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 16/06/2008
Round 7. Catalunya : Montmelo
SFW takes his 4th victory of the
season in Catalunya with Seby and Skider on the podium.
An intense race at the Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya saw SFW emerge victorious from an
eternal battle with Seby to wrestle the GP500-MotoGP World Championship
lead from the Romanian with seven rounds gone. Vouks took an early lead
but was sucked into the field after less than a lap, with the leading
two riders in the championship then going head-to-head before a brief
cameo from Skider, who snatched second place from Seby by mid race but
made a mistake and went off track. It helped SFW open up a gap over
Seby which he sustained until the final as he proved to be decisive
when he opened up a crucial advantage in the final charge for the line.
Skider put in a hugely impressive performance to seal third place, his
second podium of the season. The Spaniard fought bravely to outpace his
compatriot Guishermo over the final two laps after making a mistake and
crossing the chicane when pushing desperately to catch SFW and Seby in
the final stages of the race.
With Guishermo in fourth place, Vouks came through to clinch fifth
after a superb charge which saw him pressure the Spanish pair for the
final podium spot in the closing stages. Vouks’ Greek compatriot and
Yamaha colleague Max followed less than 3 seconds behind, whilst
Kawasaki rider Gabi46 came in seventh place.
Last year's podium finisher, Thunder faded drastically as he struggled
with a rear grip problem, Skider’s Suzuki team-mate dropping four
places on the final six laps to cross the line in eight place, just in
front of Dolz and Yvos.
Interviews:
SFW Team
Yamaha UK-NL (winner, 16:11.482):
"Thank you all! GG to Seby for a very strong race and also finally
Skider finishing on a podium.
It's nice to be back on a track where I don't have to worrie about
curbstones but just putting my focus on riding and setup.
This track is always very hard on the rear tyre so my intention was to
go with rear medium tyre but after some more testing I've realized that
I'm a bit too slow and I needed to push very hard to be competetive.
Then I've changed my tactics to go with soft tyres and with some setup
changes and some little changes in riding I've been able to do some
good last 2 laps.
In the race I had a good start and had 0.6 sec advantage on the first
lap. In the next laps I only could be 0.1-0.2 sec/lap faster so Seby
was very fast on his soft/med tyres but then lap 5,6 and 7 I did 36.0
and there I made some ground. On last lap I had 2.2 sec advantage so I
took it easy and finished first.
I must say this was one of the most relaxing races ever for me, yes the
pressure from Seby was huge but like Seby said when I'm faster almost
evry lap then it's no problem.
My team did also good with Dolz finishing in top 10 and beating Yvos
again.
Bradders was abit slower but still scored some good points.
cya all next race.
btw now I regret that I don't live with my parents anymore so my mammy
could bring me some milk during my race"
Seby Lords Of
Shadow (2nd, 16:12.994):
"Congratulations SFW!
Also gg to Skider for podium, nice comeback m8.
37 riders hehe looks good, gg every1.
This race was hard for me, even from the first practice session I had
difficulties with the setup and racing lines. I was hoping to have a
good feeling right away because last year I had a good setup and also I
could find a very good pace and racing lines but it seems I was wrong,
I had to start from 0, nothing from last year worked this time. My best
in practice was a couple of 35.8s with softs and 36.0 with soft-med and
the total time 16:12. In the end I chose soft-med for official race,
which I regret now, if I had softs I could have put some pressure on
SFW in the first laps. With soft-med I had to watch him go in front in
the first laps and I was hoping to catch him at the end but after mid
race I was 1.3s behind SFW when I made a small mistake and lost there
0.3 and at that moment I knew I won't be able to catch him unless he
makes a mistake. He was faster in 9 from 10 laps so I had no chance to
catch him in the last lap when I recovered only 0.6s. My race was good
compared to practice, I was only 0.4s slower in total time but SFW was
the best on Sunday, no doubt about that.
I'm looking forward to Donington and Assen and then a well deserved
vacation of 4 weeks."
Guishermo
Lords Of Shadow (4th, 16:21.050):
"GG SFW, very very good race with softs, and even better when you were
faster than Seby in the most part of the race, great job. Also GG Seby
and Skider, specially Skider because he's back to the podium and seems
to be fast again.
