Vermeulen shows podium pace ahead of USGP
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer Chris Vermeulen was the second
quickest rider on race tyres around the 3,610m Laguna Seca
circuit during today’s qualifying practice session,
in readiness for tomorrow’s American Grand Prix.
Vermeulen (P8, 1’21.971, 34 laps) was one of only two
riders to lap the circuit in the 1’21s on race tyres
– pole setter Casey Stoner being the other - and looks
to be in good shape ahead of tomorrow’s 32-lap race.
He was unable to repeat his blistering pace on qualifying
tyres and will start from eighth on the grid, but he is confident
of a good start and chasing for his second successive US podium
tomorrow.
Loris Capirossi (P11, 1’22.039, 30 laps) showed a very
strong performance on race tyres during both sessions today
and moved into the top-five during the qualifying. He struggled
to get the most out of his machine on the qualifiers due the
injury to his arm restricting his movement, but promises to
give it everything he can in pursuit of a good result tomorrow.
Wildcard rider Ben Spies (P13, 1’22.127, 30 laps) was
using qualifying tyres for the first time in two years –
it rained at Donington in the qualifying session – and
adapted to the extra grip well. He produced a lap within half-a-second
of fourth place on the grid, but due to the amazingly close
times he will start from the fifth row in 13th place.
Tomorrow’s race is round 11 of the season and the action
will get underway at 14.00hrs local time (21.00hrs GMT), with
all three riders looking to improve on their qualifying berths
and bring their respective Rizla Suzuki GSV-Rs home in high-placed
finishes.
Chris Vermeulen:
“Today went a lot better than yesterday and the steps
we took worked quite well. We did some longer runs on race
tyres and produced some good lap times. The times were a lot
closer to Casey today and hopefully we can do that again tomorrow.
The qualifiers just didn’t seem to work for me today
and I couldn’t go any quicker on them than I did on
the race rubber. It sucks starting from eighth position but
if I can get a good first couple of laps, I know we can still
fight for a podium!”
Loris Capirossi:
“It would not be good to say I am happy today because
in qualifying we struggled a bit, but we certainly did improve
the bike in race set-up. We went a lot better on race tyres
and I was in the top-five. The whole team has done a great
job to find a good setting and we are confident that we have
a good rhythm for tomorrow. Like I said yesterday, this track
is not so easy with my arm, but I will certainly be giving
it my best tomorrow and I think it will be a really interesting
race and we could be right up there!”
Ben Spies:
“It went good today overall, I haven’t used qualifiers
for a couple of years now and if I could have found a few
more tenths I would have been a lot further forward, but I
got blocked on a couple of my qualifying laps and made a mistake
on my last one. It should be good for the race tomorrow as
we’ve figured a few things out with the bike and we
got down to a good time on the race tyres. The race set-up
is certainly getting better and better and I am getting more
comfortable on the bike every time I ride it, and I think
I can get it in the top-10 tomorrow!”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“The three guys made a huge effort this afternoon.
Ben got used to the qualifying tyres very quickly, Loris overcame
the injury and pushed to the maximum and Chris showed that
on race tyres he was easily the second quickest. Unfortunately
– as has sometimes been the case this year – Chris
couldn’t make the qualifiers work for him. Again, when
they are first and second on the grid there is nothing bad
about the tyres but there is just something between the match
of rider, bike and qualifier that isn’t quite working
for Chris. We will certainly have to work on that in the Brno
test. The good thing is that he is absolutely fine on race
tyres and I’m sure he'll show a lot of fight tomorrow
and challenge for the podium.
“Loris and Ben have a bit of an uphill battle from
the fourth and fifth rows respectively, this is all the more
frustrating when two-tenths of a second would have put Loris
fifth on the grid. It is so close from fifth backwards and
I’m sure both the guys will be giving everything they’ve
got over 32 laps tomorrow to do the team and themselves proud.”
Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix Qualifying Classification:
1. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1’20.700: 2. Valentino Rossi
(Yamaha) +0.447: 3. Nicky Hayden (Honda) +0.730: 4. Jorge
Lorenzo (Yamaha) +0.936: 5. James Toseland (Yamaha) +1.148:
8. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1.271: 11. LORIS
CAPIROSSI (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1.339: 13. BEN SPIES (RIZLA
SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1.427:
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