All Stoner. All Turkey.

Various and sundry press accounts from the MotoGP event at Turkey:

FANTASTIC DAY FOR DUCATI MARLBORO MEN

Ducati Marlboro Team man Casey Stoner scored a masterful victory at Istanbul Park today to regain the World Championship lead while team-mate Loris Capirossi announced his renaissance with a gritty ride to third place. The pair's impressive performance also puts Ducati at the top of the constructors' title chase and the Ducati Marlboro Team at the top of the teams' championship.

Stoner swept into the lead at the end of the first lap and no one could get close enough to challenge him after that, the Australian extending his advantage throughout to win by 6.2 seconds. Capirossi had a less lonely race, running second behind Stoner early on, then battling back and forth with a group of riders. He lost third place to fellow Ducati GP7 rider Alex Barros exiting Turn 11 on the last lap but fought back into the final chicane to take his first podium of 2007.

Three Ducatis in the top four made this the best-ever MotoGP race for the legendary Italian marque. Bridgestone also enjoyed its best MotoGP result, monopolising the top six places.
Casey Stoner, race winner, World Championship leader on 61 points

"We had a great race, unfortunately some of the other riders didn't have such a good race. Really, with the way the Ducati and the Bridgestones were today we couldn't do anything wrong. I got past Colin (Edwards) on the first lap because I wanted to make sure I didn't get held up and bumped back like in Jerez. Then Valentino ran off the track, pretty much gifting me first position. From there we put some good laps together, built a gap and continued from there because some of the other riders were having a battle. I don't want to sound confident, but at first I was pushing hard to get a gap, then after it got to 2.53 seconds I tried to slow the pace, just to make sure everything was safe, and the lap times actually dropped from trying to go a bit slower. The Bridgestone tyres were absolutely perfect, in fact the whole package was just perfect. I have to thank a lot of people, all the team and everybody who's contributed to my career, including Anthony Peadon (Australian former international sprint cyclist) for training me over the last few weeks. We are really determined this year, we're not expecting much, we're just doing the best job we can. With Ducati and Marlboro and everybody together I think we can do a really good job and I think and I hope that we can get stronger as the season goes on."

Loris Capirossi, 3rd place, 11th in World Championship on 20 points

"The whole weekend has been fantastic for me, I'm back! Twenty days ago I had the best moment of my life when our first kid was born, so now I'm enjoying riding again and I hope my championship starts here because we still have 15 races to go. Everything worked so good, I got a good start and tried to follow Casey but he was so strong and I preferred to go a little slower. I fought a lot, especially with Alex on the last lap. I lost the front in the fast right, my bike start shaking a lot and Alex overtook me, so I said ?okay, I have only one opportunity to make the podium, to out-brake Alex at the chicane'. I want to say thank you very much to team, to everyone for keeping confidence in me after two difficult races."

Federico Minoli, President and CEO Ducati Motor Holding

"Three Ducatis in the top four is really amazing, it's our best-ever result in MotoGP, a fantastic day. Casey has been so strong all weekend, Loris showed a lot of character holding onto third and I'm really happy for Alex too. To see our other team go so well is another testimony to the talent of our engineers. Casey again showed great maturity, he kept extending his advantage throughout the race and always kept his cool. The kid has a great future in front of him."
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Bridgestone celebrates tenth MotoGP victory with first ever 1-2-3

Round 03 - Turkey - Race
Istanbul Park, Istanbul - Sunday 22 April 2007

Bridgestone is celebrating an historic performance this afternoon after its riders dominated the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul. Ducati's Casey Stoner took the lead on the opening lap and never looked back, leading home Honda Gresini's Toni Elias and team-mate Loris Capirossi for the first ever Bridgestone 1-2-3 in a MotoGP event. The win marked the tenth victory on Bridgestone tyres in MotoGP.

