ROSSI TAKES FOURTH POLE OF THE SEASON AT ASSEN
24 June 2005 - Yamaha Racing

Gauloises Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi will start the seventh round of the MotoGP World Championship from the front of the grid as he chases his sixth victory of the season at the 75th anniversary Dutch TT tomorrow.

Rossi took pole position with his final lap of this afternoon''s qualifying session, clocking a time of 1''58.936 to hold off the challenge of Sete Gibernau (Honda) and Marco Melandri (Honda), who complete the front row.

Rossi''s Gauloises Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards kept his promise to set a vastly improved lap time as he worked out his braking markers at the re-modelled circuit, which he knows well from his days in the World Superbike series. Cheered on by a vast army of travelling British fans, Edwards will start from the second row of the grid after taking 1.5 seconds off his best time from yesterday to take sixth place on the grid.

Ruben Xaus and David Checa will start from 16th and 17th places respectively on their Fortuna Yamaha Team YZR-M1s. In a difficult qualifying session both riders focused their efforts on finding a good race pace and are confident with the overall result.

High temperatures and blazing sunshine continued today, with the thermometers reaching 36ºC during the afternoon session. However, the local weather forecast is predicting that the early summer heat wave will end abruptly tomorrow morning, with thunderstorms expected to continue throughout the day.

Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Yamaha Team) 1st, 1''58.936
''I am very happy because it is great to ride at this track on a qualifying tyre - the emotion is incredible. The bikes are so fast and this track also, even with the modifications it is still one of the best in the world. I was lucky because I was able to use both of my qualifying tyres at 100%. With the first one I set a 1''59.4, which was a great lap, but I looked at it and thought maybe I could go a little faster. I had to wait a while because there were a lot of riders waiting for me on the last lap and I left it until the last moment, because it''s better to have no one in front of you here when you are trying to set a fast lap. The last lap of 1''58 was fantastic. I''m happy to start from pole position because tomorrow for sure will be a hard race. We''ll wait to see what the weather does but if the temperatures are like today it will be very tough for the riders and the tyres.''

Colin Edwards (Gauloises Yamaha Team) 6th, 2''00.006
''I knew yesterday that we had some good ideas to help us improve our time today and I think it''s fair to say we''ve taken a giant leap forward with the set-up of the bike. This morning we fixed the rear traction problems I''ve been having and we''re starting to understand the differences between Valentino''s riding style and mine. Whilst it seems Valentino can ride pretty much anything, my style is ingrained in me and I need a little help to load up the rear, which is what we have done here. It is helping me get the power to the ground and today I set six or seven laps in the low 2''00s, which is a decent race pace. I still feel that it can come down a little further, and it will need to for tomorrow''s race.

I''ve really noticed the support from the British fans here, which has been great. Hopefully it will stay dry for them tomorrow although if it rains I''ll be quite happy because I''m interested to see how this set-up works in the wet.''

Davide Brivio, Gauloises Yamaha Team Director
''It is always a great emotion to watch Valentino ride in that way - his two fast laps were fantastic. Both our riders set a fast pace throughout the session and Colin was able to get a good position for the race, which I am very pleased about. I think the whole team can look forward very positively to tomorrow. The rain might be an issue but I''m sure our technicians will manage. and the riders too!''

Ruben Xaus (Fortuna Yamaha Team) 16th, 2''01.854
''Yesterday we started well and managed to put in some good times, but today I could only manage a quick time in the morning session. But when it really mattered it was hard for us to improve. Obviously we will make big changes tonight for the morning warm-up, because when we made small modifications we''ve only found small advantages. I already know which tyre I will use in the race but depending of tomorrow''s temperature I want to make a final decision.''

David Checa (Fortuna Yamaha Team) 17th, 2''02.639
''Assen is very difficult. I know that with my race tyre I''m riding two seconds slower than the other riders. With my qualifying tyre I could not get comfortable enough to improve by much. I had some small problems with front-end and because of that I didn''t feel confident to push too hard. The important thing is the race; I''m not worried too much because I''m progressing in a field of very experienced riders. We will see what tomorrow will bring and I''ll do my best.''

Round: 7 - Assen TT
Circuit: Assen
Circuit Length: 5997
Fastest Lap Ever: 1'' 58.936 (Valentino Rossi, 2005)
Date: 24 June 2005
Temp: 36ºC

Session 1 :
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying
1 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'' 58.936
2 S. Gibernau Honda ESP 1'' 59.247
3 M. Melandri Honda ITA 1'' 59.632
4 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN 1'' 59.760
5 N. Hayden Honda USA 1'' 59.784
6 C. Edwards Yamaha USA 2'' 0.006
7 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA 2'' 0.136
8 A. Barros Honda BRA 2'' 0.232
9 M. Biaggi Honda ITA 2'' 0.281
10 A. Hofman Kawasaki GER 2'' 0.298
11 M. Tamada Honda JPN 2'' 0.656
12 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA 2'' 0.810
13 C. Checa Ducati ESP 2'' 0.883
14 T. Bayliss Honda AUS 2'' 1.216
15 K. Roberts Suzuki USA 2'' 1.836
16 R. Xaus Yamaha ESP 2'' 1.854
17 D. Checa Yamaha ESP 2'' 2.639

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