Czech Round-Up

'My start was not good and I got trapped with some of the Honda riders, there was no room to overtake or push any faster; I lost a lot of time. After five laps I found a very good pace, some 1'59s laps, and I was able to pass Bayliss and battle in the group with the Suzukis and Alex. I tried to push and escape from this group but it was not possible, although I really wanted to finish ahead of Kenny Roberts. But I struggled with rear drive traction off the turns; this was a very hard race, it seems our bike does like Brno very much.'

- Shinya on finishing twelfth at Brno

Source : Kawasaki-Eckl

Round 11 Results :-

1. Valentino Rossi ITA Gauloises Yamaha Team 43min 56.539 secs
2. Loris Capirossi ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 43min 58.376 secs
3. Max Biaggi ITA Repsol Honda Team 43min 59.983 secs
4. Alex Barros BRA Camel Honda 44min 0.687 secs
5. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team 44min 0.902 secs
6. Marco Melandri ITA Team Movistar Honda 44min 7.689 secs
7. Colin Edwards USA Gauloises Yamaha Team 44min 10.071 secs
8. Carlos Checa ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 44min 15.87 secs
9. Troy Bayliss AUS Camel Honda 44min 23.664 secs
10. Makoto Tamada JPN Konica Minolta Honda 44min 23.787 secs
11. Kenny Roberts USA Team Suzuki MotoGP 44min 24.233 secs
12. Shinya Nakano JPN Kawasaki Racing Team 44min 24.342 secs
13. John Hopkins USA Team Suzuki MotoGP 44min 24.817 secs
14. Toni Elias SPA Fortuna Yamaha Team 44min 25.11 secs
15. Alex Hofmann GER Kawasaki Racing Team 44min 26.307 secs
16. Nobuatsu Aoki JPN Team Suzuki MotoGP 44min 38.317 secs
17. Roberto Rolfo ITA D'Antin Ducati Pramac 44min 54.339 secs
18. Ruben Xaus SPA Fortuna Yamaha Team 45min 4.621 secs
19. James Ellison GBR Blata WCM 45min 38.708 secs
20. Franco Battaini ITA Blata WCM 45min 51.323 secs

DNF:
Sete Gibernau SPA Team Movistar Honda 41min 57.46 secs
Jeremy McWilliams GBR Team Roberts 14min 45.932 secs

Source : crash.net

Czech the fuel tank, mister

Sete Gibernau must be fuming enough gas to have propelled him the last two corners of Brno. Vale was a few too many notches in front of him to catch, but he was quite comfortable in the second spot. No word on what made Sete cruise to the side, but he probably just ran out of fuel. Geez, with all the tests and tweaking of machines before the race, who would've thought that they could do something as ridiculous as miscalculating how much fuel to pump into the tank ?

Shinya ended up at twelfth but it could have turned out worse. He started off badly, letting Hoffman overtake him and at one point he was languishing in 16th place. Hoffman ended the race three spots behind Shinya, confirming Shinya as the top dog for Kawasaki. He's committed himself to another year with Team Green, despite reported substantial offers from two other teams.

This was rather a letdown after the race at Sachsenring, but Shinya's home race is coming up next, Motegi. That was where he got onto the podium, his first in Kawasaki's colours and here's to another top three spot there in three weeks !

Back in Czech

The break is over, the MotoGP season marches on to Brno, the place with no vowels. Shinya bettered his free practice times, and starts off from the 11th position, while team-mate Alex Hoffman is lined up 3 spots behind him.

1. Sete Gibernau SPA Team Movistar Honda 1min 57.504 secs
2. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team 1min 57.551 secs
3. Loris Capirossi ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 1min 57.685 secs
4. Valentino Rossi ITA Gauloises Yamaha Team 1min 57.875 secs
5. Marco Melandri ITA Team Movistar Honda 1min 57.999 secs
6. Carlos Checa ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 1min 58.185 secs
7. Alex Barros BRA Camel Honda 1min 58.223 secs
8. John Hopkins USA Team Suzuki MotoGP 1min 58.277 secs
9. Colin Edwards USA Gauloises Yamaha Team 1min 58.323 secs
10. Max Biaggi ITA Repsol Honda Team 1min 58.337 secs
11. Shinya Nakano JPN Kawasaki Racing Team 1min 58.49 secs
12. Makoto Tamada JPN Konica Minolta Honda 1min 58.61 secs
13. Troy Bayliss AUS Camel Honda 1min 58.662 secs
14. Alex Hofmann GER Kawasaki Racing Team 1min 58.793 secs
15. Toni Elias SPA Fortuna Yamaha Team 1min 58.815 secs
16. Nobuatsu Aoki JPN Team Suzuki MotoGP 1min 59.495 secs
17. Kenny Roberts USA Team Suzuki MotoGP 1min 59.734 secs
18. James Ellison GBR Blata WCM 2min 0.529 secs
19. Roberto Rolfo ITA D'Antin Ducati Pramac 2min 0.879 secs
20. Ruben Xaus SPA Fortuna Yamaha Team 2min 1.535 secs
21. Franco Battaini ITA Blata WCM 2min 2.585 secs
22. Jeremy McWilliams GBR Team Roberts 2min 4.663 secs

Source : crash.net

"Today was much better than yesterday, I had better rear traction and front-end feel and I could enjoy riding the bike, although we are still too far from the times at the front of the grid. We have made a lot of adjustments to chassis and engine settings, and there are more to try in the warm-up tomorrow. I have made my race tyre choice from the new Bridgestone selection and race consistency looks good. Today the latest Bridgestone qualifying tyre also worked very well."

- Shinya on qualifying eleventh

Source : Kawasaki-Eckl

In the meantine, Kawasaki's technical manager has admitted that the current Ninja ZX-RR has been tweaked to its maximum capability but is still quite a few steps behind competing with the front runners. Kawasaki will need a totally new machine for 2006 to pose some serious threat to the competition. A samurai, maybe ?

Bridgestone Boost

“A special thanks to Shinya Nakano and Kawasaki Racing Team for a superb race! They did an amazing job setting up the bike, and 6th place is a fantastic finish when you are only 4.5 seconds behind the top finisher Valentino Rossi.”

- Bridgestone Motorsport Motorcycle Racing Tyre Development Manager Tohru Ubukata

Source : MotoGP

Yep, there it is again. Vale and Shinya mentioned in the same breath. Onward !

Chasing the pack

"That was an exciting race for me, it makes such a big difference when you see the top group and can race close to them. In the second race I was able to do fast and consistent times and overtake Capirossi and chase the front group. The tyre performance from Bridgestone was very good today in these conditions and I was very comfortable at this pace. Towards the end I had a couple of front end slides so I just made sure I finished. Kawasaki and Bridgestone are back challenging the front group, which is exactly where we should be."

- Shinya on finishing sixth

Source : Kawasaki-Eckl

After the indestructible John Hopkins fell off his bike and came close to becoming tyre fodder for the oncoming bikes, the red flag was waved and the race restarted (Hopkins was spotted smiling and limping away in his pit, so he's a-okay). Shinya was placed ninth on the restart of the 25-lap race, and soon climbed up to his 6th spot. For a large portion of the way, he was a lone ranger, with the leading pack just beyond his grasp and a substantial gap behind him. What's most important is that he was actually within sight of Rossi throughout the race.

Source : a digicam n my shaky hand

Speaking of Rossi, hail to him for matching Mike Hailwood's record of 76 MotoGP race victories. And in line with his flamboyant style, he unabashedly celebrated it.

Source : Yamaha Racing