Various PR missives from Laguna Seca:

FIFTH POLE IN A ROW FOR STONER, MELANDRI LOOKING GOOD IN RACE TRIM

Casey Stoner collected his fifth consecutive pole position at Laguna Seca today, equalling a MotoGP record held by Valentino Rossi who, along with Nicky Hayden, will join the Australian on the front row for tomorrow's US Grand Prix.

Stoner became the first and only rider ever to lap inside 1'21 at the Californian circuit, using his third qualifying tyre to set a stunning time of 1'20.700.

Marco Melandri was unfortunately unable to carry his good from over the three free practice sessions into qualifying, although his constantly improving pace on race tyres makes him optimistic of his chances in tomorrow's race.

CASEY STONER (Ducati MotoGP Team) Pole Position, 1'20.700

"I'm happy with how we're looking in race trim and with the fact we're on pole again. I didn't manage to get the most out of the first two qualifiers because the front tyre, which is working perfectly with the race rear, was a bit too soft for the qualifying and I wasn't confident enough push it 100%. With the third one I gave it my best shot and we've come out with another pole. Congratulations to the team, who are working as hard as always, and Bridgestone for another fantastic job."

MARCO MELANDRI (Ducati MotoGP Team) 15th: 1'22.957

"I'm disappointed not to have taken advantage of two great days' work with a better time on a qualifier. We tried a few different tyres this afternoon but I couldn't get the same feeling on them that I had this morning and we lost a bit of time. But for the race tomorrow I'm confident we can recover because we know we can be faster than we showed today."

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Stoner continues pole run in Laguna Seca, Rossi second

Round 11: USA - Qualifying
Laguna Seca Raceway - Saturday 19 July 2008

Ducati's Casey Stoner has claimed the top spot in this afternoon's United States GP qualifying session to extend his
recent run of pole positions. Stoner has now taken five consecutive pole positions, the sixth in a row for a rider on
Bridgestone tyres, in a competitive qualifying hour which saw the top thirteen riders break the existing pole record,
set by Stoner in last year's US GP. Stoner's best lap, 1m20.700s, represents a 1.5s improvement over his previous
pole record.

Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi took the runner-up spot, his sixth front row start of the season,
four-tenths-of-a-second adrift of Stoner, but three-tenths clear of third-placed man Nicky Hayden. Rossi's result
makes it only the second occasion this season that Bridgestone-shod riders occupy the front two positions on the
starting grid after Donington Park in Britain three races ago.

Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen will start tomorrow's 32-lap Laguna Seca race from eighth position, setting his best
time on Bridgestone race tyres, while Alice Team rider Toni Elias was the only other Bridgestone rider to claim a top
ten result today. The mid-field was closely-fought with half-a-second separating Jorge Lorenzo in fourth from Ben
Spies in 13th with many Bridgestone riders only marginally missing out on higher grid positions.

Bridgestone has continued looking at its race tyre options for Sunday's GP with some encouraging performances by
a number of riders in today's practice.

Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata - Bridgestone Motorsport - Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development

Are you pleased with the results of qualifying today?
"In general, I am quite satisfied with the qualifying tyre performance today with Casey's pole position and Valentino's
second place giving us only our second 1-2 of the year in qualifying. Many of our riders were able to mark a
reasonable improvement on their race tyre lap time when using the qualifiers, which is certainly encouraging. The
midfield was very close and I think some of our riders were unfortunate not to get higher grid positions today. We still
have to work more on the qualifying tyres to allow all our teams to extract the maximum performance, especially
when everyone is so tightly-packed."

How is race tyre performance?
"The performance of our race tyres continues to show promise for tomorrow afternoon, and over mid-range runs, the
lap times seem quite consistent. I believe our riders have a good idea on what tyres to use in the race if the weather
and track conditions are similar to what we have faced today."

