2005 MotoGP: ASSEN TT

2005 MotoGP : MotoGP R7 of 17: June 25 , 2005, DUTCH TT ASSEN GP

CIRCUIT:

• ASSEN CIRCUIT
• 5.997 km circuit; 20 lap race
• very fast circuit (fastest of all circuits in MotoGP) ; heavy camber changes
• Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 58.758, Rossi, 2004
• MotoGP lap record: 1' 59.472, Rossi, 2004
• TRACK REVISED IN 2002
  track slightened shortened by 22 metres (from 6.049 km to 6.027 km)
  changes to former Veenslang and Ruskenhoek corners
  larger run-off for Mandeveen and Duikersloot corners
  new Grandstand, new hospitality buildings, new Race Control Tower, new 34 pit boxes,
  new Media Centre, new Medical Centre
• first race 1925
• 2000 winner, A Barros, Honda
• 2001 winner, M Biaggi, Yamaha
• 2002 winner, V Rossi, Honda
• 2003 winner, S Gibernau, Honda
• 2004 winner, Valentino Rossi, Yamaha

ROSSI ON POLE - HIS 4TH POLE THIS YEAR: "I am very happy because it is great to ride at this track on a qualifying tyre - the emotion is incredible. The bikes are so fast and this track also, even with the modifications it is still one of the best in the world"

ROSSI, BEFORE RACE: "my main objective is to win the championship"

RACE RESULT

SAT, JUNE 25, 2005, 19 LAPS, Temp: 24ºC

• 1 Valentino Rossi, Yamaha M1
• 2 Marco Melandri, Honda RC211V
  “I got a good start and fought with Sete for the first few laps. I had some problems in the last part of the track and I tried to follow Valentino to learn from him. I almost fell off halfway through the race, then got my confidence back again and tried to catch him. Then my tyre started to spin up too much so I settled for second.”
• 3 Colin Edwards (US) Yamaha M1
• 4 Nicky Hayden (US) Honda
  “It’s been a tough weekend really especially with the weather. This morning the track was so different so in the race we had to gamble a little. We changed the fork springs and it all felt pretty good at the start. The tyre really came in over the first few laps and I was able to make some passes. Then Rossi and Edwards came by and I had to regroup a little and in the end I got past Gibernau for a pretty lonely fourth. I know its the best finish this season but I really want to move on to the next group – and for the whole race, not just a bit of it. I really looking forward to putting on a good show for all the fans at Laguna in the next race.”
• 5 Sete Gibernau, Honda
  “This has been one of the worst. I didn’t have any grip and nearly fell a couple of times in the race. I can’t deny that I’m really upset with the way things are going, but as ever I’ll be riding hard to change this at Laguna Seca in two weeks.”
• 6 Max Biaggi (ITA) Honda
  “I had no grip since the start of the race and couldn’t really get into the turns and open the throttle like I wanted to. I lost immediately too much ground and could only fight for the lower positions. We need to work harder and we need a result soon – hopefully by the nest race because we have the potential to express ourselves. This is not the level that I or the team should be working at. We can do much better because we have to.”
• 7 Alex Barros (BRA) Honda
  “Today’s race was frankly terrible for me, because I was never able to ride as I would have liked and as I had done up to that point. Unfortunately the tyre I chose, and the one which went well yesterday, wasn’t suited to the asphalt which was a lot colder after the overnight rain and the storms this morning. Instead, in the race I found myself without grip on the rear tyre. I chose not to take the harder tyre that Rossi, Melandri and Edwards probably used, I think Hayden maybe too, because it didn’t work for me in practice. This was an erroneous decision. I was hoping that with a few laps heating up it would have worked better, but instead I was never able to ride at the pace I did on the first two days, not even when I managed to get past the first group of riders and had a clear track ahead of me.”
• 8 Shinya Nakano (JAP) Kawasaki
• 9 C. Checa Ducati ESP
• 10 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA
• 11 T. Bayliss Honda AUS
• 12 R. Xaus Yamaha ESP
• 13 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA
• 14 M. Tamada Honda JPN
• 15 D. Checa Yamaha ESP

