Capirossi out, Spies in, as Vermeulen looks to continue
with progress
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP will give reigning American Superbike
Champion Ben Spies his MotoGP debut at next weekend’s
British Grand Prix, following confirmation that Loris Capirossi
will be unfit for the Donington race.
The 23-year-old American from Longview in Texas was due to
make his Rizla Suzuki MotoGP debut as a wildcard rider at
next month’s USGP in California, but he has been drafted
in early to replace Capirossi who suffered a broken right
hand at Catalunya last weekend. Capirossi is now targeting
a return at the following weekend’s race at Assen in
The Netherlands and will continue to work on his fitness to
try and achieve this goal.
Chris Vermeulen will be returning to the scene of one of
his podium successes in 2007 when he takes to the track at
the 4,023m long Donington Park circuit. Suzuki’s Australian
star finished third in wet weather conditions at the British
venue last year and will be looking to continue with the improvement
in form that both he and the Suzuki GSV-R have shown in recent
races.
The British GP is the ‘official’ home round for
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP with the team’s headquarters based
near Bournemouth in England, and many fans will be expected
at trackside to cheer on the ‘boys in blue’. Donington
Park is situated on the Leicestershire and Derbyshire borders
right in middle of England and it is not a circuit that rewards
outright power, but one that repays smooth and consistent
riding ability with fast laps. Donington is certainly a track
of two-halves; from the start/finish straight into the sweeping
Craner Curves and through long right-handers on to a downhill
straight the circuit is one of the most flowing tracks in
the world, but it then features two hairpins and three first-gear
corners in a row making for very exciting slow speed action
as riders are able to make last gasp out-braking manoeuvres
right at the end of the lap.
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP will be at Donington Park early this
year so it can participate in the Riders for Health Day of
Champions (www.riders.org) as both riders and team members
alike will participate in various events to raise money for
a worthy cause, culminating in a huge fund-raising auction
in the evening.
Track action will get underway on Friday with two free practice
sessions and a further free session on Saturday morning. The
hour-long qualifying takes place on Saturday afternoon as
riders fight it out against the clock to get the best grid
positions for the 30-lap race that starts at 15.00hrs local
time (14.00hrs GMT) on Sunday 22nd June.
Chris Vermeulen:
“We have improved over the last couple of races and
we need to keep that going. It is no secret that I have not
had the best of starts to the season but I know we can turn
things around. We tried a lot of different things in the test
at Catalunya on the Monday and found some stuff that will
help us go forward not just in Britain but at other tracks
as well. Donington is like a home race for me as I spent a
lot of my early career racing in the UK so it is always good
for me to come back here and I’ll be hoping to put on
a good show for all the fans and give my mostly UK based team
something to shout about!”
Ben Spies:
“I was excited that my first GP was to be at Laguna
Seca in the States, but I’m now more excited by this!
I think this will be a good thing for me to start out at Donington;
it is a track I don’t know so I have no pressure. I
haven’t done any testing on the bike or with race and
qualifying tyres so I am not really expected to do anything
much, so I can just go out there and learn how everything
works and enjoy the event. This will be good for when we get
back to the wildcard races in Laguna and Indianapolis because
I know those tracks and I’ll have some knowledge of
the bike and be able to put my head down and go for it there.
This is great for me to get the chance, but it is in an unfortunate
way that I am there because of the injury to Loris and I wish
him all the best on a full recovery. I hope I can represent
everybody really good and just want to go out there and have
some fun!”
Loris Capirossi:
“I’m really disappointed not to be racing at
Donington as it is the team’s home Grand Prix and I
know there will be a lot of fans there that have come to see
us. I tried to get fit and although Dr Costa says the break
is healing well, it won’t be good for me to race there
as it won’t be strong enough. So I hope to be back for
Assen. I wish Ben all the best on his debut, but he shouldn’t
get too comfortable on my bike because I want it back soon!”
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