MotoGP news

Mixed feelings for Konica Minolta

Shinya Nakano and his Konica Minolta Honda Team took 13th place at today's Australian Grand Prix. The 30-year-old Japanese rider made a good start from eighth position on the grid and managed to get into a good rhythm while inside the top ten, but from the middle of the race Shinya began to experience some front-end chatter from his RC212V in Phillip Island's slower corners and dropped back through the pack to 13th position at the flag. 

"Today the result is similar to others we've had this year but at least we took some more points," said team boss Gianluca Montiron. "We would have wished for a better result after such a good grid position, but this is the way racing is sometimes. Shinya decided to use a softer tyre as he got good feeling from it, but from the middle of the race he lost a little confidence and began to lose his rhythm. I think the weather conditions and cool temperatures over the weekend meant that it was difficult for all the riders to choose the right tyre. At the beginning Shinya made a pretty good start but from the middle of the race he lost a few tenths of a second per lap compared to the front group when he encountered a chattering problem. We now go straight to Sepang and hope that the winter tests will give us a good basis for machine set-up for the weekend. Our target is to get a better result and try to improve our final World Championship ranking." 

Nakano commented, "My start wasn't too bad - it's nice to start from the third row for a change. Initially I found I could stay with the middle group at the start of the race. My pace at the start wasn't too bad - I was actually faster than during practice - so I was enjoying myself. Unfortunately from the middle to the end of the race I couldn't keep my rhythm going. Our problem was chattering from the front-end of the RC212V when under hard braking for the two hairpin corners. I think what we need to do is start Friday with a faster lap-time and then make changes from there to find a setting that works better when we're going faster in the race. That's what I want to do next weekend in Sepang. I like the track a lot and want a good result for the Team and myself."

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