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IMPROVEMENTS LEAVE HACKING EXCITED ABOUT MOTOGP DEBUT
Jamie Hacking is looking forward to making his MotoGP race debut in tomorrow's USGP at Laguna Seca, after major changes made overnight to the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR paid dividends for the Kawasaki pilot during today's practice and qualifying sessions.

Hacking and his crew made changes to the chassis geometry and suspension settings in a bid to improve feedback from the front tyre, and to give the 37-year-old AMA Superbike star more confidence in the front-end of his Ninja ZX-RR.

The transformation compared to yesterday was obvious from the start, with the increase in confidence allowing Hacking to cut almost half-a-second from his lap time during this morning's final free practice session, and then improve that by a further three-tenths during this afternoon's qualifying session.

The Kawasaki pilot suffered a minor fall on his first qualifying run this afternoon after losing the front at Rainey Curve due to the extra grip offered by Bridgestone's rear qualifying tyre, which Hacking experienced for the first time today.

With his lap times consistently in the low 1'23s bracket throughout today's two hour-long sessions, Hacking is looking forward to tomorrow's race, where he's determined to finish higher than his final qualifying position of 17th.

Anthony West's crew also made major changes the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR overnight, but unlike his temporary teammate, the 27-year-old Australian felt little improvement in the front-end of his Ninja ZX-RR today.

A lack of confidence in the front grip available meant that West was unable to qualify higher than 18th place and, as a result, he faces a tough race. Despite the setback, the Kawasaki pilot is determined to put in another points scoring performance tomorrow.

Jamie Hacking
#12 - 17th - 1'23.309

"We definitely went in the right direction with the set-up changes last night, as the bike was transformed and I was able to push much harder today. We made some more small improvements during this morning's practice session, and I felt pretty comfortable running laps in the low 1'2 bracket this afternoon. I've never used Bridgestone qualifiers before, so the extra grip came as something of a surprise. On my first run on the soft tyres I overrode the front at Rainey Curve and low-sided, which meant a run back to the pit box for the spare bike. I managed to improve my lap time with my last flying lap, but I think I'd need much more time on the qualifiers before I was able to get the best from them. We have some more small changes we want to make tonight and I'm pretty confident that if these work as expected, then it should be possible to drop into the low 1'22's during tomorrow's race. With the progress we made today with the bike, I'm really excited about racing it tomorrow."

Anthony West

#13 - 18th - 1'24.525

"We made similar changes overnight to Jamie, but we didn't seem to get the same improvement today. The front still feels vague, especially when I'm braking on the edge of the tyre, which you have to do a lot of here at Laguna. I couldn't even stand the bike up to brake before turning in, because that meant I missed the apex almost every time. We will look again at the set-up of the bike tonight; Jamie tried a few things today that might also work for us, but we won't know until we try them out during warm-up tomorrow. If will be a difficult race, but it should still be possible to finish in the points if I just get my head down and push as hard as I can."

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LORENZO TO LAUNCH LAGUNA BID FROM SECOND ROW

Jorge Lorenzo will start his debut US Grand Prix from the second row of the grid, having qualified fourth at Laguna Seca today. The Fiat Yamaha Team rookie was able to make significant strides with his set-up today and is now looking forward to his first American challenge tomorrow.

The track was shrouded in heavy fog this morning, which only just cleared in time for the first practice to go ahead. Despite the cool temperatures Lorenzo and his crew improved on his time from yesterday by half a second and the Spaniard went into this afternoon's qualifying with much more confidence. Bright sunshine made it a cheerier affair and Lorenzo was able to put in some fast laps with his Michelin qualifying tyres, his best and final effort putting him fourth, well inside the pole position record of last year.

His team-mate Valentino Rossi secured a front-row start in second place, in between Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden. Tomorrow's 32-lap race will start at 1400 West Coast time.

