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MotoGP: Fiat Yamaha Germany
Preview, Ready to enter Phase Two
The MotoGP World Championship crosses
its season equator next weekend as round ten of eighteen sees
the Fiat Yamaha Team land in Germany for the first of another
gruelling double-header. The trucks and hospitality units have
made the short trip across the Dutch border from Assen to the
Sachsenring circuit, where Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards
will continue their challenge for maximum points, before leaving
the teams and riders to take to the skies for the transatlantic
trip to California and the US Grand Prix just seven days later.
The Fiat Yamaha Team arrives in Germany on a high following a
morale-boosting victory for Rossi in Holland, where the Italian
closed the gap on current series leader Casey Stoner to 21 points.
That remarkable race was the third time Rossi has won from a
qualifying position of eleventh - more times than any other rider
in the history of the sport. The first of his memorable charges
came at Donington in 2001, when he crossed the line 1.794 seconds
ahead of Max Biaggi, whilst his second came, coincidentally,
at Sachsenring last year.
After qualifying eleventh, only to be bumped up to tenth on the
grid after Stoner was ruled out through injury, Rossi charged
through to the lead before the halfway stage and then held off
three rivals in a dramatic charge to the line that ended in the
closest ever finish in MotoGP history, with just 0.307 seconds
covering the first four riders. Rossi's fifth Grand Prix win
at the circuit sparked wild celebrations amongst the Italian
fans, who had already celebrated on German soil just seven days
previously, when their national football team won the World Cup
with a dramatic victory against France in Berlin.
Located in the heartland of the former East Germany's once glorious
motorcycle racing industry, the Sachsenring is built right next
to the old road course, a characteristic the track shares with
Brno in the nearby Czech Republic. The current circuit could
not be more different, its ultra-modern nature showing in its
relatively slow lap times, with slow corners juxtaposed with
some dazzlingly fast ones - including a stomach-churning downhill
right hander which was added in 2003.
"WE'VE GOT WORK STILL TO DO"
Valentino Rossi has had five victories at the Sachsenring circuit
in all classes, including success in the MotoGP race for the
past two seasons with Yamaha. After the national euphoria surrounding
his World Cup-themed celebrations following last year's win,
the 28-year-old is hoping to provide more Italian cheer this
weekend by scoring his country's 200th premier-class Grand Prix
victory.
"After the fantastic race in Assen I'm really looking forward
to Sachsenring," says Rossi. "Last year in Germany
we qualified 11th and won, last week in Assen we did the same
thing! Of course, I would much rather start from the front but
anyway I'm feeling confident. The Yamaha works very well in Sachsenring
and I've had a lot of good wins there in my career. We
know, however, that Casey will be strong again, like he is everywhere
this year. With him performing at such a high level at every
race, 21 points is not a small amount so we have to be at the
maximum. We've got work to do still; we're not perfect yet, especially
in the wet, but we're going in the right way and we'll keep pushing.
We still have half the season left! Sachsenring is quite a different
track, very tight and twisty, but for the past two years our
bike has worked very well there and we've been able to win."
"I WANT TO RACE AT THE FRONT"
Colin Edwards has not enjoyed a particularly fruitful relationship
with the Sachsenring circuit, starting in his MotoGP debut year
of 2003 when he was involved in a spectacular fireball crash
from which he was lucky to escape without injury. With a best
result there of fifth place in 2004, the Texan is keen to set
the record straight and register a top result in preparation
for his home race at Laguna Seca.
"I've never gone great at Sachsenring and it's definitely
not one of my favourite tracks on the calendar, but our bike's
a lot different to last year so I'm actually looking forward
to the race," says Edwards. "I like racing at the front
and that's where I intend to be. Assen was disappointing because
I expected more and I had the pace, but now we just need to take
that to Germany and put things right. I found a front-running
pace in Assen and now we are expecting things to work in Germany
too. The track has two different parts - one where it's very
difficult to overtake and another which requires a massive physical
effort because it works the left-hand side of your body really
hard. The tyres are under a lot of strain and it's vital to make
the right choice so they don't overheat on the left-side. Generally
I get along okay with the layout and there are always a lot of
fans so it should be a good weekend."
"MAKING PROGRESS"
Fiat Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio says his staff were buoyed
by Rossi's victory at Assen - not only because of the spine-tingling
nature of his ride but also the technical progress made behind
the scenes with Yamaha's technical partners. Rossi has now won
each of the last two races held in dry conditions and clearly
demonstrated the improvements being made with the speed of the
YZR-M1 and the competitiveness of Michelin's slick tyres.
"The win at Assen was very good for our confidence levels
and has given us extra motivation to take into the second half
of the championship," says Brivio. "It was a special
performance from Valentino but above all it was gratifying for
the whole team to see the progress we have made together with
Michelin to get our bike working at its optimum level in dry
conditions because this is something we have worked extremely
hard towards over the past few weeks. The characteristics of
the circuit seemed to suit the bike but we are confident we can
keep this level of performance going now at Sachsenring and Laguna
Seca as we aim to recover as many points as possible. Colin had
an excellent race at Donington but struggled to repeat that at
Assen so hopefully he too can benefit from these improvements
now. We will certainly be doing our best to help him get a good
result and get him ready for his home race just seven days later!"
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