FRENCH GP, LeMans - Race Result, May 15th, 2005
BIAGGI MAJESTIC AT LE MANS, HAYDEN FRUSTRATED
Weekend Crowd Attendance: 146,298
Repsol Honda Team riders Max Biaggi and Nicky Hayden finished the French Grand Prix in fifth and sixth places respectively in front of 75,000 dry fans at Le Mans, France today (Sunday)
Biaggi had an incredible weekend. In the all-important warm-up this morning the four-time world champion lost the rear end of his RC211V on the fourth lap and suffered impact to his back and left side in the incident. He was treated in the medical centre where serious bruising was diagnosed to his lower back, left knee and the left ankle he broke last November. He was passed fit to ride with the benefit of pain-killers administered by the Clinica Mobile and lined up the 28-lap race some two and a half hours after the incident.
Biaggi ended the first lap in ninth place and slipped to 10th by the third. Adrenaline then kicked in and, in one of the rides of his life, the Italian dispensed with Alex Barros (Honda) then Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki). An epic battle then ensued with Marco Melandri (Honda) – 11 years his junior – in which he had the upper hand, five laps before the end of the race. The 33-year-old ended the race being helped from his bike from Dr Claudio Costa in the Repsol Honda garage having crossed the line in fifth place earning 11 valuable championship points.
Hayden was buoyed by his performance in the morning's warm-up when the 23-year-old finished third fastest – and fastest Michelin runner. However, in the race it was not to be and although the American held second place behind compatriot Colin Edwards (Yamaha) for the opening eight laps he slipped frustratingly down the field suffering from chatter problems on his RC211V that made cornering painfully slow.
The race was won by Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) after an epic battle with arch-rival Sete Gibernau (Honda) who finished second with early front-runner, Edwards, taking the last spot on the podium.
Makoto Tanaka, Repsol Honda Team Manager
"A big emotional weekend. Max has had difficulties in all practice sessions and then he falls this morning and looks in doubt for the race. He made an incredible effort and a great result. So strong and so determined. Nicky was showing very well at the start of the race but faded. We need to look closely at the data and over the next few days testing here see if we can resolve the problems because he is riding well enough to be on the podium regularly but not getting the results at the moment."
Max Biaggi
Position: 5th - Best lap: 1m34.206s
Front: 16.5" slick Michelin
Rear: 16.5" slick Michelin
"A very, very hard race. After the warm-up crash I didn't think I could race. The pain never left me. When I put on my leathers my back was in such a bad condition that I never thought I could make it to the chequered flag. Then, adrenaline and my big desire to do good gave me an incredible fuel. Anyhow at the end of the race I almost couldn't get off the bike. After this I can only be happy about this fifth place: these are 11 important points for me and my team. Our job starts again from tomorrow. There is a lot to do to come back competitive in time for the Italian Grand Prix."
Nicky Hayden
Position: 6th - Best lap: 1m34.355s
Front: 16.5" slick Michelin
Rear: 16.5" slick Michelin
"Just really, really disappointed! I got a good start and it all felt great but about 10 laps from the end it started to feel like last week in the rain. I got a lot of chatter as the race went on. We don't really know why. We need to find out! It's a pretty lame excuse but the bottom line is I just went backwards. It's been a hard weekend but I felt we were in with a chance after all the great work the team put in. It felt good to be running up front but I want to do that all race. I'm not looking forward to a three-week break now. I just want Mugello to come next weekend!"
Nickyhayden.com
hey, et j'ai meme presque compris ce qui était écrit !!!
18/05/2005, 18h49
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