Czech GP. Races. Driver´s comments

Valentino Rossi: ‘That was one of the best races of the year’.
MotoGP, Valentino Rossi, 1.59´966 sec, 1st: That was one of the best races of the year. Im very happy. For the first time we race without tactics. Sometimes this year I have thought too much about the moves. Today there were four or five really fast guys who all wanted to be in front. We push the bikes very hard. I made some mistakes; Sete made some and I crossed the line first. It was for me just like the overtake I made on Jorge Martinez for the first victory of my career here. It was very special. MotoGP, Nicky Hayden, 2.00´411 sec, 6th: Generally a positive weekend. It was good being up front on the qualifying days but today I was expecting a little more. I just seemed to be missing a little bit me and the bike. I got on the back of Checa for a long time and couldnt get past. I got the run on him a few times but that was it. Im happy I finished so close to the leaders that gap was pretty close and its good to have moved up in the points as well. Ill take all the positives from the weekend and move on to the tests tomorrow and the next GP in Portugal. 250. Toni Elias, 2.03´969 sec, 2nd: I made a good start and took over the lead, but De Puniet and Poggiali overtook me in the second lap so I preferred to keep myself behind them. They set a very fast pace during the first laps and at mid-race I decided to overtake them. I clocked the fastest lap of the race and managed to escape, but my rear tyre skidded heavily, I almost crashed, and Poggiali and De Puniet caught up with me again. That’s the moment when we started the real fight for the lead. The tyres where starting to fail but I fought for the victory until the very end. In the last lap, Poggiali and I passed each other several times, and that was bad for us because Randy took the opportunity to open a small gap which finally gave him the victory. I’m happy anyway because I’m back on the podium. I hope to continue like this in the next races. It’s important to be back in the front, fighting with the top riders. I’m satisfied with this result because we’re finding back the right way. It would have been great to win, because it was actually my aim after the job carried out this weekend, but this second place isn’t bad at all after the results of the last races.                       250. Sebastián Porto, 2.04´785 sec, 5th: I’m happy with the result. Considering everything we’ve been through this weekend, it’s really good, because we’ve had a lot of problems with the settings. Friday was a complicated day and we did some changes on Saturday but we weren’t able to improve neither the bike’s settings nor the position on the grid. The red flag during the last timed practice also hindered us from setting a good time. Today’s result has been a consequence of several problems, the bike wasn’t at a hundred percent and it has been a very hard race. I tried to attack as much as I could from the beginning and I could have been much faster but the bike limited me a lot. We have a big problem with the front end, we cannot make it work well and now we have to work hard to improve before the next race. 250. Fonsi Nieto, 2.04´996 sec, 6th: This morning, after the warm-up, I was convinced that I would be able to be in the front, I was even thinking about trying to escape. I was lapping with the leading pack at the beginning but then I noticed that the engine wasn’t performing as well as in the morning and that I wasn’t able to keep up with them. I lost a lot of time and I wasn’t able to make it up. I guess that’s the moment when I started to think about the championship, I’m second in the overall standings and the points are important. Now we have o keep on working like this in order to attack and make up what we’ve lost until now. 250. Héctor Faubel, 2.06´090 sec, 10th: Finally a good race. I kept a good pace, one second behind the lead and I’m very happy with this result. It’s a great moral help, especially after the problems we’ve been having. The first part of the race has been difficult, because I met Bataille and wasn’t able to leave him behind until mid-race. He was constantly showing his tyre and bothering me. The bike is almost perfect, there’s only a little failure in the front end but the engine is running great. Now we have to keep on working; I’ll try to improve in every race.                       250. Joan Olivé, 2.07´308 sec, 16th: This weekend hasn’t been good at all. I’ve had a lot of problems with the bike and the times in the race prove it. I’ve been lapping well under the times I could have made and now we have to analyse what went wrong and solve it before the next race in order to get back to better positions. It seems that a big part of the problem is in the suspensions. We have to try to make them work better. I trust in my team and they will find a solution. 125. Dani Pedrosa, 2.08´518 sec, 1st: It’s been a difficult race, especially in the beginning. We’ve had problems to choose the right tyres because the sky was very clouded in the morning and it seemed as if a hard compound wouldn’t be good for the race. But we decided to take it anyway and fortunately the sun came out to help us with the grip. We’ve also been lucky with the crashes: I was left alone with Perugini at the end of the race. I gave it all and he wasn’t able to follow me. It was good for me and allowed me to win. I also want to thank Honda and my team for their support. 125. Héctor Barberá, 2.08´840 sec, 5th: I’m not very happy because the race didn’t turn out the way I expected. We’ve had problems with the engine throughout the weekend, it lacked speed and therefore it wasn’t as fast as the ones in the lead. I made quite a good start, as I usually do, but since the engine wasn’t working well I couldn’t risk as much as the others, forcing me to open the throttle before them in order to be able to keep up with them. During one of those accelerations, the bike skidded and I almost crashed. Later on I managed to catch up with Dovizioso, but with two laps to go De Angelis passed me and I wasn’t able to follow him.125. Pablo Nieto, 2.08´340 sec, retired: Too bad I crashed, because we had managed to move up from the tenth position after the first lap, to the third. I opened the throttle too early coming out of the corner, I lost the rear and I crashed. I hit Luthi, but fortunately nothing serious happened. I have a strong blow in my elbow and my thumb and I had to retire. I could have been fighting for the victory but it’s just been another unlucky race.Repsol driver´s tyres choiceValentino Rossi: Medium / Hard               Nicky Hayden:  Medium / HardFonsi Nieto:  Hard / Hard               Toni Elias:  Hard / HardSebastián Porto:  Hard / Hard               Héctor Faubel: Hard / HardDani Pedrosa: Hard / Hard   Pablo Nieto: Medium / Medium                    Héctor Barberá: Medium / Medium                    Joan Olivé:  Hard / Hard