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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2007-10-20  Sepang post qualifying rider claims
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Dani Pedrosa continued strike of pole positions at Sepang today, putting Casey Stoner to second place. However, race pace is once again on the side of Stoner and other Bridgestone riders, and weather forecast says we may have wet race. All options are open for tomorrow - read rider thoughts after qualifying. Dani Pedrosa - pole position: It’s great to have three pole positions in a row and gives us a good chance for the start tomorrow, but of course the only important thing is the race result because there are no points for pole position. The qualifying laps went quite well and I improved by 0.8s on my second fast lap which was just enough to take pole position. This afternoon the conditions were quite different to those we had yesterday and this morning – it was much hotter which made the surface a little bit more slippery. We’ve been testing more tyre options today and we still have to decide which ones we’ll race with. It depends on the weather and especially the temperature we expect for tomorrow afternoon. We also need to do some more work on the set-up based on the data from today’s two sessions. Casey Stoner - 2nd: Race setting-wise everything's looking quite good again, we've concentrated on all the things we normally do and we've come up with a good package for the race. Unfortunately for the second weekend on the trot we've lucked out on qualifying. At Phillip Island we got held up by another rider, this weekend the bumps were so bad in places that the electronics system didn't work as well as usual with the qualifying tyre, which lost us some time. I'm a little bit disappointed we didn't get pole position but we're second on the grid and on the front row, so we'll try to get a good start and we'll see what happens. The new surface here has definitely got a lot better since yesterday. The bumps are still there but for sure the grip has improved a lot and will probably improve again tomorrow. Everything's going well for doing race distance on the tyres - it doesn't really matter which tyre we choose, we're going to be able to last the race. Marco Melandri - 3rd: I'm happy - we know that I have got a good race pace. A front row position on the grid is a good start for tomorrow. The bike is improving - I can get on the gas early and the speed down the straights is much better. The bike and tyres are working well together and this is a circuit I have always enjoyed. This is probably the first time we've had the right conditions to get the most out of it and I felt comfortable today. I had fun and now I feel confident about the race. It will be tough and demanding on both the tyres and our physical condition. It's really hot here - like going from full winter in Australia to full summer in Malaysia! Randy de Puniet - 4th: As in the past couple of races, I'd hoped for a better position but I had a small crash early in the session and had to use my second bike for quite a while after that. I had a good feeling from it, although I prefer my other bike. I used two different types of qualifying tyre and one of them didn't work for me at all: it was impossible to finish a lap. The other one was better and I used that on my normal bike at the end, which got me this good lap time. It was so close and I'm just two tenths of a second off pole. We have a good base for tomorrow with the bike, and we've gone very fast on race tyres all weekend, so we should be able to do well. Anthony West - 5th: It was good to be up the front for most of the qualifying session and I was feeling really comfortable. We used two different types of qualifiers and the two I didn't do so well on are the ones which are usually the best at other circuits. Here, it was the opposite way around. The first one I used was really good but the others barely lasted a lap. I'm actually quite disappointed I didn't stay on the front row but the main thing is I know that with this set up, our race Bridgestones and the good feeling I've got, it's not as if I've only been on the pace for the one lap. So I'm pretty confident and we'll see how it goes tomorrow. Everything's working really well this weekend; it's nice. Nicky Hayden - 6th: This morning in the cooler temperatures I was able to go a lot faster than this afternoon so we definitely need to come up with some adjustments to improve our speed in the hot conditions. Sixth on the grid is ok, although it hasn’t exactly been the best day for us. My qualifying lap wasn’t perfect and, like at Phillip Island last week, in the last sector of the lap the tyre went a little bit soft. Nonetheless, I was able to move up the field on qualifiers and getting on the second row here is ok. The main thing we have to decide is which race tyre to run with because the track changed so much this afternoon when the temperature came up. The surface was really hot and greasy, it was quite difficult for me to find enough grip and my rhythm was not so good. We got a decent qualifying position to give ourselves a chance – now we’ve got to improve the settings in race trim. It’s going to be really important to get a good start tomorrow and latch onto the front guys. Chris Vermeulen - 7th: It was difficult this afternoon as the track temperature rose a lot and what we thought we had sorted as a race tyre didn’t work that well. So we tried another tyre and the lap-times came quite easily and the rubber lasted well, so we now have a set-up for the race. On the qualifiers it was great because we tried something new and Bridgestone has made a really good job with that. I was a bit tentative at the start of my best lap and made a mistake on turn two; if I hadn’t then I am sure I would have been higher up the grid. I’ve been comfortable here this weekend and for me that is good as it has been a bit of a bogey track for me. Suzuki and Bridgestone have always seemed to work well here and now I am happy that I can get into that groove as well. Toni Elias - 8th: We've done a good job today, together with the team. The bike