Rossi clinshes crucial second place at Brno

Valentino Rossi picked up 20 vital points in the Czech Republic today after taking second place in a race which saw series leader Nicky Hayden (Honda) stumble to ninth - a result which reduces the gap between the pair to 38 points with five rounds remaining. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) took a dominant victory, leading from the first corner to finish with a 4.902 second advantage, whilst Rossi had to fend off a valiant challenge from rookie Dani Pedrosa (Honda) four laps from the end before comfortably sealing the runner-up spot.

It was an even tougher afternoon for Colin Edwards, who started out in equally impressive fashion to his team-mate but faded in the second half of the race to finish in tenth. The Texan started from eighth on the grid and was keen to get in touch with the leading riders as soon as possible, making up three places on the opening three laps. However, his efforts took their toll on the rear Michelin tyre of his YZR-M1 machine and, without the perfect set-up to rely on in the latter stages of the race, he was forced to drop back and settle for another top-ten finish.

Valentino Rossi (2nd; + 4.902) "It was a good race today and I am very happy with the weekend. Obviously starting from pole position you hope that you can win but today Loris had a completely different pace to the rest of us and I couldn't believe the gap he made! We weren't perfect today and we still had a few problems, but anyway I was able to do a good race and fight hard to the end. I had a great battle with Pedrosa with many good overtakes, which was great fun, especially since I finally managed to finish in front of him! Even though I didn't win today this is a very important result for the championship; we are now third and we've gained on Pedrosa and Hayden. After this weekend the situation is much clearer for us with the bike and the tyres and now we have two days of testing, during which we have some new things to try in order to help us be even more competitive for the final five races. This weekend my M1 worked well from Friday morning, which is very encouraging after the problems we've had during practice this season. Everyone at Yamaha has worked so hard to come back to this level so I want to thank my team and all the engineers. Now there are five more races and five riders who can still fight for the championship, so I think it's going to be a very exciting end to the season!"

Colin Edward (10th; + 19.435) "At the beginning things felt alright and over the first few laps I was actually quite excited. I was able to be quite aggressive and pass a few people, but then after a while things just went downhill. The balance of the bike didn't feel right and I just couldn't keep the same level. Then the tyre started to go off after about eight laps and that just acted as a limiter and my pace went right down. I was fighting really hard just to keep the pace I was running and it was nowhere near fast enough to be competitive. The bike didn't feel perfect under braking either and that makes life difficult here! We've spent all weekend playing around, trying to find the right balance but we just couldn't find exactly what we needed. Honestly we've worked hard all weekend but things just weren't right today. We've got two days of testing now and plenty of work to do if we're going to improve for the final few races."

Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "This has been a good weekend, despite the fact that we didn't win. We've achieved the most important goal of taking a lot of points back from Hayden and also gaining on Pedrosa. Valentino starting from pole position is a great improvement after the previous weekends and it's a good sign for the final part of the season. There are five riders now that can win the championship and it's clearly going to be a hard fight to the end, for which we need to be fully prepared! This weekend has shown how well Yamaha can react to problems and everyone has worked extremely hard to solve them, so a big thank you to the mechanics, engineers and of course Valentino! Colin made some big changes before the race and in the first part of it he looked very good. Unfortunately he couldn't keep that pace up and now these two days of testing for him will be very important in order to come up with some things that can help him finish the season well."

Tech 3 Yamaha Team find satisfaction after a difficult weekend

Carlos Checa   

Fifteenth place for Carlos Checa on his Yamaha YZF-M1 may not be the position that the Tech 3 Yamaha Team desired today, but after the difficulties of the previous day, the team is satisfied with the result attained in the Czech Republic Grand Prix at the Brno circuit in a race won by Loris Capirossi (Ducati) as teammate James Ellison struggled with his own problems to finish 17th.

With a difficult race now behind them, the Tech 3 Yamaha Team is looking ahead to the two-day test at the circuit to endeavour to eliminate the problems that have surfaced after the positive results of the previous two races in the USA and Germany.

