End of Days

Alas, Shinya. A ninja's fight to the end.

With pain-killers and a jab to his left hand, he gritted his teeth and trudged on to an 11th place finish in Valencia, ending the 2005 MotoGP season in the 10th spot.

"The final five laps were very difficult with my hand and it was not easy to concentrate. I knew Toni (Elias) was behind me and that if he challenged me it would be impossible to hold him back, so l let him go past - I knew I needed the points in the championship. When Rolfo hit me in turn one at the start I was lucky not to crash, but then I had a good race with Hopkins, although I could not catch Tamada-san. For sure tenth is not the position that either I, nor Kawasaki, wanted in the championship, but everyone is already working very hard for next season. I want to thank everyone in my team and I know we can do much better in 2006."

- Shinya on the final race of 2005

Source : Kawasaki-Eckl

Back to Japan for Shinya as he's in no condition to go through bike testing in Valencia. Here's to a good end-of-year rest before firing up again for next season.

On a sidenote, so long to Alex Hoffman who raced his last for Kawasaki today with two plates and 16 screws in his feet. Randy de Puniet will take his place.

Winding Down

Alright, so I skipped Motegi, Sepang, Qatar, Philip Island and Istanbul (where he didn't finish, qualified fourth and then was brought down by the accursed Gibernau, ended seventh, seventh again and tenth respectively). Even a paddock-girl wannabe gotta take a break sometime. I do have evidence of Shinya with a chance of taking that 'top podium' spot he's spoken about, that is until he was rudely shoved out. It really is a case of sorry no cure, Sete.


Second (!) he was at one point, but second best he's not in my book

Next up, Valencia.