I couldn't race with the top guys because of computer problems, my
computer was broken and I had to install GP500 in another computer and
do again the setup of the pad... Anyway I felt very good and improved
my personal best to 1´36´4 with soft-med, so I was quite fast... My
race was very very good, not the best of the season because I wasn't
very fast but I was superconsistent, doing better pace than in practice
with very few mistakes and riding very comfortably, the pity was that I
did a very bad first lap (1:42) and lost some ground, but the last lap
arrived and I knew I could do a very good result... But the race was
not over, I was in my room and my mother appeared and started to asked
me stupid questions (if I wanted milk lol), I lost concentration and
run-off the track when I lost a braking point... I lost 4-5 seconds but
anyway I wouldn't have beaten Skider, so this mistake wasn't very
important. See you in Donington"
Yvos Arkos
Connection (10th, 16:29.450):
"37 riders! 5 newcomers, welcome!
GG SFW for that win, duel with Seby continues...
Skider shows some reaction, double champ is still alive.
About my race, we had a nice battle with Max, Thunder and Dolz. I
started well and fought for the session win, but my soft tyres forced
me to settle down... I thought I could save at least the win over Dolz
in a thrilling last straight, I did though, even Dolz's replay shows
it, I'm a full bike ahead, but not the result...
Anyway, we will see what happens in Donington... some revenge is in the
air..."
LuKe Dark
Racing Corporation (11th, 16:29.953):
"Very good pace SFW, Seby and Skider, nice race, congrats!
I hoped that I could do the pace which I go the times before in
practice, but before the race I didn't practice for 2 days and that was
the mistake, my laps were not so good as I hoped. I raced with the top
guys in the room and made some mistakes in the first laps. I was some
seconds behind Skider and after I try to push a bit harder I crash...
again a silly crash, but that's racing! Now I look forward to
Donnington where I will try to come back to podium."
Bradders Team
Yamaha UK-NL (13th, 16:32.923):
"Nicely done SFW, another great win!
I had a run off which cost me 4/5 seconds. Without that I'd have been
up with Dolz and Yvos which is where I'm aiming at right now. My two
favourite tracks coming up, Donington and Assen, I'll be dissapointed
if I don't get good top 10 finishes at both (hopefully repeat my top 5
of last year!) so bring it on!"
Joey Dark
Racing Junior (32nd, 17:30.106):
"I'm happy with my result. I have done a bad race but in the final the
results was very good. I fall in the firt laps, I try to push harder
but I have wrong tyres. I make a lot of mistakes during the race. But
the final results I have a 4º place in the Academy class. Until the
next race I have some time to pratice. Let's see what happens in
Donington."
Statistics:
SFW has taken back the lead from Seby in the Rider Standings thanks to
his 4th victory of the season in Catalunya. Guishermo is 3rd, 73 points
behind SFW. Twelve points behind Guishermo is Gabi46 and further 6
points back is Vouks in 5th place.Lords Of Shadow have extended their
lead to 38 points in front of Team Yamaha UK-NL in the Team Standings.
Dark Racing Corporation is 3rd, 114 points behind the leading team.
Arkos Connection and Oasics NoGrip Racing complete the top 5.
Yamaha has taken back the lead from Kawasaki in the Constructors
Standings and only 5 points separate the top two teams. Suzuki is 3rd,
84 points behind Yamaha while Honda and Ducati complete the top 5.
In the Qualifying Award, Seby has extended his advantage to 2.371s over
SFW thanks to another Pole Position, his 6th of the season. LuKe is 3rd
at over 7 seconds behind the Romanian, while Gabi46 and Thunder
complete the top 5.
In the Hot Lap Award Seby still leads the way but SFW reduced the gap
to 0.273s after he took his 2nd Hot Lap of the season. Guishermo is 3rd
at almost 4 seconds while Gabi46 and Thunder complete
the top 5.
SFW has extended the lead to Seby in the Total Time Award to 2.353s
after 7 races into the season. Guishermo is 3rd, over 1 minute and a
half behind SFW.
Gabi46 and Thunder complete the top 5.
Join us in 2 weeks time for the eight race of the season at Donington,
in United Kingdom.
Report by Seby
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