MELANDRI FINISHES 6TH AFTER AN INCREDIBLE RACE
Toni Elias finishes 7th and improves his feelings
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. Marco
was pushing hard when, six laps from the end, he left the
track in the attempt to overtake Nicky Hayden who was in third
position. With the 6th position in Mugello, Marco Melandri
now is third in the championship with 89 points. 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 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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