Joined Jul 2006
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Texas
Little Dani climbs to the top
Pedrosa rules with the new 'Pedrosa rules'
(03/11/2006)
The first ever 800cc GP test has ended in Valencia with the downsized Pedrosa being top of the downsized machines. The miserable little Spaniard gitbag, as he's known to his friends, found it just as easy to contain his excitement as he did to set an impressive time of 1min 32.66.
Astonishingly Thumbelina's lap was 0.3 faster than Capirossi's fastest race lap at last weekend race and only 1.6 seconds slower than Rossi's pole position time.
"We're very happy on two accounts" beamed some HRC geezer "Firstly with Dani's time and secondly with the fact we managed to sucker you mugs into changing the rules in our favour on the grounds of 'safety'. I mean, what were you thinking?"
A mere beer spray behind Pedrosa was the impressive Chris Vermin on the Suzuki. Many had expected that Suzuki with their 'try what you bring' attitude would create yet another 'not there or not there abouts' machine to infest the midfield. However with Vermin's result and Hopper setting the fourth fastest time many were left gob-smacked - not least the Suzuki crew who had begrudgingly turned up fearing a drumming both on the track on and verbally from Comical Denning.
Later Vermin cited his success on the fact that having ridden the 990 Suzuki all season he was already well accustomed to the weaker power of the 800cc machines.
Another convict, this time in the skin-graft friendly guise of Casey Graveller, caused a modest surprise trackside - mainly with the marshalling staff who had specially flown in six extra tractors and a team of military cleansing units to deal with his expected spills. However despite being on a completely new machine not only did Casey outpace his team-mate Leaky Loris and set the third fastest time but also managed to stay relatively rubber-side-down both days.
Although setting the fastest time on day one chumpy ex-champion Valentino Rossi found himself over a second adrift of Thumbelina on day two languishing in eighth. The Italian, who is known for losing her nerve, blamed the lack of pace on trying 'some different things' - which is technical speak for not knowing what the hell went wrong and making a complete hash of trying to find out.
Rossi's dental-friendly team-mate Colin Edwards was not given the chance to ride the new 800 Yamaha despite the American being keen to see which direction the development was heading to use as a basis of his 2007 excuse list.
Ilmor, with the drunken Lepricorn Jeremy McWilliams newly crated in at the helm, became the first team ever to successfully run at the back of both a 990cc and 800cc official event.
"With Ellison gone, not coming last has got a whole lot harder" claimed Ilmor.
Valencia test - day two:
1. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (800cc) 1min 32.66 secs
2. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (800cc) 1min 32.69 secs
3. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team (800cc) 1min 32.94 secs
4. John Hopkins USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (800cc) 1min 32.95 secs
5. Loris Capirossi ITA Ducati Marlboro Team (800cc) 1min 33.01 secs
6. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team (800cc) 1min 33.03 secs
7. Alex Barros BRA Pramac d'Antin MotoGP (990cc) 1min 33.20 secs
8. Valentino Rossi ITA Camel Yamaha Team (800cc) 1min 33.78 secs
9. Jeremy McWilliams GBR Ilmor SRT (800cc) 1min 35.90 secs
10. Andrew Pitt AUS Ilmor SRT (800cc) 1min 36.40 secs
11. Nobuatsu Aoki JPN Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (800cc) 1min 37.30 secs
Pedrosa rules with the new 'Pedrosa rules'
(03/11/2006)
The first ever 800cc GP test has ended in Valencia with the downsized Pedrosa being top of the downsized machines. The miserable little Spaniard gitbag, as he's known to his friends, found it just as easy to contain his excitement as he did to set an impressive time of 1min 32.66.
Astonishingly Thumbelina's lap was 0.3 faster than Capirossi's fastest race lap at last weekend race and only 1.6 seconds slower than Rossi's pole position time.
"We're very happy on two accounts" beamed some HRC geezer "Firstly with Dani's time and secondly with the fact we managed to sucker you mugs into changing the rules in our favour on the grounds of 'safety'. I mean, what were you thinking?"
A mere beer spray behind Pedrosa was the impressive Chris Vermin on the Suzuki. Many had expected that Suzuki with their 'try what you bring' attitude would create yet another 'not there or not there abouts' machine to infest the midfield. However with Vermin's result and Hopper setting the fourth fastest time many were left gob-smacked - not least the Suzuki crew who had begrudgingly turned up fearing a drumming both on the track on and verbally from Comical Denning.
Later Vermin cited his success on the fact that having ridden the 990 Suzuki all season he was already well accustomed to the weaker power of the 800cc machines.
Another convict, this time in the skin-graft friendly guise of Casey Graveller, caused a modest surprise trackside - mainly with the marshalling staff who had specially flown in six extra tractors and a team of military cleansing units to deal with his expected spills. However despite being on a completely new machine not only did Casey outpace his team-mate Leaky Loris and set the third fastest time but also managed to stay relatively rubber-side-down both days.
Although setting the fastest time on day one chumpy ex-champion Valentino Rossi found himself over a second adrift of Thumbelina on day two languishing in eighth. The Italian, who is known for losing her nerve, blamed the lack of pace on trying 'some different things' - which is technical speak for not knowing what the hell went wrong and making a complete hash of trying to find out.
Rossi's dental-friendly team-mate Colin Edwards was not given the chance to ride the new 800 Yamaha despite the American being keen to see which direction the development was heading to use as a basis of his 2007 excuse list.
Ilmor, with the drunken Lepricorn Jeremy McWilliams newly crated in at the helm, became the first team ever to successfully run at the back of both a 990cc and 800cc official event.
"With Ellison gone, not coming last has got a whole lot harder" claimed Ilmor.
Valencia test - day two:
1. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (800cc) 1min 32.66 secs
2. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (800cc) 1min 32.69 secs
3. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team (800cc) 1min 32.94 secs
4. John Hopkins USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (800cc) 1min 32.95 secs
5. Loris Capirossi ITA Ducati Marlboro Team (800cc) 1min 33.01 secs
6. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team (800cc) 1min 33.03 secs
7. Alex Barros BRA Pramac d'Antin MotoGP (990cc) 1min 33.20 secs
8. Valentino Rossi ITA Camel Yamaha Team (800cc) 1min 33.78 secs
9. Jeremy McWilliams GBR Ilmor SRT (800cc) 1min 35.90 secs
10. Andrew Pitt AUS Ilmor SRT (800cc) 1min 36.40 secs
11. Nobuatsu Aoki JPN Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (800cc) 1min 37.30 secs
