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
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News 06/04/2008
Round 2. Spain
: Jerez
SFW makes it 2 wins in a row after a
great display at Jerez edging Seby to the line.
SFW has taken victory in Jerez,
edging Seby to the line, to become a serious title contender.
The MotoGP race at the Grand Premio de Espana saw a great battle
between Yamaha UK-NL's SFW and Lords Of Shadow's Seby, with the Dutch
Devil SFW eventually emerging on top as he passed the Romanian in the
final lap.
It was, of course, the second win of the season for SFW, who made full
use of the powerful Yamaha machinery at his disposal at the Jerez
Circuit - to extend his World Championship lead to 10 points ahead of
Seby.
SFW made maximum use of his Michelin tyres in the last lap as he passed
Seby by mid lap after the Romanian had some technical problems with his
Bridgestone front tyre at the end of the race. It was a hard situation
for Seby after he lead most of the race and also started from pole and
had the best lap in the race but the Romanian held on for second place
- gaining 25 crucial points in his campaign to win the world title.
With SFW in this form every position counts for Seby at this crucial
stage in the season.
Dark Racing Corporation's LuKe deservedly secured his first ever podium
with a great ride into third place, the German joining the leading pair
in the second half of the race and eventually crossing the line 7.787s
behind SFW.
Guishermo and Gabi46 were left fighting for fourth place with Lords Of
Shadow's Guishermo emerging from the fight on top, eventually beating
the Dark Racing Corporation man by just over four seconds.
A great contest for sixth was won by Oasics NoGrip's Thunder, just
ahead of Arkos Connection's EseNeen and his colleague Yvos, while
Yamaha UK-NL's British rider Dolz was ninth and Arkos Performance's
Gaz&Slide completed the top ten.
World Champion Skider was knocked back several positions after he had a
slight fall in the first lap and was forced to fight through the
traffic as his difficult season continues. The Spaniard crossed the
line 11th at the end of the race which is his worst result since
exactly 2 years ago, back in 2006 also at Jerez when he was 15th at the
end of the race - which means his worst result in 36 races.
Interviews:
SFW Team
Yamaha UK-NL (winner, 17:27.366):
"Thank you all, my 2nd win of the season tastes also very sweet.
I must say it was very close but somehow never really was worried that
I could lose the race.
GG to Seby, great race and I know we did like 15 practice races and
Seby was pretty much on the limit but still about 2-3 seconds slower
then me. But Seby never gave up and practiced even harder, changed the
strategy and found some more speed.
GG to LuKe for doing a strong race and finishing on the podium.
I have some mixed feelings about the results of my team, yes we all
finish in points and Dolz did a solid top 10 finish but I think there
is more potential than the results show. The NL-UK team needs to do
more practice and testing to get more out of the Yamaha and the tyres.
I also think Dolz has to focus on the race instead of his obsession to
beat Yvos all the time.
Next race is not my favorite track and I know Seby is going to be very
fast so I'll just try to do my best and score some points."
Seby Lords Of
Shadow (2nd, 17:27.736):
"Congratulations SFW and Luke!
For me it's hard to digest this result considering I've lost the race
by only 0.3. It reminded me of Laguna Seca 2006 when I had pole and hot
lap but lost the race by 0.3. Or it could have been worst, like Imola
2004 when I've lost to SFW again but by only 0.1. Ah well shit happens
but the show will go on. I knew from the beginning of the practice at
Jerez that it will be very, very hard to beat SFW but on race day I've
found some better settings for the bike and I was able to be as fast as
him (or even faster) in 1 lap. It's better to have raced and lost than
to have never raced at all (allusion to what Skid said on Sunday). I
have to admit at Jerez SFW was the better rider, he was faster than me
all the time in practice and also beat me in the official race. The
thing that upsets me the most isn't that SFW beat me 2 times in a row,
it's that I've lost 10 possible points in my fight with Skider. He had
a bad start of the season and I didn't take full advantage of the
situation. Well I never give up and the more I lose, the more I
practice and if nothing goes wrong with my plan I should be able to
take some victories in the next races. After all, how much longer can
the Devil win? (allusion to the famous Dutch Devil SFW).
Next race is Estoril, I'll practice until I dream this track every
night and fight like a mad dog in the race. After all, every dog has
his day."
LuKe Dark
Racing Corporation (3rd, 17:35.153):
"Jajajajajajajajajajuuuuuuuuuhuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu my
FIRST podium in this championship, I'm soooooooooo HAPPY!
Thanks to all people who make this championship possible!
About the race: My qual went very good, I didn't do a 1.34.2 before in
practice so it was a good thing for the race. In the race I had in the
first laps some problems with my setup, it felt a bit worse than before
in practice, and with some little mistakes I lost important time, but
anyway the times in the race from SFW and Seby we impossible for me to
do. After my race I thought it will be a place like 5th or 6th, but I
get this 3rd place and I'm very happy.
So SFW and Seby you too were in another class these two races, very
good mates, congratulations! See you all next race at Estoril!"
Guishermo
Lords Of Shadow (4th, 17:37.025):
"First GG SFW, second victory in a row, but this time it wasn't no easy!
I'm extra happy with my race, I had practiced quite but I didn't
practice since Thursday or Friday and I arrived to the race a little
bit "cold"... I started the race and I tried not to crash because it
was nonsense to risk, I wouldn't win anyway...
