Rossi: Finally I can ride at 100%.






Last year Valentino Rossi won the very first Chinese MotoGP in appalling conditions and this year he returned to similar weather - and results - during day one at Shanghai.

Rossi and his Camel Yamaha were in perfectly harmony today, despite their recent problems, to lead both the morning and afternoon one-hour sessions.

"Today was much better. Finally I was able to ride the bike at 100%, like I want to. We found some good things at our test on Monday in Istanbul and we've made some good modifications using that data here this morning. Now I am very happy," smiled Rossi, who lies fifth in the championship - 12 points behind leader Nicky Hayden.

"Today was great fun, I had a good feeling with the bike in the wet and I am confident that this setting we have can also work well in the dry. Hopefully we will get the chance to find out tomorrow because the worst scenario would be to have another day of wet practice and then a dry race on Sunday. Now we see how the weather is tomorrow," he concluded.

Rossi's best time of 2mins 9.393secs was enough to put him over three tenths clear of Ducati's Loris Capirossi, whilst John Hopkins, Sete Gibernau and Nicky Hayden completed the top five.

"That was a very good session, especially after the problems we had in Istanbul," said team director Davide Brivio. "The engineers made some good steps with the setting and, thanks to their good work at the test in Turkey, Valentino was able to be fast again today. Watching him ride to the best of his ability is always very enjoyable and the situation here is clearly very different to what we found when it rained in Turkey."

However, Rossi's progress didn't seem to reach the other side of the garage - with Colin Edwards down in 11th - but the Texan claims he's confident of going "much quicker" tomorrow.

"I'm reasonably happy with today," said Edwards. "We did some good work on the setting of the bike but when we got it to where I wanted to push for a good time we had a minor setback with the tyre and I had to go for a different compound, which didn't quite work out. The main thing is that I'm comfortable with the bike and I'm confident I can go much quicker tomorrow whether it's wet or dry."

Further rain is expected tomorrow, but Sunday could provide a dry race.

Rossi reigns at soaking Shanghai.


MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi was back to his best at Shanghai today, setting the pace in both wet free practice sessions ahead of Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix.

The Italian got his weekend off to a promising start by setting the first practice pace - albeit by just 0.002secs from ever impressive rookie Casey Stoner - while Kenny Roberts completed a close, all-Michelin, top three by lapping within 0.052secs from the top.

The rain continued to fall steadily throughout this afternoon's hour, keeping the 5.281km circuit fully soaked, but Ducati Marlboro's Sete Gibernau soon beat Rossi's morning best - and continued to lead until the Italian returned to the top, with a 2min 10.620secs, just after the halfway mark.

Bridgestone-backed Gibernau returned to the front soon after, but Rossi retaliated with eight-minutes of the hour remaining - edging 0.185secs ahead. Rizla Suzuki's John Hopkins then knocked Gibernau down a further position as he closed to within 0.067secs of the seven-times world champion, with four-minutes still to run.

The closing stages then saw a flurry of fast laps, resulting in Hopkins hitting the top by just 0.050secs with a lap to go, while Gibernau - who looked capable of retaking the position - was left visibly angry after losing his advantage due to a misting visor.

Having no such trouble was team-mate Loris Capirossi, not a renowned wet weather rider, who used his last lap to leap 0.3secs clear of the field - but his command lasted just a few seconds before Rossi put Camel Yamaha back into P1 with an advantage of 0.355secs, despite getting his factory M1 sideways at the hairpin.

After his recent troubles, Rossi was visibly happy with the handling of his M1 - which appears to have regained its agility, while avoiding the dreaded chatter - although team-mate Colin Edwards was just 13th fastest today, suggesting any cure is yet to reach his side of the pits.

Meanwhile, Hopkins also improved slightly on his final lap to end day one an impressive third, 0.614secs from Rossi, with Gibernau fourth and championship leader Nicky Hayden fifth and the final rider within one-second of Rossi. Melandri took sixth ahead of top rookie Dani Pedrosa - who confounded his critics by producing a strong wet weather ride to eventually outpace Stoner by 0.2secs.

Konica Minolta Honda's Makoto Tamada also enjoyed a strong session - by recent standards - with ninth, while rookie Randy de Puniet was the top Kawasaki rider in a commendable tenth, just ahead of Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen and Roberts.

Main losers today were the Dunlop riders, all four of whom were left at the bottom of the field - between 5.5secs (Checa) and 10.023secs (Cardoso) from Rossi.

Despite the treacherous weather conditions, 15 out of the 19 riders still broke the 200mph barrier today - led by Gibernau, who clocked a top speed of 205.2mph/330.2kph.

More rain is forecast for Saturday, but Sunday's race - unlike last year's inaugural event - could be dry

Capirossi credits engine management.






Loris Capirossi exceeded expectations in Shanghai today as the Ducati Marlboro star, not a renowned wet weather rider, set the second fastest lap time - 0.3secs from Valentino Rossi.

"The visibility got worse at the end of this afternoon's session, so during my final run I pulled over to the side of the track, cleared my visor, then pushed harder on my last lap and everything was okay," revealed the Italian, who is currently just 1-point behind world championship leader Nicky Hayden.

"This morning we worked a lot on wet set-up, we made a lot of progress with engine-management settings and we tried Bridgestone's three different rear rain tyres. All three are okay but I already prefer one over the others. We are good in the wet, thanks to all the work we've done on engine management, but in the dry, when the tyres are working well, we can be even better!"

