Kawasaki Moto GP - Laguna

[MadKaw]

Circuit: Laguna Seca
Date: 19/07/2008


TOUGH START TO LAGUNA WEEKEND FOR KAWASAKI
The Kawasaki Racing Team endured a difficult opening day at Laguna Seca, but Jamie Hacking and Anthony West remain confident of significant improvements tomorrow, once their respective crews have found a solution to the front-end problems that plagued both riders during today's two practice sessions.

The technical and twisty Laguna Seca circuit demands that a rider has the utmost confidence in front-end grip, and both Kawasaki riders struggled today to find a set-up that provided the required level of feedback from the front tyre.

This lack of feeling resulted in Anthony West crashing heavily during this afternoon's hour-long practice session, after losing the front under braking for turn two. The 27-year-old Australian was uninjured in the crash, but struggled to regain his confidence in the front-end of the bike during the remaining 20 minutes of the session.

Kawasaki's engineers will investigate the problem overnight using the data collected during today's two free practice sessions, and they are confident of finding a solution that will allow both riders to realise their full potential ahead of tomorrow's all-important qualifying session.

Despite the set-up problems, Jamie Hacking maintains that he has enjoyed making his MotoGP debut today. The 37-year-old British born rider has adapted quickly to the demands of riding a pure prototype racer like the Ninja ZX-RR, and he completed both of today's practice sessions without incident.


Hacking
#12 - 18th - 1'24.050
"The important thing is that we've made it through both practice sessions safely today. When I tested the bike in Japan I felt comfortable straight away, but Laguna is a very different racetrack to Autopolis and the bike feels very different here. We made some set-up changes for the second session this afternoon, but they didn't lead to the improvements we were expecting, which meant I wasn't able to improve on my lap time from the morning practice. I could have pushed a bit harder, but without the feeling from the front end there would have been some risk. We will look at improving the front-end feeling overnight, and my aim tomorrow is simply to continue making progress with the set-up of the bike. I'm not looking for anything crazy going into qualifying tomorrow, as long as we keep improving with every session then I'll be satisfied."


West
#13 - 19th - 1'24.483
"The conditions were quite difficult this morning, with mist still hanging around some parts of the circuit. We had some difficulties getting the bike to turn in and hold a line during the first practice session, but this was much improved for the second session this afternoon. We still have issues with the front-end; you need to have confidence in the front-end grip at this circuit, and it still feels a bit vague at the moment through some sections of the track. Halfway through the session I decided to push harder anyway, and that's when I lost the front under braking for turn two. It was a big crash, but luckily I didn't do any more damage to my back. The team are working hard now to find a solution to the front-end problem, and I'm confident that they'll have it sorted for tomorrow's practice and qualifying sessions."



Kawasaki Technical Manager
"Both riders are complaining of a lack of feeling from the front-end, and this makes it difficult for them to have the confidence to push for a fast lap time. Obviously we need to find a solution to this issue ahead of tomorrow's practice and qualifying sessions and, together with Bridgestone, we will be looking at the data to identify what we need to change overnight. I'm confident that, if we can give the riders more feedback from the front, then we will see significant improvements in their lap times tomorrow."



1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 1'21.826; 2. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +0.808; 3. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha +0.853; 4. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini +0.982; 5. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +1.021; 6. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini +1.098; 7. Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha +1.251; 8. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JIR Team Scot +1.271; 9. Toni Elias (SPA) Alice Teamw +1.288; 10. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +1.359; 18. Jamie Hacking (USA) Kawasaki Racing Team +2.224; 19. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing Team +2.657

[MickLC]

So if Westy doesn't like the feel of the front but pushes anyway and it falls over, doesn't that suggest that it's more than just a "confidence" issue with the front end setup?

[MadKaw]

Circuit: Laguna Seca
Date: 20/07/2008



IMPROVEMENTS LEAVE HACKING EXCITED ABOUT MOTOGP DEBUT
Jamie Hacking is looking forward to making his MotoGP race debut in tomorrow's USGP at Laguna Seca, after major changes made overnight to the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR paid dividends for the Kawasaki pilot during today's practice and qualifying sessions.

Hacking and his crew made changes to the chassis geometry and suspension settings in a bid to improve feedback from the front tyre, and to give the 37-year-old AMA Superbike star more confidence in the front-end of his Ninja ZX-RR.

The transformation compared to yesterday was obvious from the start, with the increase in confidence allowing Hacking to cut almost half-a-second from his lap time during this morning's final free practice session, and then improve that by a further three-tenths during this afternoon's qualifying session.

The Kawasaki pilot suffered a minor fall on his first qualifying run this afternoon after losing the front at Rainey Curve due to the extra grip offered by Bridgestone's rear qualifying tyre, which Hacking experienced for the first time today.

With his lap times consistently in the low 1'23s bracket throughout today's two hour-long sessions, Hacking is looking forward to tomorrow's race, where he's determined to finish higher than his final qualifying position of 17th.

Anthony West's crew also made major changes the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR overnight, but unlike his temporary teammate, the 27-year-old Australian felt little improvement in the front-end of his Ninja ZX-RR today.

