Czech GP: Gresini Racing race report

EIGHTH AND ELEVENTH PLACE AT BRNO FOR MELANDRI & SIMONCELLI

Team San Carlo Honda Gresini's two riders came through a difficult weekend to register solid points finishes at Brno this afternoon. Melandri recovered from his problems during practice and a poor start to fight his way through the pack to eighth place, recording some impressive lap times towards the end of the race when his feeling with the Honda RC212V improved. It was the reverse scenario for Simoncelli, who felt good in the first part of the race and rode aggressively but had to resort to crisis management in the latter stages as he lost feeling with his bike.

Marco Melandri (8th): "After a weekend to forget we had a decent race. The last part of it was good although the start wasn't so positive for me. We struggled a lot on fresh tyres and I couldn't match the pace of the group in front of me, so I lost a lot of ground there. Then as the fuel load lightened and the tyres came up to temperature it worked more in my favour. It was less difficult to ride the bike and I felt more comfortable. I'm still not completely happy though because I'm still having a lot of problems with the electronics and that makes it difficult for me to overtake. We need to work a lot and with more help from Honda I'm sure we can take a step forward tomorrow. "

Marco Simoncelli (11th): "I'm not satisfied with the race today. We made some changes to the bike compared to yesterday but we weren't able to test them out in the warm-up this morning because of the damp track. I felt pretty good at the start of the race but then as the laps went by I lost consistency. The front closed on me a few times and I had to back off. I still thought I could lap in the mid 1'59s but in the second half of the race the bike got worse and I couldn't get the power down in fourth, fifth and sixth gear so the group behind were able to catch and pass me as if I was on a bike from a different category. Now we need to work out what happened. Obviously I'm disappointed because ten laps into the race I thought I was good for eighth place."

Fausto Gresini: "Overall that was a decent race for us. We were in the fight and that gives me some satisfaction even though we know we have to improve and it is difficult for us to improve this bike. We have had the new electronics package for two races now but we still need to understand how to get the best out of it. Melandri pushed really hard and did a good job today whilst Simoncelli struggled but made a good start. It is good to get both bikes over the line and we'll be focusing on the positives as we look to continue our progress."

-source: gresini racing