A-Style Finish

Shinya has at long last, finished on that much quoted top podium in Assen. Hip hip hooray ! Okay technically, it wasn't the one right at the top, but all that matters is that it's a podium finish. He was poised to take third place with Hayden and Edwards racing in front of him right to the last few minutes when Edwards crashed out. I shrieked for poor ol' Edward but then was yipee-ing up and down for Shinya.


Shinya started off second on the grid, making sure he was a good inch or so from the white line. He was pipped the pole position by John Hopkins by 0.013s, who in the end finished sixth. It wasn't a fantastic start. Hayden and Edwards slipped past him and he was relegated to fourth. Then like the Ninja he is, he crept past Hopkins and never let up after. Thereafter, he was an island all on his own between the battling Hayden and Edwards and the cluster of 3 behind him.


A little too far behind to catch up.


Wheezing ahead of the chasing pack.


In the meantime, in front of him, the drama was playing itself out. Edwards looked like he was going to be a sure second when he went off track.


But he came back and passed Hayden again...


And then he was thrown off his bike, within smelling distance of the finishing line. That was painful to watch. But, it's soon forgotten. (Sorry, Colin!)



Seconds later, Shinya wheelied his way to his first podium of the season.



Here's the final lap, with a blow by blow account in Japanese.


Shinya was embraced by his ecstatic crew.



And fussed over by the media.


Elsewhere, Melandri and Rossi looked like casualties of war after racing despite injuries. Rossi was all grins though, finishing eighth after starting last on the grid. Melandri finished six seconds and one place ahead of Rossi, but he looked like was just ran through the dryer. After the crash last week, I'm surprised he could even get out of bed.



And it's back to Shinya, who climbs the steps to the hallowed stage of the podium.


He struts in..


Strikes a fierce pose.


Raises the trophy in victory.


Puts on his shades.


Sprays champagne all around.


And downs some.

"It goes without saying that I'm happy to score my best result in MotoGP with second place here today, although I was happy enough when I thought I was going to finish third! I knew I needed to be on the front row to secure a good result on this new Assen circuit, and Bridgestone certainly gave me the qualifying tyre to achieve that. I got a good start, but I just couldn't stay with Colin, Nicky and John during the opening laps. We had to go for a hard front tyre because of the rise in temperature this afternoon, and I had some chatter from the front early on in the race. But then it improved and I was able to chase down and pass John as the race approached the halfway stage. At the end I was too far back to see what happened to Colin, but as I came through the final chicane I saw his bike on the side of the track, but it was a second or so before I realised that this meant I was in second place. I have to say thank you to the team who, despite our recent run of bad luck, have never lost their confidence in me. When the team are confident in me, it gives me confidence on the bike. This result was not just down to me, but to everyone in the Kawasaki Racing Team who've worked so hard this year. And also to Amelia who has not spared me the verbal rod when I wasn't peforming up to par, despite being such an ardent fan. You have jolted me on, thank you!"

- Shinya after A-style Assen finish

Source : Kawasaki-Eckl

Alrite, I made up the last two sentences. But I'm drunk happy and it is my blog, heh. Banzai, Shinya !

Catalunya Chaos

Catalunya was a big fly-swatter, and the bikers were falling left and right. Shinya avoided serious injuries but in the midst off all the haywire, he was black-flagged for failing to pit in for his penalty in re-starting the race at the wrong spot.

"I got a good start in the first race and I really thought we were in for a good result, so I was disappointed to see the red flag, but relieved to hear that none of the riders who crashed have been seriously hurt. The restart didn't go quite so well. I saw Chris Vermeulen had a problem on the line, and while we were waiting for it to be sorted out my bike overheated and sprayed water up the inside of the screen. I went back to get my spare bike, and that's where the confusion started, as I'm sure I was waved through onto my grid position. I didn't see the penalty board at all, as I was tucked in behind someone each time I came down the main straight, so the first time I knew something was wrong was when I saw the black flag together with my number. Obviously I'm hugely disappointed, and not a little frustrated, because a good result looked to be well within our grasp here today."

- Shinya on his DNF at Catalunya

Source : Kawasaki-Eckl

No-post protest

Alrite, I cave in. My no-post protest has just been concluded.

Woohoo
Boohoo
After the promising fifth place start at Mugello, ending up eleventh is just almost too painful to type. The start was heart-pumping, whizzing forward to 3rd (top podium position!) and then it just fizzled out. Slowly and steadily, Shinya inched backward from the rest of the riders. If I were a fanatic, I'd offer soothing it's okays and urge Shinya ever onward, to infinity and beyond! But I'm a fan, and so seeing as there's a fantastic start, no jump starts, no one holding out an elbow to shove him out of the way and Kawasaki headlining CONFIDENCE HIGH AS KAWASAKI HEAD FOR MUGELLO at their website there had to be some expectation huh.

I've been practicing my starts this weekend, and it seems to have done the trick; today I got my best start of the season to jump from fifth to third place by the first corner. But that's where the problems started. I just couldn't stay with the leading group, they simply drove past me on the straight and they were gone. The same was true with the second group; I could run with them through the corners, but they'd just disappear when we reached the straight. I had no problems with the bike today, the tyres worked well throughout the race and I was pushing as hard as possible. But we still ended up outside the top ten, after John Hopkins passed me on the very last lap. I knew he was coming, but there is little you can do to defend your position when it's so easy to pass our bike on the straight. We know we need to find more top-end power, and we know we need to improve the driveability of the Ninja ZX-RR, and I think this can be seen quite clearly from today's result."

- Shinya after Mugello meltdown

Source : Kawasaki-Eckl

Put some teh tarik in that fuel tank, and slap a steering wheel on the Ninja, Shinya 8B

The good thing that came out of Mugello is that Rossi is back, back with a bang of a race. And Stoner, the newbie who has been thumping Shinya did not finish this time.

1. Valentino Rossi ITA Camel Yamaha Team 42min 39.610 secs
2. Loris Capirossi ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 42min 40.185 secs
3. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team 42min 40.345 secs
4. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team 42min 41.617 secs
5. Sete Gibernau SPA Ducati Marlboro Team 42min 42.680 secs
6. Marco Melandri ITA Fortuna Honda 42min 51.403 secs
7. Toni Elias SPA Fortuna Honda 42min 58.609 secs
8. Kenny Roberts USA Team Roberts 42min 58.782 secs
9. Makoto Tamada JPN Konica Minolta Honda 42min 58.841 secs
10. John Hopkins USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 42min 59.431 secs
11. Shinya Nakano JPN Kawasaki Racing Team 42min 59.473 secs
12. Colin Edwards USA Camel Yamaha Team 43min 10.288 secs
13. Randy de Puniet FRA Kawasaki Racing Team 43min 16.808 secs
14. Chris Vermulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 43min 21.322 secs
15. Carlos Checa SPA Tech 3 Yamaha 43min 35.866 secs
16. James Ellison GBR Tech 3 Yamaha 43min 52.997 secs
17. Jose Luis Cardoso SPA Pramac d'Antin MotoGP 42min 45.597 secs

DNF:
Casey Stoner AUS Honda LCR 14min 52.930 secs
Alex Hofmann GER Pramac d'Antin MotoGP 15min 13.323 secs

Source : crash.net

Coming up, Catalunya weekend!