motogp 2011 Hayden on third row, problems for Rossi continue

Nicky Hayden had some difficulty finding a good rhythm during qualifying for the Assen TT, but a change to a different shock setting helped to improve his feeling with the bike near the end of the session and to finish with the ninth-best time.

After yesterday’s very positive initial outing in the rain during free practice, Valentino Rossi had only two hours to set up his new bike on a dry track and he wasn’t able to replicate yesterday’s performance. Tomorrow he’ll have to start from the eleventh spot on the grid.

Nicky Hayden:
“This morning we were trying to learn the step 2 chassis, but with the rain, we never got to compare back-to-back with the step 1 in similar conditions so, for this afternoon, we went with what we knew. We struggled a bit at the beginning of qualifying, and then when we put in the soft tyres, we also changed to a different shock setting that helped put some temperature in the tyre. I started getting a better feel and going faster, and like always, it would have been nice to get a few more laps. It’s not why we’re on the third row, but when Capirossi crashed, they should have red-flagged the session, because he was in the run-off area of a fast place. We’ve had just about every condition this weekend, so we’ll see what we get tomorrow. It could be a wild race.”

Valentino Rossi:
“We’re disappointed with qualifying because we had started quite well yesterday, so clearly, we expected things to go better today. We had a decent session this morning, but we weren’t able to improve, so we’ll start eleventh. The rear of the GP11.1 is better than the previous version, but we weren’t able to find a setup that allowed us to bring the tyres up to temperature, and at the moment, that’s making it difficult to find the feeling I need to ride hard and be strong on corner entry. I don’t think we’ve yet learned how to properly adjust the bike, and that’s something we knew could happen since we have so little time available. Still, this all helps us to gather experience for the future, and we have some ideas for tomorrow’s warm-up session that we hope will help us go faster in the race.”

Rossi love Ducati

The 'non-news' about Valentino Rossi moving to Ducati was finally made official after the Brno Grand Prix. Yes, ever since quote-machine Hervé Poncharal, Yamaha Tech3 manager let slip that his rider Ben Spies was on his way to the Yamaha factory team back in June, the Rossi to Ducati story was a non-event.

Poncharal, whose team is part-funded by series organisers Dorna to ensure some national interest in the Le Mans GP, had two seats available in his make-weight team for 2011, one of which looks set to be filled by Yamaha WSB rider Cal Crutchlow. The other, currently with Colin Edwards, is destined for someone else, since there are strong rumours the popular Texan is heading back to the World superbike paddock.

In any case, Rossi has signed a two-year deal with Ducati to ride alongside Nicky Hayden, as current Ducati rider Casey Stoner moves to Honda. Lord knows the MotoGP championship needs something to make it interesting again, maybe Rossi in red will do the trick.

The story kicked off months ago when, it was alleged, Rossi confronted Yamaha with a 'it's him or me' style ultimatum over Jorge Lorenzo, Rossi's team mate at FIAT Yamaha. Yamaha clearly reckons that Lorenzo is the future and told Rossi he was a free agent.

At which point there was only really one option for Rossi – Ducati. Given that Jorge Lorenzo looks like a cert to win his first MotoGP title this year – he's already won seven races and has a lead of over 75 points – it's not too cruel to suggest that Yamaha is coming out the winner in this saga. Rossi did a fantastic job on the YZF-M1 but if anyone imagines that Lorenzo and his crew chief Ramon Forcada will be unable to keep the M1 near the front of the grid, they're deluded.

Rossi ready in Ducati

Ducati martini set as for the Doctor, realy very ready to the lap in motogp 2001

we wait for all the action in MotoGP 2011 rossi will bring motorcycles ducati, which once belonged to stoner. will now carry ducati.

by looking at top speed ducati ranks highest, with the drive by the doctor would be more exciting fight Jorge Lorenzo who remain are still faithful in the yamaha ....

wait a play date .....