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Ryder Notes: Barca
by julian ryder, on the ground in catalunya
Monday, June 09, 2008Pneumatic valves? Who needs them? Dani Pedrosa doesn't; he ran away from the field today to win his real home GP—he's from a suburb of Barcelona about three miles from the Circuit de Catalunya. He has now won all three GP classes here.
Quite frankly, no-one saw which way he went. He extended his lead to over eight seconds without ever conceding time to the chasing group and was able to ease up towards the flag. It was an awesome display but at least he looked like he was working hard. How does 1min 42.61sec on the first flying lap sound - 0.4sec under Nicky Hayden's lap record, which was set on a 990 in 2006. Dani was even faster next time round, and again next time. He had a lead of 2.8sec after four laps, 7sec after ten, and by lap seventeen of the twenty-five he was 8sec ahead. It was an intense but lonely race, Dani even admitted to losing concentration while 'all alone' at one point. Whatever 'small adjustments' were made after qualifying, they worked. There was also the small matter of the new frame. Pedrosa had one to start the weekend and a second arrived and was fitted to his second bike on Friday night. The Michelins did their job too. Dani has been putting pressure on HRC and his tyre supplier since Mugello, only too well aware that if he was to beat Valentino Rossi he couldn't afford to concede the slightest advantage.
It was very noticeable that Rossi and his crew celebrated their hard-fought second place victory over Stoner as if they'd won the race itself. As he'd started from ninth on the grid and finished the first lap in eighth, you can see why they were happy with the result. Stoner tried everything, the Desmosedici looked as recalcitrant as it ever has, spinning everywhere, snapping sideways, losing the front a couple of times. No doubt about it, the Champ was working hard. The other three Ducatis had the sort of tough weekend they've got used to with Toni Elias suffering the most after jumping the start and then being black-flagged at his home race. Andrea Dovizioso was fourth, his best result since the opening race of the year, on what is still a stock Honda. He is looking more and more like a contender for a factory bike next year.
Now the calendar switches from tracks with kilometre-long straights to a run of circuits where out and out power isn't so significant--Donington, Assen, Sachsenring, Laguna.
Unfortunately, Loris Capirossi is highly unlikely to be at Donington after suffering a hand injury when he crashed with de Angelis.
Notes:
# John Hopkins rode with cracked vertebrae and was rewarded for his bravery with points.
# Sete Gibernau spent a lot of time in their pit with his old race engineer - who also happens to be a very good friend. He wasn't confirming or denying rumours of a come back.
# Honda are due to test their pneumatic-valve engine Monday and Tuesday.
# Ducati are due to test their '09 bike - with rumoured carbon-fibre frame Monday and Stoner may ride it Tuesday.
# Suzuki will have a new chassis to test after Brno.
# Marco Melandri seems even more depressed than in previous races, if that were possible. He pulled in several minutes before the end of warm-up.
ENDS
...egy fecske nem csinál nyarat, viszont egy hülye százat csinál...
