MotoGP news
Mixed day in Japan for Ducati
27 April 2009 / Results / PhotosThe Ducati team experienced a variety of emotions at Motegi on Sunday as Casey Stoner finished fourth to lose his championship lead and team-mate Nicky Hayden was eliminated from the Japanese Grand Prix after a collision with hometown hero Yuki Takayahshi's Team Scot Racing bike.
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With qualifying cancelled due to rain on Saturday, Stoner's best practice lap time left him second on the grid behind championship rival and reigning Champion Valentino Rossi. A bad start saw Australian Stoner drop to sixth place before gradually rising back to fourth. "We have had the same issues as everybody else, I suppose, in that we haven't had time to set the bike up," the 2007 Champion explained. "All in all, I think we were capable of at least matching the lap times of the front guys but we just lost too much time at the start."
Stoner complained of brake problems on the warm-up lap which led to caution for the first minutes of the race. "I really didn't know what to do," he continued. "I wasn't able to brake where I wanted to and I wasn't confident. Maybe I could have gone faster, but I don't know how safe that would have been. Anyway, I lost a lot of positions at the beginning of the race and I spent too much time battling to get past. When I got closer to the front it was a bit too late, unfortunately; I tried to stay as consistent as I could and when I got closer to Andrea (Dovizioso) I rode a bit harder because I saw it was possible to pass him." Stoner did pass the Italian, claiming fourth position behind the Yamaha pairing and Dani Pedrosa's Honda.
Hayden's afternoon, however, was short-lived after his crash. "That was exactly what we didn't need," the American Champion of 2006 said. "I got a decent start and I think I was up a couple of positions but going down into the hairpin, which is a slow hard-braking corner, I was on my line and Takahashi just took me down. There was no warning - I didn't even hear anything! I don't want to say much about that, I don't want to look like a cry-baby but, you know, it was the first lap - luckily I feel okay.
"I actually landed in the same place on my back as the crash in Qatar and my leathers and helmet have got exactly the same marks. It's a shame because this weekend I honestly felt we were making some progress." It's a disappointing start to Nicky's season, who has only scored four points so far in 2009.
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