MELANDRI AND ELIAS STRUGGLE THROUGH THE DONINGTON RAIN
 The
rain that has hindered the British GP throughout practice
returned on race day to make conditions extra tough for the
eighth round of the championship.
Team Honda Gresini riders Marco Melandri and Toni Elias battled
against the slippery Donington Park circuit, which became
even more difficult to negotiate as the track dried slightly
over the course of the 30-lap race. The pair started from
the 3rd and 4th rows respectively and tried their best to
make up positions but they struggled for grip at the start
of the race in the wet and only began to get a comfortable
feeling from their bikes as the track dried - Elias setting
the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1'41"428.
MARCO MELANDRI (10th in the race, 6th in the championship
on 81 points): "We tried a few set-up modifications
in the warm-up and improved the feeling on the front but couldn't
do the same on the rear. When the track was really wet I struggled
because the bike was sliding a lot. Then as it started to
dry out the situation improved because the bike felt more
balanced. The lap times show that because I went from doing
a 1'46.4 to a 1'41.4 on the last lap."
TONI ELIAS (12th in the race, 10th in the championship
on 49 points): "It's been a difficult weekend
and it hasn't ended as we wanted. I struggled in the race
because I couldn't get the tyre up to temperature and find
grip. I had a problem in braking and ran wide a few times,
which made me lose time and this meant I couldn't recover
positions as I wanted. When the track began to dry I was able
to set the fastest lap of the race. The positive thing is
that we've gathered a lot of information in the wet which
we'll be able to use together with Bridgestone and try to
solve some of the problems we've had this weekend."
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