YAMAHA RIDERS UNABLE TO SHAKE OFF JEREZ CURSE
27 March 2006 - Yamaha Racing

MotoGP : Round: 1 - 2006 MotoGP Jerez

Circuit: Jerez
Date: 26 March 2006

Temp: 22ºC
Weather: Dry

An eventful weekend at Jerez ended in disappointing fashion today as both Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards got caught in a first corner melee that ended their hopes of glory in the opening round of the 2006 MotoGP World Championship. The Camel Yamaha Team pair made good starts from ninth and tenth on the grid respectively but a collision between Rossi and Toni Elías (Honda) on the inside of turn one saw the Italian knocked from his YZR-M1 and sent Edwards wide into the gravel trap.

Despite some damage to his bike, Rossi showed the character of a true World Champion as he returned to the track, battling his way back into the field and picking off several riders to secure two championship points in fourteenth place. Edwards, meanwhile, fought from second last to eleventh by the end of the 27-lap encounter. Victory went to pole setter Loris Capirossi (Ducati) in a race time of 45''57.733, but he was pushed hard by second-placed Dani Pedrosa (Honda) on his debut in the MotoGP class. Nicky Hayden (Honda) completed the podium.

Colin Edwards (11th; + 37.930)
''I probably made the best race start of my whole life, Valentino got away well too and we went together into the first bend. Elias came up on the inside and I actually saw everything happen but to be honest I thought Vale would be able to stay on the bike so I kept my corner speed and tried to just run it around the outside. Unfortunately he went down and I had nowhere to go but the gravel. It really capped the weekend off for us but the truth is that we weren''t fast enough to challenge today. This track has been a real pain for us and I can''t wait to get away. We''ve got a test tomorrow but I''ll be happy when we get to Qatar, where the bike worked really well in testing.''

Valentino Rossi (14th; + 1''05.766)
''We knew this was going to be a difficult race but maybe not so difficult! I saw Toni come up on the inside and he hit me; this is racing and these things happen. I have known Toni for many years and he is a good rider. He apologised to me after the race so I told him not to worry - only to remember to brake next time and if it is too late then to hit another bike instead of me! Anyway I came back on the track and had a nice battle with Alex Hofmann. I am disappointed because I wanted to win the first race of the season but there is nothing we can do now. Only work hard to make sure we don''t have these problems again and look forward to the next race in Qatar.''

Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director
''It seems that everything that could go wrong did go wrong for us this weekend. On Friday morning when we needed the time to test it rained and things have gone continually against us since then. We obviously still have a lot of work to do and for some reason our bike clearly doesn''t work at this circuit so we are keen to find out why, if we can, in tomorrow''s test. The engineers have a lot of data and everyone is working at 100% to find a solution. We were fast at Sepang, Qatar and Catalunya so there is no need to panic and we can look forward to the next race. On a positive note I thought both riders showed character to fight back after the first corner incident and hopefully they will have better luck next time.''

Race classification MotoGP

Round: 1 - 2006 MotoGP Jerez
Circuit: Jerez
Circuit Length: 4423
Lap Record: 1'' 40.596 (Valentino Rossi, 2005)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1'' 39.064 (Loris Capirossi, 2006)

Race: 27 Laps
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA 45'' 57.733
2 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP +4.375
3 N. Hayden Honda USA +9.996
4 T. Elias Honda ESP +10.135
5 M. Melandri Honda ITA +19.547
6 C. Stoner Honda AUS +21.237
7 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN +21.372
8 K. Roberts Team Roberts KR USA +32.414
9 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA +32.659
10 M. Tamada Honda JPN +35.983
11 C. Edwards Yamaha USA +37.930
12 C. Vermeulen Suzuki AUS +39.514
13 C. Checa Yamaha ESP +42.829
14 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA +1'' 5.766
15 A. Hofmann Ducati GER +1'' 23.300
16 J. Ellison Yamaha GBR +1 lap(s)

Fastest Race Lap:
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA 1'' 41.248

Championship standings MotoGP

Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points
1 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 25
2 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 20
3 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 16
4 Toni Elias Honda ESP 13
5 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 11
6 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 10
7 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 9
8 Kenny Roberts Team Roberts KR USA 8
9 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 7
10 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 6
11 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 5
12 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 4
13 Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 3
14 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 2
15 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 1

Manufacturers standings MotoGP

Pos. Manufacturer Points
1 Ducati 25
2 Honda 20
3 Kawasaki 9
4 Team Roberts KR 8
5 Suzuki 7
6 Yamaha 5

Team standings MotoGP

Pos. Team Points
1 Repsol Honda Team 40
2 Ducati Marlboro Team 25
3 Fortuna Honda Team 24
4 Rizla Suzuki 11
5 Honda LCR 10
6 Kawasaki Racing Team 9
7 Team Roberts KR 8
8 Camel Yamaha Team 7
9 Konica Minolta Honda 6
10 Tech3 Yamaha 3
11 Pramac D''Antin 1

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