MotoGP : Yamaha Factory Racing riders prepare for final push

Yamaha Factory Racing riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards began making preparations for the final round of the 2005 MotoGP World Championship at Valencia today, with the cloudy conditions at the Ricardo Tormo circuit brightened by the return of the factory's traditional red, white and black racing colours. Both riders' YZR-M1 machines and leathers are decorated in the famous livery, in commemoration of Yamaha's 50th Anniversary and its extraordinarily successful year in racing this season. MotoGP : Yamaha Factory Racing riders prepare for final push Round: 17 - MotoGP Valencia Circuit: Valencia Date: 4 November 2005 Temp: 21ºC Weather: Dry Rossi was seventh fastest in both sessions as he worked on adapting the set-up of his machine to the demands of a tight and twisty circuit after the fast and flowing characteristics of Phillip Island and Istanbul. There is certainly more to come from the Italian tomorrow after he ended the day with a lap time which was over 1.5 seconds outside his pole position record of 1'32.478, set two seasons ago. Colin Edwards also made a steady start to the weekend, lapping tenth fastest as he continued to work on a new riding style designed to increase his corner speed. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha Factory Team), 7th - 1'34.040 "I like the colour scheme very much - it is like going back to the 1970s. The bike and the leathers look really nice. Today we're having a few problems with the front end and also with acceleration. We are losing a lot of time in the slow corners and we are not strong at the end of the lap in general. We have some problems and some of the others are very fast but I am not too worried. We've had difficulties before on a Friday and worked them out for Saturday so I am confident we can overcome them on this occasion too. Everybody is tired because seventeen races in a season is a lot but we will keep pushing until the end." Colin Edwards (Yamaha Factory Team), 10th - 1'34.129 "I am getting to grips with this new riding style and I feel I have made a big step forward already this weekend. Every time I go out on the track I make progress and the team has been very helpful. My Crew Chief Daniele is showing me where I can be faster and where I can be later on the brakes, which is really helping - there's definitely a team effort going on. I feel the times are there this weekend but I now have to find the confidence in myself to push on and keep moving forward. We will see what else we can come up with tomorrow." Davide Brivio - Yamaha Factory Team director "It was another slow start to the weekend for us, something we have become used to this season! The positions don't look good but there are a lot of riders who are close together and if we make the improvements we know we are capable of, then both our riders should be much higher up tomorrow. As usual on a Friday we analyse the information and try to find as many solutions before practice continues tomorrow." Toni Elias (Fortuna Yamaha Team), 11th - 1'34.161 "We've been improving in the right direction though this circuit is really difficult and there are riders with many different riding styles. If you make one small mistake you can lose a lot of time here. The race will be very difficult and we cannot do big steps from all the problems we've had this season. We give our best, trying to improve for a good result on Sunday." Ruben Xaus (Fortuna Yamaha Team), 19th - 1'36.057 "This morning were not sure about the condition of one of our engines so we really had only one bike left, so our morning practice was a little bit different than usual. In the afternoon we've been improving step-by-step even though we still need some extra corner speed. The bike is working quite good here and I hope to leave Valencia with a good result."   Round: 17 - MotoGP Valencia Circuit: Valencia Circuit Length: 4005 Lap Record: 1' 33.317 (Valentino Rossi, 2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 32.478 (Valentino Rossi, 2003) Date: 4 November 2005 Temp: 21ºC Free Practice :  Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat.  Free Practice  1  M. Melandri  Honda  ITA   1' 33.464   2  C. Checa  Ducati  ESP   1' 33.506   3  S. Gibernau  Honda  ESP   1' 33.523   4  N. Hayden  Honda  USA   1' 33.722   5  L. Capirossi  Ducati  ITA   1' 33.730   6  A. Barros  Honda  BRA   1' 33.967   7  V. Rossi  Yamaha  ITA   1' 34.040   8  M. Biaggi  Honda  ITA   1' 34.094   9  M. Tamada  Honda  JPN   1' 34.103   10  C. Edwards  Yamaha  USA   1' 34.129   11  T. Elias  Yamaha  ESP   1' 34.161   12  N. Aoki  Suzuki  JPN   1' 34.512   13  J. Hopkins  Suzuki  USA   1' 34.651   14  A. Hofman  Kawasaki  GER   1' 34.778   15  S. Nakano  Kawasaki  JPN   1' 34.832   16  R. Kiyonari  Honda  JPN   1' 35.157   19  R. Xaus  Yamaha  ESP   1' 36.057