[mickey]

Dani Pedrosa

“At the start of the race things were going quite well and I was able to lead the race and felt quite comfortable. After few laps the track was becoming drier and it turned out we’d chosen a rear tyre that was too soft for those conditions and I just couldn’t maintain the pace. I tried to stay with de Puniet and I had battle with Barros in the last few laps but I had very little traction at the rear and unfortunately I couldn’t hold him off. This was definitely a disappointing race for us, although we had promising performance in practice and qualifying which is positive. It’s a pity because, with Casey winning again, the gap in the championship has opened up quite a lot. We’ll just have to fight back quickly at the next race.”

Nicky Hayden

“The bike felt really good early in the race and I was trying to be a little bit patient when a few guys came past and I started going back and forth. It felt like I could go quicker, though when Stoner came through I was having quite a hard time seeing because of the spray. Still, I felt like I could go towards the front and I was enjoying the race. Then I just got in a little bit hot at the top of the hill and lost the front. I’d been passed there earlier once or twice and just didn’t want to go back any further. I felt really good everywhere except on the brakes where I was quite weak. Some of the guys were really strong on the brakes, although I felt like I had better exit grip and better traction. It sucks to crash out of the race but it wasn’t as if I crashed while going backwards and struggling – at least I was up front and so I’m going to take the positives from this weekend. Being fastest in the dry on Saturday morning was a big boost for me and I definitely feel that I’ve been the most competitive I’ve been all yea

Alex Barros :
“I’m quite satisfied for the race. Honestly speaking, I hoped for an even better result, but because of my position on the starting grid and the inclement track conditions, we couldn’t do a lot more. I started well, but when I sped up, the bike started to slip and I lost some positions. At the beginning my race pace was good, in fact I started to push and I was able to overtake Pedrosa and arrive very close to Loris who was riding so fast. Unfortunately during the race, the asphalt became to dry and I start to have some difficulties. Maybe the Bridgestone front tyre we chose was too soft and didn’t help me to ride well, but on the contrary, the rear became increasingly better and gave me an important help. To race with these conditions is always difficult, but I gave my best to obtain the best possible result.”

Alex Hofmann :
“If I look at my result I’m satisfied, the ninth position is not so bad for us, but if I consider the whole race, there are certainly areas which we can work on further in the future. I made a good start to recover four positions, but I could not succeed to attack the other riders that were in front of me. After some laps, I started to have a good race pace and I could see my team-mate Alex Barros and Dani Pedrosa were not so far from me, but I wasn’t able to overtake them because I made a mistake in the last turn and I lost precious time.”

MARCO MELANDRI : "We tried a few set-up modifications in the warm-up and improved the feeling on the front but couldn't do the same on the rear. When the track was really wet I struggled because the bike was sliding a lot. Then as it started to dry out the situation improved because the bike felt more balanced. The lap times show that because I went from doing a 1'46.4 to a 1'41.4 on the last lap."

TONI ELIAS : "It's been a difficult weekend and it hasn't ended as we wanted. I struggled in the race because I couldn't get the tyre up to temperature and find grip. I had a problem in braking and ran wide a few times, which made me lose time and this meant I couldn't recover positions as I wanted. When the track began to dry I was able to set the fastest lap of the race. The positive thing is that we've gathered a lot of information in the wet which we'll be able to use together with Bridgestone and try to solve some of the problems we've had this weekend