ROSSI TAKES SENSATIONAL SECOND AT DONINGTON
Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi produced one of the
performances of his life today as he rode through the pain
of hand and ankle injuries to take a simply sensational second
place in the British Grand Prix. Roared on by a partisan local
crowd, who have taken the Italian to their hearts after a
string of victories at this circuit, Rossi started steadily
from twelfth on the grid but soon got into his rhythm and
began passing riders with the flamboyance and determination
that has already taken him to five consecutive MotoGP World
Championship titles.
With the series leader before today’s action, Nicky
Hayden (Honda), struggling to seventh place today, Rossi’s
incredible charge comes into sharper focus with a glance at
the championship standings. With eight rounds remaining the
Yamaha man trails the American by just 35 points and the destiny
of the title is now back in his hands. Rossi remains in third
place overall, however, after a second victory of the season
for Dani Pedrosa (Honda) saw the Spaniard consolidate second
spot.
Rossi’s team-mate Colin Edwards also produced a determined
ride as he made up four places from his qualifying position
to take sixth despite also struggling to find the correct
set-up for his machine during practice. The American now heads
to Japan to prepare for the Suzuka 8-Hour race he will contest
on 30th July, before returning for the next round of the MotoGP
season at Sachsenring, Germany, two weeks from now.
VALENTINO ROSSI (2nd; + 3.864)
“That was an amazing race and a very important result
for me. I am in a better position as far as the points are
concerned and that is more important than winning the race.
To be honest after Assen I wasn’t sure if it would be
possible to fight for a top result here but I wanted it so
much because Donington is a very special place to me and the
fans give me such incredible support every year. We were really
surprised that the bike didn’t work on Friday but the
whole team worked really hard to find the right setting and
the right tyre. After qualifying we decided we would try some
new things this morning but the wet warm-up meant we had no
chance to do that so we just took a gamble with the setting
and it worked. It took me eight laps to understand just how
good my pace could be and from that point I realised that
my goal had to be the podium. I had some hard battles along
the way but when I got up to Melandri it got even harder!
We had real fun and neither of us wanted to back down. He
was faster than me in some places and I was faster than him
in others. In the end it came down to the last hairpin and
we both braked around 20 or 30 metres deeper than normal.
We both ran wide but luckily Marco went even wider than me
and I was able to get in from of him. I finished second but
today it felt like a win.”
COLIN EDWARDS (6th; + 21.710)
“It just hasn’t clicked for us this weekend and
I’m really disappointed, even though sixth place brings
in a few decent points. Last year everything came easily here
but from the first practice it was clear that it wasn’t
going to be the case this time around and we never really
found our way, it was as simple as that. The bike wasn’t
too bad for the race and I could catch other riders easily
but we didn’t have the set-up to get past people on
the brakes. That made life really difficult and the race was
a struggle from start to finish. It’s been a hard few
weeks but now I have a bit of a change of scenery as I will
head out to Japan to prepare for the 8 hour. I hope we’ll
be in better position to fight at Sachsenring in a couple
of week’s time.”
DAVIDE BRIVIO – CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR
“This was a very important race because despite Valentino’s
injury we have been able to close the gap to Nicky Hayden
in the championship. Valentino said it was more like a victory
and the feeling in the team is the same because of the physical
condition he was in and the fact he started from so far back
on the grid. There was never any doubt about Valentino’s
qualities but he has performed like a true World Champion
over a difficult few weeks and he deserves a rest now. Our
engineers also did a great job to put everything together
in time, they have also been working hard and will enjoy a
couple of days off before the next race. Now we have eight
races left and 35 points to make up before Valencia.”
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