Carlos Checa (15th, Fastest lap 1'59.630) "Considering yesterday nothing worked, today we should be satisfied with the job we did. We changed quite a lot on the bike but we were not too radical with the alterations we made. This morning the bike felt a lot better but in the different conditions this afternoon after a few laps we again had chattering and it increased during the race so by the end we had quite a lot. The tyre wasn't so bad even though I was getting some movement in the acceleration area but the chattering was the main limitation.

"We knew it was going to be difficult today because many were doing 1" 58s lap times and we were struggling to match those times but we did quite a lot of laps in the 59 sec bracket and to keep that pace until the end was the most positive thing we can take from here. Also keeping in mind that we couldn't race with the tyres we have been using for the last two races, with the chattering problems we are having, today's race was fine."

James Ellison (17thFastest lap 2'00.608) "That result was not what I wanted at all. I'm really disappointed. After yesterday I was definitely hoping for a top 15 finish but I was secretly thinking that a top 10 might happen. To finish 17th is a huge let down. I know I can do it - that's the frustrating thing to me. My lap times to Carlos weren't too bad for a few laps. He could keep that consistency with his times but after four or five laps my times dropped off. I lost traction on the rear exactly like what happened at Donington. I was getting a little bit of chatter but it was mainly rear wheel grip making it spin up everywhere.

Tomorrow during this test I will get to test the frame Carlos is running so hopefully, we will be able to find a cure to these problems we have been having and move forwards pretty quickly so I can score some decent results that I know I'm capable of getting

Herve Poncharal - Tech 3 Yamaha Team Director Truthfully after the very average qualifying session yesterday, it was quite a good race. We had a lot of problems during the weekend that didn't help for the race but it is always a big handicap to start from so far back. We lost many seconds during the first two laps but we were able to fight back so Carlos was nine seconds behind Colin (Edwards) at the end of the race. Our pace was quick enough to be with the group fighting for 10th position so we're not happy with the position but we are happy that we were consistent with our lap times until the end. The bike still chattered but not as much as during practice and the gap to the guys in front of us was not that big. 15th is not a great result but there were no crashes and guys in front of us stopped so it's reasonable. The work we have done here is going to be helpful for Dunlop. Let's hope we can qualify better so we can have he results of the previous meetings. A positive point for Carlos is that he has scored points in every race but before going to the next three Grands Prix on the other side of the world, we have two days testing here to find solutions to these new problems and finish off the year on a good note.

Circuit Length: 5403 Temp: 23 Crowd: 81.000 Weather: Dry     2006 MotoGP Brno 20/08/2006 Race 1 - 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 43'40.145 2 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0'4.902 3 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0'8.012 4 Kenny Roberts Team Robert KR USA 0'14.800 5 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'15.025 6 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 0'15.699 7 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0'16.775 8 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 0'16.942 9 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 0'17.061 10 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'19.435 11 Toni Elias Honda ESP 0'22.215 12 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 0'23.978 13 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 0'24.967 14 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 0'28.961 15 Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 0'29.296 17 James Ellison Yamaha GBR 1'2.982

Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 1'58.157

 Rider Standings 20/08/2006

Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 201 2. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 176 3. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 163 4. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 161 5. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 151 6. Casey Stoner Honda AUS 101 7. Kenny Roberts Team Robert KR USA 92 8. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 90 9. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 83 10. Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 75 11. Makato Tamada Honda JPN 67 12. Toni Elias Honda ESP 64 13. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 61 14. Sete Gibernau Ducati ESP 58 15. Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 54 18. James Ellison Yamaha GBR 20

Team Standings 20/08/2006

Pos. Team Points 1. Repsol Honda Team 377 2. Camel Yamaha Team 253 3. Fortuna Honda Team 225 4. Ducati Marlboro Team 216 5. Rizla Suzuki 144 6. Honda LCR 101 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 98 8. Team Roberts KR 92 9. Tech3 Yamaha 74 10. Konica Minolta Honda 67 11. Pramac D'Antin 22

Manufacturer Standings 20/08/2006

Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 262 2. Yamaha 201 3. Ducati 160 4. Suzuki 101 5. Team Robert KR 92 6. Kawasaki 83