YAMAHA RACE REPORT

• Rossi makes history as Gauloises Yamaha celebrate podium double
  
  Valentino Rossi became the first Yamaha rider ever to win five consecutive premier-class races after another authoritarian performance in the 75th anniversary Gauloises Dutch TT, where he was joined on the podium by his Gauloises Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards. Rossi did not get the best of starts from pole position but worked his way up from fifth after the first lap to take the lead by the midway stage, taking over from Marco Melandri (Honda) on lap ten and gradually opening out a crucial advantage.
• Edwards followed his team-mate through the opening few laps to make up some important positions from sixth on the grid, quickly settling into the excellent race pace he had found during practice and finally getting the opportunity to impose it on the front group. One lap after seeing Rossi take the lead, Edwards passed Sete Gibernau (Honda) for third place and did everything he could to catch Melandri for second, before deciding to settle for a podium finish.
• As Melandri eased away from the American he also began to close the gap on his Italian compatriot at the front, but a stunning final lap of 2'00.991 from Rossi was the fastest of the race and sealed the win by 1.583 seconds.
• The Fortuna Yamaha riders both completed the race with performances that got stronger and stronger, typifying their display over the whole weekend. Ruben Xaus, who did not get a good start, finished in 12th place and with the bodywork on his YZR-M1 badly damaged after being hit by a stone that had been thrown up by the bike of the Japanese rider Makoto Tamada (Honda) who was in front of him. Xaus posted his best lap three laps from the end and his rhythm got stronger as the race progressed. On the last lap he produced a fine finish and even managed to edge past Hopkins just a few metres from the line.
• The same incident with Tamada also had an impact on the other Fortuna Yamaha rider, David Checa, who has replaced the injured Toni Elias for the third consecutive race. The Spaniard was hit on his right arm by the debris just five laps in and it caused severe bruising that impeded him throughout the race. Checa managed to finish the race in 15th position and produced arguable his best display in the three races.
• Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Yamaha Team) 1st
  "Today was another hard battle, as it has been every race this season. At the start the grip was tricky because of the rain this morning and I lost some places and had to overtake Loris and Nakano to arrive behind the three Hondas. I knew I could go a bit faster and after I passed them all I made some good laps and it became easier to ride on the limit, as there was less fuel. Melandri was very strong today and he came back to fight until the end. I had to keep pushing at 100% and really concentrate, especially on the last lap, when I made no mistakes and the fastest lap of the race. It was incredible for everybody. My bike worked perfectly again, so thank you to Yamaha and my team for all the brilliant work they've done, and to Michelin because the tyres were really good. We have a great atmosphere in our team and this makes it very easy to relax and give 100% every time. It's a pleasure to try to win together. I can't believe that I am the first Yamaha rider to win five races in a row, when you look at the company I am in with Yamaha's former World Champions - Agostini, Lawson, Roberts and Rainey, its great."
• Colin Edwards (Gauloises Yamaha Team) 3rd
  "Of course it could still have been better, but it was a good race. We made a breakthrough with the bike set-up this week and it just felt really good, better than its felt all season I think. I had a bad start, then I saw Valentino and realised his wasn't great either! The first corner I passed a couple and then on the back straight it was chaos with everyone trying to pass anywhere! I tried to follow Valentino through the traffic, then I got stuck behind Gibernau for a bit when he started to slow down. I got some time back when Marco made his big mistake and I saw red and really pushed hard to catch him! With four laps to go I was on the limit and lost the front really badly at turn two. When exactly the same thing happened on the next lap I decided it was safer to take it easy, get home on two wheels and make it onto the podium. I want to say a big thank you to my team and my Crew Chief Daniele Romagnoli, they've worked hard to find the right way forward and now I am going
  to Laguna in great shape."
• Davide Brivio, Gauloises Yamaha Team Director
  "It was a very good day and once again both riders are on the podium with Valentino taking victory. Every race is different and this time it was a great fight with Melandri and with Colin also in the fighting group. It was very exciting to watch such good racing. This also shows the big progress that Yamaha has made and in this sense our engineers and team crew are really working very well. I'm just very lucky to be a representative of such a fantastic team. It's also very encouraging to be going to Laguna Seca in this situation, when we will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Yamaha."

