Former Red Bull MotoGP Academy rider Bradley Smith took a well-deserved second place at the Gran Premio Cinzano di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini on Sunday, dedicating the result to his Polaris World mechanics after a hot, sweaty weekend at Misano.
Smith reflected on the 125cc contest saying, `It was an important race for me and the team after a couple of disappointing results and we have bounced back. They worked so hard and all I can say is, this is for them!´
Revealing the tactics he had used after he crossed the line five seconds behind 125cc World title holder and race winner Gabor Talmacsi, Smith explained, `I knew that I would have to push hard in the first ten laps to get a gap otherwise there would be a lot of fighting, so I just tried to stay behind Gabor and go with him. When he made the mistake I tried to push and to go for the victory but he had better pace than me and was keeping maybe 10% in his pocket. Obviously I am a little bit disappointed because I always want to win.´
Although Smith is still in search of his first career victory, having led races on several occasions this season, he was taking all the positives from another exciting single cylinder battle. He stated, `At the end of the day today I was fighting with the World Champion. He is the best in the world so I took a lot of experience from this race and I will use it at Indianapolis which is a new track for everybody.´
Having finished tenth in the championship last season with now the disbanded Repsol Honda 125cc team, his latest result puts him within five points of the top five - in seventh position in the standings - in a highly competitive category.
His Polaris World employers have set him what now appears to be a more than plausible target of finishing in the top six before making an announcement on his 2009 contract, though Smith himself appears to be content to stay put.
He commented, `I want to stay in 125cc next year because I think I still need more experience and I am trying to learn and understand all the time. We have to wait and see, hopefully in the near future we will be able to say something but at the moment we have to wait.´
Valentino Rossi has warned Dani Pedrosa not to expect Bridgestone tyres to instantly transform his fortunes as the Yamaha star expressed his surprise at the Spaniard’s shock switch.Rossi needed three months of winter testing and the early part of the season to fine-tune his factory Yamaha YZR-M1 to Bridgestone tyres, and said Pedrosa shouldn’t be banking on the Japanese rubber to be a miracle cure.
Rossi, who also orchestrated his own switch to Bridgestone after a torrid 2007 campaign with Michelin, said: “I was in exactly the same position last year but sincerely I didn’t think to try the tyre during the season.
"The potential of Bridgestone is very high but it is not like you put a Bridgestone sticker on the bike and like magic you go faster. You have to work a lot and you have a lot of pressure because at he beginning my performance was not much faster than Michelin and people were questioning my decision.
"It is a risky move for Dani, and a move like this at this time is quite strange I think.”
Shinya Nakano was the second fastest participant in Monday afternoon´s post-Misano testing session, lapping 0.794s behind Dani Pedrosa as the factory Honda rider undertook his first laps with new tyre suppliers Bridgestone.Although the Japanese rider was not 100% sure about what effect Pedrosa´s sensational change will have on him, in the short term, he remains optimistic about the current situation.
The two riders now have a similar factory Honda RC212V package, but whilst Nakano believes they can help each other he is insistent that he will dictate the set-up of his bike, while accepting guidance from HRC.
Having completed 53 test laps at Misano in preparation for Indianapolis and Motegi, Nakano declared, `Dani´s switch to Bridgestone is a big surprise for us because you don´t see people changing tyres in the middle of the season very often. I don´t know exactly what is happening but the good thing is we can share information. They are a factory team and they get much more help with the bike and the tyres and as I have a similar bike I think this is a good point. On the other hand we have to give over information so I don´t know yet if it is definitely good for us or not.´
As he continues developing 2009 satellite RC212V, a similar spec to Pedrosa´s current 2008 spring valve factory model, Nakano believes the development of his prototype machinery is firmly within his own control.
