PREPARED FOR ‘THE CATHEDRAL’
The Yamaha riders will be looking for their third victory
in the last decade at Assen in the elite category. Valentino
Rossi will hope to repeat his success of last year where he
started from pole. If he wins, Valentino will have achieved
his 15th victory on a Yamaha, and the Japanese factory’s
137th in the top class. RUBEN XAUS and DAVID CHECA , the FORTUNA
YAMAHA riders, completed another satisfactory day of progress,
adapting to both the bike and the category. Xaus finished
seventh last year after having posted the ninth best time
in qualifying. This year he will start lower down the grid,
but the Spanish rider will hope for a repeat of his performance
at the last Grand Prix in Montmelo where he was right on the
pace of the race. Checa, for his part, was not quite as comfortable
and struggled to adapt to the qualification tyres, but will
hope to improve in tomorrow’s race.
Ruben Xaus (11):
(Free session 3: 2.02.930, 15th + 2.750 – 12/20 laps)
(Qualifying session: 2.01.854 16th + 2.918 -16/20 laps)
“Yesterday we quickly matched the quicker times, but
we struggled today to get close to our rivals. It’s
clear we have to make big changes because when we make small
ones, the advantage we make is very small. I know which tyre
I will be choosing out of the three options we have been offered,
but it won’t be tomorrow until we take a final decision.
For the moment I have to concentrate on my overall progression
and not worry so much about doing an explosive time if I can’t
be consistent. It’s better to find a good rhythm than
to do one isolted fast lap, that will not help in the race.”
David Checa (94):
(Free session 3: 2.03.012, 16th + 2.832 – 15/22 laps)
(Qualifying session: 2.02.639, 17th + 3.703 - 22/22 laps)
“Assen is a very difficult circuit. I know that with
the race tyres I will be about two second off the top riders.
I was not comfortable with the qualifying tyre and also had
problems with the front end – but the race tomorrow
is the important thing. I am worried because we have worked
hard and well. This race is full of riders who are more experienced
than me, but I will give my all and see what happens.”
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