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Weather causes mayhem in Misano |
Weather causes mayhem in Misano
Water, water, water...
Grand Prix Motorcycle racing returned to the Adriatic holiday resort of
Misano for
the first time in fourteen years today, but the party was well and truly
spoilt by
the Italian weather as fierce storms turned the first day into a
washout. After
the paddock was welcomed back to the venue by temperatures in excess of
35 degrees
yesterday, it looked like the heat was going to be the chief weather
worry for the
weekend. However storms overnight gave way to showers this morning
before even
more torrential rain set in around midday, accompanied by dramatic
displays of
thunder and lightening. The rain eventually abated around 2pm but left
the
paddock, pit lane, some parts of the track and most pit boxes flooded,
forcing
race direction to cancel all remaining sessions today.
This morning's first free practice, held in very wet conditions,
nonetheless gave
the riders a taster of what to expect from the Misano track. The Fiat
Yamaha Team
duo of Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards put in a positive initial
showing,
finishing the session second and fifth respectively. The MotoGP riders
should have
had two more practice sessions today; an extra hour having been added to
allow
them time to learn the new circuit. As a result a revised schedule
tomorrow will
see a two-hour MotoGP practice in the morning, from 0900 to 1100, before
the
standard one-hour qualifying session in the afternoon.
Valentino Rossi - Position: 2ndTime: 1'48.632Laps: 21
"Unfortunately we had very bad weather today but this morning my first
impressions
of the track were good, better than when I came here to do some laps
with the
safety commission on a street bike. I think they've done a very good job
with the
bumps; we asked them to resurface another time and now it's not so bad.
Of course
in the wet we're not riding at the maximum, but it seems okay and I was
quite
happy. Because of the rain we lost two hours, which makes things more
difficult
for everyone, but we have an extra hour tomorrow and the forecast is
much better
so I hope that we will get some dry time. My performance this morning
was quite
good, we tried a new rain tyre on the rear and it worked well. Melandri
was quite
far ahead but anyway I'm quite happy. Of course it's another story
tomorrow in the
dry, but I think we have some more improvements for the dry setting as
well so I
am looking forward to it."
Colin Edwards - Position: 5thTime: 1'49.219Laps: 19
"What time we had this morning was really good! Once I'd got the hang of
going the
opposite way around the track to what I was used to from my Superbike
days, I felt
pretty comfortable out there and my bike felt good in the wet. We went
out
initially and just did a few laps to get a bit of a feeling, before
coming back in
and changing the setting accordingly. We did almost the whole session on
one set
of tyres and they felt really good, much better than they have
previously in the
wet this season. We had a lot of grip which was very encouraging.
Obviously we
could have done with the extra time this afternoon and the weather has
been
unbelievable but everyone's in the same boat so we're going to have to
make the
most of it!"
Davide Brivio - Team Director
"It's really unlucky that the weather has been so bad today, we weren't
expecting
this here! The first practice this morning didn't really give us enough
time to
completely gauge the situation, especially as it was wet, but anyway
it's given
the riders an initial feeling and they were both quite fast. It seems
Michelin
have done a good job with the development of their wet-weather tyres so
we were
very pleased about this. It's a pity we missed out on the extra session
and
couldn't continue with the good work, but it's the same for everyone and
so now we
will make the most of the time we have tomorrow."
Circuit Length: 4060
Weather: Very Wet
2007 MotoGP San Marino & Riviera di Rimini - Misano 31/08/2007
Free Practice
Pos.
Rider
Manu.
Nat.
Total Time
1
Marco Melandri
Honda
ITA
1'46.948
2
Valentino Rossi
Yamaha
ITA
1'48.632
3
Casey Stoner
Ducati
AUS
1'48.852
4
Loris Capirossi
Ducati
ITA
1'49.167
5
Colin Edwards
Yamaha
USA
1'49.219
6
Nicky Hayden
Honda
USA
1'49.591
7
Randy De Puniet
Kawasaki
FRA
1'49.724
8
John Hopkins
Suzuki
USA
1'49.957
9
Anthony West
Kawasaki
AUS
1'50.389
10
Alex Barros
Ducati
BRA
1'51.072
11
Chris Vermeulen
Suzuki
AUS
1'51.164
12
Daniel Pedrosa
Honda
ESP
1'51.177
13
Carlos Checa
Honda
ESP
1'51.312
14
Alex Hofmann
Ducati
GER
1'53.171
15
Shinya Nakano
Honda
JPN
1'53.297
17
Sylvain Guintoli
Yamaha
FRA
1'56.352
18
Makoto Tamada
Yamaha
JPN
1'59.146
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