MOTOGP ROUND 11, BRNO, SUNDAY AUGUST 14TH

DANI PEDROSA, REPSOL HONDA
Race Position: DNF Championship Position: 5th

“IT WAS A SHAME. I LOST THE FRONT AND CRASHED!”
Under similar circumstances to the last race at Laguna Seca, Casey Stoner managed to turn a difficult weekend into a win without opposition in a race that he led from the third lap, when Dani Pedrosa, after taking the lead, lost the front and crashed out of the race, luckily without injury. With the absence of Pedrosa, who had been the fastest man throughout the weekend and qualified in pole position, Stoner had no rival and set a steady pace to cross the finish line 6.5 seconds ahead of his teammate Andrea Dovizioso. Marco Simoncelli claimed the final podium position, his first in MotoGP.

“It was a shame. I lost the front and I crashed, that was it! I was not even pushing so hard, I just took the lead and, well I may have tilted the bike too much, maybe the tyre was not warm enough, still I don’t know. The problem is that I’ve wasted an important race that we had prepared for very well. I have to thank the team for the bike they gave me this weekend, it worked really well, and I will tell them I’m sorry for the mistake. It hurts because we were well prepared and finally the race was quite slow compared to the pace we did in practice sessions, but we cannot do anything, just think towards the next one and try to get back on top.”

CAL CRUTCHLOW, MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3
Race Position: DNF Championship Position: 15th

“ANOTHER CRASH IS THE LAST THING I NEEDED…”
Brno ended in unhappy circumstances for Cal Crutchlow; the 25-year-old was optimistic he could battle for a top 10 result, but his race was ended prematurely by a front-end crash at the first corner on lap seven after he’d just passed Hector Barbera for 10th. Crutchlow was able to walk away uninjured but was frustrated that his hard work throughout the weekend went unrewarded.

“Nobody is more disappointed than me with what happened because another crash is the last thing I needed. I am currently having a difficult run of races but all I can do is get my head down, work hard with my crew and try and put things right in the future. At the moment I am struggling with grip in the front-end and we seem to have been going round in circles a little bit to find a solution. Today I was off-brake and accelerating at the first corner when I lost the front. The last person who wants to crash is me, but I can only do my best. I am sorry to my Team and Yamaha but I am sure they realise that I am trying as hard as I can to get a good result. We’ve got a test tomorrow and that is important because we can work on the bike without the time constraints of practice. I still believe in myself and I am determined to get a good result in Indianapolis.”

COLIN EDWARDS, MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3
Race Position: 8th Championship Position: 9th


“IT WAS NOT AN EASY RACE.”
Colin Edwards started and finished the Czech Republic MotoGP in eighth position, once again finishing the leading non-factory rider. The 37-year-old rode a determined race throughout the 22-lap encounter, which took place under cloudy but warm skies in front of a massive crowd of 155,400 at the Brno circuit. He spent almost the entire race in close pursuit of fellow American Nicky Hayden’s factory Ducati machine; despite launching numerous attempts to up his pace and get within striking distance of the 2006 World Champion, Edwards was frustrated in his attempt to seize a hard-fought seventh position.

“I said yesterday that if I finished in the same position that I started that I would be pretty happy. I guess I am pretty happy but it was not an easy race. In the warm-up I had zero traction, so we made a small geometry change for the race and it was definitely better. I had more grip but the lap time was the same. All I kept seeing on my lap timer on the dashboard was 58.5, 58.5. It must have been like that for about 14 laps in a row and at one point I thought it had broken. I just couldn’t go much faster and it seems we are lacking traction compared to the others. I was spinning the rear tyre a lot and right now our bike feels a little bit unforgiving. I was right on the back of Nicky for pretty much the whole race but I couldn’t do anything with him. Our lap times just didn’t deviate at all, so I couldn’t get close enough to him. It wasn’t like he had more grip than me, but because we were doing the same pace I didn’t get close enough to attack him."

NICKY HAYDEN, MARLBORO DUCATI
Race Position: 7th Championship Position: 7th


“IT’S BEEN A REALLY TOUGH WEEKEND.”
Nicky Hayden finished up at Brno in seventh position, behind his team mate Valentino Rossi in sixth, but much closer to the leaders than at any other time this season. The American, however, was looking forward more to the following day’s test sessions, where he could focus on new parts for this year’s Ducati GP11 with, obviously an eye on next year’s 1000cc GP12 machine.

“It’s been a really tough weekend right from when we got the bikes out of the crates from Laguna, but we chipped away at it. The guys have worked extremely hard, and we got better and better. We even made a change after the morning warm-up that actually helped a bit, although I didn’t really understand it the first few laps, and the group was already gone. I held on and got seventh, which isn’t fantastic. Still, the gap to the front is the closest it’s been this season, which is positive. The bike was really good in a few places, but I was slow in change of direction and couldn’t get the bike to finish the corner and was spinning the tyre a lot. We also need to understand why I had the slowest top speed. It would’ve been nice to hang onto that front group a bit longer, but Colin pushed me all the way to the end. The work’s far from over, because we’ve got a big day testing. Valentino tried some new parts on the front that they seem real happy about, so hopefully I can try those.”

Hiroshi Aoyama steered his San Carlo Honda Gresini to 9th place, and lies 10th in the Championship. Karel Abraham unfortunately crashed his Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati out of his home race; he remains 12th overall in the standings.

Round 12 of MotoGP is at Indianapolis, Sunday August 28th.

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