IRTA
- Jerez
1. Losail
2.
Jerez
3.
Estoril
4.
Shanghai
5. Le
Mans
6. Mugello
7.
Catalunya
8.
Donington
9. Assen
10. Sachsenring
11.
Laguna Seca
12. Brno
13. Misano
14. Indianapolis
15. Motegi
16. Phillip Island
17. Sepang
18. Valencia
|
|
News 23/03/2008
Round 1. Qatar
: Losail
SFW
has taken a dream start to the 2008 season with victory at Losail, in
the first ever GP500-MotoGP night race. Seby and Skider completed the
podium.
SFW began his
title persuit in style with victory in the Grand Prix of Qatar, the
first ever GP500-MotoGP night race, ahead of Seby and Title holder
Skider. The Dutch Devil also put himself into the history books as the
first ever winner of a 800cc GP500-MotoGP race.
SFW started from second on the grid, but set the tone for the race when
he pulled away after only few corners into the race.
The Dutch Devil was never troubled after passing poleman Seby midway
through the opening lap, and ended the race with a masterful display of
how to lead a Grand Prix.
The Team Yamaha UK-NL rider was chasing a repeat of his debut premier
class victory from 2004 and although he had some tyre wear problems at
the end of the race, SFW held off challenges from one of the favourites
for the 2008 crown to win by over two seconds from Seby.
Behind the Dutch, Lords Of Shadow rider Seby followed up on his
spectacular pole with a strong pace to second place. The Romanian
showed no fear in the face of a field packed with race-winners, joining
SFW in breaking away from the pack to take his first podium of the
season.
Another rider to step onto the rostrum was Oasics NoGrip Racing rider
Skider, the one and only two times World Champion. The Spaniard had to
work for his reward, however, taking the holeshot from the second row
of the grid and getting some rough treatment by the frontrunners in
their attempts to break away and also allowing Vouks to provide a real
podium threat.
Arkos Connection rider Vouks took fourth place from his team mate Max
in the final laps of the race, both finishing just ahead of Dark
Corporation rider LuKe. Thunder managed to bring his bike in seventh
place, ahead of LuKe's team mate, Gabi46. Bradders and Chriss completed
the top ten.
Interviews:
SFW Team
Yamaha UK-NL (winner, 16:30.900):
"Yes..... the stars were on my side.
It took me too long to win again... but it tastes so sweet now.
This year I moved to another team and I'm very pleased with how we work
together. We all have developed the bike all the winter and made some
good progress with the setup. It shows in the results and I couldn't be
more happy.
My race was pretty good, I was on soft tyres so I had a good start and
could open a gap in the opening laps. I was a bit worried about Seby
because he could almost do the same lap times with medium tyres as me
on softs, but my soft tyres were very consistent and helped me to do a
strong race where other riders made some mistakes.
GG to Seby who was the only man to challenge me and also good race from
Skider after little practice he still managed to stay upright in the
race and finish strong on the podium.
Next race it's going to be harder because it's a very hard track for
the tyres and we all still remember Seby killing us in The Irta test."
Seby Lords Of
Shadow (2nd, 16:33.067):
"Congratulations SFW for the victory, your first win since Estoril 06,
1 year and a half, welcome back. Also congratulations to Skider for the
podium and to all the rest of the guys who raced.
I'm very disappointed about my race because I had the chance to win but
I didn't make the right tyre choice. I was hoping I could stay with SFW
in the first laps so I can beat him at the end but it seems I didn't
have the pace from the practice in the first 2 laps and SFW did his job
excellent at the start (easy with soft tyres). I'm not upset only
because I lost the race, I'm upset about the way I've lost it. I wish I
would have chosen soft tyres, that way I could have fought with SFW, no
matter if I would have won the race or not. The race was pretty simple
on Sunday, SFW dominated, I was able to keep up with him for only half
a lap, after that I had no chance. From what I see it, SFW has won with
strategy (tyre choice) and that proves that no matter how fast somebody
can be in 1 lap, the race is a different story.
