MotoGP news

Nakano well underway at Assen

Shinya Nakano scored a top-ten position during first practice for Saturday's Dutch TT race. The 29-year-old Japanese rider took his Konica Minolta Honda RC211V to ninth place in today's two combined practice sessions.

Shinya and the Team spent their day testing slick tyres from Michelin and making suspension adjustments to their 800cc Honda. In the afternoon track conditions had improved and Shinya put in his quick time with just three minutes to go, pushing him up to seventh place, before he dropped two places in the dying moments of the hour-long session.

Shinya Nakano commented: "Despite the track being dry this morning, the overall grip levels were not so good, perhaps because of the overnight rain. We made some adjustments to the suspension settings for the afternoon session and got a much better feeling from the bike, but we still need one more big step to fight the other guys. At Assen you need a good rhythm and consistency so we will make some adjustments for tomorrow to try and find that. I love the track: it's one of my favourites, so I'm looking for a good qualifying result for tomorrow and a decent finish in the race."

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