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Losail
2. Jerez
3. Istanbul
4. Shanghai
5. Le
Mans
6. Mugello
7.
Catalunya
8.
Donington
9. Assen
10. Sachsenring
11. Laguna
Seca
12. Brno
13. Misano
14. Estoril
15. Motegi
16. Phillip Island
17. Sepang
18. Valencia
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News 30/09/07
Round 14. Portugal
: Estoril
Skider
bounces back with superb Estoril win ahead of Seby and Vouks and took
the lead in the Standings by only 5 points to Seby with four races to
go.
Skider took
his fourth victory of the 2007 season this afternoon at the bwin.com
Grande Premio De Portugal after an immense battle with Seby.
The young Oasics Suzuki rider produced one of his best performances of
the season on a hot Portugese afternoon, closely contesting the race
lead with Seby in an enthralling duel - the Spaniard eventually
crossing the line just 1.821 ahead of the Romanian.
The fourth victory of the year for Skider gave his World Championship
title hopes another boost and came as a result of another triumph in a
head-to-head battle with Yamaha's Seby.
In 2007 Skider and Seby appear to be involved in a direct fight for the
MotoGP title - with Vouks emerging as the other main candidate.
Having lost out on Seby's 5 victory strike earlier this season, Skider
proved again at Estoril that with the awesome Suzuki GSV-R at his
disposal he is more than capable of fending off Seby when the two
square up. The Estoril win is the second time Skider has beaten Seby in
a straight fight in the last three races, after a similar display at
Brno.
Vouks may not have won a Grand Prix for nearly 6 months but he is
finding form at the present and was ready to pounce in the event of any
erros from the leading pair - ultimately finishing just 3.371 behind
Skider.
There was another decent points haul for Saber120 who repeated his
fourth place from Sachsenring earlier this season, while a brave ride
from SFW saw him secure fifth place.
An excellent ride from Dolz saw him exorcise the demons as the British
managed to bring his Yamaha home in sixth place.
Arkos Yamaha's Yvos and Lipton Ilmor's DavyB were seventh and eighth
respectively, with Tornado-CreW's LuKe and VLT Honda's TT98-XL
completing the top ten.
Skider Oasics
NoGrip Racing (winner, 16:35.502):
"Congratulations to Seby for 2nd (not so bad after a bad race) and
Vouks for the podium, well done to Saber120 and pity for SFW too bad
crashing on the last lap but this is racing.
I'm very happy with this victory, it's very important for the
championship. This race was very hard for me because I did a lot of
mistakes during the practice, I crashed many times and also made some
grass excursions. This didn't help me to do my best on the official
race, I was pretty scared to make a mistake that could cost to me some
important points in the standings, so I rode looking more on my grip
and stay in the tarmac than to do the best in the bike. In the race
Seby took the lead right from the start, he tried to scape quickly and
almost gets it, but the biggest gap was 1,5 sec and I could stay fence
his tail on the last laps, the first laps were really hard to keep up
the gap because he was riding very fast and I was losing time on every
corner, Seby did few mistakes and I could close the gap from him.
Usually the last intermediate was my best chance to close down the gap
from him, so I tried to do it the best possible and the rest of the
circuit ride safely, where I had many mistakes during the trainings.
At 3 laps to go I was right behind Seby, I overtook him on the chicane
and tried to scape, I did it pretty easy because Seby made some mistake
and I had 1 sec advantage at the last lap, thought I should take it
easy, but I did a mistake on the braking before the chicane, I touched
the grass a little bit on the left side of the tarmac and almost lose
the front end (exactly like Melandri at 2004) fortunatelly I could
avoid the fall. Hope to do my best till the last lap of the last race
as Seby said, and m8, dont think even winning the next race at Motegi
the champ will be mine 99% because still 3 races to go and every race
is unknown.
It's true I have a psichological advantage after winning 2 from the
last 3 races but this is only a stadistic, what real matters is what
you do from now on to the last corner of the season. So I'll try to do
my best, hope u do your best too and we can see a big battle on the
track.
See you all this weekend at wet Motegi!"
Seby Lords Of
Shadow (2nd, 16:37.323):
"Congratulations Skider for the victory, the title fight is almost
over, one more victory and the title is 99% yours.
GG Vouks and SFW, very fast too, sadly SFW fell again.
I knew I was fast here at Estoril and I knew that without mistakes I
could have won the race without problems but I'm always stressed on the
tracks where I'm fast.
I'm very disappointed with my race pace, I was much slower than in
practice. I've raced with F4 instaid of F1 so I didn't know my lap
times or the gap between myself and Skider which was a mistake, it made
me even more stressed because I didn't know where I was.
I did too many little mistakes during the race and couldn't escape and
at the end it was pretty obvious Skider was going to catch and pass me.
