Rossi and Edwards get to grips with Laguna Seca

The blazing Californian sunshine and a bumpy new track surface made life even more turbulent than usual at Laguna Seca today as preparations for the US Grand Prix got underway for the Camel Yamaha Team and their MotoGP World Championship rivals. Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards made a bright start to the day, lapping fifth and second fastest in the morning free practice, but both struggled in the afternoon session and were unable to improve their times as they focused on adapting the set-up of their YZR-M1 machines to the unique demands of the wild western circuit. Rossi himself indulged in a moment of rodeo riding as he ran across the gravel traps after misjudging a braking marker going into the Corkscrew corner. To make matters worse for Edwards he also began to struggle from the effects of flu symptoms and an upset stomach, which were not helped by afternoon temperatures exceeding of 30ºC. His morning benchmark was bettered by only five other riders, however, the fastest of those being American compatriot Kenny Roberts Jr. (Team KR) with a lap of 1'23.859 - just inside Edwards' own official lap record of 1'23.915 set during the race last year. Tomorrow the pair will have one more free session to adjust their machine set-up before tackling the all-important qualifying practice. Colin Edwards (5th; 1'24.310, 44 laps)"At the moment we're just working to get the bike better, trying to find the right setting for the track. The new surface is not great - I don't think they could have made it any bumpier if they tried. It's been hard to ride today because I've also been suffering with flu symptoms and an upset stomach. I'll go to the Clinica Mobile for some treatment tonight and hopefully get a good night's sleep because I really don't want to feel like this again tomorrow, it was really hard to ride this afternoon. The morning session was quite good and I was feeling pretty confident, but I started to feel worse throughout the day and things went downhill a bit this afternoon. We tried some new things in the second session and didn't find exactly the right setting, but we have some more ideas for tomorrow and I'm confident that if I'm feeling okay I can be back on the pace." Valentino Rossi (11th; 1'24.674, 47 laps)"I think that they've done a good job on the circuit and done nearly everything we've asked for. The track is quite dirty at the moment but the new asphalt has much better grip and by Sunday I think it will be okay. Turn one is especially much safer and much less dangerous. The problem that we have now is that it's still very bumpy in parts of the track, which is not good. In most places it's better but they've put the new asphalt down over the old bumps, so they're still there. This is unfortunate; the worst part is after the corkscrew, turns 9 and 10. I was happy with how we started today - I did some good laps towards the end this morning and was starting to feel good with the bike and the track - but this afternoon we had a lot more problems. I didn't have a good feeling in the corner and the bike was quite hard to ride. The bumps are causing us some difficulties and we need to understand how to make the M1 work at this track. It is only Friday but we have a lot of work to do. We need to make some tests with the qualifying tyre tomorrow morning and hopefully we will have a better situation than in Germany. It is going to be very important that we qualify well because it's hard to pass on this track."

Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director"We have some work to do, as always on a Friday! After the morning session we expected to be a lot closer to the front in the afternoon but the situation remained the same and we didn't make any major improvements. We have collected a lot of data that our engineers will check overnight and we will see how we can move forward in the morning. With the American riders all going fast here there is more competition at the top so Valentino knows he has work to do. Colin did a good job today considering his physical condition so we hope he will be feeling better tomorrow and will be able to make some more steps forward with the bike before qualifying." Testing for Tech 3 Yamaha Racing Team in Californian sunshine With a new track surface and extreme temperatures to contend with it was a testing time for the Tech 3 Yamaha Team to find a suitable setup in preparation for Sunday's US Grand Prix at the undulating Laguna Seca circuit in the hills of Monterey. Carlos Checa managed to slot himself into 12th position a shade behind Valentino Rossi on his Yamaha as the team had to contend with a layout that is much rougher than last year. In another encouraging sign for the Spaniard, Carlos was faster than the factory Ducati's and Kawasaki's and is confident that he can find even more speed to claim a top 10 qualifying position tomorrow James Ellison who sits in 18th position overnight, is also confident that he can move further up the grid although, he lost some time in the afternoon's free practice wresting with his bucking Yamaha over the now notorious bumps slamming his helmet through the screen in a successful effort to keep it under control. Carlos Checa (12th, 1'24.883, 61 laps)"It has been a pretty tough first day as we had to do a lot of work and we still haven't found a proper setup that we can work on. Obviously with the new track condition, we have been working with the setup of the bike but also with the tyres to find the best combination that is going to work for both so that we can be as fast as possible. We have made much progress in the last few races and it is important that we can continue that same rate here. Hopefully, the track will be in a bit better condition tomorrow now that there has been some rubber laid down and hopefully the weather conditions will stay the same as I think the Dunlop tyres should work pretty well around here if these conditions remain. If it does stay the same it will allow us to test some more tyres as we now know the durability of the Dunlops is there so we just have to find the one that suits this track as the quality of the asphalt and the finishing is not good. Grip is not the problem but it is all the bumps, especially on the exit of the Corkscrew where we are becoming airborne like a motocross bike that we have to find a good solution. The surface is like laying on a beach and feeling the unevenness of the sand underneath you; that is how uneven the track is now! They have made many improvements to the safety of the track but I wish they had taken a bit more time to get the surface correct." James Ellison (18th 1'25.768, 48 laps)"It has been a difficult day in some ways but we have made some good progress as well. The first hour was a matter of finding what the track was like as it is not as good a surface as last year. The good thing is that we left the bike the way it was in Germany and it has worked well from the start plus we know we can improve a lot of areas and being less than a second behind Rossi is a bit of a confidence boost as well. We are not having too many grip problems as we used one set of tyres for most of the second session doing 23 laps on them. Plus, we are not getting any chatter here it's just trying to get the drive in some areas as it is so bumpy. Coming onto t he straight on one lap it got so out of shape that I slammed my head through the screen and broke it so that tells you how uneven the surface is around here now. We're going to lower the bike a bit overnight to see if that helps in getting it to handle a bit better but overall I am happy that we are heading in the right direction and now we know what we are up against with this track I think we should be able to get some decent times tomorrow and hopefully be right up with Carlos by tomorrow afternoon Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director"The important thing for us to do after our best race of the season at Sachsenring last week is to continue on the same path that we have seen in recent races. I was a bit worried this morning as Dunlop has a lot of information about this track as they have raced here many times over the years in the American superbike class but unfortunately the new surface has changed that.. I don't know what the situation is with the other tyre manufacturers as they battle then new track surface but I have to say I am quite happy with how the Tech 3 Yamaha Team and the Dunlop tyres performed today. I hope that we will be able to improve in our qualifying performance as well but that may be difficult as if you don't get a clear lap it can be quite difficult to pass around here. With the weather forecast we feel that the track condition should stay the same as far as grip levels go so we should be able to test a few more tyres to find out which one will suit us on Sunday. The main problem is the bumps as we have to find a setup that is going to ride over them but it is the same for everybody. For the most part the surface does seem pretty good grip and from what we saw today with the Dunlops I don't think we should have a problem with the durability of the tyre. Let's hope our progress continues here in America and we can put on a good show like last week." Circuit Length: 3610Temp: 29Crowd: Weather: Dry 2006 MotoGP Laguna Seca 21/07/2006 Free Practice Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Kenny Roberts Team Robert KR USA 1'23.859 2 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 1'24.125 3 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'24.194 4 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 1'24.223 5 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1'24.253 6 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'24.320 7 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 1'24.339 8 Toni Elias Honda ESP 1'24.494 9 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 1'24.523 10 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 1'24.663 11 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'24.822 12 Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 1'24.883 13 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 1'25.094 14 Sete Gibernau Ducati ESP 1'25.252 15 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 1'25.294

18 James Ellison Yamaha GBR 1'25.768

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Rossi and Edwards get to grips with Laguna Seca

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