YAMAHA FACTORY RACING RIDERS PREPARE FOR FINAL PUSH
04 November 2005 - Yamaha Racing

Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards began making preparations for the final round of the 2005 MotoGP World Championship at Valencia today

MotoGP
Round: 17 - MotoGP Valencia
Circuit: Valencia
Date: 4 November 2005
Temp: 21ºC
Weather: Dry

The cloudy conditions at the Ricardo Tormo circuit brightened by the return of the factory''s traditional red, white and black racing colours. Both riders'' YZR-M1 machines and leathers are decorated in the famous livery, in commemoration of Yamaha''s 50th Anniversary and its extraordinarily successful year in racing this season.

Rossi was seventh fastest in both sessions as he worked on adapting the set-up of his machine to the demands of a tight and twisty circuit after the fast and flowing characteristics of Phillip Island and Istanbul. There is certainly more to come from the Italian tomorrow after he ended the day with a lap time which was over 1.5 seconds outside his pole position record of 1''32.478, set two seasons ago. Colin Edwards also made a steady start to the weekend, lapping tenth fastest as he continued to work on a new riding style designed to increase his corner speed.

Valentino Rossi (Yamaha Factory Team), 7th - 1''34.040
''I like the colour scheme very much - it is like going back to the 1970s. The bike and the leathers look really nice. Today we''re having a few problems with the front end and also with acceleration. We are losing a lot of time in the slow corners and we are not strong at the end of the lap in general. We have some problems and some of the others are very fast but I am not too worried. We''ve had difficulties before on a Friday and worked them out for Saturday so I am confident we can overcome them on this occasion too. Everybody is tired because seventeen races in a season is a lot but we will keep pushing until the end.''

Colin Edwards (Yamaha Factory Team), 10th - 1''34.129
''This is my favourite track but I didn''t enjoy it too much today. I had some setting and tyre problems and we definitely have some things to work out! I''m having to fight to turn into the corners and we''re nowhere near the level of feeling that I had with the bike during the preseason tests here. The main reason seems to be that we''ve improved the setting of the bike at the majority of the tracks we''ve been to this season and here we might just have to take a step backwards. I set a 1''30.2 during the winter so we know what we''re capable of if we can find the right setting, which I''m confident we can do tomorrow. I want to be leaving Australia in second place in the championship so that I can hang on for that runner-up spot in the final two rounds.''

Davide Brivio - Yamaha Factory Team director
''It was another slow start to the weekend for us, something we have become used to this season! The positions don''t look good but there are a lot of riders who are close together and if we make the improvements we know we are capable of, then both our riders should be much higher up tomorrow. As usual on a Friday we analyse the information and try to find as many solutions before practice continues tomorrow.''

Toni Elias (Fortuna Yamaha Team), 11th - 1''34.161
''We''ve been improving in the right direction though this circuit is really difficult and there are riders with many different riding styles. If you make one small mistake you can lose a lot of time here. The race will be very difficult and we cannot do big steps from all the problems we''ve had this season. We give our best, trying to improve for a good result on Sunday.''

Ruben Xaus (Fortuna Yamaha Team), 19th - 1''36.057
''This morning were not sure about the condition of one of our engines so we really had only one bike left, so our morning practice was a little bit different than usual. In the afternoon we''ve been improving step-by-step even though we still need some extra corner speed. The bike is working quite good here and I hope to leave Valencia with a good result.''

Round: 17 - MotoGP Valencia
Circuit: Valencia
Circuit Length: 4005
Lap Record: 1'' 33.317 (Valentino Rossi, 2003)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1'' 32.478 (Valentino Rossi, 2003)
Date: 4 November 2005
Temp: 21ºC

Free Practice :
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Free Practice
1 M. Melandri Honda ITA 1'' 33.464
2 C. Checa Ducati ESP 1'' 33.506
3 S. Gibernau Honda ESP 1'' 33.523
4 N. Hayden Honda USA 1'' 33.722
5 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA 1'' 33.730
6 A. Barros Honda BRA 1'' 33.967
7 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'' 34.040
8 M. Biaggi Honda ITA 1'' 34.094
9 M. Tamada Honda JPN 1'' 34.103
10 C. Edwards Yamaha USA 1'' 34.129
11 T. Elias Yamaha ESP 1'' 34.161
12 N. Aoki Suzuki JPN 1'' 34.512
13 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA 1'' 34.651
14 A. Hofman Kawasaki GER 1'' 34.778
15 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN 1'' 34.832
16 R. Kiyonari Honda JPN 1'' 35.157
19 R. Xaus Yamaha ESP 1'' 36.057

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