The race finish at Laguna Seca signaled the end of difficult weekend for the Pramac Dantin Team, who lost a rider earlier in the week when Alex Hofmann was injured on Friday morning's free practice, and also for Alex Barros, who rode through the pain of a hand unjury sustained in a crash at the previous race, one week prior. The Team breathes a sigh of contentment after these last six races in only eight weeks. The Brazilian, who started from the second last row on starting grid, made a good recovery, finishing his race in ninth place and scoring seven important points for the championship.
Exceeding all expectations, the twenty year old Chaz Davies, riding in place of the injured Hofmann, rode his first race in MotoGP and performed admirably. Towards the end of the race, he found a pace that potentially could have landed him near a top-ten position, if he hadn't been forced to return to the box because a stone’s impact had damaged a component. Thanks to the Team's work, the problem was identified and repaired, and the Chaz was able to re-enter the track and continue his race. Afterwards, Davies said the bike was working even better than before. The English rider was able to record an excellent laptime of 1.23.75, two laps from the finish of the race.
The Team breathes a sigh of contentment after these last six races in only eight weeks. The MotoGP circus will now stop for a three week break, starting again on the 17th of August in Brno.
Alex Barros ( 45’03.845 - 9° classified):
“it was an hard race for me, but I’m satisfied with my result. Even though I had made a good start, my position on the starting grid, was really penalyzing. Because of my hand condition, I made a strong effort to ride. Because I had a deep desire to recover the points lost in Germany, I gave my very best to make up as many positions as possible. During the race I had some difficulties when braking, but then everything started working well and I was able to obtain a good result. In the end, I enjoyed my race because eventually I had a great battle with Roger Lee Hayden that went right up until the very end, I ended up ahead, but I want to give him my congratulations, because he rode very well. Finally, I want to say Thanks to all the Clinica Mobile guys who helped me to be able to ride in the best possible conditions.
Chaz Davies (44’34.640 3 laps less – 16° classified):
“ It was a difficult race for me, but I’m very happy to have taken part in this. At the beginning, I was really worried because it was my first race in MotoGP, I was on a complicated track, the race was 32 long laps, and along with the notorious corkscrew, I was pretty worried. I got a fantastic start, but then I made a couple of mistakes and I lost the group. I went off-track at the corkscrew and propably a stone from there damaged my bike because suddenly it started to vibrate in strange way. Fortunately, mechanics were able to take care of everything, and I was able to re-join the race with a bike that worked very well. In fact, just few laps to the end, I made my best time! I want to thanks to the Pramac d’Antin Team, Bridgestone, and Ducati, who gave me this opportunity, and also, good luck to Alex Hofmann.
Luis d’Antin – Team Manager:
“This week end was really complicated for us. We started on Friday with Alex Hofmann's crash that rendered him unable to ride on this track, which was his favourite. I’m displeased about this and I hope that he can recover very soon. Also, I’m pleasantly surprised about Chaz’s race, that despite of few mistakes, was a really good job. Also Alex Barros discussed a very good race, with his hand conditions we couldn’t hope something more. This showed that we are really competitive and that in right conditions we can stay in the first five position.
Official Times:
1. Casey Stoner: 44’20.325
2. Chris Vermeulen: 44’30.190
3. Marco Melandri: 44’45.966
4. Valentino Rossi: 44’50.989
5. Dani Pedrosa: 44’55.947
9. Alex Barros: 45’03.845
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