Czech GP. Race. Driver´s comments

Nieto: ‘Today I made an error, and the championship leader escaped me but I will continue to demonstrate that I havent thrown in the towel’.
Tohru Ukawa, 3rd: A podium is great and so are 16 points. After the big crash I had in the warm-up this morning I really didnt think I would be standing on the podium. I fell heavily on my back. I was just beginning to feel better after Donington! The bike was going well this morning and I caught a neutral between gears. Its not the way I want to close the gap on Valentino but I am still happy with my position in the championship. The final 6 races will be very close. Valentino Rossi, retired: The race was going fine. Me, Kato and Biaggi had good pace. The bike had a few little problems but this seems to be a Yamaha track and not a Honda one. I couldnt seem to make any impression on Biaggi. Half way through the race the tyre went and that was that. I came in to change the tyre. I went out again but lost a lot of time so I pulled in again. It will be interesting to see what they say about the tyre. This has never happened in my career before. Anyway I still have a good lead in the championship with 6 races left. Not a disaster. Toni Elias, 3rd: I am very happy with this result, because all weekend I had many setting problems. My team and I have been working since Friday with the Aprilia technicians to try and find the solution. We improved the bike a little, although today in the race it wasnt working 100 percent. We still have a lot of work to do, and now that we are going testing at Valencia I am sure we can improve a lot more. I made a good start, and when Rolfo, Fonsi and Melandri passed me, I tried to follow. But their pace was faster than mine, and I lost touch. I was left a little behind, fighting with Porto. Five laps before the end the front tyre lost some grip, and I had to cut my pace quite a lot. Porto passed me three laps before the end. I tried to get back in front, but it wasnt possible. Considering how we started the weekend, this result is very valuable, because it is much more than I could have expected. Fonsi Nieto, 4th: I was very calm through the whole race. I was very comfortable behind Rolfo, and I didnt try to pass him until five laps from the end. When I did try, it was because I wanted to escape from the group but I made an error, and I ran off the track, losing all chances of winning. It was a pity, because I was sure that victory was mine. I was still able to get back on the track, then increase my pace to a high 2:03. But in any case, races are sometimes like this. Today I made an error, and the championship leader escaped me but I will continue to demonstrate that I havent thrown in the towel, and I will do my best to try to win this championship. Daniel Pedrosa, 2nd: We made some good improvements in practice, but we still had some doubts about the race performance of the bike. In fact from the sixth lap, it started to slide & but the problem didnt get any worse. The front group was big, and changing places constantly, which made us ride at a slower pace, but with a lot of risk. Three laps from the end I decided it was time to fight for victory. It wasnt quite possible, but these 20 points are very valuable. Its a good way of starting the second part of the championship after the summer break, and I am looking forward to getting to Portugal to keep up the hard work. Joan Olive, crash: The crash was a pity, because I made a good start, and even got as high as third. I saw I could run with the leading group without problems, but the bike started to slide & to the point that it was unrideable. I had to take a lot of risks to try to keep the pace, and finally I crashed. Such a pity, because immediately afterwards the group started to ride a second slower, which would have played to my advantage. The team has been working to the maximum to try to solve our problems, but this time it wasnt possible.