MotoGP news
Nakano disappointed with tenth
10 March 2007Konica Minolta Honda rider Shinya Nakano made a steady start to his 2007 MotoGP campaign with a hard-fought tenth place at the Losail circuit in Qatar. The 29-year-old Japanese rider made good his promise of wanting to finish the first race with some points in what promises to be a long, gruelling season. Shinya spent most of the race in good company, battling with Chris Vermeulen, Alex Barros and 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden.
Shinya Nakano said "Well I at least did what I said I would do and cross the line and get some points, which is so important in such a long season. My start was not so good, but I soon got into a good rhythm. I benefited from a number of people crashing out and soon spent most of the race battling with Nicky Hayden and Chris Vermeulen. I so wanted to catch and pass both of these riders but unfortunately I didn't have the lap times to do it. I think we really needed to be around half a second a lap faster to be competitive where we deserve to be, but we finished the race and learned a lot about the bike, which is so important."
Team boss Gianluca Montiron commented, "Obviously we are disappointed with our final position but we need to be positive about what we have learned about our new machine and the tyres. For Shinya it was important to get used to the feeling of the bike with worn tyres and low fuel-load towards the end of the race, as you can only do so many race simulations during the winter. Now we need to analyse the data from this first race and work hard with our partners Honda, HRC and Michelin to improve our overall package so Shinya can fight with the top riders. This is our aim, so we are all looking forward to the next race in Jerez."
more news
- 21 Nov.
- 20 Nov.
- 04 Nov.
- 28 Oct.
- 27 Oct.
- 26 Oct.
- 25 Oct.
- 24 Oct.
- 23 Oct.
- 19 Oct.
- 18 Oct.
- 17 Oct.
- 13 Oct.
- 05 Oct.
- 04 Oct.
- 03 Oct.
- 02 Oct.
- 28 Sep.
Homepage
Jerez
