Mika Kallio eleventh and still chasing best set-up ahead
of Assen
 Red
Bull KTM 250 star and world championship leader Mika Kallio
found himself in an unusual eleventh spot in qualifying for
the Dutch TT and is still chasing the best set-up for Saturday's
GP.
The 25-year-old Finn, winner of the British Grand Prix one
week ago, found the set-up requirements of the Assen circuit
with its high grip level and its banked corners completely
different to the English Donington Park raceway. Kallio kept
comparing two chassis versions and numerous set-up solutions,
but also lost valuable track-time due to the changing weather
conditions. He will try further modifications in the warm-up
practice session Saturday morning.
Team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama had an early set-back with a crash
on Thursday but recovered with a great performance on the
second day of practice. Aoyama was one of the few riders who
managed to go faster in final qualifying despite strong winds.
He is now very confident for the race despite his poor thirteenth
position on the grid. Repsol KTM 250 rider Julian Simon was
fastest out of the three KTM riders in this category in seventh
position.
What the riders said after qualifying
Julian Simon (Repsol KTM 250 - seventh in 1:40.686)
"Our start into this weekend was really difficult, but
yesterday afternoon, after various changes of tyres, chassis
and suspension set-up, everything came together and I managed
to do a good lap time. It was the result of hard work, and
this gives me a great sense of achievement and confidence
for the race. Today, things were difficult again after the
early morning rain. I ran into problems with the front suspension.
Things seemed to come together once again in the afternoon
and I was even hoping to be able to further improve my lap
time. But something went wrong with my front brake, on my
final run and it stopped me from going faster. But I am still
happy because I am on the second row on the grid. I hope to
get a good start and to be able to fight among the top group
of riders!"
Mika Kallio (Red Bull KTM 250 - eleventh in 1:40.849)
"We found a good setting for the race in Donington last
week, and then we arrived here with the same settings but
they didn't work. I have some chattering on the front here
and there, but the main problem is turning. There's is no
particular point on the track where I am losing a lot; it's
just a bit in every corner and that all adds up. I honestly
don't know what will happen tomorrow. Of course we'll keep
trying further modifications tomorrow in the warm-up. In fact
we will try a radical change, because we have nothing to lose
at the moment. We desperately have to try and find a solution
for the race!"
Hiroshi Aoyama (Red Bull KTM 250 - thirteenth in 1:40.914)
"Today we improved our lap times, even though I am still
thirteenth on the grid, which is not such a good place for
us. But I had a crash yesterday and we had to recover from
that and start all over again to try to find a good set-up.
We lost time this morning with the wet weather conditions
and conditions weren't as good as yesterday this afternoon.
Most of the riders haven't been able to improve their lap
times, so I am glad that I was one of the few who did. I am
not particularly happy, but I am not disappointed either.
Tomorrow, we will have different conditions again, so I hope
we can also adjust to those conditions and have a good race!"
Harald Bartol (Technical Director)
"This track with its banked corners and with very good
tyre grip puts a big load on the chassis and the suspension,
which makes it easier to run into chattering and other chassis
problems than on other circuits. Mika has been comparing the
new and the old chassis and swapped bikes quite a bit, but
we are still working to find the proper solutions for the
race. Once again, the weather conditions cut our dry track
time short, which made things even more difficult."
Raffaele de Rosa seventh in Assen 125 cc qualifying
and confident
KTM's riders in the 125 cc category launched the weekend's
GP racing at Assen, Netherlands confidently in qualifying
ahead of Saturday's race at the Dutch circuit.
Raffaele de Rosa (Onde 2000 KTM) clocked seventh fastest,
Randy Krummenacher (Red Bull KTM) in eleventh and
Esteve Rabat (Repsol KTM) in fifteenth place, positions that
remained unchanged on the second day of practice due to adverse
weather conditions. Rabat's 15-year-old team-mate Marc Marquez,
who had made history one week ago as the youngest Spanish
rider ever on a Grand Prix podium, was one of the very few
riders in this class to improve on his previous best time
in final practice, and now holds eighteenth place on the grid.
What the riders said after qualifying
Raffaele de Rosa (Onde 2000 KTM 125 - seventh in 1:46.105)
"My only problem was the wind this afternoon. Other than
that, everything is really good. The new chassis worked very
well in England one week ago and it behaves fantastically
on this track as well. Yesterday, I was a little down on acceleration,
but we managed to solve this problem, so I'm really looking
forward to the race!"
Randy Krummenacher (Red Bull KTM 125 - eleventh in
1:46.396)
"Today's practice started really well for me and I held
the lead for the first 17 minutes. Then I pulled in for a
change on the rear suspension set-up because it was so windy.
When I went back out and wanted to attack on my first flying
lap after the pit stop, I lost the front braking into one
of the corners. I think the wind and our set-up change contributed
to the fact that I didn't have enough load on the front end,
and it eventually tucked away. The bike was destroyed, but
I was okay and I'm now really confident for tomorrow. My aim
is to get a good start and to try to hang on to the leading
group!"
Harald Bartol (Technical Director)
"We got positive feedback from all our riders again in
the 125 cc category and I think we can expect a close race
with good results for us. I don't think that the Assen track
is too difficult to learn, and to hang on to even faster riders
in the slipstream. This should help our young riders like
Marc Marquez who did so well last week in England, but who
has a tough job adjusting to new tracks wherever we go!"
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