More from Motegi.
Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) 1st:“First of all I just want to thank my team, my Mum, Dad and whole family, my friends and all the team workers.
Also Yamaha, as it is their home race, it was a difficult race because I didn’t really get a very good start, I think I even finished the first lap in third or fourth.
After that I began to catch up the pace.
I passed Valentino and opened up a little gap, about a second and a half, and he was following me very hard.
I had to ride the best I can to get the victory.
” Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) 2nd:“It was a great race, long, very difficult and also physical.
I got a really good start from the front row, but there was a part of the race that I wasn’t quite able to ride like I wanted, there was some kind of problem and I wasn’t fast enough to pull away.
I lost time from Jorge and then was involved in a battle with Dani and then in the last part of the race I was able to step up my pace and pick my lines, setting some good lap times.
I tried to come back but unfortunately Lorenzo was too far away.
It’s a good race, second place is not a victory but it’s still twenty points for the championship.
I think the championship will become very interesting now because we have four riders ready to battle for wins at the end.
”Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) 3rd:It’s a great result.
I don’t think that anybody expected it.
I think I could have even taken second, but when I passed Rossi he seemed to wake up and see that he had to go faster.
Hopefully with the situation we are in now this result will create a good feeling, and I think that the motivation within Honda to make progress will increase.
We still have to sort out some issues on the machine, but it’s a very positive result going in to the Jerez.
After six months of problems with my knee –surgery, being scared to push things, no testing- I took a podium and I’m very happy with this.
I only have to thank the doctors for getting me fit to be here.
”Casy Stoner (Ducati Malboro) 4th:“The race in general I am quite happy with, as I think I rode quite well.
The team did the best job they could this weekend, with the short time that we had, and everybody else is in the same situation.
We were running lap times which would have made me capable of racing at the front if we hadn’t lost so much time at the beginning of the race.
On my warm-up lap we found we had a problem with my front brake which was causing a lot of chattering and this was the case for the first six or seven laps so I had no confidence on the brakes.
Today’s result looks worse than it could have been.
I think if things go a bit better in Jerez and I can stick it out more at the beginning of the race we can hopefully be up there for the fight.
”Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) 5th:“I’m pretty happy after this race because, considering that we struggled a lot during all the practice sessions, we were able to stay near the front for 24 laps.
I was pushing really hard for a podium finish for the whole race but in the end I couldn’t make it.
It was a tough race and this is a very demanding track, with many hard braking zones so we struggled a lot physically to achieve this result.
I got a good start – the start was really the key part of my race – and I was able to get away with the front group.
I couldn’t really believe it when I stayed with them because I was expecting to drop back after maybe one or two laps.
But then it was lap five or six and I was still there and I was thinking, ‘this is unbelievable.
I think me and Dani just gritted our teeth and got on with it today.
It’s promising because we’ve reduced the gap to the guys in the front.
I was 27 seconds behind the winner in Qatar and only 9 seconds behind here, so this is a good step forward.
But we must keep on working hard.
I have to give my compliments to Dani – he did a great race.
I made a good start and was able to maintain a good pace during the race, but we still have to fine-tune the machine so that we can be really competitive.
” Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) 7th:“I am disappointed with seventh, because this is not our proper position as we have better potential than that.
This winter we went very well because we had enough time at tests to work on the bike, but here this weekend we did one dry practice and everything else in the wet.
We never found the best setting and we started the race with one we hadn’t tried here.
The bike was not too bad, but I never really found a good rhythm and feel from the tyres.
I want to say that I am really sorry to all my team and everybody that has been working so hard this weekend.
We need to go better than that and this weekend we just didn’t perform well enough.
”Mika Kallio ( Pramac Racing) 8th:“I didn’t have much time to prepare the bike during the weekend and I didn’t expect such a good result.
I was a bit confused and I took some laps to get a good rhythm.
I started to catch up and overtake other riders and I was really enjoying riding.
To finish the first two races in MotoGP in eighth position is a good start.
We have conquered some good points for the standing and I am very happy about it, for me and for the Pramac Racing Team.
”James Toseland (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) 9th:“I needed to be back in the top ten, so today was the step I’ve been looking for.
We made a big step with the front-end setting on Friday in just the 45 minutes of dry track time we had this weekend and it helped me a lot.
The comfort on the braking was much better and I was able to pass a couple of guys on the brakes today, which was good.
I went for the soft rear tyre just because that’s what I’d run most on Friday.
We knew the soft one would go the distance, but it wouldn’t be as strong in the latter stages of the race with the temperature being hotter today.
