MELANDRI SIXTH
The 86,200 fans who turned up to attend the 2006 Italian
Grand Prix saw one of the most spectacular races of this,
or any season. Marco Melandri and Toni Elias, the FORTUNA
HONDA riders, finished in sixth and seventh positions respectively
in the sixth round of the championship at Mugello. Melandri,
who spent almost all of the race battling it out with the
leading riders, put in a great performance but will be ruing
a mistake six laps from the end which saw him leave the track
and lose all chance of victory. Team-mate Toni Elias, who
started in 12th, got stronger as the race went on and moved
through the field to ultimately claim seventh position.
MARCO MELANDRI (42’51.403 6th)
3rd in Championship – 89 points:
“I knew it would be a long and hard race from the off
so I tried to take it easy early on, although I stayed with
the lead riders. My bike was a little slower in changing direction
and so tried to make up some time on the braking. By the end
I was pushing very hard and as I was battling Nicky Hayden
for third I made a big mistake which put me back to sixth,
well behind the lead group. It was a shame as I would have
loved to have got a podium for these great fans.”
TONI ELIAS (42’58.609, 7th):
7th in Championship – 53 points:
“I have the potential to be getting better results
but am being troubled by a traction problem. After qualifying
yesterday myself and the team decided to make a radical change
to the set-up of the bike and that made a real difference.
I am quite satisfied as I started in 12th and finished seventh
in the end. Tomorrow I hope that the weather is kind to us
and that we are able to stay at the circuit to do some testing.
I am really looking forward to racing in front of my home
fans in the next round.”
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