Jorge Lorenzo

Position: 4th Time: 1'21.636 Laps: 27

"We had a good qualifying tyre from Michelin and I was very happy with my performance this afternoon. The second row is very good, especially since this is my first time here. We know we have a race tyre that is okay for tomorrow, but it is quite hard and therefore it is quite difficult to get temperature into it; this is the problem for our pace. In fact today we improved a lot but we are still a long way off the best time and therefore I think it's going to be a very hard race and we will struggle to go fast in the early stages, until we can get enough temperature into the tyre. For me the most difficult part of the track is still the first corner, this is where I lack some feeling, so we will try to improve things a bit more in the warm-up. Besides all this I am still having fun riding here, even though it is clear that this is not the best race for our package! I will do my best tomorrow and hopefully I will be able to enjoy myself again."

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FRONT ROW PUTS ROSSI IN PLACE FOR LAGUNA CHALLENGE

This afternoon's qualifying session at Laguna Seca saw Valentino Rossi put his Fiat Yamaha M1 on the front row of the grid for the sixth time this season, qualifying second for tomorrow's US Grand Prix. Yamaha and Rossi announced last night that he has signed a new deal to continue racing with the factory in MotoGP for two more years, and the Italian is keen to celebrate by taking his first win at this track tomorrow.

Heavy fog this morning cast doubt over whether the day's proceedings would begin on time and this morning's practice session was run in very low temperatures, with Rossi finishing second. Luckily however the Californian sun showed its face this afternoon and the qualifying session was a much warmer affair, with Rossi consistently fast throughout, having found an improved suspension set-up this morning. With six minutes remaining a fast lap with a Bridgestone qualifying tyre put him second, although he temporarily surrendered the spot a few minutes later. Rossi's final flying lap was even faster however and, although he was unable to catch Stoner, it was good enough for second on the grid.

It was a successful day all round for the Fiat Yamaha Team as Jorge Lorenzo was able to qualify fourth on what is his first ride at the track, whilst Tech 3 riders James Toseland and Colin Edwards were 5th and 7th respectively. Rossi will start in between Stoner and Hayden, two former winners here, when the lights go out at 1400 West Coast time for tomorrow's 32-lap race.

Valentino Rossi

Position: 2nd Time: 1'21.147 Laps: 38

"I'm pleased with this result and I think we've done a good job today. This morning, even though it was very cold, we were able to make some good steps forward, especially with the suspension setting, and I was able to be quite fast. This afternoon we were able to do a long simulation and this was very important to help us understand how the tyres will be tomorrow. It seems they are quite good, but this is a very hard race for tyres! It's also a hard race physically and so I know that tomorrow will be a big challenge. Second place is good for us and I think we've done a lot better in the practice this weekend than we have in the last couple of races, so I'm happy about this. Casey is very fast and I don't know exactly how to beat him - maybe I need to start 30 seconds earlier! Whatever happens a good start is going to be very important and then I will just try to stay with him and keep pushing."

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HONDA RACING INFORMATION

US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca: final qualifying

Saturday 17 July 2008

Weather: sunny
Temperature: ambient 22-degrees, track 36-degrees

RESURGENT HAYDEN HITS THE FRONT ROW AT HOME

With World Championship challenger Dani Pedrosa
(Repsol Honda RC212V) ruling himself out of this
weekend's race due to injuries sustained in
Germany last weekend, it was left to Nicky Hayden
(Repsol Honda RC212V) to take the fight to
pole-man Casey Stoner (Ducati) and second fastest
Valentino Rossi (Yamaha). And Hayden was not found wanting.

The Kentucky Kid powered his RCV to the front row
as third quickest qualifier in a typically
intense hour-long session and ended the day 0.730
seconds away from Stoner's 1m 20.700s lap. Stoner
began the stint in dominant form and made sure
his current run of form continued here in the USA.

But Hayden was never about to surrender his
reputation as the main man at his ?home' track.
Riding the latest pneumatic-valve-engined version
of the RCV, he was fifth fastest man at the
halfway stage. He then moved up to second
quickest with ten minutes to go and stayed put on
the front row despite the frenzied efforts of his rivals.

