Posted by Administrator on 06-30-2007 at 01:06 pm
2007 Dutch GP Yamaha Rossi - 0
Valentino Rossi claimed a stunning victory in the Dutch TT at Assen, overtaking Casey Stoner with a demon out-braking move with three laps to go to snatch the lead and the win.
The 28-year-old Italian’s third win of the season, which was also the 150th for Yamaha, came after he started 11th on the grid on his Yamaha and reduced Stoner’s championship lead to 21 points.
World champion Nicky Hayden completed the podium with his first top-three finish of the season on his Repsol Honda in what was without doubt the most entertaining race of the season.
At the lights it was advantage Stoner as the Ducati rider roared into a huge lead from the Suzukis of pole-sitter Chris Vermeulen and John Hopkins.
Hopkins passed his team-mate for second on lap two and quickly settled into a good rhythm behind Stoner, but Vermeulen’s bike was not working as well.
By lap six he had been passed by the Repsol Hondas of Hayden and Dani Pedrosa and the Yamahas of Rossi and Colin Edwards and was down in seventh.
Rossi had been carving through the field like a hot knife through butter, with his favoured overtaking spot coming at the Gert Timmer chicane at the end of the lap.
That corner did for Edwards, Pedrosa and Hayden and gave him clear track once he made it into third. A string of successive fastest lap closed him in on Hopkins and he duly sliced inside him on lap 12 when the American missed the apex at the struben hairpin.
Yet more fastest laps saw him close onto Stoner’s tail and once more it was the chicane that he picked out as his passing spot, twice forcing the Australian to close the door on him on corner entry.
Try as Stoner did, he could not shake off the Italian despite upping his pace by 0.3 seconds per lap and eventually fell victim at the same spot on lap 23.
Three classic Rossi laps followed to give him his 61st career win by a margin of 1.909 seconds by the flag.
Behind the front-two Hayden and Pedrosa looked purposeful as the completed a double-team on Hopkins at turn one on lap 14, the world champion moving into third on the inside and Pedrosa into fourth around the outside at the same time.
And that’s how they finished with Hayden putting the nightmare of the first half of the season behind him to lead his team-mate and Hopkins over the line by the finish.
Edwards ran a lonely race to finish sixth, unable to challenge those in front but 20 seconds ahead of the next rider.
That ought to have been Vermeulen, but he was involved in an accident with Randy de Puniet on lap six.
Vermeulen, who had been dropping back at the time, lost control of his Suzuki entering Mandeveen but brilliantly saved it and attempted to turn in while de Puniet’s Kawasaki was already on the same piece of tarmac.
The resultant collision put the Frenchman out on the spot and saw Vermeulen re-mount to finish a distant and pointless 16th.
Alex Barros picked up a comfortable seventh on his d’Antin Ducati with his team-mate Alex Hofmann next up. But the German had to fight every inch of the way as he was involved in a four-way scrap with Anthony West, Carlos Checa and Marco Melandri.
Melandri, who started fourth, slid his Gresini Honda wide at de Bult on the penultimate lap, costing him places to Hofmann and West’s Kawasaki and dropping him to 11th, but he re-passed Checa’s LCR Honda on the last lap to complete the top ten with only three tenths of a second covering all four.
Posted by Administrator on 06-29-2007 at 01:06 pm
Vermeulen won the French Grand Prix last month
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Australia’s Chris Vermeulen will start in pole position for the Dutch MotoGP after clocking the fastest qualifying time in rainy conditions at Assen.
The Suzuki rider will be joined on the front row by championship leader Casey Stoner and Randy de Puniet.
Five-times Assen winner Valentino Rossi was only 11th fastest and will start on the fourth row of the grid for Saturday’s race.
Rossi is 26 points behind Stoner, who has claimed five wins this season.
Vermeulen thrived in the poor conditions in Assen, but his pole setting lap was clocked before the heaviest rain started to fall, while Stoner opted to sit out the final minutes of the one-hour session.
“It was the wind rather than the rain that was causing me most problems,” Vermeulen said.
“I just got ahead of Stoner when the rain started to pour down although some riders did get in some quick laps at the finish.”
Marco Melandri put in a tremendous last lap through the spray on his Honda which lifted him on to the front row only to be knocked back by De Puniet a minute later.
The Italian is joined on the second row by Americans John Hopkins and Colin Edwards.
Qualifying times from Friday’s session for Dutch MotoGP from Assen:
1. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 1 minute 48.555 seconds
2. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati +0.017
3. Randy De Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki +1.024
4. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda +1.124
5. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki +1.129
6. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha +1.136
7. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki +1.252
8. Alex Hoffman (GER) Ducati +1.372
9. Dani Pedrosa (ESP) Honda +1.577
10. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati +1.614
11. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha +1.837
Posted by Administrator on 06-29-2007 at 03:06 am
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Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards started their Dutch challenge in unusual style today, both sporting a new 1950’s-inspired livery on their leathers and bikes. The colourful pair finished the day fourth and seventh in the combined standings after a thankfully dry first day of practice for the Dutch TT.
