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Rossi makes welcome front row return in front of home fans at Misano |
Rossi makes welcome front row return in front of home fans at
Misano
Valentino Rossi
Valentino Rossi returned to the front row of the MotoGP grid today for
the first
time in three races, qualifying in second position for tomorrow's San
Marino Grand
Prix at Misano. The local favourite missed out on pole by 0.176 seconds
to Casey
Stoner, with Nicky Hayden taking the third spot. Fiat Yamaha team-mate
Colin
Edwards meanwhile did not enjoy such a successful session and qualified
ninth, on
the outside of row three.
After the atrocious weather yesterday caused the afternoon practice
sessions to be
cancelled, an extra hour was added to this morning's free practice to
give the
riders as much time as possible to get the hang of the new circuit.
Yesterday's
storms seemed to have run their course and the ensuing calm brought out
an army of
yellow-clad Rossi fans, over 1000 of which had made the pilgrimage on
foot in the
early hours of this morning from nearby Tavullia, where Rossi grew up.
After two
hours of hard work on tyres and set-up Rossi was second behind Stoner,
with
Edwards in fifth.
This afternoon's qualifying session was played out under perfect sunshine
with
temperatures sitting comfortably in the low twenties. With ten minutes
to go
Rossi's first attempt with a qualifying tyre moved him momentarily to
the top of
the time sheets, before he was deposed by Stoner just seconds later.
Edwards also
moved into the top flight on his first run before he was nudged down the
order as
more riders put in fast laps. The last two minutes of the session saw a
flurry of
quick times and Rossi's second flying lap shot him into pole, although
Edwards was
unable to better his position. Unfortunately for Rossi, Stoner
eventually nudged
him into second, promising a mouth-watering head-to-head between the
pair when the
lights go out for tomorrow's 28-lap race.
Valentino Rossi - Position: 2ndTime: 1'34.094Laps: 29
"The atmosphere today was unbelievable, there are so many fans and so
much yellow
around the circuit; it was really important for me to make a good result
like
this. I rode at the maximum today and I'm very happy with the result.
It's been a
long time without a front-row start, since Donington, and it's a big
relief to be
back here again. I like this track a lot so far, it's technical and has
some
really good parts, it's not too tight and it's possible to have fun.
There are
some bumps but it's not disastrous and it seems to suit our bike well.
Our
Michelin tyres are working well here and I can ride the bike how I want
to again.
It was also very good with the qualifying tyre. Casey is very fast once
again and
we know that it's going to be very hard tomorrow, but starting from the
front is
going to make things much easier and now I am looking forward to a fun
race."
Colin Edwards
Colin Edwards - Position: 9thTime: 1'34.768Laps: 28
"This morning wasn't too bad. We made some changes to the bike and got it
going
pretty well this morning; it wasn't easy but we were going reasonably
well and I
was feeling pretty happy. We planned this afternoon to make a few tweaks
to suit
the track as it warmed up and at the beginning we stuck in a hard race
tyre and
went from there. Unfortunately though things didn't go exactly to plan;
the bike
felt quite different and I felt like I couldn't really get out of my own
way! So
then we changed back towards this morning's setting and that felt a lot
better.
With the qualifying tyre I dropped nearly a second but unfortunately it
really
wasn't enough today and I felt like I had some side-grip issues that
meant I was
lacking a bit of confidence to get in deep. If I had just listened to my
wife
today - braked a little deeper and got on the gas a little earlier -
then I guess
I would have found the missing three tenths!"
Davide Brivio - Team Director
"It's great that Valentino is back on the front row again, especially at
this
track where we expect it will be quite hard to pass. It's very important
for him
that he's starting at the front. He did a great job with his team and
worked very
well during the limited dry track time we have had, and now we will just
work to
make the final adjustments to make sure he is in the best shape possible
for
tomorrow's race. Colin had good potential today but unfortunately it
didn't work
out and he has to start from the third row. It's a pity because there
aren't many
places to pass here so it could be a tough race for him. Anyway we will
try to put
the best package together for him so he can try to make up the ground
tomorrow.
We're looking forward to an exciting race!"
Circuit Length: 4060
Weather: Sunny
2007 MotoGP San Marino & Riviera di Rimini - Misano 01/09/2007
Qualifying 1
Pos.
Rider
Manu.
Nat.
Total Time
1
Casey Stoner
Ducati
AUS
1'33.918
2
Valentino Rossi
Yamaha
ITA
1'34.094
3
Nicky Hayden
Honda
USA
1'34.469
4
Randy De Puniet
Kawasaki
FRA
1'34.506
5
John Hopkins
Suzuki
USA
1'34.536
6
Daniel Pedrosa
Honda
ESP
1'34.580
7
Carlos Checa
Honda
ESP
1'34.628
8
Chris Vermeulen
Suzuki
AUS
1'34.717
9
Colin Edwards
Yamaha
USA
1'34.768
10
Anthony West
Kawasaki
AUS
1'34.939
11
Sylvain Guintoli
Yamaha
FRA
1'35.202
12
Marco Melandri
Honda
ITA
1'35.236
13
Loris Capirossi
Ducati
ITA
1'35.283
14
Shinya Nakano
Honda
JPN
1'35.389
15
Toni Elias
Honda
ESP
1'35.632
16
Makoto Tamada
Yamaha
JPN
1'35.865
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