I really love this forum !!!
This is Crash.net headlines yesterday :
http://www.crash.net/motorsport/motogp/new...ner_win_by.html
And the result is.....WHAT A JOKE !!!
I don't know who wrote the article, but here's the lesson...
never underestimate your opponent,no matter who he is...especially when Valentino Rossi is on your side...
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2008/Jul/080720sh.htm
Laguna Seca USGP MotoGP Press Conference Transcript
by susan haas, seamstress for the band
Sunday, July 20, 2008
<u>
Valentino Rossi (#46 Fiat Yamaha, winner):</u>
Q : Valentino, that was an unbelievable Grand Prix to watch. What was it like to ride it?
A : Was very exciting, because we know that for try to win, we have to make all perfect from the start. During the session, we had some problems, because we know that Stoner is very fast. I do the great start, but especially we make some important modify from this morning to this afternoon, that give to us the last three-tenths for going in :21. I feel confident with the bike. I am very strong in braking, and I have some hard overtaking back-to-back. Was fun. Was like the old-style race. And at the end it is possible to win. So this is the fourth victory of the year. Twenty-five point, very, very important, that give to us some relaxing for going on holiday. But anyway, we have to work, we have to stay very focused, because the championship is so long, and our rival is very strong.
Q : It seemed a very clear tactic to lead the race, to go straight to the front early on.
A : Yes. I have to try to stay in front, because anyway, here it is difficult to overtake. For stay front, I have to stay in : 21, :21 high, because if not, I am too slow. When I understand that I have the rhythm, I try to stay front for all the race, and was very difficult, but my bike worked very well, and is precise, the setting is good, and very strong in braking, so is possible to have a great pace and make a great battle.
Q : So many overtaking moves between yourself and Casey - of course, you almost run off the track as well at the Corkscrew. Talk us through that particular action at the Corkscrew.
A : Yes. Was a great braking, and you know in the Corkscrew is very difficult to make the right lines, also when you are alone. So I have to risk a bit in the braking for try to overtake, and I go a little bit on the outside. But anyway, [inaudible] at the outside. After the Cork.
Q : Also, every time Casey was in front of you, you looked to get straight back in front of him.
A : Yes. I am good in braking, and I want to stay in front. I want to try to stay front. Anyway, was a high level battle and a great race, because our lap time is always :21.8, :21.7, or :22.0 the maximum, so I think today is all perfect for us. But we have to work. We have to fix some our problem, because is seven race to the end, and the battle will be always very hard.
Q : Twenty-five points, now, between yourself and Casey, who is in second position. What are your thoughts about Brno, and maybe Misano coming up, where Casey was successful last year?
A : Yes. I have 25 point, that is a good advantage, but is not amazing. Now, after the break, we have the Brno race, where last year Stoner was very fast. So we have to work, and we have to try to go faster, because last year was a disaster for us. And after, arrive at Misano, that is in Italy, and last year also with a lot of our problems. I was quite fast in the practice before broken engine. So the championship is completely open, but I have more - today I make more points than in 2007 season already, and I have seven race to go. And 212 points, this mean that, except the mistake in Assen, I am always very fast. So I think we are strong and we are ready for the battle.
<u>
Casey Stoner (#1 Marlboro Ducati, second place):</u>
Q : Casey, you were the other half of a classic battle at the front today. How did you see that race from the front?
A : The pace was pretty low, which was really good. We were getting a nice buffer to the third position, which helped us relax a little bit, and know that we weren't getting any pressure from behind. I was a little bit disappointed with the fact that towards the end of the race, I made a mistake going into the last corner, and as I tried to come back on the track, I seemed to hit a big patch of, a deeper part of the sand rather than dirt, and I just lost the front. So I'm a little bit disappointed with that, but it was completely my mistake, and I have to deal with it. As for the race, most of the time it was very nice, very clean. Valentino was riding a great pace at the front, riding very well, very defensive. I just felt that some of the passing maneuvers were maybe a little bit too much, and past the point of fair or aggressive. I've been riding for a lot of years, and even though I'm only 22, I've been now racing for 18 years. I've had a lot of overtaking maneuvers. I've done a lot of overtaking maneuvers. It was just some of the most aggressive I've had in a long, long time.