Fortunately for Loris, the latest weather forecasts suggest that - while tomorrow will be wet - race day is likely to be overcast but dry. If that forecast is correct, riders will only have Sunday's 20-minute warm-up session in which to work on dry set-up and tyre choice.

"I'm happy with today's results, it's surprising how many riders are going very fast in these conditions. Tomorrow, I hope the weather will be the same as it will be on Sunday, wet or dry. But there's not much point talking about what the weather will do, we'll just see what happens and make the most of it," he added.

Team-mate Sete Gibernau led a substantial amount of today's session, but dropped back to fourth at the flag after misting problems with his visor. At the time, Gibernau was visibly frustrated by the issue - but had cooled down after the session. "This afternoon I did have some problems with helmet fogging, which is very rare, but I know Arai will get that fixed for tomorrow because they're the best," he said.

"We will have to see what the weather brings, but if it stays wet for tomorrow and then dries out for Sunday, everyone will be gambling on bike settings and tyre choice," added the Catalan. "Plus, we don't really know much about this track in the dry because it rained most of the time here last year. The surface seems grippy enough in the wet, but it doesn't drain too well, so when it rains really hard you get a build up of surface water, then you don't have so much grip."

Traduzione:

Shanghai (Cina) - Valentino Rossi è proprio felice di ciò che ha fatto oggi e non lo nasconde: "Siamo andati molto bene, la moto era molto a posto e per questo ringrazio il team per il lavoro fatto lunedì dopo la gara a Istanbul. Ti dirò di più, penso che saremmo a posto anche con l'asciutto".
-Va bene la moto, ma tu hai guidato davvero bene, un giro capolavoro?
"Beh, guidavo e piegavo niente male, e pensare che ho fatto un piccolo errore a tre curve dalla fine. Avevo un po' di gente davanti e mi sono scomposto, però è andata molto bene".
-Rossi è tornato, la M1 pure?
"Sembrerebbe... E poi adesso i problemi sembrano risolti, soprattutto lavorando sull'ammortizzatore".
-E la Michelin è tornata forte sul bagnato?
"Si, hanno delle coperture nuove che lavorano molto bene".

Loris Capirossi ha dato spettacolo, guidando benissimo sul bagnato, un tempo suo tradizionale punto debole.
-E' stato un giro azzeccato, oppure c'era qualcosa di diverso?
"Non è stato un colpo a sorpresa, durante il turno si vedeva davvero poco e le altre moto, oltre all'acqua, sollevavano anche della terra che sporcava la visiera. Alla fine mi sono pulito la visiera e ho girato davvero bene".
-La Ducati una volta era una brutta bestia sul bagnato cos'è cambiato?
"Abbiamo un gran motore e un'erogazione davvero dolce, abbiamo fatto davvero un bel salto in avanti e poi abbiamo tre rain che vanno molto bene, una in particolare, quella che ho scelto io". -Meglio asciutto o bagnato?
"Spero solo che sia nelle stesse condizioni di domani anche domenica. Sarà il destino a decidere". C'è la forza del destino anche nella giornata di Sete Gibernau, un altro mago del bagnato che però oggi non ha brillato come ci si aspettava, ma un motivo c'è...
"Volevo percorrere la distanza di gara con le stesse gomme, così stamattina e oggi pomeriggio sono uscito con il medesimo set di pneumatici. Durante gli ultimi minuti della seconda sessione di prove mi si è appannata un po' la visiera, il che è molto strano perché non mi succede mai. In ogni caso sono certo che i tecnici Arai risolveranno il problema perché loro sono i migliori".

Chi invece ha fatto grandi progressi sul bagnato è Marco Melandri...
"Sono contento, anche se è stata una giornata dura e faticosa. Tra l'altro la pista cambia sempre caratteristica da un turno all'altro. Per fortuna abbiamo fatto un grande passo avanti nel setting, soprattutto sul bagnato, visto che sono stato a lungo secondo. Purtroppo, a fine turno, ho fatto una regolazione diversa dell'ammortizzatore che non ha dato i risultati sperati. Ma questo non mi preoccupa: una volta ritornati indietro, la moto andava molto bene".
-Magari non siete davanti, però le Honda, la tua compresa, sembrano molto a posto?
"Noi abbiamo una buona base, anche se cambiano le situazioni, non cambia molto".


(12.05.06)

(da motonline.com)

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METEOROLOGO E CONSULENTE CINOFILO

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SERVER IN MANUTENZIONE - CI SCUSIAMO PER IL DISAGIO, STIAMO LAVORANDO PER MIGLIORARE IL FORUM

sta domenica ci vorrebbe una bella doppietta di Rossi/e

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METEOROLOGO E CONSULENTE CINOFILO

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SERVER IN MANUTENZIONE - CI SCUSIAMO PER IL DISAGIO, STIAMO LAVORANDO PER MIGLIORARE IL FORUM

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"Omnis homines qui sese student praestare ceteris animalibus, summa ope niti decet ne vitam silentio transeant veluti pecora,"
Sallustius, Bellum Catilinae, liber I

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WLF

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Lo Zio Tazio

"Io vi daró tutto ... basta che non domandiate nulla!"

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Lo Zio Tazio

"Io vi daró tutto ... basta che non domandiate nulla!"

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OK ci ho provato, ora basta. Me ne vado da quel paese. Sono stanco di esser preso in giro (1/6/08).
Ora cerco una nuova casa. (8 nov 2012)

Spero di trovare una nuova casa...

Forse, dopo tanto errare, ho trovato una nuova casa 01/03/2014.

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Lo Zio Tazio

"Io vi daró tutto ... basta che non domandiate nulla!"