QUALIFYING

GRID, Temp: 36ºC

• 1 Valentino Rossi, Yamaha 1m 58.936
  "I'm very happy. It's great to ride on this track with qualifying tyres. Even with some modifications, this is one of the best tracks. I had already a good lap, but I thought I could go faster, and maybe some of the others, so I waited until the end with my second qualifying tyre"
• 2 Sete Gibernau, Honda 1m 59.247 +0.31s
• 3 Marco Melandri, Honda 1m 59.632 +0.69s
• 4 Shinya Nakano (JAP) Kawasaki +0.82
• 5 Nicky Hayden (US) Honda +0.84
• 6 Colin Edwards (US) Yamaha
• 7 Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati
• 8 Alex Barros (BRA) Honda
• 9 Max Biaggi (ITA) Honda
• 10 Alex Hofmann (GER) Kawasaki
• 11 Tamada 12 Hopkins 13 Checa 14 Bayliss 15 Kurtis Roberts 16 Xaus 17 Checa 18 Rolfo 19 Byrne 20 Ellison 21 Battaini

YAMAHA QUALIFYING REPORT

Rossi takes fourth pole of the season at Assen

• Gauloises Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi will start the seventh round of the MotoGP World Championship from the front of the grid as he chases his sixth victory of the season at the 75th anniversary Dutch TT tomorrow. Rossi took pole position with his final lap of this afternoon's qualifying session, clocking a time of 1'58.936 to hold off the challenge of Sete Gibernau (Honda) and Marco Melandri (Honda), who complete the front row.
• Rossi's Gauloises Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards kept his promise to set a vastly improved lap time as he worked out his braking markers at the re-modelled circuit, which he knows well from his days in the World Superbike series. Cheered on by a vast army of travelling British fans, Edwards will start from the second row of the grid after taking 1.5 seconds off his best time from yesterday to take sixth place on the grid.
• Ruben Xaus and David Checa will start from 16th and 17th places respectively on their Fortuna Yamaha Team YZR-M1s. In a difficult qualifying session both riders focused their efforts on finding a good race pace and are confident with the overall result.
• High temperatures and blazing sunshine continued today, with the thermometers reaching 36ºC during the afternoon session. However, the local weather forecast is predicting that the early summer heat wave will end abruptly tomorrow morning, with thunderstorms expected to continue throughout the day.
• Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Yamaha Team) 1st, 1'58.936
  "I am very happy because it is great to ride at this track on a qualifying tyre - the emotion is incredible. The bikes are so fast and this track also, even with the modifications it is still one of the best in the world. I was lucky because I was able to use both of my qualifying tyres at 100%. With the first one I set a 1'59.4, which was a great lap, but I looked at it and thought maybe I could go a little faster. I had to wait a while because there were a lot of riders waiting for me on the last lap and I left it until the last moment, because it's better to have no one in front of you here when you are trying to set a fast lap. The last lap of 1'58 was fantastic. I'm happy to start from pole position because tomorrow for sure will be a hard race. We'll wait to see what the weather does but if the temperatures are like today it will be very tough for the riders and the tyres."
• Colin Edwards (Gauloises Yamaha Team) 6th, 2'00.006
  "I knew yesterday that we had some good ideas to help us improve our time today and I think it's fair to say we've taken a giant leap forward with the set-up of the bike. This morning we fixed the rear traction problems I've been having and we're starting to understand the differences between Valentino's riding style and mine. Whilst it seems Valentino can ride pretty much anything, my style is ingrained in me and I need a little help to load up the rear, which is what we have done here. It is helping me get the power to the ground and today I set six or seven laps in the low 2'00s, which is a decent race pace. I still feel that it can come down a little further, and it will need to for tomorrow's race.
• I've really noticed the support from the British fans here, which has been great. Hopefully it will stay dry for them tomorrow although if it rains I'll be quite happy because I'm interested to see how this set-up works in the wet."
• Davide Brivio, Gauloises Yamaha Team Director
  "It is always a great emotion to watch Valentino ride in that way - his two fast laps were fantastic. Both our riders set a fast pace throughout the session and Colin was able to get a good position for the race, which I am very pleased about. I think the whole team can look forward very positively to tomorrow. The rain might be an issue but I'm sure our technicians will manage. and the riders too!"

