FORTUNA YAMAHA RIDERS FINISH IN AN ACCIDENT-STREWN RACE
Both Fortuna Yamaha riders took the chequered flag to score
valuable points in what proved to be an accident-plagued Japanese
GP, thanks to the scorching weather conditions which made
the race something of a lottery. Nine riders did not finish
the race, whilst Elias and Xaus came home ninth and tenth
respectively. Their race pace was not the best, down largely
to their poor positions on the grid, but they managed to finish
when many others didn’t.
Toni Elias
9th in Japanese GP
16th in championship, 38 points
“We leave Motegi with some good points under our belts
and a better finish than we were hoping for. But this race
was worse than the previous one in Brno where I rode a better
race but got a worse result. I had many problems this weekend
and we weren’t able to solve them. We will try to sort
them out for Malaysia. Obviously this wasn’t my best
race and, although they don’t completely console me,
the points are valuable.”
Rubén Xaus
10th in Japanese GP
15th in championship, 42 points
“I did not go quick today despite finishing tenth.
Halfway through the race when riders were falling all over
the place, I thought I could not really raise my rhythm too
much because the hot conditions would have made it risky as
it was such a physical effort. At moments like that you have
to be calm and not risk too much. I want to take points from
these races before returning home again. Today felt like I
was fighting against the bike as much as anything else and
I put in so much effort I did not want to throw it away. It’s
about progressing and it’s satisfying to finish races
in high positions.”
Hervé Poncharal, Team Manager:
“We have to be happy with ninth and tenth positions
because after qualifying we could not have dreamt of such
good results. From the beginning of the weekend we knew it
would be almost impossible to get such good results, but all
the falls allowed us to do so. The strategy was, when riders
started to fall, to ask our riders to be patient. On the other
hand we can’t be happy with the pace of our Yamahas.
The feelings we have are a mixture of happiness at the points
and sadness at our set-up problems. I hope we can find a solution
in time for nest weekend’s race in Malaysia.”
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