Q : Was there any in particular you weren't happy with?
A : Two moves, basically three moves. I think everybody would've seen them. But I think a couple of other ones were all right. All nice and clean. We were riding side by side for a lot of the race. There were just a couple I wasn't really happy with.
Q : What about your position in the championship now? Twenty- five points behind Valentino. What does that mean - how do you go into Brno? What's your mindset?
A : We just have to look since Donington we've gained points. I know we lost five points today, but it's five points, so it was good. We've been very competitive over these last races, which has given us more confidence. Before then, we weren't really giving much of a show to the front of the pack, and now we can actually really fight. So this is the most important thing, and this is what we've got to concentrate on and focus on. We're going to the summer break now, we're going to get ready for the last part of the season, and considering not too long ago we were considered out of the championship, I think we're in with a fair chance, but for sure it's going to be very, very hard to do anything.
Q : One final question about the race itself. Did you feel if you could hang on for three or four corners at the front, that you could've pulled away?
A : Yeah. I was basically trying to find the right place to get past and actually pull the gap. We knew we had a faster pace, but Valentino, like I said, was riding a great race, very defensive and very difficult to pass. I was a little bit disappointed where we couldn't get past too easily, but like I just said, Valentino was very, very defensive, and a fantastic race. He wasn't making any mistakes, and it was very hard to find an opening.
<u>
Chris Vermeulen (#7 Rizla Suzuki, third place):</u>
Q : Chris, on the podium in Sachsenring just seven days ago. That was in the wet, though. I'm sure it's a big boost to you to do it in the dry here at Laguna.
A : It's the second race in a row we're on the podium, so it's a big step. It's a big boost for myself, for the team, and very good to be on here in the dry conditions. Obviously, Laguna Seca I like. I was quick here last year as well. We finished second. Unfortunately, today we didn't have the pace of the front two guys. After practice, I thought maybe we could race with them, or be a lot closer than we were, but we didn't have the pace today. But yeah. We'll see how we go in Brno.
Q : It looked like a bit of fun there with Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso early on in the race. Were you surprised at their pace?
A : Not at all. Everyone - nobody's slow out there. There's 18 or 19 riders and they're all very fast, very talented. It was hard starting from the third row of the grid and trying to come through. It's not an easy track to pass, and when you do make a pass, a lot of the time you run wide. Nicky was very clever. He took advantage of that and passed me back quite often. But once I got in front, I knew I had more pace than them, and we got away. To be honest, from about lap six or seven, it was pretty boring for me. I just rode around on my own a lot. But we got home, we're on the podium, and it was a good race.
Q : What about now, for the remaining seven races in the championship? What's your hopes for the Suzuki in the races to come?
A : Being on the podium, I guess, now in the dry, proves that we've made some steps with the bike, and we want to continue that. I think we're going to a couple more tracks that are going to suit the bike, some more tracks that I like - Brno, Misano. Hopefully we can fight for some more podiums there.
Q : Valentino, what do you think about the words of Casey about this not-very-clean overtaking?
ROSSI: For sure, after a battle like this, for sure also with all the pressure and all the emotion of the race, is quite normal. But everybody, is race. My style to race is try to never give up, so I make the tactic that I think is possible for try to win. For sure the overtaking, we make a lot of overtaking, quite aggressive, but we never touch each other. So I think - anyway, I enjoyed the battle.
Q : Valentino, what do you think of Laguna Seca now? And, was it the Corkscrew where you got off and kissed the ground?
