MELANDRI AND ELIAS DEFY THE ODDS WITH FOURTH AND SEVENTH
PLACE AT MISANO
Honda Gresini riders Marco Melandri and Toni Elias wowed
almost 60,000 fans at Misano today as they provided the entertainment
in the Grand Prix of San Marino with a stunning charge through
the field.
Melandri started from twelfth on the grid but got away well
and was soon up to ninth, before getting the better of Ant
West, Colin Edwards and Loris Capirossi as he stormed through
to fourth place - an incredible result considering his physical
condition and a heavy crash yesterday morning.
His team-mate Elias produced a performance that was just
as impressive, the Spaniard starting from the fifth row of
the grid in fifteenth place before charging to seventh despite
still suffering from the effects of a broken femur. In only
his second race since sustaining the injury at Assen, Toni
once again showed his determination and spirit today.
The Honda Gresini pair will be back on track at Misano tomorrow
for a day of tests.
MARCO MELANDRI (4th in the race, 6th in the championship
on 126 points): "I couldn't have hoped for a
better result considering my physical condition and starting
position. This morning we made a few modifications during
the warm-up that didn't have the effect we had hoped for so
we changed a few more things and went out with an even more
different setting in the race. With a good performance in
the race I wanted have to apologise to the team for my mistake
in practice on Friday that could have compromised our potential
this weekend. The team gave me a bike that has worked well
here and Bridgestone came up with the tyres. The whole package
felt good and that allowed me to ride comfortably despite
the physcial problems. Once I got past West, Edwards and then
Capirossi, I ended up on my own for almost the entire race.
Loris was close but I kept my focus for the whole race and
then pushed again over the final few laps to make sure of
fourth place. This is a fun track but there aren't many places
to overtake."
TONI ELIAS (7th in the race, 12th in the championship
on 63 points): "I'm satisfied with this result.
This morning in the warm up we made a few improvements to
the bike and that allowed me to take a step forward with my
pace. I'm really tired now because the leg was so painful
- especially in the second half of the race. From a physical
point of view, Misano is very demanding but I stuck in the
group and just tried to make up positions. Now I've got another
two important weeks to rest before Estoril."
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