Last year I would have said that 2nd place is a good start of a season,
no big mistakes, just important points. This year tho, I feel
different; I've lost the race and that's it, I won't be satisfied with
anything else but victory. My aim is to win everything possible and 2nd
place, 3rd, 4th etc feels like I've lost everything, I don't even care
where I finish a race if it's not on the top of the podium. Too bad
Guishermo also had some problems in his race and the team is not at
it's best at the moment but we'll have time to get back to the top.
Next race is Jerez, a circuit where I haven't been so fast in the past.
I'll do my best and fight for the victory but I'm more focused on
Estoril and Shanghai where I will definitely be fast.
LOL I'm disappointed with 2nd place while Skider is happy with 3rd...
things have changed since last year..."
Skider Oasics
NoGrip Racing (3rd, 16:37.929):
"Hi all! First I wanna say big GG to SFW, I'm glad to see you back on
the top again after long time with your ass rapped lol! Congratulations
Seby for 2nd and to all who took part in this first round of the
season. I've been absolutely away from gp500 since the last race last
year.
I took part in the IRTA test without too much practice and I could
remember a little bit how to do it in this game. Main problem for me
was I didn't test the physics until last week, I've made some online
sessions with other guys to see how fast these new physics are... I
don't like them very much, very similar to the ones from last year but
this year the bike is too fast in corner speed and braking, it's true
this is how a 800cc bike is.... anyway, this is what we have.
About the race... I have to say I'm very happy with 3rd place, before
the race I knew there were few chances to win, my expectations for this
race weren't many, just to finish in a decent position and this result
is very good for me. SFW did a great start but Seby was right on his
tail, they were a couple in the first corners but then SFW took a
little gap to mofo Seby, I didn't have a good start and I was 1 second
behind Seby in the first lap, then the gap has increasing lap by lap, I
rode alone all the race, only Vouks was trying to gime me some pressure
but I could keep the 3rd place until the checked flag, I thought with 7
seconds behind the leader I would be out of the top5 but SFW was
unbelievable, he kicked our asses very hard lol.
In qualifying I couldn't make a decent lap with soft tyres, I did
almost the same hot lap in the race with medium tyres. This shows I
have to practice much more, but this year I don't have much time to do
it, we all have a life and things to do instead of gp500. I'm here like
all the rest of guys, to have fun and have good moments to remember
later, there are a couple of factors that doesn't help me indeed.
However I want to stay here with all of you and try to get a good
feeling with the physics. See you next race and have fun!
Transalp, n0000000000000b hahahah my goal this year is to win the nub
title, do you wanna move me out of the way?? gassssssssss let's show
them how to do it."
Vouks Arkos
Connection (4th, 16:39.286):
"Hi all! GG SFW and please wait for us next time ,also GG Seby and
Skider!!! MAX needs a GG for 5th place and as a team we hope you will
race ALL RACES LLOLOLOLOLOLL. 10th for Chriss, also not bad m8. Finally
Gaz and Yvos next time will be better m8s... (hope also for me).
Seby good work with results, very fast...
Well, time for Jerez .......Dry or Wet!"
Max Arkos
Performance (5th, 16:39.796):
"GG SFW, good start... also to Seby (what a lap m8!!! in qual), I had
an easy steady race... very close to Vouks. My first and last laps were
very cool, I wanted to stay without a crash because it wasn't a good
day for me... but I am happy with this result... my best so far."
LuKe Dark
Racing Corporation (6th, 16:39.996):
"GG SFW for this great race and also GG to Seby!!
My race was good too. The first laps were okay for me, but then I had
concentration problems in the last laps. Very nice to see so many
riders at the first GP. I hope it will be the same at the end of the
season. See ya at Jerez!"