The 30 year-old Japanese competitor stated, `We have a factory bike but we adjust everything by ourselves. Of course we ask for advice from HRC but anyway we have to build the bike ourselves and of course it is up to me. We are a satellite team and they are a factory team so I don´t think it will affect things too much. Maybe in the near future if they find something very good (the factory team), like a frame or something, I would like to try it too.´
For the time being it is expected that Bridgestone technician Klaus Nohles, who has worked with Nakano throughout the 2008 campaign to date, will split his time between the Repsol Honda and San Carlo Honda Gresini boxes at the next round at Indianapolis, working with both riders on behalf of the Japanese suppliers – just as he did during Monday´s test session.
Repsol Honda factory team rider Nicky Hayden worked on chassis development and tyre testing today. Once happy with the set up of his RC212V the 2006 MotoGP World Champion went out on track to set the fastest lap of the day on Michelin qualifying tyres, the fastest of the three-day test. His time of 1m 38.848s was half a second faster than pole position time set for the Spanish GP at Jerez last year.
Hayden’s team-mate, Spaniard Dani Pedrosa is still carrying a hand injury sustained during testing in January. But the determined Pedrosa returned to the track today after sitting out the wet day on Sunday. Pedrosa and his team technicians worked on his RC212V to try set up variations that would ease the stress on his injured hand. The injury has hampered Pedrosa’s pre-season test programme but the tough young man from Barcelona will be in better shape, but not 100% ready, at the next MotoGP test, at Qatar on February 28-29, the final test before racing begins in earnest at Qatar on March 9.
Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 1m 38.848s - on lap 81 of 82.
“It’s definitely been a really positive and productive three days. We had high hopes coming here because when we tested here in November the bike worked pretty good and Michelin tyres normally work good at Jerez, so this is a good track for us, also there’s no big long straightaways. The wind here has made it tough, the conditions haven’t been easy, but I do feel more comfortable on this year’s bike in the wind. The team really worked hard and made some good moves and good decisions. We didn’t make a lot of big changes, we just got closer to race settings, tried a couple of qualifiers and did a 25 lap run. The chassis seems to be working good and also the tyres are working good. We tried a few different tyre options, and we’re still checking data between the 16 and 16.5 rears. But the show hasn’t started yet, we’ll find out what everybody’s really got and what we’re in for when we get to Qatar but we leave here pretty happy. At the Qatar tests we’ll see how it is under the lights and dial everything in for the first race.”
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1m 41.699s – on lap 33 of 35.
“After this morning’s rain we were finally able to do some laps and it’s been a pretty good day for us. We were happy that we were able to test in the dry after yesterday’s rain and we did similar work to what we did on Saturday. My right hand feels the same as it did on Saturday. We’ve been trying to make some changes to the bike to make it easier for the hand and that’s been positive. But we weren’t able to try too many things because it’s been so windy, which makes it dangerous to ride fast, so it’s been difficult to improve. I don’t think the hand will be 100 per cent when we get to Qatar but I hope it will be better than it is now. We have ten days before the test, so we’ll do as much therapy as we can in order to be ready for the tests and for the race. The last test at Qatar will be difficult, especially for us because we still have a lot of work to do. And it will also be tough because we’ll be riding under floodlights for the first time, so we have to adapt to that. I hope the track conditions will be good at night and the rack temperature not too low.
Ambient temperature: 19 degrees
Track temperature: 16 degrees
Humidity: 57%
Test Times:
1. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda 1'38.848
2. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'39.252
3. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JiR Team Scot MotoGP 1'39.313
4. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1'39.351
5. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'39.568
6. James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'39.727
7. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro 1'39.845
8. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'39.932
9. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'40.333
10. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'40.442
11. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki 1'40.576
12. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing 1'41.026
13. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Alice Team 1'41.177
14. Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro 1'41.292
15. Toni Elias (SPA) Alice Team 1'41.311
16. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 1'41.699
17. Niccolò Canepa (ITA) Ducati Test 1'42.160
18. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing 1'42.970
19. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki Racing 1'43.496
20. Vittoriano Guareschi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team 1'45.597
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