Eighth place at Misano for Marco Melandri was by no means a spectacular result for the Italian rider, but he was satisfied that he and his Hayate Racing crew had done another good job at round thirteen - after he started the race in twelfth on the grid and worked his way through the pack in the early running.
The 27 year-old former 250cc World Champion tried for much of the race to overcome Finn Mika Kallio, who was riding a factory Desmosedici as Melandri did last season, though ultimately the former Ducati man was unable to get past the MotoGP rookie on this occasion.
Describing how the 28-lap contest had gone from his point of view, Melandri told motogp.com, “It was a tough race. I was lucky on the first corner because De Angelis made a mistake and brought down some other riders, but I had a good start so I was away from the crash. I was sixth after two corners but I couldn’t really push because the feeling with a new tyre is always very difficult, but after that things got better. I was following Kallio, but on some corners he was faster than me and in other places I was faster than him, so it was tough.”
“Every time I tried to recover time on him and pass him I made a mistake and the bike was quite difficult to ride, so I couldn’t catch the guys in front of me. Anyway overall it was a good race because we were not far away from the second group and that was my goal. I’m now already looking forward to the next round.”
If you have no fear, you're not going fast enough. Never argue with an idiot. He'll drag you down to his level, then beat you with experience.
It's a shame Kawasaki abandoned the project just when they've appeared to make some genuine progress. Remembering that there's been bugger all development since their test at the Creek in about January, had they kept backing it they could well have been pretty consistent top 5 contenders in the hands of Marco. Not great but better than last year. Hopefully Marco tears it up next year.
Ah, computer dating. It's like pimping but you rarely have to use the phrase "upside your head" - Bender Bending Rodríguez