FRI PRAC, JUNE 23, 2005, Sunny, Temp 34ºC

• 1 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 2' 0.757
  2 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 2' 0.840
  "my main objective is to win the championship. The season has started well and we want to continue that. It has been nice to have a weekend off after two tough races because the whole team have been working hard. Now we are at Assen and it is going to be another hard race. I'm looking forward to it - I think it will be another beautiful battle."
  3 Sete Gibernau Honda ESP 2' 1.037
  4 A. Barros Honda BRA 2' 1.053
  5 M. Melandri Honda ITA 2' 1.242
  6 N. Hayden Honda USA 2' 1.490
  7 C. Checa Ducati ESP 2' 1.524
  8 C. Edwards Yamaha USA 2' 1.588
  9 M. Biaggi Honda ITA 2' 2.029
  10 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN 2' 2.280
  11 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA 2' 2.289
  12 A. Hofman Kawasaki GER 2' 2.409
  13 T. Bayliss Honda AUS 2' 2.424
  14 R. Xaus Yamaha ESP 2' 2.790
  15 M. Tamada Honda JPN 2' 3.066
  16 K. Roberts Suzuki USA 2' 3.609
  17 D. Checa Yamaha ESP 2' 4.259

YAMAHA FRI REPORT:

• Gauloises Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi signalled his intentions to repeat last season's Dutch TT victory at Assen with a dominant performance on the opening day of this year's 75th anniversary of the legendary event. The reigning World Champion set the fastest time in the first free practice session this morning, posting a benchmark lap of 2'01.003 at the recently remodelled track, only bettered in the afternoon by himself and a last-gasp effort from Loris Capirossi (Ducati), who tops the overnight time sheets after clocking a time of 2'00.757 on his final lap.
• Rossi and his Gauloises Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards worked purely on race tyres as they began the quest to find an optimum set-up for their YZR-M1 machines before the seventh race of the 2005 season on Saturday. Edwards set the eighth fastest time overall in the afternoon after shaving over half a second off his morning time, despite rising temperatures which touched 34ºC in the early Dutch summer sunshine.
• For the Fortuna Yamaha pair it was a reasonably successful day with Ruben Xaus finishing 14th quickest on day one while his temporary team-mate David Checa ended with a respectable 17th in only his third MotoGP-weekend.
• Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Yamaha Team) 2nd, 2'00.840
  "In the morning the bike was already good but we made a few modifications in the afternoon and, to be honest, it wasn't quite as good as it had been in the morning and we lost some of the feeling. Anyway, we have a very good base to work from and tomorrow we can try something different. The changes to the track have taken a little bit of the taste away, but they were made for safety reasons, which means they are very important. Despite the changes it is still Assen and it is always a great pleasure to ride here, it's a very special track. Once again the bike is working well right from the start and I think if we can improve the balance and the setting a little more, then we can make a good result in Saturday's race."
• Colin Edwards (Gauloises Yamaha Team) 8th, 2'01.588
  "It's better than it looks! When everything is working perfectly and you find yourself in eighth place then it looks like you have a problem, but we have some very clear ideas where we can improve and we still have plenty of time. I feel like I can find another half-second tomorrow. I've been struggling for traction since Mugello so we've retraced our steps a little with the setting, made a pretty major change to the rear of the bike and it feels a lot better. I'm losing a few tenths in the new sections because I haven't worked out which is the hot line through there yet but, like when you visit a new track, it always helps to sleep on it. Also, the corners at Assen are so unbelievably fast compared to anywhere else that it always takes me a day to get used to where I can brake - and where I don't have to! At some tracks you can turn up and the bike works straight away but Assen is not one of them. It puts a lot of load on the bike and unless you find the right setting you ca
  n't go fast. "
• Davide Brivio, Gauloises Yamaha Team Director
  "Valentino started out very well this morning and found an immediate feeling for this track, so from then on it has just been a case of fine tuning the small details. He completed a lot of work today, working on different setting options, but there is still plenty of room for improvement and tomorrow it will be time to put it all together. Colin is in a similar situation - he has found a good base quickly and is now looking for the changes that can help take a few tenths off his lap time in different parts of the track. It has been a good first day for us and we have an excellent starting point for the rest of the Grand Prix. Now we just have to keep working hard tomorrow and make sure we are in the best possible conditions for Saturday's race."

