Crucial preparations begin for Camel Yamaha riders in Qatar

Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards began key set-up work on their Yamaha YZR-M1 machines for the Grand Prix of Qatar in relatively mild temperatures of 27ºC today. After excelling at this track in pre-season tests the riders were keen to gauge the bike's performance against the other main contenders in the MotoGP class and after two intense free practice sessions they ended the day in optimistic moods about their chances for Saturday's race.  Following on from a disappointing first race of the season in Jerez two weeks ago, where both Rossi and Edwards suffered from vibration problems when cornering, the Italian and the American confirmed that the issue was not as severe at this circuit. Edwards spent much of the afternoon session at the top of the time sheets as he set an impressive and consistent pace before eventually dropping to fourth place - two places ahead of Rossi. The fastest lap of the day was recorded by Kenny Roberts Junior (Honda KR) in a time of 1'56.905, just ahead of Casey Stoner and Marco Melandri (both Honda). Colin Edwards (4th, 1'57.024, 28 laps) "Everything is much better today and I've been able to do some good laps, so it's certainly a better start than we made in Jerez! Although it's much less, the vibration hasn't completely gone and we have a couple of other issues that we need to work on in order to be completely ready to push at the limit. I was able to set a decent pace and knock out some consistent laps with the current setting on the bike but we definitely still have a few things to work out. I've gone well at this track since the first day I came here and it really helps to have tested here recently, but we need to take this extra step before I can be truly confident about my chances on Saturday." Valentino Rossi (6th, 1'57.141, 41 laps) "We knew from the tests that the bike worked much better at this track and that was the case today. The vibration is not so much and only in a couple of corners, but we can control it. Now we can work more normally, concentrating on setting-up the bike in order to go faster, rather than thinking all the time about the vibration. We still have all day tomorrow to make some small improvements and I think we can be fast in the race on Saturday, as we were last year. There are some very fast riders at the front and we are all very close together. It seems the other guys were ready to push hard from the very beginning and they are full of motivation so it will be a hard battle. Jerez was also a hard battle for me but I hope Saturday will be a different kind!" Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "It is still quite early but at the moment it looks like we might have a normal weekend! Both riders have a good pace and between them they completed many laps today, gathering some important information to work on the setting of the bike tomorrow. We still have to improve though and it will be important to keep up with the steps made by our competitors. Things appear better than they were at Jerez but we'll wait until tomorrow to get a better idea." Rounding up the first day with riders in 11th and 17th position, Tech3 Yamaha Team is trying to work towards better results for the race weekend. With Carlos Checa suffering from physical problems during free practice session and James Ellison making positive progression with the set up of his bike, both riders have spend significant time on testing different sets of new tyres. Although lap times where less fast compared to the Qatar pre-season test, team director Herve Poncharal remains positive. Carlos Checa (11th, 1'57.992) "Since my crash in Jerez I have been suffering from some pain in my left arm and I have lost some feeling. Some days it's better than others; yesterday it hurt a lot but today it's a little bit better. Unfortunately though it's affecting my ability to ride and I can't get into the corners properly. I am being treated by a physiotherapist and I hope that it will get better quickly. "We've tested five or six tyres today and we've found one that we think can be good for the race, so we're quite pleased. We've found a good base setting for the bike and today we've done some good work on the set-up, so in this department things are looking quite positive. The main factor is the pain in my arm so I hope that this will get better again tomorrow." James Ellison (17th. 1'59.620) "We've made a better start than in Jerez and we've found a good direction with the tyres. We tried a new profile and it's working really well so that's good. We left it on for the afternoon and I did some good, consistent laps so I am quite pleased. I did a run of 12 laps and the last one was the fastest, which bodes well for the longevity of the tyre. The bike feels good and I don't have any chatter. We've made some changes to the set-up and especially the position of the seat, so it 'fits' me better now and this is making a difference. I know I am still near to the bottom but I am feeling good here so I hope we can make some steps forward tomorrow." Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "Today we have mixed feelings because we expected a lot from here after such a good test. Carlos is suffering from some pain in his arm, maybe a trapped nerve, and so he is lacking power and feeling. This afternoon was better so hopefully tomorrow once again it will improve. We're slower than we were at the tests so this is not good, but hopefully we can get back on track tomorrow. James I am really happy about, he is much closer and I think he is feeling better all round. He spent some time at our workshop after Jerez and I hope that this has helped him to be better prepared for this second race."    Round: 2 - 2006 MotoGP Qatar Circuit: Losail Circuit Circuit Length: 5380 Lap Record: 1' 57.903 (Nicky Hayden, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 56.917 (Loris Capirossi, 2005) Date: 6 April 2006 Temp: 27ºC Free Practice :  Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat.  Free Practice  1  K. Roberts  Team Roberts KR  USA   1' 56.905   2  C. Stoner  Honda  AUS   1' 56.911   3  M. Melandri  Honda  ITA   1' 57.010   4  C. Edwards  Yamaha  USA   1' 57.024   5  L. Capirossi  Ducati  ITA   1' 57.031   6  V. Rossi  Yamaha  ITA   1' 57.141   7  D. Pedrosa  Honda  ESP   1' 57.360   8  T. Elias  Honda  ESP   1' 57.392   9  N. Hayden  Honda  USA   1' 57.452   10  S. Gibernau  Ducati  ESP   1' 57.569   11  C. Checa  Yamaha  ESP   1' 57.992   12  C. Vermeulen  Suzuki  AUS   1' 58.783   13  S. Nakano  Kawasaki  JPN   1' 58.786   14  J. Hopkins  Suzuki  USA   1' 58.892   15  A. Hofmann  Ducati  GER   1' 59.245   16  M. Tamada  Honda  JPN   1' 59.609   17  J. Ellison  Yamaha  GBR   1' 59.620