After some laps I felt already more comfortable and I was closer to my
laps time in practice, but it wasn't enough. Anyway 4th is a very good
result, let's hope I can be faster in the next races, I'm not very
adapted to this new physics as SFW or Seby are. See you!"
Yvos Arkos
Connection (8th, 17:48.796):
"GG SFW, it seems that the new physic suits ur style well...somehow it
s a surprise, strong come back. Seby second, that's not a surprise, gg
to you too, very close.
Luke, great result, you made huge progression, and that gives some
hopes for any of us...
We wait for Skider's answer after this disappointing start of the
season.
Our team suffered, Vouks and Max absence, but still managed to put 3
riders in the top 10, well done Eseneen and Gaz&slide. I hope our
Greek Forces will be back for next round.
My race was good enough, after the disaster from Losail I'm glad I
could beat Dolz the right way and to score some good points.
Good participation this round, thank all of you. Be aware there is only
one day for racing, except if you post or contact us before Sunday, in
case of difficulty."
Gaz&Slide
Arkos Performance (10th, 17:52.505):
"Well done once again SFW... 2nd win: I guess it could be called "a
dream start"!!!
Seby is still on the podium but Skider has lost a couple of big points
and Luke did an impressive performance with this podium.
About Arkos bikes: Eseneen, Yvos & me in the top 10... that means -
and I'm glad of it!!! - all Arkos' riders got "1 top 10 finish" after
only 2 rounds.
About my race, even if I rode with Delen, Zorba Cunha and Bryan, I had
a lonely race... I made a risky choice with softs tyres but they worked
perfectly 'till 2 laps to go. It was unexpected because during the
trainings, they were absolutely destroyed 4 or 5 laps before the
checkered flag. I made a couple of mistakes (riding in grass) so ...
10th place it's ok, I'll take it!
Next race, I'll try to reduce the gap with he best riders because 25s
from the winner, it's still a lil bit too big gap!"
Bradders Team
Yamaha UK-NL (15th, 18:01.987):
"Wow, great job Luke! And, of course, SFW.
All 5 of our team in the points and still first in the team standings!
Good job!
I could never get going here, if I pushed I just crashed a lot. So I
decided to just ride round for points. Pleased with 15th, in the end."
rezist rezist
racing (18th, 18:11.777):
"Points!!!! not bad really, I could have done a lot better if I had
time to practice... and this time I used my 2006 setup lol, so I think
I wasn't at my best... especially in the braking performance...
I basically just rode around to finish without a crash, which I did and
to finish in the points this early in the season is rare for me!!!
Looks like I was the only Ducati at this round...
Well done SFW, oh so close for Seby, and congratulations LuKe on your
first podium!
Next up is everyone's favorite track, Estoril lol!
Hopefully I can find some time to practice for a change."
darkJr Dark
Racing Junior (20th, 18:15.401):
"It really was a hard weekend for me.. I passed many hours trying to
setup my ZXRR.. but nothing was working.. about 2h to go I got some
miracle and founded a balanced setup letting me do 35.9 I was going
confident to race when in qualify I had a problem.. and didn't get even
into 36s. Then the race started and again the same problem made me fail
the brakes at turn 1.. my race was ruined.. I passed from 1s to 12s to
TT.
I passed about 5 laps pushing hard, I did manage to make the
difference, to stay at 12s but my tyres got too cooked because of the
hard pace so I fell again and stayed at 30s. From there to the end was
a nightmare of trying to push hard and not fall.. oh well better
weekends will come.
Now that I saw the results I wanna cry!!!!! I did 20th with 2 falls...
I could be easy 16th... oh well.. better luck next time.. a huge GREAT
JOB for LuKe, Gabi46 and also for SweEtie in Academy riders.. not bad
for a person that fell 3 times and run off track many times.. a Good
Work for Zorba Cunha in his 1st GP and got 2nd in Academy also thanks
for the rest of the team that raced (Joey, DavyB) (I KNOW THAT ACADEMY,
B, A Class don't exist yet).
To the rest of riders: Thanks for racing and GG for SFW!"
Statistics:
SFW extended his advantage at the top of the Rider Standings to 10
points over Seby with a total of 60 points after 2 races. LuKe moved up
to 3rd with 36 points, while Skider dropped to 4th, he has 31 points.
5th is Gabi46 with 29 points.
Team Yamaha UK-NL leads the way in the Team Standings with 84 points,
last year's champions, Lords Of Shadow, are 2nd with 77 points. Dark
Racing Corporation moved to 3rd place with 65 points, while Oasics
NoGrip Racing dropped to 4th, they have a total of 60 points. Arkos
Connection completes the top5 with 45 points.
Yamaha is first in the Constructors Standings with a total of 60
points, 10 points in front of Kawasaki and 24 points in front of
Suzuki. Honda and Ducati complete the top5.
In the Qualifying Award, Seby extended his advantage to 1.060 over SFW.
Skider is 3rd at almost 3 seconds behind Seby, while LuKe and Gabi46
complete the top5.
In the Hot Lap Award, SFW is still leading but Seby has reduced the
difference to only 0.087 of a second. Skider is 3rd at 1.209 behind the
SFW, while LuKe and Guishermo complete the top5.
SFW also leads the Total Time Award, 2.537 in front of Seby. LuKe is
3rd, at almost 17 seconds. Thunder and Gabi46 complete the top5.
Join us in 2 weeks time for the third race of the season at Estoril, in
Portugal.
Report by Seby
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