Japanese GP: Team Aspar race report

Barbera Laments Tough Weekend In Japan

3pm local time and considerably earlier in Europe, the Japanese MotoGP race got underway at Twin Ring Motegi. The contest was, in general terms, similar to that of the practice sessions, as the first tour to take the chequered flag were the same riders who started on the front row, albeit in a different order. Stoner repeated his performance from Motorland, taking off in a push unanswered by any other rider. He kept the lead until the end of the 24-lap race, with Dovizioso also riding solo for second place. The main excitement came from the battle between Rossi and Lorenzo for the final podium spot, in a fight eventually won by the Italian.

Lady Luck was not on Paginas Amarillas Aspar rider Hector Barbera's side in Motegi. He started ok on Friday, but Saturday saw problems with the rear end take a hold and his progress was slowed considerably. The Spaniard never gave up in his search for a more effective setting, making his final mild breakthrough during the Sunday morning warmup. He started the race ready to attack, and gained several positions from fifteenth on the grid. His eventual finishing place was thirteenth, although he has an immediate opportunity to better this next weekend at Sepang.

13th Hector Barbera:
"It has been a tough weekend, because we had too many problems fine-tuning to find the best setting. Perhaps Motegi isn't the best track for me, but we came here in good shape and hoping for a bit more from this race. Our main setbacks were problems with the rear end, which I didn't feel confident with during the entire three days. I found it very hard to open the throttle. It was hard, but I tried my best to use my ability in order to finisher higher up the order. In any case, we have to keep optimistic and think that in a few days we will be in Malaysia and have the opportunity to continue with our work. Hopefully we will be back at the level we had found before."

-source: team aspar