RACE PREVIEW: HONDA   YAMAHA   DUCATI   KAWASAKI

HONDA REPORT

• Max Biaggi: "Assen is one of my favourite circuits. In 2001 I won the 500cc race. The track is very technical and you are always going in and out of a corner; never really in a straight line. I hope to find the right set up with my team from Thursday Free Practice. We need to do good. Barcelona is a bitter thought because I wasn't able to express my skill. Frustrating. Now our goal is to find the good feeling with the bike that I had at Mugello and to come back and compete with the fastest guys.”
• Nicky Hayden: “I'm really looking forward to Assen. It's one of my favourite circuits of the championship. Fast and long. I haven’t qualified there great in the past but had a good race there last year where we made up a lot of places in the race. Like always we need to get a good grid slot and make it all count on race day. We had a positive wet days' test after the last race in Barcelona and we found some stuff that seemed to work in the rain. It always seems to get damp sometimes at Assen so I hope we're in better shape than we would have been without the test. After the race we're off to ride at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK on Sunday to celebrate 40 years of Honda GP success with Mick Doohan and Freddie Spencer and lots of others. Should be great."
• Alex Barros: “Assen is one of the tracks I like best, for lots of reasons. I love technical and tough circuits, and this is one of those ‘par excellence’. It’s tight, there aren’t many reference points, there’s off-camber bends, so you need to be precise in your riding, because you’re not going straight at any point. It’s just a sequence of curves and changes of direction which all link in to each other and it requires a lot of physical effort, especially in your arms. I’m happy to be getting back into form after the Le Mans crash because I want to enjoy myself in Assen and have a good race at the front for a crowd who love our sport profoundly.”
• Troy Bayliss: “I was disappointed to not be able to use the test day after the Grand Prix in Barcelona due to the rain, because I would have liked to have continued to work on the bike’s set-up, In the race weekend we did some good things, but I need to make further progress so I can ride as I want. We’ll try and get this in Assen, a physically challenging track, and has the sort of characteristics that most of us riders really appreciate.”

KAWASAKI REPORT

• Shinya Nakano: "Assen is a real challenge, especially the fast section at the start of the lap. You need good traction and high-speed handling plus exact racing lines to achieve maximum performance. I expect the latest profile Bridgestone tyres will help with steering response on the ZX-RR in the fast sections. Because it is not possible to test at Assen I will use the first practice day to check braking points and corner lines, plus collect set-up data. I think we have a good technical direction with the ZX-RR right now, I saw a positive comparison when I was able to follow Colin Edwards early in the race at Barcelona."
• Alex Hofmann: "Hopefully Assen will kick start my season after some bad luck recently. The Dutch TT is a good motivation for me because it is like a second home race, the organisers say about 40% of the spectators are from Germany. It's a fast, roller-coaster style of track and one of my favourites. I think I'm ready for anything at Assen, especially if it rains as it often does. Our test in Barcelona was wet so I got to try the latest Bridgestone wet tyres, which were very good, plus I felt comfortable using the ZX-RR motor with revised configuration and tuning."

DUCATI REPORT

• Loris Capirossi: "At Mugello we showed what we can do when everything is good ... We struggled with rear grip at Catalunya but I think we should be better off at Assen, which is very different. It's more flowing, like a classic track. For sure the Ducati should be good at Assen. It will be interesting for me because this year I'm using a modified chassis, with more rigidity, which should help in the high-speed changes of direction. I have always loved Assen, it used to be one of the best tracks in the world but maybe not any more because they keep changing it. I don't like the new sections they've made."
• Carlos Checa: "Assen is a very different circuit, it's unique really," affirms Checa. "Even the straights aren't really straight and most of the corners are banked and very fast. Also, there's very little room between the white lines and the grass, which means you've got to be perfect with your lines. I like the layout a lot and I appreciate riding on different kinds of tracks, it's great to have some variety. I'm really looking forward to trying it for the first time on the Ducati, because this bike is so fast and its chassis should suit the track's flowing character. I've already put Catalunya behind me. Considering our positive result at Mugello I'm hoping that Catalunya was just a blip."