This morning saw the Yamaha duo second and fourth respectively in the first practice as they tested tyres and worked on bike set-up. They continued with more of the same throughout this afternoon’s second practice, dropping slightly down the order but both improving on their times from the morning. Both riders finished the day feeling initially positive about their tyre choices and potential in the dry and, with rain a possibility tomorrow, today’s two hours of dry track time could prove crucial. The fastest time of the day was set by Casey Stoner with a lap of 1′37.828, just 0.320 seconds faster than Rossi.
The Fiat Yamaha Team’s special Assen livery is inspired by Fiat’s famous ‘500′ and celebrates the forthcoming re-launch of the iconic car on 4th July, exactly 50 years after it was first launched in 1957. The design is inspired by the art and discography of the era, including Elvis Presley and Italy’s Rita Pavone.
Valentino Rossi - 4th, 1′38.148
“Today was not too bad! This morning was actually better than this afternoon, even though we were faster in the second session. Our initial base set-up this morning felt quite good but this afternoon we tested some different things and honestly I didn’t have such a good feel. Our tyre choice seems to be okay and we have some softer tyres here which should work better in lower temperatures, as we should be able to get the heat into them faster. We’ve started out okay today but we need to improve some things so I really hope it’s not going to rain tomorrow. I really like my new livery, it’s fun and different and the colours especially are something you don’t usually see on the racetrack! The Fiat 500 is a famous Italian icon so it’s good to be able to celebrate the new version of the car in this way.”
Colin Edwards - 7th, 1′38.341
“I’m pretty happy with how we’ve started out here today. Michelin have brought some good stuff again and we’ve managed to get through all the things we needed to test for the weekend. At the moment it looks like we could actually race three of our tyre choices so that’s a good situation to be in at this stage. Today we had my bikes set-up in two different ways and one was better than the other, so tomorrow we’ll go with that for them both. It’s actually pretty similar to last year’s bike and that obviously worked good then so we’ll keep going on like that. It was great to have two sessions uninterrupted by rain for once, fingers crossed we’ll have more of the same tomorrow. The livery’s pretty cool, it’s fun to have something different and I’ve had some good comments from the rest of the riders. I’m not sure I could handle the pink every week but as a one-off special it’s great!”
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Davide Brivio - Team Director
“It’s been good to have an entirely dry day after all the rain we’ve had recently. We were able to check some good tyres with both our riders and it seems we’ve got a good base on the bike. Now we need to put everything together and fine-tune the settings and make our final tyre choices. Unfortunately it might rain tomorrow, in which case we’ll only have today’s data to analyse for a dry race, but we’ve got some good information so we should be okay. We’re very pleased to be able to help Fiat to celebrate such an important event with our special ‘Cinquecento’ livery. The fact that our team can be used as a tool to help publicise the re-launch of an Italian icon is a great example of the importance and success of Fiat’s sponsorship.”
Posted by Administrator on 06-25-2007 at 04:06 pm
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Just days after safely negotiating the waters of a soaking wet Donington Park, the Fiat Yamaha Team continue their adventures this week with a trip across the North Sea to Holland, in preparation for the ninth round of the MotoGP World Championship. The 77th edition of the Dutch TT at Assen sees Valentino Rossi chasing a 26-point gap to Casey Stoner at the top of the standings with ten rounds remaining of what promises to be a tightly fought battle for the most prestigious crown in motorcycle racing.
With two of the last three races having been hit by rain, Rossi’s principal hope for this weekend is good weather, having charged to victory in the most recent dry race at his home circuit of Mugello. The Italian is keen to build on recent developments made with his YZR-M1 machine and Michelin’s slick tyres at a circuit where he has celebrated victory on five occasions - including three of the last five races there in the premier-class.
Rossi’s team-mate Colin Edwards is himself a previous Assen winner. The Texan took three victories there during his days in the World Superbike series, including a double win on his way to the title in a gripping climax to the 2002 season. Last year he came within a few metres of his finest career moment yet, leading the MotoGP race from Nicky Hayden into the final chicane, only to fall and see a first Grand Prix victory slip from his grasp in truly dramatic fashion.
Despite major changes to Assen’s unique layout last year, it remains one of the most technically and physically demanding circuits on the calendar for the MotoGP riders. With barely a straight piece of tarmac in sight, handling is a major focal point due to high-speed chicanes and dramatic camber changes - the latter, in some places, resembling the profile of the public roads that the original circuit was based around 76 years ago.
