpin. Obviously we need to figure out what caused the problem, but with the next race less than one week away I don't want to dwell on what went wrong today but, rather, look forward to making amends next weekend in Assen.
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