Team San Carlo Honda Gresini head into the summer break hoping to put another unfortunate Grand Prix out of their minds, with both Shinya Nakano and Alex de Angelis riding bravely to the points at Laguna Seca today but with their true potential certainly not reflected by 10th and 13th place finishes.
It was always going to be a tough USGP for the pair after crashes in qualifying limited them to lowly grid positions, but in particular for De Angelis, who was riding with the added inconvenience of a broken thumb. The rookie rider put on a courageous display to finish in the points, whilst a potential top eight finish for Nakano was spoiled by a mid-race mistake.
The summer break will now be vital for the San Marino rider to make a full recovery for the next round, which takes place at Brno in the Czech Republic on August 17th.
Shinya Nakano (10th): “I’m really disappointed with today&rsqu o;s result because despite our good start, when I made up some positions over the opening few laps, I have finished tenth. Halfway through the race when I was in eighth place I tried to pass Toseland but I went wide under braking and lost a lot of ground, which I was unable to recover. We were obviously hoping for much better because my pace in practice was so good but I tried my best. There are still a lot of races left before the end of the season and after a short holiday we’ll get fully focused again for Brno”.
Alex De Angelis (13th): “That was a really difficult race and I’m so disappointed with what happened in qualifying. In the second half of the race I lost so much time stuck behind West – I don’t think I could have fought for the podium even if I was fit and qualified better but the group ahead of me was within my grasp. At the end of the day this was a positive race for us because the conditi on I raced in was always going to make it tough to reach the finish line, but I did so and scored points too. It’s a shame though because we were in shape to do well here – the good thing is that the thumb should be okay for Brno.”
Fausto Gresini - Team manager: “It’s a shame that qualifying crashes have dictated the race for both our riders, with Shinya and Alex unable to reproduce their practice pace for various reasons. It’s a GP to forget but we like to look forward anyway and after the summer break we’re hopeful of better fortunes. Alex raced with a broken thumb today but should be fit for Brno. In general we’ve shown that we’re capable of fighting for top results once again but we’ve run out luck. We need to be more consistent – something we can and must do in future.”
