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HONDA RACING INFORMATION

2009 MotoGP World Championship
Dutch TT preview, Assen
June 25/26/27 2009

HISTORIC ASSEN IS NEXT CHALLENGE FOR HONDA RIDERS

This weekend the thrilling 2009 MotoGP World Championship goes into action at its most historic event, the Dutch TT at Assen. This year the Assen world round celebrates its sixth decade as a Grand Prix event, indeed it is the only race that survives from the World Championship's inaugural year in 1949.

Honda has been winning races at Assen since 1961, when Mike Hailwood and Tom Phillis won the 250 and 125 races, two years after Honda first entered World Championship competition. This year the factory's hopes are in the hands of its fastest riders in the MotoGP and 250 classes - Repsol Honda RC212V riders Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa and Scot Honda RS250RW rider Hiroshi Aoyama.

Dovizioso and Pedrosa currently hold fourth and fifth places in the MotoGP points standings, behind series leaders Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) and Casey Stoner (Ducati) who are all exactly equal on points after six of 17 races.

Dovizioso has been building speed since the start of the season and is knocking on the door of his first podium with the Repsol Honda squad. The 23-year-old Italian has finished fourth at the last three GPs, on each occasion crossing the line tantalisingly close to a third-place finish. At Le Mans he was half a second behind team-mate Pedrosa and at Mugello and Catalunya he was less than a tenth behind Rossi and Stoner. There is no doubt that Dovi is both capable and deserving of a top three at Assen, especially after he topped the post-Catalan GP tests using a modified RC212V chassis.

Pedrosa has had a tougher time in recent weeks. The 23-year-old Spaniard had put himself in the thick of the title battle with three consecutive podium finishes at the Japanese, Spanish and French GPs, only to suffer ill luck at the Italian and Catalan GPs. He crashed out at Mugello and then fell again during Catalunya qualifying, heroically riding through the pain barrier to finish sixth. Pedrosa has been resting his injuries since then and is hopeful he will be strong enough to compete at the front at Assen, where he finished second last year.

Honda's MotoGP satellite team riders arrive at Assen determined to turn promising progress into better results. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) has had some good runs lately, reinforcing his place as one of the championship's top privateers. Eighth at the last two races, the Frenchman is determined to get closer to the front, as he did at Jerez where he finished a storming fourth.

San Carlo Honda Gresini riders Alex De Angelis and Toni Elias continue to work hard at extracting the maximum from their RC212V machines but so far have yet to reap the reward their input deserves. Both men know that they are on the verge of scoring results, they just need another step forward to improve rear grip and a little luck. Things seemed to be looking up for Elias at Catalunya, where he rode brilliantly in qualifying to start from the second row, only to slide off in the race.

Italian squad Scot Honda go into their second GP as a two-rider MotoGP team with rookie Yuki Takahashi and newcomer Gabor Talmacsi assigned one RC212V each. Takahashi has had a couple of tough races, falling at Mugello and at Catalunya, where he cracked a finger in his right hand when he fell on the first lap of the race.

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TITLE-CHASING TRIO TAKE JOINT CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD TO ASSEN

For the first time in the history of the MotoGP World Championship there are three riders tied at the top of the standings as the season enters its seventh round, each one of them having taken two wins each from the opening six races. Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi have filled the rostrum on three occasions already and whilst the Yamaha pair each have one more podium than the Ducati man, Stoner has not finished outside the top five yet this season.

That his Ducati has allowed him to be competitive at different circuits and in different circumstances is a fact the Australian has been quick to underline, in particular after his hard-fought podium in Catalunya, when his physical condition was far from perfect. The Ducati Marlboro Team rider was even more satisfied after the post-race test in Barcelona and now he can't wait to get back on track in Assen, where he has previously scored a first and a second place on the Desmosedici.

Nicky Hayden also has a great relationship with the Dutch TT circuit, having taken a victory there in 2006, a third place in 2007 and a fourth in 2008 when his bike ran out of fuel in the final corner and denied him a certain podium. The American left Catalunya with mixed feelings last week - pleased with his best race weekend of the season so far but disappointed with the test on the following day, when he wasn't quite able to match the competitive lap times set by his factory colleagues. Always a man to look on the bright side, the Ducati Marlboro Team rider is confident that his team have taken a major step forward with his race set-up and he is desperate to prove it with another good result at one of his favourite circuits.

LIVIO SUPPO, MotoGP Project Director
"The weekend in Barcelona was really important for us. We started to see the fruit of all the hard work being done by Filippo and his guys, as well as Vitto, and it looks like the development route we're taking with the GP9 promises to make it even more competitive. We need to continue to give our maximum both to Casey, who is fighting in one of the closest championship battles for years, and to Nicky, who has shown that he has the ability to adapt to the characteristics of our bike, which is more difficult for him than it is for other riders because he had spent so many years on the same machine before this. Both Casey and Nicky like Assen so I'm sure they'll both be giving everything for a top result."
 