Stoner whittled down his times from an opening 1m
22.204s lap to the final record time that was his
pole effort, but the manner in which his rivals
improved suggests that he will have a tricky race
on his hands tomorrow. Without Dani the Honda men
will ride hard to deprive Stoner of the points he
needs to press home his claim for a second World Championship.

One of his potential challengers, the Suzuki
rider Chris Vermeulen looked strong at the
mid-point of the session, but he faded to eighth
in the second half and will have to make do with
a third row getaway. So too will Andrea Dovizioso
(JiR Scot Honda RC212V) who qualified ninth fastest.

Dovi has proved he has the ability to launch
cleanly and quickly from down the grid in his
rookie season and he will need to rely on this
skill when the lights go out for the start of this encounter.

Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) made a better
qualifying effort this weekend with an
encouraging second row performance to line up as
sixth fastest man at this challenging 3.610km
track. This is his sixth top six qualifying job so far this season.

There was no lack of application from Alex de
Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) and his
hard-charging team-mate Shinya Nakano (San Carlo
Honda Gresini RC212V). The duo hit the deck in
their endeavours to continue the team's recent
strong showings. But both should be fit to ride tomorrow.

They will have to start from way down the order
however; Nakano from 12th and De Angelis from
16th. Although far from ideal grid-slots, the
rookie revelation De Angelis has proved this year
that an unfortunate qualifying session is no
barrier to a shining race performance.

The San Marinese man has netted two fourth places
(at Mugello and at the Sachsenring) from tenth on
the grid and he will be fired up to repeat this
pattern, or perhaps better it tomorrow. If he
does it will be another impressive effort from the 250cc class graduate.

Hayden, who rode 1.2 seconds faster than his 2007
qualifying time, said: "It was difficult, there
were a lot of guys crashing. Qualifying is so
important here because it's so hard to pass, so
some guys are willing to pay a big price for a
good grid position. Our race pace isn't exactly
blazing but it's really nice to be on the front
row in front of the home crowd, the support is
awesome. I know tomorrow's going to be really
tough, Casey's on fire right now and we're having
a few little issues, but the team's done a good
job and I feel like we deserve a good result.
Hoping won't get it though, so we'll come in here
tomorrow, ride hard and see if we can't pull something out."

De Puniet, sixth quickest, said: "I am very happy
today and want to thank my crew for their good
job. We had a tough start yesterday but we
adjusted the bike set-up (gear ratio,
engine-mapping, braking stability and suspension)
and once the grip level improved I could lap
consistently fast. We solved our rear grip
problems, working a good pace on race tyres and
we're very happy about our tyre choice for
tomorrow's 32-lap race. Honestly I think this
race could be very interesting for me..."

Dovi, who made ninth on the grid, said: "During
qualifying, we planned to develop the technical
package better for the race, but to be honest I
expected a greater improvement. Starting from the
third row, here at Laguna Seca, means that I
can't commit the slightest error because in the
first turn it's difficult to overtake, and it's
important to gain positions immediately. I
predict a tough race, there are many riders who
have the same pace. We will focus on a consistent
pace for the entire race tomorrow."

Nakano, 12th on the grid, said: "I'm disappointed
with this session because we've managed to set a
fast pace throughout free practice, lapping
consistently in the top six, so to be starting
from twelfth is not the best. This afternoon we
went out on the tyres we'll use for the race and
I set a good pace, with a good feeling.
Unfortunately on my first lap with a qualifier I
was going a little faster than usual through turn
four and lost the front, although I was lucky not
to be injured. I got straight back to the box and
went back out on the second bike but couldn't
improve my lap time as much as I would have hoped."

De Angelis, down in 16th, said: "Unfortunately I
crashed when we were trying out the race tyre. I
tried to go back out but the pain in my left
thumb was too much, so after just one lap I came
back in with twenty minutes still remaining of
the session. Obviously that meant I didn't get chance to put in a qualifier."