ROSSI: I don't know if I understand. But at the beginning, the Corkscrew was a nightmare for me, especially 2005, but also 2006, because is a difficult corner. But I think this year, from Friday, I right away, and I am able to improve practice by practice and understand the right line for the Corkscrew. And you have also some overtaking, and is a tricky place for overtake. So at the end, after today, I like more this track, for sure.
Translete with google translation from italian site gpone.com
sorry if it's not clear
Vale: "Stoner must understand that sell expensive skin"
Valentino Rossi cuts the goal A Valentine is not served starting thirty seconds before Stoner, as stated the day before the race, to win his first Grand Prix of the United States. The Pesaro won Laguna Seca (one of the few circuits where there had still never won) with two shots from master (the first and fourth round) in point so far most hated, the Corkscrew.
"Until last year for me was the Corkscrew un'incubo. This year, however we are gradually improved in each round of tests, and I understand how to do the right trajectory. Now this circuit I like best, "said Rossi, who then talked about the tenders, the skirmishes with Stoner and the championship.
"In the last few races we had different problems, faticando a lot to chase the right set-up: to put us in these conditions probably contributed a great step forward made by Ducati, who has taken decisively counterattack. All of a sudden, after Barcelona, what we did was no longer sufficient to beat, so we started doing effort. Here, however, everything went well: clearly pulls the arse take a second or even tenths 6-7, in the tests, but Stoner like to use this tactic in trial, to annoy the other…. "
"In any case, I must be honest: before departure I felt, that they can win - continued Rossi - I had never happened, but this time I had the feeling that I would have won. I was silent, I have not talked to Brivio and Uccio, because I probably would have given the stupid… A benefit of this kind is possible only when everything is perfect: the trim and tyres have worked well, was very important amendment we have done after the warm-up, which allowed us to find more grip at the rear and find those three tenths to lap I used to stay in front. "
Psychologically, that is what this victory?
"Well, I do not think much affect on Stoner, one that is not cut and not impress you, even if it is certainly a little 'disappointed by how way. Today went well, but we must continue to work, because Casey in straight over me always, I can not do the next seven races in these conditions. He then guide always great, we can not afford to left the slightest advantage. "
Last year here Stoner gained a victory which he considered essential for the title: this is the same thing for you?
"Yes, this victory for me is fundamental optical championship, partly because arrives at a moment where a nobody if they waited. I would have been able to satisfy the second position, but Stoner must understand that this year the sell expensive skin! This year even when things go wrong arrival second, even in wet weather, arrival second… not as the last years, where the water was perhaps the seventh. "
What respond to Stoner, who says that your overtaking maneuvers have gone beyond the limit?
"I'm sorry that is angry, although I believe that already has calmed a little ': the emotion just finished the race maybe take the upper hand. However him on the podium told me he had lost respect for me, because it runs for many years, but this is not a race if the recalls… Well, meanwhile, if he runs for so many years, I run for a life and then so who is going against him, but I races I remember all the way, my opponents have always struggled in this way. We have not ever touched, indeed the only time that happened was he who tocccarmi not remember if the elbow or knee. "
When he fell, then there you notice now?
"Not now, I just saw that went off behind me. When I found I pulled a sigh of relief, because until then the race was without breath, I had the eyes out of the helmet. "
The battle today has reminded some great duel of your past?
"No, but I think the overtaking that I made the Corkscrew is one of the most beautiful of my career. I came to mind what they have done at that point Alex Zanardi in IndyCar, or that famous Schwantz at Hockenheim. "
You have always said that Stoner was put under pressure: today you have done wrong and he, a confirmation that he also suffers the pressure?
"Well, he is accustomed to racing in the head with a lead of 4 seconds, while in the body to body come into play other factors… However this time I battutto and are happy."
Now you have 25 point lead, and the upcoming races in Brno and Misano.
"Yes, it's a nice advantage though not exceptional: in 2007 both in Brno that at Misano Casey was very fast, while for us was a disaster, since rompemmo even an engine. But this year the situation is better, we are strong and ready to fight. "
