Shinya shines in practice - and finishes eighth
25/06/2005
Shinya Nakano shone with a fantastic practice performance at the Dutch TT in Assen. The 27-year-old Japanese Kawasaki star pushed his Ninja ZX-RR to an early lead in hot and humid conditions, and topped the qualifying list for almost half an hour. After dropping back to ninth for a while, Nakano bounced back on his final run, improved his previous best time by a massive 0,6 seconds, and earned the applause of his team with fourth position and a second row start.
Race day turned out to be a little more difficult for Nakano as he held his fourth place for the two opening laps, but then dropped back behind Loris Capirossi, and got caught in a long battle with Ducati’s Italian star. After mid-race, Nakano managed to squeeze past Capirossi again and to take eighth position. But by then, the next group ahead was too far away for another attack.Loris Capirossi, who ran into wheelspin problems as the race went on, lost a final battle with team-mate Carlos Checa, and finished the race in tenth position.
Nakano’s team-mate Alex Hofmann, a local hero to many of the 90000 fans on the grandstands, was forced to retire with a transmission problem. Suzuki rider John Hopkins, finished in 13th with his teammate Kenny Roberts following just out of the points in 16th.
Shinya Nakano – Kawasaki Racing Team– 8th position
“After our good practice performance, I was of course aiming higher than for eighth place in the race. My start and the opening laps were good, and I was really enjoying myself on the bike. It was great to see that as far as the engine goes, our acceleration was good on this track, and I could follow the Honda guys quite easily. But I lost some positions on the straight, and when I dropped back behind Loris Capirossi, it took me too long to find a way of overtaking him again. But never mind, our team and Bridgestone are improving all the time, and the gap to the front runners isn’t that big any more. We just need to find a little bit more top speed, and a little bit more traction, then we should be fully competitive!”
Sugio Fukuoka - Vice President and Officer - Bridgestone Corporation
“Today’s morning thunderstorm was incredible, but It was good that we all got to see a dry race in the end. Our partners all did excellent jobs adjusting from the morning’s wet conditions to the afternoon dry, and Nakano-san especially rode an excellent race finishing as our top rider. Many thanks to him and Kawasaki Racing Team for a job well done. Our overall tyre performance here could have been better so we have some work to do, but looking at the rest of the season in total, the direction we are heading is the correct one. Next race in Laguna Seca is already one to look forward to and I wish all our teams and riders the best of luck in MotoGP’s return to the United States.”
Bridgestone Results:
8. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki, 39.08,285, 9. Carlos Checa (SPA) Ducati, 39.12,029, 10. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati, 39.12,273, 13. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki, 39.32,638, 16. Kenny Roberts (USA) Suzuki, 39.48,747