Guishermo
Lords Of Shadow (12nd, 16:53.158):
"Hi people, first I want to say I'm happy with my result, 12 after
losing 13 seconds in the crash (I appeared on the grass and that cost
me more seconds), but not very much with my performance, I couldn't
practice as much as I wanted and my pace was similar to Skider's and
Vouks´ (I used mediums and I think they also did) but Seby was also on
meds and was much faster than me, probably 0.5 secs in race pace... I
don't know what could SFW do on meds, but for sure he did a good choice
because he won, GG."
Gaz&Slide
Arkos Performance (15th, 16:55.197):
"First, congratulations to SFW, winner at last ... after donkey's years!
The 3 "S" (SFW, Seby, Skider) monopolizes the podium, I'm pretty sure
that those 3 riders will also be in the top 3 at the end of the year.
And I'm really surprised to see Transalp at the back of the field: 5s
slower than the pole position time... really strange for a 5-times
winner (and also 4th ever best rider to score points), maybe he just
discovered the physics during his race???
About my race, I wasn't really confident with that track so I just
tried to stay on my wheels (despite a couple of times on the grass). In
qualifying, I haven't had the speed and I crashed so many times so for
a 1st race with these physics, I couldn't except more than regain the
pace of 40% races and confidence with the tyres. For the next races,
I'll be more ambitious...
Well done Chriss for the 1st race with the team Arkos. The team is now
stronger with Max & Vouks and if Yvos is back in form, we could
have 5 Arkos in the top 10!"
TT98-XL Team
Yamaha NL-UK (18th, 17:02.777):
"Yeh this is a great result for all the Dutch and UK colored machines!
except for Matt who couldn't quite adapt to the Yamaha M1 this year!
Congrats to SFW! and Bradders! Good job lads! AND! To me for finishing
in the top20!"
Transalp
Lords Of Shadow (24th, 17:16.959):
"WHAAAAAT? Transalp 24th?!?
Who have used my nickname in Losail and in Jerez test too?
I've become soft and inconsistent as the pudding!
Well, I'm not happy for standing position but I'm very happy for my
race.
I've landed in Losail Sunday night and I have begun the GP without any
practice.
The qualifying has been a nightmare while in race I've made many errors
but never crashed and this was my objective.
Congratulations motogp500online's racers and especially to SFW (veni,
vidi, vici and 30 points in your pocket ... nice job), to Seby (you
improve your standing position every year and in 2007 your final
position was... 2nd) and to Skider (hey man, don't follow me on the
pudding way ... GAAAAAAASSSSSSSSS)! CIAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
rezist rezist
racing (26th, 17:20.400):
"Yes well done TT98!
Congratulations SFW, it turns out that there was a surprise winner, in
the first round, great job!
As for me, I crashed with 3 laps to go (I ventured onto the curbs too
much lol), so really I think I should be in front of Atman (with -10
seconds) but unfortunately not this time, see you all at Jerez, where
it's much easier to do consistent race lines lol."
Statistics:
SFW takes the lead in the Rider Standings, with a total of 30 points,
second is Seby with 25 points and third is Skider with 21 points. Vouks
and Max complete the top 5.
Team Yamaha UK-NL leads the way in the Team Standings with 42 points,
last year's runner-ups and 2006 champions, Oasics NoGrip Racing are in
second place with 35 points while the 2007 World Champions, Lords Of
Shadow, are third with 34 points.
Yamaha is first in the Constructors Standings with a total of 30
points, 5 points in front of Kawasaki and 9 points in front of Suzuki.
Honda is last with 8 points.
In the Qualifying Award, Seby took a relaxing lead after only 2
qualifying sessions. SFW is 2nd, 0.765 behind Seby with Vouks 3rd,
1.040 second adrift of the leader. Skider and LuKe complete the top 5,
over 2 seconds behind the Romanian.
In the Hot Lap Award, SFW leads Seby and Max by 0.2 and 0.7 of a second.
SFW also leads the Total Time Award, over 2 seconds to Seby after only
one race.
Join us in 2 weeks time for the second race of the season at Jerez,
Spain.
Report by Seby
|
|
|
|