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Valentino Rossi - “A legendary place”
Valentino Rossi could not be happier to have only four days’ rest between last Sunday’s race at Donington Park and Thursday morning’s free practice at Assen. After struggling to fourth place with wet tyres on a drying track, the 28-year-old spent several hours in deep discussions with engineers from Yamaha and Michelin and revealed they now have a clear idea of how to improve performance and results this weekend. “I wasn’t happy after the race on Sunday but we had a long meeting afterwards and we know what our problems are - now we need to fix them,” said Rossi. “I’m happy to get the chance to ride again so soon and forget about the race at Donington because I was so disappointed to finish fourth at a circuit I love so much and have always done well at in the past. “Assen is another of my favourite tracks and after riding injured there last year I want to get back to winning ways. It is a shame they had to change the circuit layout last year because they have removed the most exciting part of the track, which I still cannot understand. Anyway, it is like this and Assen is still a legendary place, with a great atmosphere and great fans. Hopefully we can make a good show for them and be competitive like we know we can be once again.”
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Colin Edwards - “My best and worst memory”
Like Rossi, Colin Edwards also feels he has a score to settle this weekend, with the painful memories of last year’s race at Assen still fresh in the 33-year-old’s mind. After a disappointing run of form that wielded just 19 points from the five previous races, Edwards bounced back in style at Donington Park - setting pole position and leading the race for eleven laps before settling for a return to the podium in second place. The goal for this weekend is the top step. “It’s weird because Assen holds my best MotoGP memory and also my worst!” reflects Edwards. “I know I should have won and I guess I gave Nicky Hayden the gift of a lifetime. I know and love the track, I won there loads of times in World Superbikes and the fans are fantastic - there’s always a ton of Texas Tornado t-shirts and flags around the circuit, as there was at Donington, and that always gives you a great boost. “I’m taking a lot of confidence from the weekend just gone because we worked really hard and found a setting for the dry and for the wet in a really limited amount of time. We think we’ve fixed the problems we’ve been having with the bike and from a personal point of view I was delighted to be back on the podium. The key now is to keep it going, make up for that disaster at Assen last year and carry some good form through to my home race at Laguna Seca in a few weeks’ time.”
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Davide Brivio - Team Director
Fiat Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio insists there is still everything to play for in this championship despite there now being a gap which constitutes more points than a race victory between Stoner and Rossi at the top. With eight rounds down there are still ten more to go in the longest ever season in history, giving Rossi and his crew ample opportunity to fight back. “We go to Assen with strong motivation throughout the whole team,” says Brivio. “Valentino had a hard weekend in Donington and so he will be keen to improve things and get back to full performance. We had a very long meeting on Sunday night after the race and discussed a lot of things in order to have a more clear idea of the way in which we need to work this week. “Colin obviously has a great score to settle with Assen after he so nearly won there last year, and after his podium in Donington and the improvements he made during the weekend, he should be in good shape to try to achieve his goal. We’re nearly at the halfway point of the season and of course things haven’t gone exactly to plan at times but there’s a long way to go, anything can happen and we’ll keep fighting.”
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Valentino Rossi : Information
Age: 28
Lives: London, UK
Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1
GP victories: 86 (60 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc)
First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc)
First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc)
GP starts: 182 (122 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc)
Pole positions: 49
World Championships: 7 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP)
Colin Edwards: Information
Age: 33
Lives: Conroe, Texas
Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1
First GP: Japón, 2003 (MotoGP)
GP starts: 74 x MotoGP
World Championships: 2 World Superbike
Assen: Lap Record
N. Hayden (Honda) 2006, 1′37.106
Assen: Best Lap
J. Hopkins (Suzuki) 2006, 1′36.411
Grand Prix Results: Assen 2006
1. N. Hayden (Honda) 42′27.404
2. S. Nakano (Kawasaki) +4.884
3. D. Pedrosa (Honda) +2.269
8. V. Rossi (ITA) Yamaha +23.951
13. C. Edwards (USA) Yamaha +164.752
Posted by Administrator on 06-24-2007 at 01:06 pm
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Fiat Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards finished second in the British Grand Prix at Donington Park today, taking his second podium of the season after a fighting ride from pole position. His team-mate Valentino Rossi was disappointed to finish fourth but nonetheless managed to set another record in the process, overtaking Mick Doohan to take the title of most prolific points-scorer ever in the premier class, with a total of 2,303 points. After a brief respite yesterday the British weather closed in again and the race was declared wet, although the rain failed to deter the 84,785 fans who had turned out to see their adopted heroes in action. Edwards, starting from pole for the second time this season, got a fantastic start and held the lead; whilst Rossi was edged out by Dani Pedrosa and was third into turn one. Pedrosa found his way past Edwards on the first lap but the Texan stayed on his tail and was able to take the lead again on lap five. For the next ten laps things looked promising as Edwards held the lead over Casey Stoner, who had risen to second from seventh on the grid. However as the rain stopped and a dry-line appeared Edwards began to struggle with grip and Stoner came through. Despite keeping up a fairly consistent pace until the end, Edwards was powerless to stay with the Australian and eventually crossed the line 11.768 seconds behind the championship leader. Rossi meanwhile had a somewhat more eventful race, finding himself as far down as eighth at one point and making a small foray off-track on lap eleven. After fighting back through the order he looked like holding onto the last podium place behind Edwards, but with four laps to go Chris Vermeulen passed him and he was relegated to fourth. Today’s race sees the gap from Stoner to Rossi stretched to 26 points, whilst Edwards’ haul of twenty points moves him three places up the order to seventh.