But I didn’t want to take any risks by running the harder compound, particularly as we knew it would take a couple of laps to get to temperature.
In the early part of the race I had quite a bit more grip than some of the guys and I might have been able to pass (Casey) Stoner and (Loris) Capirossi) if I was more comfortable with the bike on a full fuel load.
That would have pushed me a bit further up earlier in the race when I had an advantage with the softer tyre.
It was a good battle on the last lap with Vermeulen.
He passed me briefly at the end of the back straight, but I managed to keep him at bay.
I’m happy for my team because they’ve stood behind me and everybody has kept their morale up, and now we’ve got a result we can build on.
”Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki) 10th:“I’m really disappointed today, because I got a good start, the bike felt good and I thought a decent result would be possible.
”I pushed as hard as I could and tried to hang on to the back of Valentino.
From about the second or third lap I started to have a problem shifting gear heading into the turns and it made it difficult to stay consistent.
I felt like I’d got it under control, but then the problem got worse from about lap six as I lost all shifting up and down without having to shut the throttle or use the clutch – so it was quite difficult.
Other than that the bike worked really well and I felt like I could have challenged somewhere close to the front, but that’s all ifs, buts and maybes and we now have to make sure what caused the problem today never happens again.
”Randy De Puniet (LCR Honda) 11th:“It was a very hard race starting from the last row and I lost some time behind Sete.
After 6 laps I finally passed him and started to set my pace getting the 9th place.
At that time Kallio was behind me but he overtook me on lap 14th.
After that I tried to catch Toseland but my rear traction was not very good as we had only 18 laps in the dry on Friday and the machine was not as we expected.
I struggled in the left corners entries and I probably made a small mistake changing the gear in the two last laps and Vermeulen easily passed me.
It’s a pretty positive result considering my position on the grid and I am looking forward to racing in Jerez to improve my machine set up in the dry”.
Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) 12th:“That was not at all what I expected but I can’t turn the clock back.
I wish I could because I believe I could have fought for the podium.
We had a small issue at the start of the race and I simply couldn’t ride how I wanted to.
Ikept my head down and persevered throughout and perhaps a few more laps I could have chased down the guys in front for a top ten.
I couldn’t have ridden any harder today and I did my absolute best for Yamaha.
When I got going in the race my lap times were as quick as the top five, so it’s a case of wondering what might have been today.
We’ll look to bounce back in Jerez next weekend because I feel like I’m riding really well.
”Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) 13th: “We had some problems on Friday and missed our only opportunity to get the bike set up for dry conditions, which was an unfortunate circumstance that we paid the price for today.
I went for a hard front and rear tyre but it clearly didn’t work with the set-up we had and I had no feeling from the tyres or the suspension today.
There was a group of four riders fighting in front of me and I was desperate to get involved in the battle but I lost the rear a couple of times so finally decided to give up the chase.
Three points isn’t much but it’s better than nothing.
” Niccolò Canepa (Pramac Racing) 14th :“I am not very happy on how the race went today.
At the beginning I thought it was depending from me, maybe I needed some laps to find the rhythm, but then I don’t know what happened.
I couldn’t manage the rear part of the bike.
I thought that I had some problems with the tyre, but for what we can see it looks ok.
Now we will check the data to understand what happened.
I concluded the race to get the points that give us morale for the next race in Jerez in seven daysToni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini) 15th: “I’m very disappointed.
I was struggling a little over the opening couple of laps but by lap three I started to feel good and I was able to start making up positions.
I caught the group that Melandri and Vermeulen were in but just when I had done all the hard work I had a stupid crash.
I got on the dirty part on the outside of the track and lost grip on the front and rear under braking.
That’s the most disappointing thing because I had the opportunity to pick up some important points and I threw it away.
Looking at the positives, I finished the race and picked up a point, which is something, and we have improved the bike here, which should help us in future races.
” Yuki Takahashi (Scot Honda) DNF:“Out at the very beginning of the race… what a pity.
Not only for the race itself, but especially because I need making laps to learn and improve.
The crash occurred at the turn number five.
I was in a group of riders, more or less all of us at the same speed, then the collision under braking.
I’m really sorry.
”Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marboro) DNF:“That was exactly what we didn’t need.
I got a decent start and I think I was up a couple of positions but just going down into the hairpin, which is a slow hard-braking corner, I was on my line and Takahashi just took me down.
There was no warning – I didn’t even hear anything! I don’t want to say much about that, I don’t want to look like a cry baby but, you know, it was the first lap… luckily I feel okay.
I actually landed in the same place on my back as the crash in Qatar and my leathers and helmet have got exactly the same marks.
