GP of Germany Qualifying
MARCO MELANDRI ON THE SECOND ROW IN GERMANY
Toni Elias continues to be troubled by pain
Marco Melandri will start Sunday's German GP on the second
row of the grid, whilst team-mate Toni Elias - still bothered
by pain in his left shoulder after his fall at Assen - could
not improve his position from yesterday and will start in
16th position.
The Italian FORTUNA HONDA rider lapped at a good pace which
enabled him to remain amongst the leading riders having taken
provisional pole on Friday. However, he could not take full
advantage of his qualifying tyres and ultimately had to settle
for sixth place.
Team-mate Toni Elias faces a difficult physical test tomorrow.
With ten left-hand corners on the circuit and Sunday's race
scheduled for 30 laps the Spaniard's fitness after the injury
to his right shoulder-blade will be truly tested.
MARCO MELANDRI (6th, 1'22"420°): "I
am very pleased with our work in qualifying for this race,
the bike is working well and the Michelin tyres have given
us some very good results. It will be important to make a
good start tomorrow and stay with the lead group as there
are not a lot of places to overtake on this circuit. The objective
for today was to claim a place on one of the front two rows
and although I did that, I could not take full advantage of
the qualifying tyre to get on the front row. Tomorrow it will
be a very long race so am pleased that my physical condition
has improved a lot from the last race. My right shoulder should
not be too badly affected as there are so many left-hand corners."
TONI ELIAS (16th, 1'23"660): "I
suffered a lot in the qualifying session because of my back.
It really began to hurt after yesterday's session and felt
even worse today. Right now I am very tired and hurting a
lot. The left-hand corners are not helping me at all and so
it will be a tough race tomorrow. I am happy to have made
it on to the grid and my objective is just to finish the race."
QUALIFYING TIMES
1. D.Pedrosa (Sp/Honda) 1'21.815
2. K.Roberts (Usa/Honda KR) 1'21.907
3. N.Hayden (Usa/Honda)
6. M.Melandri (Ita/Honda) 1'22"420
16. T.Elias (sp/Honda) 1'23"660
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