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The wooded hills of Brno, thronged by
141,632 spectators, proved a less than happy hunting ground
for the Fiat Yamaha Team in Sunday's Czech Grand Prix.
Valentino Rossi was dogged by traction problems almost from
the start and was only able to hang on for seventh, whilst
Colin Edwards slid out of the race on the second lap.
Starting from sixth, Rossi slipped one
place at the start but regained his starting position by the
end of lap one, behind Loris Capirossi. The Italian then
spent several laps on his fellow countryman's tail before he
was able to pass him on lap eight of 22, but by then Rossi
was suffering from grip problems and was unable to push on
and clear a gap from the chasing pack. A few laps later he
was passed by Chris Vermeulen and then by Capirossi, before
Randy de Puniet began to threaten him in the closing stages
and he was forced to use all his skills to keep the
Frenchman behind him to the line. Edwards meanwhile failed
to finish a race for only the third time in his Yamaha
career, making a rare mistake on lap two and losing the
front. He rejoined the race briefly but was unable to
continue, coming into the pits on the next lap.
The race was won by Casey Stoner, who
extends his championship lead over Rossi to 60 points.
Edwards remains seventh with 93 points. The MotoGP paddock
now has one weekend off before the San Marino Grand Prix,
when Grand Prix motorcycle racing returns to Misano for the
first time in 14 years.
Valentino Rossi
"We
expected a difficult race today because we knew our
potential here wasn't very high after the last two days.
However it was even worse than we expected! I tried to keep
my rhythm going but, after only seven or eight laps, the
tyre started to slide a lot on the right side and from then
on I wasn't able to open the throttle.
"Throughout the weekend we have done everything to try to
find more traction. We have changed the setting a lot to try
to find a way to make the tyre work, but unfortunately
during the race we had no grip. Also, with the setting we
had to use, we had to sacrifice some of our corner speed and
this also slowed us down. It was very difficult today. I was
able to do 1.59s to start with but after a few laps the tyre
made a big step down and then I just had to wait for the end
of the race. I had a hard time with Capirossi at the start;
in some parts I was faster than him but I couldn't overtake
him because he was pulling away from me on the straights.
Eventually I got past him but he stayed with me and I
couldn't pull clear. I pushed as hard as I could; at that
time I wasn't too fast but not too slow either, but after
that my tyre was finished and then Vermeulen came, then
Loris again.
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Colin Edwards failed to finish a race for only the
third time in his Yamaha career, making a rare
mistake on lap two and losing the front end. |
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Valentino Rossi (above) was dogged by traction
problems almost from the start and was only able to
hang on for seventh, whilst Colin Edwards slid out
of the race on the second lap. |
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"I am sad because I wasn't even able to try to fight with
them today. Towards the end I had to push at the limit to
stay in front of de Puniet and luckily I managed, but we
were a very long way from a good performance. I tried to
change my style, to ride in a different way to help the
situation, but it was no good.
"We have a
test now but in reality our situation is quite bad and we
have a few different problems to deal with. We will try to
make the best of the next two days of work and to try to
find something different for the next few races. We have to
wait and see what we find, but for sure it's going to be
very difficult. This is a very hard moment that we're in. We
have six races to go and we just have to work as hard as we
can to try to find a way to make some good results."
Colin Edwards
"Even though my start wasn't
so bad on paper - I made up one place - it didn't feel too
good. We were trying a new starting system that's been
working really well but, in the hustle and bustle on the
grid, I released the clutch a bit early, dropped RPM and
then had to re-group. Anyway, I was pushing pretty hard from
then on and I had a couple of passing areas that I knew I
was good at so I was working my way up to de Puniet to see
what I could do. I came out of turn three, went into four
and was watching him and before I knew it, I lost the front
and was on the ground. It's been a long time since I've lost
the front that fast, usually it just kind of gives way but I
guess it wasn't completely up to temperature, it was only
the second lap and it just went. I made a mistake and I'm
really disappointed, now we've got some serious work to do
during the test so we have a better weekend in Misano."
Davide Brivio - Team Director
"It is very hard to find the
right words to say about today! We had a very difficult race
with Valentino and we tried our best with what we had.
Unfortunately Colin crashed when he was feeling good after
this morning, so that's a great pity as well. We have to
keep working now to improve our package and the situation we
find ourselves in. We have two days of testing here and we
will try some new engine parts as well as some new tyres. Of
course we won't give up and we will be working very hard
over the next two days with both riders. We'll be back to
try again in Misano."
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