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Colin Edwards - Position: 2nd Time: +11.768
“We had good race! I had a great start, better than any of my practice ones during the weekend, and then I just got my head down and kept pushing lap after lap. My bike was feeling good in the wet but then it started to dry out. I started braking a bit harder and feeling more confident, but then the front locked once into the chicane which gave me a bit of a scare. Then at the next corner, down at the hairpin, I locked it again, ran wide and Casey came through. After that I tried everything but I couldn’t stay with him and it was clear that I didn’t have the grip he had. It was pretty tough, but then I guess it was tough for everyone! You could see the dry line forming and rain tyres with a dry track don’t work well! I just had to pay attention and take care not to spin it too much, using half throttle instead of spinning it up. Anyway, we did the best we could today and it feels good to be back on the podium, so a big thanks to all my guys. We’ve made a lot of progress this weekend and now we’ll carry the momentum on to Assen next week! Hats off to Casey too, he did a great job today.”
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Valentino Rossi - Position: 4th Time: +21.827
“Unfortunately today the conditions were not good for us at all and we had a lot of problems. In the full dry we would have been at our strongest, in full wet we would have been also quite good, but with a drying track like this we struggled a lot. I made a mistake and ran off the track when I was going the best I went during the whole race and then as the track began to dry I had less and less grip; it seems that this year, when the conditions aren’t perfect, we suffer a lot. I had to go very carefully just to be able to finish and, because we were riding with a wet tyre on a dry track, my tyre was destroyed by the end. Colin did a great job in difficult circumstances so congratulations to him. We’ve had a very long meeting tonight and now we have to try to improve the situation for Assen.”
Davide Brivio - Team Director
“We’re very happy for Colin to be back on the podium, he did a great job all weekend so well done to him. Now he has found his confidence again and hopefully he can carry on like this. For Valentino it was a very difficult race and he had quite a lot of problems in the difficult conditions. We have some work to do but Colin’s result is very encouraging for the whole team and now we go straight to Assen to have the chance to make up for this weekend with Valentino. We’ll keep working as hard as we can and hopefully we can get back to our best very quickly.”
Disappointing weekend in Donington for Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team
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In weather conditions more akin to the middle of winter, the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 had its most disappointing weekend of the 2007 MotoGP season. On a circuit that offers very little grip, the elements did all they could to make the weekend worse with a track temperature that hovered around 20 degrees Celcius with persistent rain present throughout most of the weekend. While the overall result may be extremely hard to swallow for the team, riders Makoto Tamada and Sylvain Guintoli were able to provide the Dunlop engineers with plenty of information that will be utilised for the future. The team will now regroup and head to the legendary Assen circuit in Holland as the championship reaches the halfway point of the season.
Makoto Tamada - Position: 15th Time: +2 laps
That was a very difficult race and weekend for me. I could not apply the power too hard as on the exit of every corner I was having some very big slides from the rear plus when I was trying to brake for the corners I had no feeling in the front and so in these very bad conditions it was impossible to do anything better |
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Sylvain Guintoli - Position: 16th Time: +2 laps
I am extremely disappointed with this weekend as I thought we could get a better result especially seeing it was my birthday today but with the weather it was not going to happen. I couldn’t push too hard or actually fight with anybody in front of me as I was too busy looking behind me to see when the leaders would catch me. I had no grip and as soon as I tried to go faster I nearly crashed everytime so I decided to ride to finish the race. I crashed in practice at over 200km/h and I didn’t feel like doing that again. I was also getting a lot of wheelspin so I had to change gears while still in the midrange of the powerband. I am disappointed that I failed to score any points as I have in every other race so now we have to put this behind us and hope for better weather in Holland next week
Herve Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Manager
This has been a very frustrating weekend. We came here expecting a good result in the dry but unfortunately it rained and we were nowhere. The only positive we can take out of this weekend is that our riders did a lot of laps in the wet so both our riders could give a lot of feedback to the Dunlop engineers to improve the wet weather tyres as we are so far behind Hopefully the sun will shine on us in Holland as we have made good progress in the dry and we can continue that improvement next weekend.
