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Suzuki GSXR Motorcycle Forum
Welcome to Gixerboyz. The Suzuki GSXR Motorcycle forum. If its about GSXR's then you have come to the right place. Of course, other motorcycles also welcome...
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andyk3
Site Founder
Joined: 15 Dec 2005
Posts: 21682
Location: Widower to a Nintendo DS
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 Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 4:09 pm Post subject: Grand Prix of China |
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Good qualifying sees Rizla Suzuki MotoGP near the front
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen secured their best grid positions of the season so far during qualifying for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai.
Capirossi will start from the second row of the grid in sixth place, as the experienced Italian narrowly missed out on his first front row start for Suzuki. His best time of 1’58.941 was only 0.350 seconds away from the third fastest time, set by World Champion Casey Stoner, and but for a small mistake on his final lap Capirossi may well have been on the front row.
Vermeulen produced a fine display in qualifying, both on Bridgestone race tyres in the early part of the session and on the qualifiers in the closing stages. Suzuki’s Australian rider was inside the top five on race rubber and the hard work that his crew have put in over the past two days certainly begin to show dividends. He will start from the middle of the third row, after qualifying in eighth place with a time of 1’59.325.
Today’s qualifying was held in bright and sunny conditions with track temperatures again over 50ºC. Pole position went to Colin Edwards on his Tech3 Yamaha.
Tomorrow’s 22-lap race gets underway at 15.00hrs local time (07.00hrs GMT) when both Rizla Suzuki racers will be looking to capitalise on their good grid positions and race to their best results of 2008 so far - but, with rain forecast at the 5,281m circuit, both riders will need to be ready for any conditions.
Loris Capirossi:
“I am quite happy today because this is the first time that we have had a good qualifying. We have worked hard to get the bike’s settings right and it is now working well on race tyres. We still have a couple of options for which tyres to use tomorrow and we will decide on that in the morning. The qualifying and race tyres worked well and we have a good rhythm with the race package, and it will be good to start nearer the front. We will see what happens tomorrow as the forecast says rain which will be awful after all the hard work we have put in. Our target remains the same, which is to win races and get podiums, I know that will be hard here, but we will certainly be pushing for it!”
Chris Vermeulen:
“Things have been a lot better today. The tests after the last few events have really paid off and Bridgestone has helped out and brought us some new rubber that is a lot more competitive – so I am really thankful to them for that. My crew have worked really hard this week and we have had to overcome some major issues in some of the sessions - the guys have worked their hearts out! It has definitely paid off as we were consistently inside the top-five during the qualifying session on race tyres, and on the qualifiers it is a lot better to be right up there. It will still be hard work from the third row, but Suzuki had a good result here last year and we know we can be competitive. I’m looking forward to the race and I’ll certainly be giving it my best!”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“It’s been a decent weekend’s work here in Shanghai and today’s qualifying is our best of the season so far. The Bridgestone tyres have worked better in qualifying than they have elsewhere, so at least the guys can see the lights and that will give them a better chance of getting into the front running pace early on. It’s no secret that Chris has sometimes struggled to get to his full potential in qualifying and we were all pleased that today he pushed as hard as possible - a few hundredths of a second certainly makes a difference to your grid position.
“It looked like we were going to have our first front row start of the year with Loris, but when you are pushing that hard sometimes mistakes happen. He nearly crashed on his last lap, but he kept it upright and was still able to bring the GSV-R home for a second row start.
“Whatever the conditions tomorrow, we are looking forward to a good race; we know our guys will be giving their maximum effort.”
Pramac Grand Prix of China Qualifying Classification:
1. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 1’58.139: 2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +0.355: 3. Casey Stoner (Ducati) +0.452: 4. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) +0.572: 5. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +0.716: 6. LORIS CAPIROSSI (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +0.802: 8. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1.186: |
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fletchos
wheelie God
Joined: 12 Jan 2008
Posts: 406
Location: Calne , Wiltshire
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| Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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Did you see Lorenzo little incident  lucky boy  |
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andyk3
Site Founder
Joined: 15 Dec 2005
Posts: 21682
Location: Widower to a Nintendo DS
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 9:54 am Post subject: |
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Capirossi and Vermeulen robbed of higher finishes
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP’s Loris Capirossi was deprived of at least a top five position at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai today, through a mixture of bad luck and a small mistake.
Capirossi was looking to challenge for a much higher position on lap five, but an error at the end of the back straight caused the Italian racer to run off the track. He re-joined the race in 12th place and began the task of chasing down the pack in front of him. Capirossi used all his experience to close in and pass five more riders to move him into seventh on the penultimate lap, but he suffered a transmission problem on the last lap and crossed the line in ninth position. This result gave Capirossi seven points, and moved him up to fifth in the riders’ championship.
Chris Vermeulen had an afternoon he would rather forget. The talented Australian had looked impressive during yesterday’s practice, but a similar technical fault to Capirossi which began directly from the start of the race caused Vermeulen to enter the pits and retire from the race at the end of lap six.
Today’s race was declared ‘wet’ after heavy rain this morning, but with warm air temperatures of 22ºC drying the track, all riders started on slick tyres. A crowd of just over 20,000 witnessed former World Champion Valentino Rossi win his first race since September last year.
