THE PACE HOTS UP IN JEREZ
An agreeably warm and sunny Jerez today hosted the qualifying
session for the second round of the 2008 MotoGP World Championship
and the afternoon kept a significant crowd of race fans, gathered
for the event, on the edge of their seats.
Kawasaki's John Hopkins managed to take his Ninja ZX-RR to
ninth on the grid with a very respectable time of 1'39.439,
just over a second off pole man, Jorge Lorenzo's extraordinary
record-breaking lap.
It was a great showing for Hopkins, who yesterday crashed
at the end of the fast back straight. He and his crew had
been forced to play catch-up in tyre testing after the reduced
amount of laps the Anglo-American had been able to do at the
IRTA test at Jerez in February, due to injury.
Hopkins is the third of only three Bridgestone-shod riders
in the top ten of the time sheets, with current world champion,
Casey Stoner, and Valentino Rossi ahead of him, after Michelin
appeared to dominate somewhat. However, only Sunday's race
will reveal whether that dominance will extend from qualifying
tyres to race tyres.
During yesterday's sessions, Hopkins' team mate, Anthony
West, had problems with stability in the circuit's numerous
heavy braking zones and with traction coming out of the corners.
By the end of the day, his crew chief, Juan Martinez, indicated
that some changes would be made to the set up before the start
of today's practice.
Consequently, West had taken a large chunk out of his best
time from yesterday by only his third lap of the qualifying
session but then went on to massively reduce even that, eventually
putting in a time of 1'40.088 on his second to last lap of
the day, to claim 15th position on the grid.
The qualifying hour was certainly a nail-biting one. Premier
class rookie, Lorenzo, repeatedly bettered his own record-breaking
times to finally settle for a staggering 1'38.189 lap, to
the amazement of onlookers.
Further entertainment was also supplied by Colin Edwards.
After losing control of his Yamaha, the American, who looked
absolutely certain to run off the track in a haze of gravel,
picked the bike up with his knee, kept it on the circuit and
managed to wave in jubilation to the ecstatic crowd in one,
flowing manoeuvre. And Kawasaki's own John Hopkins used an
elbow to stablise the ZX-RR in a scary moment!
Tomorrow's 27-lap Spanish Grand Prix starts at 14.00 hours,
local time.
John Hopkins
#21: 9th - 26 laps - 1'39.439
"I'm reasonably happy with today as we're on the third
row. To be honest, the fastest qualifying lap we did wasn't
the best as I lost the front going into one of the long fast
right turns, so I know we had the potential to go even quicker.
I ended up scraping my elbow but I managed to pick the bike
up and get the power down to make a fairly decent lap time.
The tyre choice for the race is a bit of a gamble, as we've
only had a few laps on it due to the lack of testing, but
I'm confident that with Bridgestone's help we have made a
good decision. The machine set-up feels good and my injury
is much better so tomorrow we have to get away from the start
well and fight for a good finish."
Anthony West
#13: 15th - 25 laps - 1'40.088
"The qualifying session has given us some inspiration
as we've managed to slash our lap times by a huge amount.
I am disappointed not to be further up the grid, and the position
isn't quite where we would like to be, but at least we are
making progress. The qualifying tyre gave me a lot of confidence
as the machine was much more stable, we could turn into the
corners better and this enabled us to achieve a reasonable
lap time. The rest of the field is within our grasp now and
although it's going to be very tough out there tomorrow, I'm
looking forward to racing."
Naoya Kaneko
Kawasaki Technical Manager
"John, Anthony and the team have worked hard today and
although the grid positions aren't fantastic, I am happy that
we are moving forwards. John has had to play catch-up, as
he didn't get much time testing here; however, with a good
start I am sure he can gain a strong result. Anthony may not
have the best grid position but his lap time is, comparatively,
much better than at the first race at Qatar and, step-by-step,
he is getting there. Our main aim for the race is to collect
as much data as possible so we can optimise the machine and
tyre set-up to make our package stronger."
1. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha 1'38.189; 2. Dani Pedrosa
(SPA) Repsol Honda Team +0.600; 3. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha
Tech 3 +0.765; 4. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +0.872;
5. Valentino Rossi (46) Fiat Yamaha +0.875; 6. Randy De Puniet
(FRA) Honda LCR +0.933; 7. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro
Team +1.097; 8. James Toseland (GBR) Yamaha Tech 3 +1.145;
9. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing Team +1.250; 10. Loris
Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +1.295; 15. Anthony West
(AUS) Kawasaki Racing Team +1.889
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