KONICA MINOLTA Honda aiming for a good result in the USA
The KONICA MINOLTA Honda Team and rider Shinya Nakano head
straight from the heart of Europe to the Californian coast
for round 11 of the MotoGP World Championship. With just one
week between the German GP and the United States Grand Prix
at Laguna Seca, near Monterey, it’s been a rush to travel
half-way across the globe to the only race on the MotoGP calendar
which takes place on the American continent. This weekend’s
race will be the first time MotoGP fans in the USA have had
a chance to see the new-breed of 800cc machines.
Laguna Seca is 2.24 miles long and – like the Sachsenring
– is one of the few anti-clockwise circuits on the MotoGP
calendar. The circuit undulates in a natural bowl in the Monterey
hills and is dominated by one legendary corner – the
Corkscrew. The Corkscrew is a downhill left-right chicane
with a blind entry, which is a stern test of rider skill,
nerve and machine set-up. Following the American MotoGP race,
the championship takes a well-earned three-week break before
the season resumes on 19th August at the Brno circuit in the
Czech Republic.
Gianluca Montiron – Team Manager KONICA MINOLTA
Honda
“For me it is very exciting going to a circuit like
Laguna Seca: it is such a spectacular venue and the KONICA
MINOLTA Team are always happy to return to the USA. America
is a very important market in the world for MotoGP and I really
think that the atmosphere over the weekend is really quite
unique. From the technical point of view this is the first
time the new 800cc MotoGP machines have been seen in the USA
and the first time they have experienced the Laguna Seca circuit
and for this reason I think that this means it could be a
surprise for everybody. Saying that, Laguna is similar in
many ways to the Sachsenring: it goes uphill and downhill,
doesn’t have any long straights and goes anti-clockwise.
The KONICA MINOLTA Honda Team want to do well here and take
this final chance of taking some good points that will help
us move forward in the championship before the summer break.
After the break we are hopeful to receive continued support
from our Technical Partners so we can be more competitive
in the second part of the season.”
Shinya Nakano – Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda
“I enjoy riding around Laguna, it is a very challenging
track. After a number of races at Laguna I grew to really
like the circuit layout: even if I look at my results there
and see they are not so good! But the important thing is that
I like the track very much, so I’m confident that if
we find a good set-up there we can do very well. I remember
last year the track had a new surface and it was so bumpy
that everybody complained, so many of us couldn’t ride
it very well last year. With a year of use since being re-surfaced,
I’m hoping that the bumps have gone!”
Giulio Bernardelle – Technical Director, KONICA
MINOLTA Honda
“We think that Laguna Seca will be a good track for
our machine as there’s not so many straights and that
will help us. Also, as Shinya likes the layout of the circuit
this helps too. The layout of the track is very similar in
nature to the Sachsenring so the feeling for our rider should
be similar. We will need to carry on making some small improvements
to our technical package over the race weekend and if we do
this then hopefully we will find a way to keep Shinya in the
top ten and fighting closer to the top group of riders.”
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