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP now travels back to Europe for fifth round of the 2008 MotoGP World Championship at Le Mans in France – the scene of Vermeulen’s premier Grand Prix victory last year – on Sunday 18th May.
Loris Capirossi:
“It’s difficult to say that this was a positive day, but we did improve a lot and if it wasn’t for my mistake early on it could have been a lot better. I didn’t want to lose touch with the top guys and my rhythm was really good, but I ran off and that cost me some places. I got back up to seventh and then I had a technical problem and I lost two positions right at the end. Now we will go to Le Mans and make sure that we are competitive there – we had the potential to do much better today!”
Chris Vermeulen:
“Obviously I’m not happy with today’s result; in fact that’s probably an understatement! I had a problem right from the start and the chain kept slipping making the bike really difficult to ride. I felt like my pace was quicker than the four guys in front of me, but every time I tried to pass them the chain would just slip and I’d lose my momentum. Then towards the end of lap six the chain came off and I had to go into the pits and that was the race over. I am really disappointed with what happened, but we have to learn from this and make sure that it doesn’t happen again. We now have to re-group and come back even stronger in France!”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“Today has been a disappointing end to what has been a good weekend’s work. Chris suffered an extremely unusual technical problem which I know the Suzuki factory will react to very quickly and he deserved much better – he’s an awesome racer who just needs his luck to change.
“For Loris it was his most competitive race on a Suzuki so far, and he had the pace to finish at least in the top five if everything had gone to plan. Unfortunately he made a mistake early on – which can happen when you are pushing to the maximum – and although he fought back to seventh he was denied by a similar problem to Chris.
“The Team is feeling very disappointed at the moment, but we have made some steps this weekend both in qualifying and with race pace, and the guys still have the confidence to look forward to Le Mans and pushing for the front positions.”
Mr Masahito Nishikawa – General Manager of Motorcycle Engine Design Department:
“It has been a good experience for me to visit the team and work with them here in China. I will now take my report back to the Factory and make sure that we can start to be more competitive. We will try to take the steps we need to make this bike a race winner.”
Pramac Grand Prix of China Race Classification:
1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 44’08.061: 2. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +3.890: 3. Casey Stoner (Ducati) +15.928: 4. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) +22.494: 5. Marco Melandri (Ducati) +26.957: 9. LORIS CAPIROSSI (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +31.440: DNF. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP):
World Championship Classification:
1. Pedrosa 81: 2. Lorenzo 74: 3. Rossi 72: 4. Stoner 56: 5. LORIS CAPIROSSI (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) 33: 14. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) 14: |
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andyk3
Site Founder
Joined: 15 Dec 2005
Posts: 21682
Location: Widower to a Nintendo DS
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 9:55 am Post subject: |
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| was a good race but a little boring |
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Jedi 100
MOTO GP rider
Joined: 03 May 2007
Posts: 3665
Location: Hertfordshire
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 10:28 am Post subject: |
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| i woke up to watch it but fell asleep watching it |
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ashman
moderator
Joined: 09 Apr 2006
Posts: 6465
Location: Land Ahoy
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 1:54 pm Post subject: |
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Straights are too long there for bikes 
The crowd was overwhelming as well wasn't it. Did anyone actually see any spectators 
Don't see the point in having a Moto GP in a country where nobody is going to turn up to watch  |
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L3on
Site Manager
Joined: 08 Jun 2007
Posts: 2896
Location: Berkshire
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 4:05 pm Post subject: |
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TV said 136,000 spectators, but most stands looked empty to me too  |
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andyk3
Site Founder
Joined: 15 Dec 2005
Posts: 21682
Location: Widower to a Nintendo DS
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 4:16 pm Post subject: |
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| i reckon they meant poss 136000 |
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PAUL71
wheelie God
Joined: 10 Oct 2007
Posts: 373
Location: BROMLEY
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 4:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Moto GP is co boring fell asleep watching it ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! |
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L3on
Site Manager
Joined: 08 Jun 2007
Posts: 2896
Location: Berkshire
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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| andyk3 wrote: | | i reckon they meant poss 136000 |
1 too many 0's ?  |
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andyk3
Site Founder
Joined: 15 Dec 2005
Posts: 21682
Location: Widower to a Nintendo DS
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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| no it aint 136000 or 136,000 looks the same to me |
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L3on
Site Manager
Joined: 08 Jun 2007
Posts: 2896
Location: Berkshire
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| Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 6:52 am Post subject: |
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| andyk3 wrote: | | no it aint 136000 or 136,000 looks the same to me |
eh, what you trying to confuse me?
I thought you meant they meant 13600, not that you meant they meant possibly 136000 |
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ashman
moderator
Joined: 09 Apr 2006
Posts: 6465
Location: Land Ahoy
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| Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 7:05 am Post subject: |
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I'm confused too.
You messing with our heads Andy |
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andyk3
Site Founder
Joined: 15 Dec 2005
Posts: 21682
Location: Widower to a Nintendo DS
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| Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 7:58 am Post subject: |
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| confused you soon will be |
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