MotoGP : Rossi and Edwards encounter second day problems
at Donington
Round: 9 - British Grand Prix
Circuit: Donington
Date: 1 July 2006
Temp: 29ºC
Weather: Sunny
Camel Yamaha team-mates Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards
will both start from the fourth row of the grid in tomorrow's
British Grand Prix, after running into set-up problems during
the second day of practice at Donington Park. Whilst Rossi
continued to ride through the pain from the ankle and wrist
injuries he sustained at Assen nine days ago, he also struggled
to adapt his machine to the demands of the British track,
where he has taken victory for five of the last six seasons.
Edwards was equally baffled by the lack of progress he made
today after making positive initial steps yesterday. The base
setting of the YZR-M1 machine has adapted swiftly to the fast
and flowing nature of recent circuits such as Assen and Catalunya,
but with only the morning warm-up remaining before tomorrow's
30-lap race the team still have plenty of room for improvement.
A small consolation for Rossi was that Nicky Hayden (Honda),
the current series leader, was also unable to challenge for
a top grid position and will start in between the Yamaha pair
on the fourth row in 11th spot.
Colin Edwards (10th - 1'28.481; 30 laps)
"The bike is really not working as well as we would like
and to be perfectly honest we're not sure why. The things
that worked so well last weekend don't seem to be having the
same effect here and we're struggling to come up with an alternative
at the moment. It's not for a lack of trying because my crew
have worked really hard all day - we played about with the
springs and the ride height but kept running down a blind
alley. This is one of my favourite tracks and I'm used to
turning up here and being in the top three from the first
session - like I have for the past two years. In theory it
should have been the same today but it's just not happening.
Now we have to hope we can find something good in the morning,
make a great start and just fight our way through!"
Valentino Rossi (12th - 1'28.808; 28 laps)
"We didn't expect to have so many problems here in Donington
because last year our bike worked really well. It's a track
where I've always been able to be really fast and go very
well from the start, so it's quite disappointing. The situation
with the wrist isn't so bad, but I've got some problems in
the hard braking areas. For sure I can't ride how I would
like to; we're not at the maximum. We've been quite confident
because, since the new chassis in Le Mans, the bike has worked
very well and been fast from the start, but here we can't
find a good setting for some reason. Tomorrow we will try
to find a way to make the situation a little better. Today
with Dr Costa I decided to try with some painkillers, to understand
better what we need to do for the race tomorrow. With these
painkillers it seems I can ride more or less normally. Tomorrow
me and my team will try to find the best possible setting
to enable me to ride a good race and I will also do some more
work with Dr Costa after warm-up in order to be in the best
possible shape to ride."
Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director
"It is a strange grid because nobody expects to see Colin,
Valentino and Nicky all together on the fourth row. For sure
the starting position will be the first problem for our riders
to overcome tomorrow. I think with Colin has shown that he
has the possibility to run a good race pace if we can just
refine the setting a little more, and for Valentino we need
to analyse things tonight and see if we can make it a little
more comfortable - especially for his wrist. Today he was
feeling stronger but he is clearly not at 100% yet so we will
have to wait and see how he is tomorrow. But his problem is
not just the injury - the bike setting is not where it should
be yet and we are still unclear about the tyre choice for
the race."
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