The 32-lap race is the last before the MotoGP
season breaks for summer and resumes at Brno in
the Czech Republic on August 17th

Honda rider quotes. GP USA qualifying. July 19, 2008.
MotoGP:

Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 3rd - 1m 21.430s.
"Qualifying was difficult, there were many guys
crashing. Qualifying is so important here because
it's so hard to pass, so some guys are willing to
pay a big price for a good grid position. Our
race pace isn't exactly blazing but it's really
nice to be on the front row in front of the home
crowd, the support is awesome. I know tomorrow's
going to be really tough, Casey [Stoner] is on
fire right now and we're having a few little
issues, but the team's done a good job and I feel
like we deserve a good result. Hoping won't get
it though, so we'll come in here tomorrow, ride
hard and see if we can't pull something out. I'm
a little bit nervous. Truth is, the tyres we've
got in our allocation are a little out of the
range, so the warmer the better for us. We
changed the bike a little bit to make the tyres
work more and the qualifying tyres were awesome.
Actually I felt like I maybe left a couple of
tenths in them but I was running about as hard as
I could. Hopefully we can put on a good show
tomorrow and not less this guy disappear. A
podium would be great, but to try to fight with
Casey would be a long shot. We never give up,
anything can happen when we line up, so we'll
come in here, try to have fun, try my hardest and
I know I'll have plenty of support. I'm looking forward to it."

Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda: 6th - 1m 21.921s.
"I am very happy today and want to thank my crew
for their good job. We had a tough start
yesterday but we adjusted the bike set-up (gear
ratio, engine-mapping, braking stability and
suspension) and once the grip level improved I
could lap consistently fast. We solved our rear
grip problems, working a good pace on race tyres
and we're very happy about our tyre choice for
tomorrow's 32-lap race. Honestly I think this
race could be very interesting for me..."

Andrea Dovizioso, JiR Scot Honda: 9th - 1m 21.974s.
"During qualifying, we had planned to develop the
technical package better for the race, but to be
honest I expected a greater improvement. Starting
from the third row, here at Laguna Seca, means
that I cannot commit the slightest error because
in the first turn it is difficult to overtake,
and it is important to gain positions
immediately. I predict a tough race, as there are
many riders who have the same pace. We will focus
on a consistent pace for the entire duration of the race tomorrow."

Shinya Nakano, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 12th - 1m 22.09s.
"I'm disappointed with this session because we've
managed to set a fast pace throughout free
practice, lapping consistently in the top six, so
to be starting from twelfth is not satisfactory.
This afternoon we went out on the tyres we'll use
for the race and I set a good pace, with a good
feeling. Unfortunately on my first lap with a
qualifier I was going a little faster than usual
through turn four and lost the front, although I
was lucky not to be injured. I got straight back
to the box and went back out on the second bike
but couldn't improve my lap time as much as I
would have hoped. Anyway, my pace is good and the
objective is to get a good start and make up positions as early as possible."

Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 18th - 1m 23.035s.
"Unfortunately I crashed when we were trying out
the race tyre. I tried to go back out but the
pain in my left thumb was too much, so after just
one lap I came back in with twenty minutes still
remaining of the session. Obviously that meant I
didn't get chance to put in a qualifier."

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: Will not start due to
injuries sustained at the German GP last weekend.
"This has been a very difficult decision to take,
but there really is no alternative. Yesterday I
struggled a lot. I rode in the morning using only
painkilling pills and the pain was incredible, so
I had an anti-pain infiltration before the
afternoon session. Despite that, I still had a
lot of pain. I did a nine lap run and it felt
like 40 laps. When I woke this morning I had a
lot of pain and the fingers were very swollen. I
knew that I couldn't finish the race in these
conditions. To face 32 laps would have been
impossible, especially since this track is very
physically demanding, with many uphill and
downhill sections and many left-handers which
demand a lot of effort from the left hand and
arm. At least I tried - if I had stayed at home I
would never have known if I could have ridden.
Now I have three weeks to recover and do all the
necessary rehabilitation to be ready to race in
Brno in the best-possible condition.