Pramac d'Antin's Alex Barros hounded Capirossi for the final podium place in the closing laps but settled for an equally impressive fourth at the chequered flag. Marco Melandri took fifth for Honda Gresini with Suzuki's John Hopkins in sixth, both men putting in excellent performances. Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet and Pramac d'Antin's Alex Hofmann made it eight Bridgestone-shod riders in the top ten, by far the most competitive performance by Bridgestone tyres in the corporation's comparatively short MotoGP history.

An early crash involving Dani Pedrosa (Honda), Colin Edwards (Yamaha), Olivier Jacque (Kawasaki) and Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) resulted in only Vermeulen able to rejoin the race. Such was his competitiveness coming back up through the field, the Australian was able to set the quickest lap of the race (1m54.026s) on his penultimate lap to reclaim a fighting eleventh place.

The consistency of Stoner's race winning pace meant that the young Australian posted seven laps of 1m54.2s with only his opening and final lap over 1m54.8s, a variation of just 0.6s over twenty laps.

Hiroshi Yamada - Bridgestone Motorsport - Manager, Motorcycle Sport Department "Today's result is fantastic for Bridgestone as we celebrate our tenth MotoGP victory with our first ever MotoGP 1-2-3. For me this is a real dream come true. Congratulations to Ducati, who sit at the top of the championships, as well as to the Honda Gresini team for their first podium this year. Turkey has always been a tough track for us and it has been particularly gratifying that we have been able to find a breakthrough for this year's performance. We had five riders in the top eight with each of our teams, which is an incredible achievement. I would like to express my thanks to all five of our teams for their patience and support while we have worked hard to find solutions for this circuit and we look forward to continuing this trend in the upcoming races."

Tohru Ubukata - Bridgestone Motorsport - Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development "We are obviously delighted with the results from today's race. As an engineer, we are always looking for continuous improvement in our technological development, so we are not going to take today's performance for granted. Nevertheless we take great pride in the technical advances we have made since last year's Turkish GP, a race in which we really struggled. Our direction for tyre development appears to be correct and certainly paid dividends today. I hope we can confirm this in the next GP in China in two weeks' time."

Casey Stoner - Ducati Corse - Race Winner "We had a great race today. Really, with the way the Ducati and the Bridgestone tyres were today we couldn't do anything wrong. I got past Colin (Edwards) on the first lap because I wanted to make sure I didn't get held up and bumped back like in Jerez. Then Valentino ran off the track, pretty much gifting me first position. From there we put some good laps together, built a gap and continued from there because some of the other riders were having a battle. The Bridgestone tyres were absolutely perfect, in fact the whole package was just perfect. With everybody working together I think we can do a really good job and I think and I hope that we can get stronger as the season goes on." **********

TOUGH RACE FOR ROBERTS JR IN TURKEY

Istanbul Park, Turkey - April 22, 2007: Kenny Roberts Junior's hopes of regaining ground after last-minute changes improved his machine were dashed from the start of today's Turkish GP, when an as-yet unexplained change in rear tyre performance meant he could do nothing but nurse the bike to the finish.

Roberts had qualified a disappointing 18th, after running out of time to find new chassis settings to adjust to a new and stiffer rear swing-arm... but in race-morning warm-up front suspension and geometry changes improved his situation. The rear tyre problem meant he was unable to exploit that.

The team is staying on at Istanbul Park to test tomorrow, to continue adjustments that will make the most of the latest rear suspension improvements.

The race, round 22 laps of the spectacular 5.340 km Istanbul Park circuit, was held in warm, sunny conditions, in front of a crowd of more than 40,000. It was won by Australian Casey Stoner (Ducati), his second victory in three races.

Kenny Roberts Jr.: 16th position

It felt like the rear tyre went flat. It didn't feel right on the sighting lap. I thought it might come in, but it never did. I thought it was flat and I was kind of nervous about what the problem might be; because when they're not the right pressure and have that type of feeling you can't be careful enough. Around the last five laps I also seemed to pick up a vibration, not sure if the two things are related or not but the guys will check it out.

