After the sun and the high temperatures in Barcelona only four days ago, Assen received the Motorcycling World Championship circus today with cold temperatures and intermittent rain, two elements that have caused a lot of headaches to technicians and several crashes. Nicky Hayden was one of the riders who crashed this morning on the Dutch track, although fortunately his crash, unlike those of Toni Elias and Valentino Rossi, was not serious. Nicky was one of the few riders saying that he likes the changes made to the Dutch layout. His team mate Dani Pedrosa was however one of those who openly criticized the changes made in Assen. Dani, who has a lot of work ahead together with his technical team, finished this afternoon in eleventh position. Team mate Hayden was one place ahead, tenth.
In the quarter-of-a-lire class, Martín Cárdenas had his debut as a rider of the Repsol Honda Team 250cc with a positive performance. The Colombian rider, who planned this first day as the first-contact day with his new bike, set the eighteenth fastest time in the morning and the fifteenth in the afternoons first qualifying practice. His team mate, Japanese rider Shuhei Aoyama, enjoyed today with his quick adaptation to the layout, clocking the ninth fastest time in the morning and the sixth fastest in the afternoon.
In the 125cc, Bradley Smith will have to improve a lot in Assen if he wants to repeat or improve his Barcelona performance, where he almost managed to score after finishing sixteenth. The British driver finished nineteenth in the mornings free session and twenty-fourth in the afternoons first qualifying session.
Rider´s comments:
Nicky Hayden,
49 laps, 22319 Km:
“Weve been in this position before and weve got some ideas to improve things for tomorrow. To try and get some more traction weve got the bike a little bit too soft, and that means its not steering so good in some of the corners. I really need to come in strong tomorrow, lower my lap-time consistently and get in a good number of fast laps to get myself a good starting position. You know I hate starting out slow again 10th in the first practice but Ill sit down with the boys and see what we can come up with. I actually quite like the new sections of track, especially Turn 2, though that left hander after it is pretty tight. Of course I liked the old track because it was unique, but this is another challenge and were going to figure out the best way to get around it.”
Dani Pedrosa,
51 laps, 23230 Km:
“Theres not so much to say about the morning because it was raining off-and-on which meant there wasnt actually that much testing time. In the afternoon we had a dry practice and yet it was difficult for me to find a good line. At the end I improved a little, but not enough, so Ill be working hard tomorrow to make some big improvements. Its early days but Im really not keen on the new track layout because when you think of Assen, you think of the part of the track that has been lost. Now its more like a usual track. Still, Im looking forward to the race here.”
Shuhei Aoyama,
40 laps, 18220 Km:
“Im not happy despite the good position because were still one second behind the fastest time, so theres still a lot to improve. I know I can be much faster, but I lack confidence and I need to know the circuit better. Its basically about covering more laps on this circuit to know it better. The bike has a good level, although the set-up isnt perfect and we havent made the tyre choice for the race yet. Well have to keep on pushing hard tomorrow to continue improving.”
Martín Cárdenas,
36 laps, 16398 Km:
“Its been a positive experience so far. I used the first practice session basically to get used to the bike and gain confidence. We set the handlebars to have everything the way I like it and in the second practice I already felt much better, more confident and I was able to be a bit faster. Lets hope that well be able to keep on improving tomorrow, but Ive felt quite good. The circuit is OK. It´s shorter and slower after the changes but I think that the result is good. I like it. Its been a positive day in general. We have been improving, just as planned. Let´s hope that we´ll be able to improve tomorrow and be a bit more in the front. As regards the bike, they had already told me not to expect differences like between night and day, but I have noticed the difference in the engine and that the bike is better in general terms.”
Bradley Smith,
38 laps, 17309 Km:
“Its been another new track for me so it wasnt too much of a pain to go out and get used to the track itself and cover as many laps as possible, which we did in the first session, which was good enough. Then, in the second session, there was a little bit of rain coming and I didnt go fast enough in the first part because I wasnt much concentrated and I didnt think it was going to rain as much, so I was waiting for the final part of the session to set my fastest lap time. It was my mistake and now weve learned from it. Im looking forward to tomorrow.”
Standings:
MotoGP
- C.Edward (Yamaha) ´8.144
- C.Checa (Yamaha) ´8.259
- C.Stoner (Honda) ´8.416
- K.Roberts (KR) ´8.510
- R.de Puniet (Kawasaki) ´8.610
10. N.Hayden (Honda) ´9.142
11. D.Pedrosa (Honda) ´9.166
250
- J.Lorenzo (Aprilia) ´1.329
- A.de Angelis (Aprilia) ´1.691
- A.Debón (Aprilia) ´1.967
- A.Dovizioso (Honda) ´2.130
- J.Smrz (Aprilia) ´2.250
- S.Aoyama (Honda) ´2.495
15. M.Cardenas (Honda) ´3.948
125
- L.Pesek (Derbi) ´6.230
- A.Bautista (Aprilia) ´6.537
- N.Terol (Derbi) ´6.645
- M.Kallio (KTM) ´6.846
- H.Faubel (Aprilia) ´6.953
24. B.Smith (Honda) ´8.679