A lack of confidence in the front grip available meant that West was unable to qualify higher than 18th place and, as a result, he faces a tough race. Despite the setback, the Kawasaki pilot is determined to put in another points scoring performance tomorrow.


Hacking
#12 - 17th - 1'23.309
"We definitely went in the right direction with the set-up changes last night, as the bike was transformed and I was able to push much harder today. We made some more small improvements during this morning's practice session, and I felt pretty comfortable running laps in the low 1'2 bracket this afternoon. I've never used Bridgestone qualifiers before, so the extra grip came as something of a surprise. On my first run on the soft tyres I overrode the front at Rainey Curve and low-sided, which meant a run back to the pit box for the spare bike. I managed to improve my lap time with my last flying lap, but I think I'd need much more time on the qualifiers before I was able to get the best from them. We have some more small changes we want to make tonight and I'm pretty confident that if these work as expected, then it should be possible to drop into the low 1'22's during tomorrow's race. With the progress we made today with the bike, I'm really excited about racing it tomorrow."


West
#13 - 18th - 1'24.525
"We made similar changes overnight to Jamie, but we didn't seem to get the same improvement today. The front still feels vague, especially when I'm braking on the edge of the tyre, which you have to do a lot of here at Laguna. I couldn't even stand the bike up to brake before turning in, because that meant I missed the apex almost every time. We will look again at the set-up of the bike tonight; Jamie tried a few things today that might also work for us, but we won't know until we try them out during warm-up tomorrow. If will be a difficult race, but it should still be possible to finish in the points if I just get my head down and push as hard as I can."



Hacking Crew Chief
"Jamie's comments yesterday were very clear, and it was easy to understand exactly what he needed from the bike. Last night we changed the set-up to put more weight on the front tyre in a bid to increase the working temperature, and also to increase feedback for Jamie. We saw straight away this morning that we were going in the right direction and we were able to make some further improvements ahead of qualifying. Qualifying was always going to be difficult for Jamie, because he's never used our qualifying tyres before. What impressed me was that, despite his inexperience on the super-sticky tyres, he still pushed really hard. I'm sure he will improve further during the race tomorrow, as he's progressed each time he's taken to the track. He is a rider with a big heart and I'd like to thank him for all his hard work this weekend."



1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 1'20.700; 2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha +0.447; 3. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +0.730; 4. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha +0.936; 5. James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha +1.148; 6. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP +1.221; 7. Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha +1.247; 8. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +1.299; 9. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JIR Team Scot +1.339; 10. Toni Eliasw (SPA) Alice Teamw +1.392; 17. Jamie Hacking (USA) Kawasaki Racing Team +2.609; 18. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing Team +3.825

[red_dave]

Is it wrong to crack a beer at 6.30 am on a Monday morning?

[fireyrob]

Is it wrong to crack a beer at 6.30 am on a Monday morning?

Nup... I applaud you

[Makybe05]

so 6:30 is the time the motogp race starts, so 6:15am is the time i set the alarm clock to?

[sneakypete]

Is it wrong to crack a beer at 6.30 am on a Monday morning?

truly a man to do that Dave, especially if you have just woken up...if you have not been to bed of course, it is expected that you crack a tinny..

[ty]

Don't really know what to think when the new guy puts in a faster time that West.
No I haven't seen the race yet, so I don't know if that continued at race pace - yet.
ty

[Wattie]

Don't really know what to think when the new guy puts in a faster time that West.
No I haven't seen the race yet, so I don't know if that continued at race pace - yet.
ty

i'll give you one guess

[frog]

Did anyone else think that Val backed off early to see if Casey was awake and thats what caused him to run wide (and fall off of his own accord) ??
I mean its not as if it isnt a legal and totally valid thing to do and sure as shit Val has done it heaps of times, and if Casey hadnt seen him do it before, which I doubt, he definitely would have in 125's and 250's.... The "old" master eh

[Rusty]

I reckon Rossi knew he was there and deliberately pushed him into the weeds. Casey should've been wise to that one and snuck up the inside, but hindsight's 20/20 ...

[mick_dundee]

Yup credit whre it's due Rossi rode an awesome race on what was the slower of the 2 bikes.

[ZXR750]

I think Rossi did what he had to to make sure he was always in the lead. If Stoner got infront for more than two corners he would have run away with it. It was good to see a race where they actually raced for the complete race. (If that makes sense).
That has to be the best race I have seen in a couple of years. It would have been great to watch if Stoner did not fall.

Also Westy must be under pressure now having James Hacking finish so well in contrast to his last place again.
Hacking started about the same place as West but went forward. I know West came off the track and rejoined the race, but he was in last place when he came off.

[javaman]

It's amazing when sports became a mental game. Stoner unfortunately lost that one but if he's smart he'll learn from it.

A race worth getting late to the office of!!

[frog]

And how about Vals early run off at the Corkscrew, HTF did he stay on it ??
HTF didnt he take Casey out , etc. etc. etc. ad infinitem