He deserves this victory because on Sunday I couldn't do my best and he
profited from it. I've always liked Estoril but it seems it only brings
me bad memories. Now it's time to look forward and concentrate on the
next races which will be fun and interesting. I'm sure Skider will win
the title but since I'm up there in the standings I'll make the fight
more interesting and fight hard till the last race. If he deserves the
title he must fight for it until the last lap of the last race. It's my
duty as a rider to fight till the end, no matter what the results will
be and that's what I intend to do.
Good luck to all in wet Motegi."
Yvos Arkos
Froggy's Connection (7th, 16:53.968):
"GG Skider, Seby and Vouks, same podium as in Standings.... though
first two places will fight till the end. My race was pretty good, I
followed Dolz all the way, hoping for a mistake from him that never
came...
For once it was a quiet race with a consistant rythm, we almost never
crossed lines, and I finished within a second... 4 races to come
yet, we'll see what happens in Motegi! (I don't like wet conditions, it
will be tough). Cya there!"
LuKe
Tornado-CreW (9th, 17:03.554):
"GG to Skider, Seby and Vouks!
My Race was ok. In Lap 7 I crashed but the 9th place is a surprise for
me!
Great Race to everyone who took part.
See y'all at WET Motegi GP"
Adam Yamaha
England MotoGP (13th, 17:14.285):
"Yeah I did a lot better than I thought I would have done (13th, 3rd in
class B). I had a run off though, cost me about 5 seconds which sucked.
Aiming for a top 10 before the season's out."
Atman Asica
Racing Team (16th, 17:24.146):
"I was very nervous and also I was ill and my lap times were very bad,
1:34 and first lap 1:40!!!
In practice I rode 1:32 high all laps, first lap 1:36 high. My best
qualify lap 1:32.070, in race 1.32.264 and total 17:08.9 and I know
with little luck I can manage 17:01...
Never mind, in race I saw Bradders before me and 3 laps before end he
made mistake and I overtook him. We rode close 1 lap and was very
exciting.
16th place is very good for me. In standings only 1 point behind
Bradders on 27th position, but 14 points behind Fonta."
rezist Rezist
Racing Yamaha Team (17th, 17:24.424):
"I should've done better, it's amazing I was 14th on the grid but 19th
fastest lap in the race.
I also crashed on lap 2, because of one of the many hazards on this
track lol it wasnt my fault, apart from forgetting it was there hehe.
Well done SkiDer! back into the lead, by 5 pts very convenient... for
Seby! should he win again, that is..."
Bradders
(22nd, 17:52.960):
"My race went terribly. With only 6/7 class B guys still racing I can
only gain about 15 points a race on LuKe now, if I win and he comes
last in every race, I can just about win the title, but that's not
gonna happen is it.
Well done LuKe, looks like you've won it, and you deserve it. Now I
have to fight TT for 2nd."
Guishermo
Hurricane Miu Racing Team:
"Congratulations to Skider for the win, and also to everybody who took
part in the race!
I started doing some laps at the beginning of the week and I was riding
very comfortable, and even more when I put a soft front on Thursday, I
was able to do a 1:29.3 lap and finish the practice race in 1:30.0
after only 15 laps, so I supposed that I could have ridden a little bit
faster... But Sunday arrived and I was busy in the afternoon and the
evening and couldn't race, sorry to Seby, Skider, SFW... if they were
waiting for me (maybe not lol).
For the next race I'm very motivated, I think I have recovered the
speed I lost before the summer break with some crashes, lets hope I can
do a good job in the wet. See you!"
In the Rider Standings, Skider took the lead from Seby after taking his
4th victory of the season in Estoril. The distance between them is now
only 5 points, the leader having a total of 347 points. Vouks remains
3rd with 227 points, a massive 120 points behind the Spaniard. SFW
managed to pass Guishermo and lies now in 4th spot with 208 points, 19
points behind Vouks. Guishermo completes the top 5 with 194 points.
Lords Of Shadow extended their lead at the top of the Team Standings to
10 points over Oasics NoGrip Racing with a total of 550 points. MotoGP
Greece Racing Team is a massive 264 points behind the leading team
while Hurricane Miu Racing and Nitram Racing complete the top 5.
Yamaha leads the Constructors' Standings by 15 points over Suzuki with
four races to go. Moriwaki is 3rd, a massive 153 points behind Yamaha
with Kawasaki and Honda 4th and 5th.
In the Qualifying Award, Seby has extended his lead after another pole
position (his 9th of the season) to 1.225 over Skider. Transalp is 3rd,
22.661 behind the leader. Yvos and Dolz complete the top 5.
In the Hot Lap Award Skider is still the leader but Seby managed to
close down the gap to 0.956 to the Spaniard after taking his 2nd Hot
Lap in a row and his 4th of the season. Thunder is third, 13.055
seconds behind Skider. Transalp and Dolz complete the top5.
After the victory in Estoril Skider took the lead from Seby in the
Total Time Award and the distance between them is now 0.933. Thunder
lies third, more than three minutes behind the leading pair. Dolz and
Yvos complete the top5.
Join us in one
week's time for the MotoGP500online G.P. of Japan at Motegi.
Report by Seby
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