setting has improved and we were able to do some good tyre tests. We have chosen our tyre for the race after running it in both sessions. Unfortunately I didn't get a better starting position because I ran out of time on my second qualifying lap. It will be important to get a good start tomorrow to try and stick it out with the lead group. Valentino Rossi - 9th: This morning things were feeling better for us and we were a little bit more confident. Unfortunately this afternoon, with the higher temperatures, our tyres didn't work in the same way and we were much slower and sliding quite a lot. With the qualifying tyre I was quite confident and they worked quite well, as they have all season, and I thought there was a chance for the front row. With the second one I thought we could improve again but I had a slide in the third section and lost some time, and so now we are on the third row. I am quite disappointed because our race pace is not good at the moment and we needed to be on the front row to give us the best chance possible for tomorrow. It will be difficult to use the warm-up to our advantage because the conditions are different to those we will probably have during the race, but anyway we will do what we can and try to make the best from the situation. John Hopkins - 10th: It was a tough afternoon, but this morning went really well. We made a lot of improvements and the bike worked great. This afternoon I just struggled to get myself into a rhythm and the tyres felt a bit greasy. On the qualifiers we tried some rubber that we hadn’t used before and we didn’t have any data about. It just didn’t seem to suit my riding style and I wore the tyre out a bit too quick! There is no reason though why we still can’t run at the front tomorrow, we’ve just got to come out swinging, make a good start and get up to the front as quick as possible! Loris Capirossi - 11th: Today we worked on every aspect of the bike and we made a small improvement, but not enough because the bike is still moving around and won't turn like I want it to. Anyway, I was very fast in the first two splits with my first qualifying tyre but I made a mistake in the third split so it was just a quiet lap. I was sure I was going to improve with my second qualifier but it didn't work, I do not know why, whether it was the tyre itself or the bike. I didn't even finish the lap, I came into the pits. Starting from the fourth row is an extra challenge but I think the race pace won't be so fast. It will be a long and difficult race, so maybe I'll be able to recover. Alex Barros - 12th: Even though we made some improvements in the afternoon, in the end I wasn't able to get a good position. Today we noticed that the heat was more intense, which worked better for the front tire and my style of riding.   However, the rear tire would work different depending on the part of the circuit, having good grip in some places, not much in others, and causing me to waste valuable time.  The race tomorrow will be more difficult that the one in Australia, but I hope to have a good start and battle for the front positions. Colin Edwards - 13th: There's really very little to say about today and I think it's better if I say "no comment!" We've got some big problems and it hasn't been fun. I want to say thanks to all my guys; they're working so hard to try and make a difference and find a way to improve things and I know they won't give up at any point. It's going to be a very hard race but it's not over till it's over so we'll just have to wait and see what we can improve before 3pm tomorrow and what happens after the lights go out. Shinya Nakano - 14th: No rain today but we and everyone else are still struggling with this new track surface. In the afternoon we improved a little with suspension settings, but we’re still looking for quicker turning into the corners and overall a better feeling from the front of the bike. At the moment I cannot keep my corner speed up, or keep a decent speed when entering the corner. Tomorrow morning we will try and find a better setting in warm-up. We will keep hoping for the best and never give-up as the race is long and the conditions still could be changeable. Carlos Checa - 16th: It is not normal that I am almost two seconds slower than my times from pre-season testing here, especially as we now have the updated chassis and engine parts from Honda. Nothing we tried seemed to work and on the qualifying tyres I had a big problem with chatter and the front-end jumping around, the bike would not turn. But we will not give up and continue to try 100%. I will work with Ramon, examine the data, and see what we can try in the warm-up to improve the performance. Chaz Davies - 17th: Today I started with a different set-up than yesterday, and while we made up some places, it wasn't sufficient. It's difficult to find the right balance point, because I don't have enough confidence in the front and it's costing me important tenths. At the end, I lowered my time with the Qualification tire, but I only improved upon myself and didn't advance. Tomorrow during the warm-up I'll test some changes we've made to the bike and hopefully that will let me have a good race. Nobuatsu Aoki - 19th: During the qualifying session I had a small problem with my first bike and had to use the other one. It didn’t have the same feel as the one we have been using and didn’t work quite as well. I tried as hard as I could but the chassis and engine just didn’t feel as good. The tyres I chose for qualifying were not quite right either and they just didn’t seem to suit the bike so I now have to start in 19th place. I am optimistic for the race as the setting we have for the race tyre is good and I am confident I can get a top-10 finish tomorrow! Kurtis Roberts - 20th: I’m struggling for grip. I keep losing the front. The first qualifier didn’t last the lap, and anyway we went the same speed as on the race tyres … so none of the tyres are working very good right now. It could all be me. I don’t know. We’ll find out tomorrow. The bumps are alright. I’m just losing the front a lot. Could be me, could be tyres. I don’t know.

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