MotoGP
Phillip Island, MotoGP: Casey Stoner wins in hard race for Honda men
15 ottobre 2007 World Champion Casey Stoner (Ducati) MotoGP emphasized his talent with a lights-to-flag win here at Phillip Island, with his team-mate Loris Capirossi second and Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) third. This is Stoner’s ninth win of the season so far. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) rode as hard as he ever has to manage fourth place after his team-mate Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) was forced out of this 27-lap race on lap 13 with a mechanical problem. Stoner rocketed off the line to lead into the only turn one on the superb MotoGP circuit with a sea view. He was pursued by the fast-starting Hayden, who leapt from fourth to second in that short burst from the line. Poleman Dani Pedrosa lay third with Rossi on his tail. Dani and Rossi spent the first few laps juggling third place between them, while Nicky stalked Stoner. Both of those riders were desperate for victory, former World Champion Nicky to record the first win of his troubled title defence season, Stoner to win in front of his massed fans. Marco Melandri (Gresini Honda RC212V) made a fantastic start to move up to fourth place from 12th on the grid and set a fastest lap of the race while doing it. As the field settled down to engage in the fastest race of the season, it was clear Stoner was unassailable here barring disaster. The fight would be for scraps behind the Aussie Champ. By mid-race Rossi had relieved Hayden of second, with Stoner already enjoying a 2.5 second lead. Dani held fourth, with Merlandri now fifth and Capirossi sixth. Here, from approaching mid-race distance, Capirossi would begin his charge. But mid-race too would spell disaster for Nicky and it was an angry Hayden who trudged back to his pit garage when his RC212V expired. Having qualified in the top four for six successive races, Nicky was again working hard for a result here. By lap 15 Stoner had put five seconds between himself and Rossi with Dani third and a determined Melandri fourth, but on the next lap Melandri ran wide and let Capirossi through to take his place. Dani took second back off Rossi on lap 17, but there was more action to come as the strain on tyres took its toll here. The three way dice for second, third and fourth places was a highlight of the race with Capirossi taking both Rossi and Dani’s places in the space of the final turn on lap 19 and the entry to turn one on lap 20 – and racing doesn’t come much more spectacular than that. Rossi then stole third off Dani on the same lap. Stoner was well away by now and at the flag he was 6.763 seconds ahead of his team-mate. Dani in fourth was 11 seconds away from the Aussie victor. Melandri would drop to 10th at the flag as his tyres deteriorated towards the end of this gruelling race. Carlos Checa (LCR Honda RC212V) finished 11th, Shinya Nakano (Konica Minolta Honda RC212V) 13th and Toni Elias (Gresini Honda RC212V) 15th. Kurtis Roberts (Roberts KR212V) brought the KR machine home 17th. Dani, still fighting Rossi for second overall in the Championship with 201 points to Rossi’s 230, said: “This is not really the result we wanted here. We had an issue with the machine on my practice start in the warm-up this morning and so I was racing my second bike today. The feeling was not perfect but still I was able to push hard and fight for positions for most of the race. However in the last ten laps the grip from the tyres began to fall away quite quickly and I had a lot wheelspin and the machine was sliding when I tried to open the throttle. Casey was very fast again here and I don’t think we could have stayed with him today but it’s a shame not to be on the podium today.” Nicky said: “That’s a tough one to swallow. That hurts because we were having a really good race and the bike was feeling by far the best it has all season without a doubt. Stoner was setting a hot pace – he was a little bit quicker in some places and I was quicker than him in a few places. I was trying to hang in there and ride smoothly and try to preserve the tyres and not get too crazy too quickly. It’s easy to speculate on what would have happened at the end of the race… After a few laps I was still right on him but all of a sudden the engine started to get tight and started slowing down. I was nervous but it kept running and I wasn’t going to pull over so I kept one hand on the clutch. Eventually she tied up and that was it – another goose egg in the points column.” Marco Melandri (10th) said: “Today we were in good shape to finish on the podium. After a good start from the fourth row I was able to battle virtually for the whole race in the top five. I had a good pace and the bike felt really good. I could have fought for second but unfortunately I had problems. I tried to finish the race as best as I could. I’m disappointed with tenth place because we had the potential for a much better result at a circuit I love and where I have already won in all three classes, as well as lifting the 250 title here.” Checa in 11th said: “The start and opening laps were the best for me and I did my fastest lap of the weekend on lap seven. I was still suffering from a lack of turning, especially in the very fast turn three, plus it was difficult to stay ahead on the front straight. I had a lot of fun in the fight with West, Vermeulen and Edwards, it is more enjoyable than riding alone. The team worked hard to improve the bike but this was the best result possible today.” Shinya Nakano (13th) said: “My start wasn’t too bad – it’s nice to start from the third row for a change. Initially I found I could stay with the middle group at the start of the race. My pace at the start wasn’t too bad – I was actually faster than during practice – so I was enjoying myself. Unfortunately from the middle to the end of the race I couldn’t keep my rhythm going. Our problem was chattering from the front-end of the RCV211V when under hard Braking for the two hairpin corners. I think what we need to do is start Friday with a faster lap-time and then make changes from there to find a setting that works better when we’re going faster in the race.” Toni Elias finished 15th and said: “It’s been a difficult weekend and today I suffered from a few different problems that prevented me from riding as I can. I had problems with the front tyre from the start, then at the halfway stage we developed a problem with the electronics and I just tried to finish the race. I want to put this behind me now and just think about Malaysia. Sepang is one of my favourite circuits so hopefully we can have a much better result there.” Kurtis Roberts said: “This weekend’s been tough just because of the weather conditions. And it’s the first time I’ve been here in ten years. We did as much as we could. I probably could have ridden a bit better, but I tried my hardest and ended up just losing out to Tamada and Elias right at the end. I’d got ahead of Tamada, but I just left the door open coming down the hill on the last lap. He pulled alongside and I went round the corner right with him. I thought I could out-drive him on the way out, but he had more grip. My bike was spinning there the whole race. I tried again in the last corner, but I went sideways.” Results MotoGP
World Championship Positions: |
|
Print version
Send to a friend
Write your comment » Related headlines
Commenti dei lettori| Attenzione: si prega di non utilizzare un linguaggio offensivo, eventuali commenti volgari o offensivi saranno rimossi, così come link non giustificati. I commenti sono inseriti dai lettori, che se ne assumono la responsabilità |
|
Non sei registrato? Registrati, è gratis! |
|
|
Commento |
|
