Konica Minolta Honda took their last points of the year at today’s final MotoGP race of 2007. Shinya Nakano took 14th place at the end of the 30-lap race around the 2.764-mile Valencia circuit. Honda’s Dani Pedrosa won the race, helping him to second-place in the riders’ championship.
Gianluca Montiron – Team Manager Konica Minolta Honda “Our result today was not so good, but Shinya was fighting to get into the top ten, but again he had the problems we’ve had all year. Eventually he couldn’t push or be more aggressive with the bike or he would lose the front. I would like to thank Shinya for his efforts this year, as he’s a very professional rider. I would also like to thank our technical partners and sponsors who have supported us, even if the results were under our original expectations. Our expectations were higher, but this is racing and we have to be realistic. Despite this we have worked well with our partners and our cooperation with them has been excellent. We created something special for our partners and irrespective of our results on the track our partners have been satisfied with our results off of it – this is our difference. I would like to thank Konica Minolta, Honda, HRC, Michelin and all of our sponsors for their support this year and all the team for their hard-work, professionalism and dedication.”
Shinya Nakano – Rider, Konica Minolta Honda (14th) “Another very difficult race and one which has basically summed up the whole season. My start was so-so, but I found that I could overtake some riders going into turn two. At the beginning my pace wasn’t so bad, but from the middle of the race I found that I couldn’t improve my lap times. It was another big battle from 16th to 12th with riders like Carlos Checa, Colin Edwards and myself. Eventually I finished in 14th place. This year we’ve struggled with front-end feeling from the RC212V, which has been a big problem, as my style needs this. I’ve crashed a few times this season because of this, but I’m pleased to be ending the year without any injuries. I would like to thank Luca and Giulio for always supporting me and keeping me motivated during this difficult year and also the rest of the team. This is an excellent team but unfortunately the results haven’t been there for us this year.”
Giulio Bernardelle – Technical Director, Konica Minolta Honda
“Today’s race was indicative of our whole season, really. Our technical package wasn’t so bad today, but all year we’ve seen that our potential just isn’t high enough to compete with the leading group of riders. This has been our major problem – we’ve always been racing at the very limit of our technical package and it’s been very difficult to move forwards. Today was no different. It’s a shame as racing is about having problems, testing to solve the problems and then moving forward. It has been very difficult to do that this year. I want to thank Shinya, as for a rider like him it’s not so easy to manage such a difficult season. Despite our frustrations and difficulties, we have had a good personal relationship. I would also like to thank the few persons who worked hard through a very long season.”
GP de la Comunitat Valenciana - Race results:1) Dani Pedrosa - Honda 46’ 43.533”
2) Casey Stoner - Ducati 46’ 48.980”
3) John Hopkins - Suzuki 47’ 03.937”
4) Marco Melandri - Honda 47’ 08.360”
5) Loris Capirossi - Ducati 47’ 09.337”
14) Shinya Nakano - Honda 47’ 33.753”