Chuck Aksland: Team Manager

Obviously there was a problem from the beginning of the race. Watching his lap times it's quite unusual to be so far off the pace at the beginning. It looks to be some issue with the back tyre. We checked the pressure on the grid as usual, and it was normal, but obviously it didn't feel right for him. Michelin are checking it out so we'll wait to see what they find out.

After the changes we made in morning warm-up he was fairly happy with the bike. I think we made some progress. Top speed seems to be a bit of an issue, but he was happy with everything else. We've got some things to try tomorrow and we will look to develop some settings around the revised swing-arms that we brought here.

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Disappointment for Rossi and Edwards on unlucky day in Turkey

High hopes for Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards went unfulfilled today as the Fiat Yamaha Team riders, who started from first and second on the grid, were both victims of bad luck at Istanbul Park. The pair got a good start and were leading the pack into turn one before Edwards dropped back as he was unable to get enough heat into his tyre and Rossi made a mistake and ran wide at turn eleven. Disaster then struck for Edwards as he was hit from behind by another rider and sent tumbling into the gravel trap in a crash that involved four riders in total. Rossi meanwhile seemed to be going well and had fought back to second behind eventual winner Casey Stoner, before he suffered a serious rear tyre problem that forced him to roll off the gas and drop right back through the field. The Italian had to use all his talents to keep himself in the race and he eventually brought his Yamaha home in tenth position, taking what were a creditable six points under the circumstances.

Rossi now drops to second place in the championship standings, ten points behind Stoner and 15 ahead of Dani Pedrosa, who was also involved in the first-lap crash. Edwards' unlucky non-finish, only the second in his Yamaha career, means he drops down to sixth. The Fiat Yamaha Team have a one-day test planned tomorrow although Edwards will wait until the morning to confirm if he will ride after badly bruising his knee when he was knocked down.

Valentino Rossi
Position: 10thTime: +18.999

Colin Edwards

Davide Brivio - Team Director

Turkish delight for Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team

After a drama charged Grand Prix of Turkey the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team can leave Istanbul extremely satisfied as riders Makoto Tamada and Sylvain Guintoli scored more championship points finishing in 14th and 15th spots respectively.

In what is shaping as the most intensely contested MotoGP Championship on record, both riders were extremely fortunate not to be involved in a spectacular opening lap crash that caused three riders to retire, as the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 pilots were forced to take evasive action to stay in the race. Losing vital seconds in the melee, both riders recovered composure rapidly to give chase to the quickly disappearing pack and with determined rides closed the gap to the leaders over the remainder of the race to finish just 30 seconds from a podium finish.

Confirming the continuing development of both the new generation Dunlop tyres and the 800cc Yamaha's that have made their debut in the new look championship in 2007, both riders consistently lapped the 5.340km Istanbul Park circuit over a second quicker than last year.

Makoto Tamada

Makoto Tamada
Position: 14thTime: +38.540
The race wasn't so bad for me after Jerez but I need to find more consistency in myself. I had a good tyre as in the first few laps I could push very hard. It then dropped off a little but then the consistency remained the same. In the first lap I lost a bit as I had to ride around a long way to avoid the bikes on the track. I rode very hard to try and make up the difference but this is where I think I used a bit of the rear tyre trying to catch up to everyone. During the race I had a good battle with Shinya Nakano and my teammate Sylvain so things are getting better but the tyre remained consistent in its level of grip. I am working well with the team as we get to know each other and I am getting more and more confidence with the Dunlop tyres after being on other makes of tyres for many years. I feel that with the improvements we are making with the bike and the help from Dunlop that our results will improve at every race, as long as there are not too many crashes in front of me!