CASEY STONER, Ducati Marlboro Team (3rd in the championship on 106 points)
"Assen is a strange track for me because before I rode there in MotoGP it was one of my favourite circuits but one where I never managed to get great results in the smaller categories. Then in 2006 I had a decent result and since then, with the Ducati, I've always been fast. Considering the fact that the GP9 has already shown that it is competitive on a variety of circuits, I can't wait to get back to Assen. Ideally we'd like another weekend of consistent good weather so that we can work on the bike and find a bit more rear grip, which is the only thing we're missing at the moment. The rest of the bike is great - it is turning well and the front is really stable under braking. I wasn't really fit at the test and I didn't do a lot of laps but we did what we needed to and now we'll try and take advantage of that work in the next race."

NICKY HAYDEN, Ducati Marlboro Team (15th in the championship on 19 points)
"Assen is a special circuit for me - I love it here. The final split is my favourite because you have a run of fast corners that are crucial to a fast lap. The weather can change from one minute to the next so it will be important to make the most of all the track time available to us. I've had some of the best races of my career at Assen, like the fight for the win with Colin (Edwards) in 2006, which is my favourite. In 2007 I finished third and the last year I had the heart break to loose the podium in the last corner! We know we have a lot of work to do but myself and the team are hoping that the Catalunya race was the start of a major turnaround that we can continue to build on until the end of the season."
 
THE TRACK
Assen is the only circuit that has stayed as part of the World Championship since the first season back in 1949. In 2006 it under went major alterations, with the removal of the majority of the Northen Loop section, making way for the TT World fans' area. The rest of the circuit retains much of its original character, making it one of the most technical and physically demanding circuits on the calendar. Unlike a lot of other circuits, which feature long straights and medium-fast corners, Assen is tight, flowing and characterised by high-speed corners and quick changes in direction. Even the surface is unusual, with many sections cambered in the style of a public road to aid drainage.

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Rizla Suzuki ready for an Assen attack
Rizla Suzuki ready for an Assen attack
22/06/2009 10:21am
The MotoGP ?Cathedral' of Assen in the Netherlands awaits Rizla Suzuki this coming Saturday, as the MotoGP field descends upon the famous circuit for the Dutch TT. Chris Vermeulen heads to the land of his ancestors determined to return a good result at the 4,555m Assen circuit. He has had some promising performances at the Dutch track - including pole position in 2007 - but has yet to break into the top-six in a MotoGP race. Vermeulen had a successful post-Catalunya test and will be using many of the improvements he took from there as he prepares his assault for glory.

Loris Capirossi will be planning to build upon the form that has seen him take successive fifth places at the last two events. Capirossi is eager to get back on track and carry on from where he left off at Catalunya, believing that a lot of the data collected at the Spanish track will stand him in good stead at Assen. Capirossi will also be determined to extinguish the memory of the crash he suffered at last year's Dutch TT that kept him out of the race and forced him to miss the next MotoGP event.

Assen is one of the most famous circuits in Grand Prix racing, and although the venue has altered considerably from the original road track, it is the only location on the current calendar that has staged Grand Prix races since the inception of the championship in 1949. Although numerous changes were made to the present circuit layout in 2007 for safety reasons, it still retains its magic and most riders look forward to racing there.

Rizla Suzuki takes to the track for the first free practice session on Thursday afternoon, followed by the second - and final - free session on Friday morning. Vermeulen and Capirossi will be out in the Friday afternoon qualifying session to challenge for the best grid positions for Saturday's race. The 26-lap Assen Grand Prix is the only venue on the MotoGP calendar that holds the race on a Saturday and the main event gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT).

Chris Vermeulen:

"I really look forward to going to Assen. Holland is where my family came from so there are always people around that remember my Grandfather and tell me how they are related to me - so I feel like a bit of me is coming home! We had a good test after the Catalunya race and if we can translate that into the forthcoming weekend then I am sure we can be competitive. I enjoy riding at Assen and I have won there in World Superbikes, but I have never quite got the results I think I've deserved - or certainly wanted - in MotoGP. I hope this will be the weekend when that all changes!"

Loris Capirossi:

"I am still very happy from my performance in Catalunya, but this is a whole new race and we have to begin again. We used the new engine specification in Spain and then did a lot of testing with new parts on the Monday so we have a lot of data to use for this weekend. We hope we'll use the new spec engine again at Assen but it is still being developed and Suzuki needs to check everything, so we will just have to wait and see. I really want to carry on with the good progress we are making, especially at Assen because I didn't get the chance to race there last year. I also want to do well for Rizla - they deserve a good result at what is really their 'home' racetrack."

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