NAKANO FIFTH FASTEST AT DONINGTON PARK
30 June 2006 - Kawasaki

Kawasaki''s Shinya Nakano finished today fifth fastest at Donington Park and just three tenths of a second behind Dani Pedrosa, who topped the timesheet at the end of this afternoon''s free practice session.

Nakano tested a number of different rear tyres from Bridgestone during both practice sessions today, as he worked with his crew to identify a suitable race tyre for Sunday''s 30-lap British Grand Prix.

The 28-year-old Japanese rider has narrowed the choice down to two different rear slicks, but will postpone making a final decision on which one he''ll race until he has completed further comparison tests tomorrow.

The stop start nature of the Melbourne Loop section makes it difficult sometimes for riders to find a consistent rhythm at Donington Park, but Nakano had no such problems today. The Kawasaki rider ran top ten on the timesheet throughout this afternoon''s hour-long session, before upping the pace to claim fifth place overall with his final lap.

Randy de Puniet was 14th fastest today, after struggling with front-end chatter on his Ninja ZX-RR. The Kawasaki rider worked with his crew during both hour-long practice sessions, trying different chassis and suspension settings in a bid to reduce the chatter, but the problem persisted and, as a result, the 25-year-old Frenchman was unable to show his potential around the Donington Park circuit today.

The Kawasaki Racing Team''s technical staff will revisit the problem overnight, using data downloaded from de Puniet''s Ninja ZX-RR machines, and they are confident of finding a solution ahead of tomorrow''s all-important practice and qualifying sessions.

Shinya Nakano: 5th - 1''29.275
''We''ve been able to carry the momentum over from Assen to Donington, and I''m satisfied with my position in practice today. Our main focus today has been on rear tyre testing, to identify a race tyre for Sunday. We have tried three different rear slicks in the bike today, and it looks like we will have to go for a harder compound than we originally predicted, because the temperature is higher than we were expecting here at Donington. Today I did many laps, and I managed to find a good rhythm with the bike very quickly, especially around the stop start section that includes the Melbourne Hairpin, where it''s very easy to lose valuable time. So, overall I''m happy with what we''ve achieved today, but I think we can improve further tomorrow.''

Randy de Puniet: 14th - 1''30.342
''Today was difficult because I had some problems with front-end chatter throughout practice that we couldn''t seem to dial out, and this made it almost impossible to lap consistently at a reasonable pace during both practice sessions. We will look again at the problem overnight, using the data from the bike, and I''m confident that the team will find a solution and we''ll be back on the pace tomorrow.''

Naoya Kaneko: Technical Manager
''Shinya focussed today on tyre testing, to identify a race tyre for Sunday, and while we have a couple of potential options open to us, we won''t make a final decision until we''ve run some more comparison tests tomorrow. Shinya went well today, but there are still some improvements to be had tomorrow from refining the chassis and engine settings on his two bikes. Randy has had a difficult day, but when you look at his partial lap times they are not so bad. I think that, at the moment, he doesn''t have the confidence in the front end to be consistent, but we hope to solve this problem overnight ready for practice and qualifying tomorrow.''

FREE PRACTICE - COMBINED TIMES
1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1''28.970; 2. John Hopkins (USA) Team Suzuki MotoGP +0.055; 3. Casey Stoner (AUS) LCR Honda +0.094; 4. Marco Melandri (ITA) Fortuna Honda +0.226; 5. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki Racing Team +0.305; 6. Colin Edwards (USA) Camel Yamaha Team +0.409; 7. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Camel Yamaha Team +0.446; 8. Kenny Roberts (USA) Team Roberts +0.574; 9. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +0.587; 10. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team +0.828; 14. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team +1.372

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