MotoGP
Motegi: Toni Elias on podium as rain throws race into chaos
25 settembre 2007
In damp conditions after rain throughout the morning with an ambient temperature of 21-degrees, a track at 24-degrees, and perhaps most significantly 90% humidity reducing any likelihood of the track drying quickly, this 24-lap race got underway. It was poleman Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) who rocketed into an early lead with a fast-starting Elias taking the fight to his fellow Spaniard leading the chasers with Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) third early on and Stoner fifth. Dani led lap two and Anthony West (Kawasaki), who revels in wet conditions, had now jumped up to second in the early order. The Aussie would later be penalized for a jump-start with a ride-through penalty that would wreck his chances of what looked like a possible shock win. By lap four the order was West, Stoner, the rapid Marco Melandri (Gresini Honda RC212V) now in third, Pedrosa, de Puniet and then Valentino Rossi (Yamaha). But all was to change as the rain held off and a dry line began to appear. As West entered pitlane to serve his penalty, the rest of the runners began to plan when – not if – they would have to do likewise to change to spare bikes shod with different rubber; either cut slick tyres (for the majority of riders) or full slick tyres for those gambling on the track to dry fully and quickly. Melandri now led the race as Carlos Checa (LCR Honda RC212V) pitted first to swap bikes. Rossi lay third 3.7 seconds behind Stoner in second and as the former World Champion set an early fastest lap of the race, Hayden and Elias pitted while the rest of the field circulated. The risk of full-wet rubber deteriorating or disintegrating under the drying conditions was now high but by lap ten neither Melandri, Stoner nor Rossi had taken the plunge and sacrificed those podium places for a bike change. Indeed, Rossi took Stoner for second and then Melandri for the lead on lap 15. Marco then pitted and so did Stoner as Dani Pedrosa crashed out of the race while on wet tyres. Capirossi who had taken the gamble of pitting early for slicks now led and the Italian man would lead all the way to the flag now. Rossi was in trouble with his brakes and pitted again before emerging once more only to experience difficulties and drop way out of contention for the podium. Capirossi would win this exciting race from De Puniet and Elias while Sylvain Guintoli (Yamaha) narrowly missed a podium in fourth as Melandri made fifth, 28 seconds off the leader. Hayden managed ninth place in the turmoil while Shinya Nakano (Konica Minolta Honda RC212V) couldn’t capitalise on the chaos and fared no better than 16th. Checa ended up 18th and Kurtis Roberts (Roberts KR212V) failed to finish, pitting permanently in the early laps. The destiny of the World Championship was concluded here in Stoner’s favour. The Aussie now has an unassailable points lead of 297 points. Dani now faces an uphill struggle to steal second overall from Rossi. Dani has 188 points to Rossi’s 214. Third-placed Elias said: “I’m really happy to be back on the podium. This is an incredible result after the accident at Assen. It’s been a tough couple of months for me and this was a nice reward. I got a good start but I lost a few positions and found myself some way back. I didn’t have anything to lose so I came in early to change bikes. It proved to be the perfect time and the perfect strategy. In general it has been a perfect day, following on from a difficult weekend and a particularly tough race.” His team-mate Melandri in fifth said: “I was having a good race in the wet, my feeling with the bike was really good and I was able to take over from Stoner and build a bit of a lead. When the track started to dry it was really difficult for me because I was leading the race and it was hard to judge the right moment to come and change the bike because there were still some wet patches. The positive thing is that I've closed the gap to fifth and fourth in the Championship.” Ninth-placed Nicky Hayden said: “After the weekend we were having and how we felt after qualifying yesterday, it was a shame to see it rain this morning, but the weather is what it is. Really I think we’re lucky to salvage some kind of result out of the day – if it had stayed wet we could have been in even more trouble. But ninth position for Honda’s home race is not the result we’d hoped for. It’s the first time in my life I’ve ever been on cut slicks – I’ve been in rain tyres or intermediates before – so I did get some useful experience. We’ve still got three more races and we’ll keep fighting. Lastly, congratulations to Casey. There’s a new World Champion today and so congratulations to him and his whole team – they truly deserve it.” Dani Pedrosa, now confirmed as Honda rider for another two years, said: “Well this is obviously a very disappointing finish to what had been a promising weekend until this morning. In the dry we seemed to have a very good package, but the drying track for the race turned things into a bit of a lottery. With hindsight, perhaps I should have come into the pits a little earlier, but that’s an easier call to make now than at the time. Congratulations to Casey on the championship. He has been very strong all season and really deserves the title today.” Shinya Nakano said: “I am disappointed that my home Grand Prix has ended this way. I was going to pit, but the Michelin wet tyres were working well in the drying conditions. I maybe could have pitted a couple of laps earlier, but when I eventually changed bikes there were still some damp parts of the track and I couldn’t push hard. I found it hard to get feedback from the harder compound slick tyres, which made it a difficult race for me. It’s hard to accept a result like this at my home GP, but I now have to look forward to the final three races.” Checa said “At the start I had some doubts about using wet tyres or slicks, but it was too risky not to start on wet weather tyres. When the rear began to slide too much so I stopped on lap five to change bikes. But we lost some seconds as the team was still working on a different setting because of the rapid change in track conditions. We had planned a front treaded tyre on the grid for the spare bike, and there hadn’t been time to change it. Unfortunately it was impossible to go any faster than this on a drying track in the second part of the race.” Kurtis Roberts, who suffered a DNF, said: “I just got around about five guys in the first lap and then about four corners from the end of the lap all of a sudden the thing started coming around really badly. I could tell the thing was just skip-sliding across the asphalt. And it started doing it coming in and going out, like there was oil or something getting on the tyre. I almost crashed every corner on the thing.” |
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