BIG STEPS FOR RIZLA SUZUKI
19 August 2006 - Rizla-Suzuki

Rizla Suzuki racer John Hopkins will start from the front of the third row for tomorrow’s Czech Grand Prix, as he and team-mate Chris Vermeulen worked hard to put Friday’s difficult day behind them.

Hopkins (P7, 1’56.913) and Vermeulen (P13, 1’57.894) worked thoroughly with their respective crews last night and during today’s practice sessions to eradicate the vibration problem that had hampered them yesterday. Hopkins was in pole position for a while during the qualifying session but a tyre gamble stopped the Anglo-American star from improving significantly on his time as the session wore on.

Vermeulen will start from the front of row five, but was equally pleased with his improvement over the day and will be looking to find that extra performance in Sunday morning’s warm-up session to give him that bit more confidence in the race.

Today’s qualifying was held in warm and sunny conditions and the fastest time was set by World Champion Valentino Rossi on his works Yamaha.

Tomorrow’s race is round 12 of the 17 race season and the action for the 22-lap event gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT).

John Hopkins:

“I would like to have started higher but the final qualifying tyre I used was too soft and I suffered with some front end chatter, so unfortunately that limited my performance. As far as race set-up goes we are working really hard with it and we made a big step forward from yesterday. From what I hear through the grapevine we may have rain tomorrow for the race, if it does we would really have liked to have started from the front so we have a clear track ahead of us. We have just got to make sure that we are ready for tomorrow, come rain or shine!”

Chris Vermeulen:

“We made a lot of progress today and I am happy with what we have achieved with the bike. Yesterday we had a big chatter problem but the guys worked really hard and between us we managed to solve it. I got in a good qualifying lap late on in the session and I was happy with the time, but I was surprised by how fast everyone else was going! It’s not an ideal starting position but the bike is getting better and better and the aim will be to get a good start and try to get in amongst the front group and see how we go.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:

“We needed a good step forward today after struggling a bit yesterday and this morning we found it. We made some setting changes to eliminate the vibration problems that were hampering the riders yesterday and they certainly worked in our favour. John’s performance on race tyres this morning was up with the top five and he also showed good pace this afternoon. As a whole we are a bit more positive for the race than we were this time yesterday. I think John got all he could out of the qualifier and seventh position is not too bad at all - it gives him a decent opportunity tomorrow.

“Chris’ biggest problem today was simply a reflection of yesterday’s difficulties and the fact that he wasn’t able to make any movement forward on Friday. That changed today and his potential has improved significantly, but he wasn’t quite able to find that bit extra to get him in the top 10.

“I am sure that both Stuart and Tom will be looking to make more improvements during tomorrow’s morning warm-up and with the threat of rain forecast it could be a very different story when the race starts.”

Gauloises Grand Prix Ceske Republiky Qualifying Practice Classification:

1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1’56.191: 2. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) +0.250: 3. Kenny Roberts Jr (KR211V) +0.412: 7. JOHN HOPKINS (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +0.722: 13. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1.703:

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