Sylvain Guintoli

Sylvain Guintoli
Position: 15thTime:+39.337
Overall it was a good weekend. After Qatar and Jerez where we did some testing, this track was completely new to me. In the first lap I had to do a bit of gardening to miss the accident in front of me on the first lap and I think I lost about 10 seconds so it was a race against the clock to come back to the pack. On the last lap I had passed Makoto but unfortunately braking at the end of the straight I hit a bit of footpeg from the big crash that was still on the track and I lost the front and nearly crashed. One point is good again, especially here where I thought it would be more difficult but I think I could've been closer to the front than 30 seconds except for missing the crash and that little incident on the last lap. We always knew we had a good front tyre and now we have found some new information to improve the front but especially the most important was the rear tyre. Dunlop has made some big improvements with the rear tyre as it was very consistent the entire race and allowed us to go much faster than last year as I have done faster lap times than Carlos Checa did last year in the dry. This weekend has given me a lot more confidence as I feel these tyres are much better than a lot of people think so I am hoping for a race soon where we can get everything to gel together.

Herve Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Director
I am reasonably satisfied with the result of the weekend as we are again in the points and towards the end of the race, we were quicker than a few riders in front of us and this proves that we are becoming more competitive at each race and that the new tyre rules are working. I am extremely happy with Sylvain and feel that if he wasn't involved in the first lap drama that he would have scored more points than the single one that he claimed. He came back strongly and was very consistent the entire race, competing together with Shinya Nakano and Carlos Checa. The most encouraging sign for us was that we were only 30 seconds from third place and this proves to me the improvement that is being made to the entire package as last year we struggled here and this year it is a lot better result for us We are staying here to test tomorrow and we have quite a few things to test especially in the tyre department. We have to keep it in perspective though as we are not going to climb ten steps at once but from the beginning of the season we are consistent and we are steadily improving.

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HONDA RACING INFORMATION

Turkish Grand Prix at Istanbul Park

Sunday April 22, 2007

ELIAS FIGHTS TO SECOND, DANI TAKEN OUT ON LAP ONE

A dramatic MotoGP race unfolded in front of a 40,000 crowd here at Istanbul Park with Casey Stoner (Ducati) winning from Toni Elias (Gresini Honda RC212V) with Loris Capirossi (Ducati) third. But a first lap incident took Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) out of the race.

Elias started from 10th on the grid after a mediocre qualifying performance, but his race efforts were huge and he willed himself through the field to the podium although he could not catch the runaway Stoner.

In sunny conditions with negligible wind, 23 degrees ambient temperature and the track gradually warming up throughout the day to 38 degrees, the conditions were set for a full throttle encounter over 22-laps of this demanding 5.430km track.

Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) who struggled to reach the flag in tenth at the end, got the holeshot from the lights and led the pack into the tricky off-camber, downhill left that is turn one. His team-mate Colin Edwards was in close pursuit along with Stoner and Capirossi.

But there was to be drama on this opening lap. First leader Rossi ran wide on the exit of the high-speed uphill turn 11 slipping down the order to fifth. But behind him into the final three-turn complex, chaos ensued as Olivier Jacque (Kawasaki) clipped Pedrosa's front wheel and then cannoned into Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) whose machine then took out Edwards. No rider was seriously hurt, but all bar Vermeulen were out of contention.

Stoner was away. He set a fastest lap on lap four and by lap seven he had a 1.4 second lead over his team-mate Capirossi, with Rossi in third, Elias already up to fourth, John Hopkins (Suzuki) fifth, Marco Melandri (Gresini Honda RC212V) sixth and reigning World Champion Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) seventh.

Rossi shifted past Capirossi on lap nine and Toni did likewise. On the following lap Elias squeezed past Rossi into the final complex as Capirossi slid back through the order before recovering his composure from this mid-race onslaught to climb back to third in the closing laps.

It was Rossi who was in the biggest trouble. The Italian was overhauled by such unlikely candidates as Randy de Puniet (Kawasaki) and Alex Hofmann (Ducati) and he was clearly in severe difficulties on his Yamaha.

The unstoppable Stoner was six seconds ahead of Elias in the final laps and Toni himself was comfortably clear of the scrap for third intensifying between Capirossi, Alex Barros (Ducati), Marco Melandri and Hopkins. Barros got his nose ahead of Capirossi on the final lap exiting turn 11 but the dogged Capirossi out-braked him into the complex to emerge from the final turn ahead.

