ROSSI AND EDWARDS GET TO GRIPS WITH LAGUNA SECA
 The
blazing Californian sunshine and a bumpy new track surface
made life even more turbulent than usual at Laguna Seca today
as preparations for the US Grand Prix got underway for the
Camel Yamaha Team and their MotoGP World Championship rivals.
Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards made a bright start to the
day, lapping fifth and second fastest in the morning free
practice, but both struggled in the afternoon session and
were unable to improve their times as they focused on adapting
the set-up of their YZR-M1 machines to the unique demands
of the wild western circuit. Rossi himself indulged in a moment
of rodeo riding as he ran across the gravel traps after misjudging
a braking marker going into the Corkscrew corner.
To make matters worse for Edwards he also began to struggle
from the effects of flu symptoms and an upset stomach, which
were not helped by afternoon temperatures exceeding of 30ºC.
His morning benchmark was bettered by only five other riders,
however, the fastest of those being American compatriot Kenny
Roberts Jr. (Team KR) with a lap of 1’23.859 - just
inside Edwards’ own official lap record of 1’23.915
set during the race last year. Tomorrow the pair will have
one more free session to adjust their machine set-up before
tackling the all-important qualifying practice.
COLIN EDWARDS (5th; 1’24.310, 44 laps)
“At the moment we’re just working to get the bike
better, trying to find the right setting for the track. The
new surface is not great – I don’t think they
could have made it any bumpier if they tried. It’s been
hard to ride today because I’ve also been suffering
with flu symptoms and an upset stomach. I’ll go to the
Clinica Mobile for some treatment tonight and hopefully get
a good night’s sleep because I really don’t want
to feel like this again tomorrow, it was really hard to ride
this afternoon. The morning session was quite good and I was
feeling pretty confident, but I started to feel worse throughout
the day and things went downhill a bit this afternoon. We
tried some new things in the second session and didn’t
find exactly the right setting, but we have some more ideas
for tomorrow and I’m confident that if I’m feeling
okay I can be back on the pace.”
VALENTINO ROSSI (11th; 1’24.674, 47 laps)
“I think that they’ve done a good job on the circuit
and done nearly everything we’ve asked for. The track
is quite dirty at the moment but the new asphalt has much
better grip and by Sunday I think it will be okay. Turn one
is especially much safer and much less dangerous. The problem
that we have now is that it’s still very bumpy in parts
of the track, which is not good. In most places it’s
better but they’ve put the new asphalt down over the
old bumps, so they’re still there. This is unfortunate;
the worst part is after the corkscrew, turns 9 and 10. I was
happy with how we started today - I did some good laps towards
the end this morning and was starting to feel good with the
bike and the track – but this afternoon we had a lot
more problems. I didn’t have a good feeling in the corner
and the bike was quite hard to ride. The bumps are causing
us some difficulties and we need to understand how to make
the M1 work at this track. It is only Friday but we have a
lot of work to do. We need to make some tests with the qualifying
tyre tomorrow morning and hopefully we will have a better
situation than in Germany. It is going to be very important
that we qualify well because it’s hard to pass on this
track.”
DAVIDE BRIVIO – CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR
“We have some work to do, as always on a Friday! After
the morning session we expected to be a lot closer to the
front in the afternoon but the situation remained the same
and we didn’t make any major improvements. We have collected
a lot of data that our engineers will check overnight and
we will see how we can move forward in the morning. With the
American riders all going fast here there is more competition
at the top so Valentino knows he has work to do. Colin did
a good job today considering his physical condition so we
hope he will be feeling better tomorrow and will be able to
make some more steps forward with the bike before qualifying.”
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