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Vermeulen shows podium pace ahead of USGP

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer Chris Vermeulen was the second quickest rider on race tyres around the 3,610m Laguna Seca circuit during today's qualifying practice session, in readiness for tomorrow's American Grand Prix.

Vermeulen (P8, 1'21.971, 34 laps) was one of only two riders to lap the circuit in the 1'21s on race tyres - pole setter Casey Stoner being the other - and looks to be in good shape ahead of tomorrow's 32-lap race. He was unable to repeat his blistering pace on qualifying tyres and will start from eighth on the grid, but he is confident of a good start and chasing for his second successive US podium tomorrow.

Loris Capirossi (P11, 1'22.039, 30 laps) showed a very strong performance on race tyres during both sessions today and moved into the top-five during the qualifying. He struggled to get the most out of his machine on the qualifiers due the injury to his arm restricting his movement, but promises to give it everything he can in pursuit of a good result tomorrow.

Wildcard rider Ben Spies (P13, 1'22.127, 30 laps) was using qualifying tyres for the first time in two years - it rained at Donington in the qualifying session - and adapted to the extra grip well. He produced a lap within half-a-second of fourth place on the grid, but due to the amazingly close times he will start from the fifth row in 13th place.

Tomorrow's race is round 11 of the season and the action will get underway at 14.00hrs local time (21.00hrs GMT), with all three riders looking to improve on their qualifying berths and bring their respective Rizla Suzuki GSV-Rs home in high-placed finishes.

Chris Vermeulen:

"Today went a lot better than yesterday and the steps we took worked quite well. We did some longer runs on race tyres and produced some good lap times. The times were a lot closer to Casey today and hopefully we can do that again tomorrow. The qualifiers just didn't seem to work for me today and I couldn't go any quicker on them than I did on the race rubber. It sucks starting from eighth position but if I can get a good first couple of laps, I know we can still fight for a podium!"

Loris Capirossi:

"It would not be good to say I am happy today because in qualifying we struggled a bit, but we certainly did improve the bike in race set-up. We went a lot better on race tyres and I was in the top-five. The whole team has done a great job to find a good setting and we are confident that we have a good rhythm for tomorrow. Like I said yesterday, this track is not so easy with my arm, but I will certainly be giving it my best tomorrow and I think it will be a really interesting race and we could be right up there!"

Ben Spies:

"It went good today overall, I haven't used qualifiers for a couple of years now and if I could have found a few more tenths I would have been a lot further forward, but I got blocked on a couple of my qualifying laps and made a mistake on my last one. It should be good for the race tomorrow as we've figured a few things out with the bike and we got down to a good time on the race tyres. The race set-up is certainly getting better and better and I am getting more comfortable on the bike every time I ride it, and I think I can get it in the top-10 tomorrow!"

Paul Denning - Team Manager:

"The three guys made a huge effort this afternoon. Ben got used to the qualifying tyres very quickly, Loris overcame the injury and pushed to the maximum and Chris showed that on race tyres he was easily the second quickest. Unfortunately - as has sometimes been the case this year - Chris couldn't make the qualifiers work for him. Again, when they are first and second on the grid there is nothing bad about the tyres but there is just something between the match of rider, bike and qualifier that isn't quite working for Chris. We will certainly have to work on that in the Brno test. The good thing is that he is absolutely fine on race tyres and I'm sure he'll show a lot of fight tomorrow and challenge for the podium.

"Loris and Ben have a bit of an uphill battle from the fourth and fifth rows respectively, this is all the more frustrating when two-tenths of a second would have put Loris fifth on the grid. It is so close from fifth backwards and I'm sure both the guys will be giving everything they've got over 32 laps tomorrow to do the team and themselves proud."

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