YAMAHA REPORT

• 2004 MotoGP Race Summary
  Yamaha rider and reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi once more demonstrated his full repertoire of race-craft by winning his third race in a row, at the 2004 Assen TT, after a last lap of epic skill and determination. A further showing of the significant improvements made to the YZR-M1 were evident when Yamaha Tech 3 pilot Marco Melandri also secured his second consecutive podium result - taking third behind second place rider Sete Gibernau (Honda).
• Rossi was involved in a race-long contest with Gibernau. With the others unable to match their lap record breaking pace, they eventually left a nine-second gap back to Melandri at the flag. Rossi's desire to win his third race in a row, and his fourth with Yamaha saw him set the new lap record on lap 18 of the 19, with a time of 1'59.472s. That lap brought him close enough to dive inside Gibernau on the brakes at turn 12. The pair made contact into the following double right-hander as Rossi almost lost the front, leaving the chasing Gibernau nowhere to go and nursing a broken front mudguard.
• 2005 Set-up report YZR-M1
  Assen is unique in a number of ways; the Dutch TT originally began life as 28km street circuit before being shortened - once in 1955 and again in 1984 - to comply with the ever-changing demands of modern motorcycle racing. The most recent of these took place this year with the modification to the snaking back straight leading up to the Stekkenwal right hander. With speeds increasing safety became an issue with the current layout and as a result the former back straight has now been fitted with a second gear right hander at the midpoint followed by a sweeping left into Stekkenwal.
• In addition the De Bult turn has been become more of a 90-degree turn and has lost its positive camber. Despite these changes the Assen layout is still the longest on the MotoGP calendar, now measuring just less than six kilometers in length, and continues to maintain its street pedigree - although this is changing with every modification. The length has been shortened by a total of 30m - from 6027 to 5997 - and is due for an additional modification in 2006.
• With barely a straight piece of tarmac in sight there is no rest for the MotoGP field, making Assen more of a rider's circuit than any other ever visited this season. Handling will therefore be a major focal point, due to high-speed chicanes and dramatic camber changes - the latter, in some places, resembling the profile of a public road more than that of a motorcycle racetrack. This single feature in itself makes Assen a challenging circuit to master. Hold the inside line and the rider will benefit from the extra drive available off the steeper section of the camber, but the suspension will need to compensate for these much higher G-force loads that will be experienced.
• A good result at Assen relies heavily on a chassis that offers both agility and stability. It is quite a difficult balance to find at the best of times, but with the white line to white line racing line it is a must find. This is why Yamaha will continue with the base geometry it has used over the past few rounds, relying on the finer adjustments of the suspension package and the correct tyre profiles to get the best out of the Deltabox chassis.
• The combination of such fast cornering, good grip levels and extreme camber angles produce the high cornering G-forces, a load which the suspension package will need to deal with. For this reason a heavier rear spring rate will be chosen, in comparison to the front set-up, to prevent the back of the bike squatting under power, yet it will still need to offer a compliant ride to ensure feel isn't compromised. This won't be an issue if the compression damping character is dialed in to compensate. Therefore it will be wound back, from what was used in Barcelona two-weeks earlier, increasing the predictability of a slide as well as tyre life.
• Although the rear spring rate is firmer than what Yamaha used at a circuit like Mugello, the front will be somewhat softer in feel. The latter is possible because of the lack of seriously hard braking that will be done on the flowing layout. Tailing the brakes into the turn is more common at this circuit.
• With an outright top speed of around 310kmh Assen isn't the fastest circuit, especially when you compare it to the 340kmh plus of Mugello, but that doesn't matter as the Dutch TT isn't about outright top speeds - it's the top speed average that counts. In this regard Assen is one of the fastest tracks of the year. Because of this it's an extreme and hard working circuit, not only for the riders and the chassis, but the tyres too. Fortunately grip levels are high yet the track surface isn't too abrasive, even though almost all the driving will be done off the side of the tyres.

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