Melandri had to be happy with fifth after a wretched qualifying session, while Nicky rode with the will of a World Champion to secure seventh after a troubled weekend. But it will be young guns Stoner and Elias who will derive the most satisfaction from this episode.

Toni said, "It was like a 125 race with some unbelievable passes being made. I just concentrated on getting as perfect a start as I could and then I was stuck behind Hopkins too long. Once I got past him I took Rossi but couldn't challenge for the lead because Casey was so fast. I just tried to maintain my position. Thanks to the team and Bridgestone for their faith in me. I feel mature and confident and I know that I can improve even more as a rider."

Marco said, "I got a good start but lost time behind Hopkins but then I got into a good pace and began to fight for the podium with Capirossi and Barros but then the bike started to vibrate and that slowed me down. But thanks to the team and Bridgestone - the tyres were fantastic.

"My start was decent," said Nicky. "I made a couple of passes into turn 11 and on lap four I was enjoying the battle and we were having fun. At the end of the race I though I could steal a podium except after halfway I was having real trouble at the fast right-hander. Early in the race it was my best corner. But at the end I just couldn't get through it. I gave it one last go on the final lap but I has a big moment and barely stayed on." said Nicky

An unhappy Dani said, "A shame about the crash because I had a good chance of a good result. But this track is not lucky for me. My start was not so good, I had a bit of wheelspin off the line and then got caught in a large group on lap one. When I was braking on the final section I got hit on the inside and went down. I have a bit of pain in my neck and my chest but I should be OK for China."

Carlos Checa (LCR Honda RC212V) managed 12th place and said, "That was a very difficult race - harder than I anticipated. I didn't have a good feeling from the engine or the front-end and in turn 11 I almost crashed which was quite scary. I just decided to finish with no risk."

Thirteenth-placed Shinya Nakano (Konica Minolta Honda RC212V) said, "My start was OK, but when the big accident happened I was trying to avoid getting caught up in it and then lost 10th place. I knew it was going to be a hard race from then on. We suffered again from a lack of feeling from the front-end of the bike, but at least we got some points and that was one of my targets from this weekend. Our problems have come from a combination of things, but I know Honda and Michelin will work hard together with our team and we're hopeful of better results in races to come."

Kenny Roberts (Roberts KR212V) in 16th said, "It felt like the rear tyre went flat. It didn't feel right on the sighting lap and I thought it might come back, but it never did. I was nervous about the problem and with that type of feeling you can't be careful enough. And in the last five laps I picked up a vibration which the guys will check out."

The World Championship table is headed by Stoner on 61 points from Rossi on 51 with Dani still at the sharp end with 36 points to Elias's 35 in fourth. Marco Melandri has 30 points.

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MICHELIN OUT OF LUCK IN TURKISH GRAND PRIX

Reigning World Champion Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda Team RC212V-Michelin) was Michelin's top finisher in an unlucky Turkish Grand Prix for the French tyre brand. The American was involved in a titanic battle for third place, eventually finishing in seventh spot, just 2.1 seconds outside the top three.

Michelin's other main hopes for success at Istanbul were all out of luck after monopolising the front row in yesterday's qualifying session. Colin Edwards (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC212V-Michelin) were innocent victims of a first lap pile-up, while Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) suffered from rear-tyre vibration. Rossi, who had won the previous race in Spain, ended the race in tenth spot after running second during the early stages. He now lies second in the World Championship.

"Today's result was partly bad luck for us," explained Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin's director of motorcycle racing. "We had four riders who could fight up front and on the first lap we lost Colin and Dani, which left Valentino and Nicky. Valentino had a vibration problem with his rear tyre, which started after half-distance, so only Nicky could do consistent lap times all through the race.

