The third day of practice at the circuit of Jerez ended suddenly for the Repsol rider Esteve Rabat, as he opened the throttle on the Sito Pons curve he was thrown off his KTM after a rear-wheel skid. The Spaniard was about to round off a good day`s practice and was getting more and more used to his new bike, quite different from the one he rode last season. It had been a productive day up to that moment but it was a day that regrettably finished in the doctor`s surgery in Jerez.
For the time being he has received first aid and is immobilised, this evening tests will decide whether he has to have an operation. His teammate, Marc Márquez, made progress with his new bike. Today he concentrated on solving the problems he had with the suspension, the main problem was when he entered some curves the bike was bouncing around.
For the young Márquez these have been three positive sessions giving him a chance to ride alongside those will be his rivals this year and to get back in the competition groove before riding the 2008 versions of the KTM for the first time, which, if everything goes according to plan will be next week in Valencia. Julián Simón had a positive day`s practice as well and managed to set a series of similar lap times on his KTM 2008. However, the Spanish rider was disappointed with not having broken the 1 minute 44 second barrier.
For both the rider and mechanics everything is new and they need to try many things out. One of these was a new handlebar which gave him better sensations when taking curves. Next week the riders will practice at the Ricardo Tormo circuit de Cheste, Simón and Vázquez will be there riding over three days.
Julián Simón,
1’44.5 82 laps, 363 Km.
“This was a complicated day, we began very well and it was easy to match yesterday`s time but halfway through the day we put new tyres on to try and set a faster time and then several riders fell and I lost a bit of concentration. I was already tired by then after the three days riding and what is more on a bike that has not been very comfortable for me, above all on curves, so I was more tired than I usually am. That meant that I could not go faster than yesterday. Nevertheless we tried somehting that turned out to be positive – the handlebars which were my biggest problem up to now as they had not been comfortable for me. Whenever I started to take a curve it had been a bit tricky, now though things were better at the end of the day. We set lap after lap at 1.44 and a half, and we were not able to get under that even though we did a lot of laps. I am satisfied, not with the time but in the way we went about it. In Valencia I hope to finally get used to the bike and to set interesting times.”
Esteve Rabat,
1’48.6 60 laps, 265 Km.
“The truth is that everything went badly today. We worked quite a lot on the chassis and the engine. In the morning I found myself quite comfortable riding at speed but in the afternoon we stagnated a little. We tried different set ups and I almost fell on curve 8 when I opened the throttle. The bike was shaking and I broke the fairing but I did not fall over. So then I stopped in the pits and when I went back out I do not know what happened on curve 5, but I was suddenly up in the air. I fell and I broke my collar-bone. Now I feel better the best thing is to get better as soon as possible and be ready for the tests in Jerez.”
Marc Márquez,
1’50.0 64 laps, 283 Km.
“This morning it seemed that it was going to be hard to set good times, but in the afternoon it was better. We had some problems with the bike at first, the gears did not change as they should have and when I opened the throttle the response was sudden. As for the rest, the practice went well. We were able to try some things out, above all on the suspension, we went on until it was too cold and the track temperature had fallen too much to carry on.”
