KAWASAKI WORKING TO CONQUER VALENCIA
The Grand Prix of Valencia got off to a testing start today
for the Kawasaki Racing Team as the first two of the weekend's
practice sessions took place at the technical, 4km Spanish
circuit. However, by the end of the afternoon, there were
marked improvements in both riders' performances, indicating
things will progress nicely in time for Sunday's race.
After the fast, fluid circuits of the recent overseas rounds,
which saw the 800cc Ninja ZX-RR come into its own, the complex,
"stop and go" layout of the Valencia track proved
somewhat more difficult to conquer instantaneously. However,
Randy de Puniet established himself on track by the end of
the second session, taking well over a second off his morning
practice best.
Indeed, with a time of 1'33.519, the 26-year-old Frenchman
came in sixth fastest, just 0.551 seconds behind the day's
leading man, Casey Stoner, and a minuscule 0.018 seconds behind
Chris Vermeulen. He also recorded a fourth-highest top speed
of 298kmh, so ended both sessions with increased confidence
after he and his crew had carried out numerous improvements
to his bike over the course of the day.
De Puniet's team mate, Anthony West, struggled a bit more,
recording a best time of 1'34.413 after the two hours' worth
of practice. However, this is over half a second off his fastest
of the morning and still only 1.445 seconds behind Stoner.
If some early problems with grip can be solved during tomorrow's
sessions, we could easily see the 26-year-old Australian moving
up the field.
The Ninja, with its proven and highly-impressive power, lends
itself well to more flowing tracks. Shorter, tighter circuits,
such as Valencia, make for more of a challenge, something
the team relishes. Therefore, there is no shortage of confidence
in the Kawasaki garage that both riders will be prepared and
fired-up for Saturday afternoon's qualifying.
Randy de Puniet
#14 - 6th - Best Lap 1'33.519
"We've improved the bike a lot, especially regarding
corner entry and exit, and it's getting better all the time.
Rear grip hasn't been a particularly strong area so we've
been trying a variety of different settings throughout the
day. I've been riding with a hard compound tyre on the rear
and, because of that, I've had quite a few slides today. We
did try a softer compound but, whilst it was better with grip,
we have our doubts as to whether or not it will be long-lasting
enough for the race. The front's fine though. It's a tight
track and it's strange to come back to this sort of layout
after the circuits we've been to lately. Certainly, compared
to Malaysia, there's nothing like as much grip but tomorrow's
another day and we'll see where we go. My times haven't been
bad at all but, without doubt, with some stronger tyres I
could definitely improve my times, raising me a few places
and increasing the gap behind me."
Anthony West
#13 - 17th - Best Lap 1'34.413
"Admittedly, I didn't feel much confidence in either
the front or rear today; I'm getting a lot of movement both
on entry and exit, under braking and acceleration. The grip
isn't sufficient at the moment for me to ride as hard as I'd
like to. But we've tried a number of things today, especially
regarding the suspension, and there have been some improvements.
Still, we're going to discuss it further and come up with
a good strategy to increase my confidence so tomorrow I can
go faster."
Naoya Kaneko
Kawasaki Technical Manager
"At the moment, Anthony's lacking the confidence he needs
to go fast into and out of corners, so we need to concentrate
on his suspension set up to make it work better for him. He
is having some issues with grip at both the front and rear
of the bike so we will check our data and make some improvements
for his package tomorrow. With Randy, we have also seen some
problems with sliding so we will work on both his set up and
engine management to sort it out. Regarding tyres, we still
need to see what the track temperature will do, and what conditions
will be like, before making our final choices but I'm sure
we can find the combinations we need. I have no doubt that
we can overcome today's issues and look forward to getting
both riders in a position to qualify well tomorrow."
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 1'32.968; 2. Sylvain
Guintoli (FRA) Tech 3 Yamaha +0.116; 3. Dani Pedrosa (SPA)
Repsol Honda Team +0.182; 4. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda Gresini
+0.351; 5. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +0.533;
6. Randy De Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team +0.551; 7. Alex
Barros (BRA) Pramac d'Antin Ducati +0.573; 8. Valentino Rossi
(ITA) Yamaha Factory Racing +0.652; 9. Nicky Hayden (USA)
Repsol Honda Team +0.682; 10. John Hopkins (USA) Rizla Suzuki
MotoGP +0.712; 17. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing Team
+1.445
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