"We think that these four riders all had good tyre choices and we expected at least two of them to finish on the podium. Dani was fast all weekend and Colin and Valentino were also in good shape. Three Ducatis finished up front, we always knew top speed would be important here and it will be even more important at the next race at Shanghai, that's why we always expected two tough races. Anyway, we have to work more on our tyres and we test here tomorrow to learn more."

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First lap incident costs Vermeulen podium challenge

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer Chris Vermeulen was involved in a first lap crash at today's Turkish Grand Prix, almost definitely costing him a place on the podium - his race pace after he crashed and rejoined the race was as good as any other rider on the track.

Vermeulen was caught up in a four rider crash, caused by Kawasaki's Olivier Jacque and also involving Dani Pedrosa and Colin Edwards. Vermeulen's bike was lying on top of Pedrosa's and the determined Australian dragged it off, got back on and re-joined the race. The Rizla Suzuki GSV-R sustained some damage in the accident but Vermeulen battled back to secure 11th place at the end of the race, setting the fastest time on the penultimate lap. The accident cost Vermeulen over 22 seconds from start to finish and his final race time was only 20 seconds off second place.

John Hopkins was involved in an equally exciting race. The 23-year old Anglo-American battled all race long for the podium, but the highly competitive 800cc championship meant he had to fight for every place and eventually brought his GSV-R home in sixth place, just ahead of World Champion Nicky Hayden.

Over 40,000 people watched Casey Stoner on the Bridgestone-shod Ducati take victory at a sunny Istanbul circuit, and also witness Bridgestone have the first six bikes across the line for the first time ever in GP history.

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP now travels to the Far East for round four of the MotoGP World Championship at Shanghai in China on Sunday 6th May.

Chris Vermeulen:

"I got a bit boxed in on the first lap and immediately got involved in a battle, but we soon straightened things out. I had just passed Alex Barros when another rider took out Edwards and Pedrosa right in front of me and I had nowhere to go but down. That was the worst part of the race, but luckily my bike was still running and lying on top of Pedrosa's. I grabbed the clutch, pulled my bike off his and re-joined the race. My handlebar was bent and the fairing was broken but everything else seemed to be fine. I gave it a lap or two to see if everything was ok and then just got my head down and went for it. I started to chase after the other guys and do some fast, consistent laps. I kept it as smooth as I could and managed to get up to 11th. I know I set the fastest lap near the end so who knows what might have happened if I hadn't have crashed. We now need to take this forward to China, qualify well and make sure we don't get knocked off again!"

John Hopkins:

"It was certainly a dogfight out there! I would firstly like to thank - and congratulate - Bridgestone. They have done a great job here especially on my behalf. Last year I had to pit for a new tyre and this year they had the top six places, so well done to them. I got a decent enough start and made some early passes, and I got my head down and really got stuck into the race. At about half distance I got involved in a hell of a fight where everything just kept turning upside down. One minute I was in seventh then up to fourth or third and then back to sixth. I had to work for every bit today and would definitely like to have gone for that podium place, but we got some good points. Now it's time to go to China, I got a fourth there last year and I'm really looking forward to going back. It's a nice flowing track and I think the Suzuki GSV-R and the Bridgestone tyres will work well!"

Paul Denning - Team Manager:

"Rizla Suzuki MotoGP had high hopes yesterday of a great result here. We did see a good performance, but unfortunately it was not a great result. For me the ride of the GP came from Chris Vermeulen, he had enough pace to win the race! To pick himself up and achieve such fast lap-times immediately, and with a damaged bike, was just incredible. It also culminated in him setting the fastest time on the penultimate lap of the race. It just shows what a true racer he is and if everything goes his way he certainly has the ability to challenge MotoGP's established stars on a regular basis.

"John rode a brilliant first lap to get to third position, and was involved in a frenetic battle throughout the race and we are all a bit disappointed that we couldn't quite get that podium we are after. Nonetheless the Suzuki GSV-R has worked really well here in Turkey, Bridgestone has dominated all weekend, now let's go to China and carry on the good work!"

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