ROSSI SECOND QUICKEST AFTER FIRST MOTEGI SESSION
17 September 2004 - Yamaha Racing

Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi today continued the strong form that has given him a substantial MotoGP series points lead, finishing a narrow second fastest in this afternoon''s first qualifying session for Sunday''s Japanese Grand Prix.

His team-mate Carlos Checa fared less well in the afternoon session, suffering two falls; a stark contrast to the fastest time of all that he set in the unofficial first qualifying session this morning.

Rossi headed the time sheets early in this afternoon''s session but just after 30 minutes of the permitted one hour had elapsed Alex Barros (Honda) deposed him, just when Rossi took some time to adapt his Yamaha YZR-M1 to the nuances of the stop-go Motegi circuit for race conditions.

With 19 minutes left Rossi once more took the provisional pole position but a late flurry of competition soon after, between the Suzuki of John Hopkins and the Honda of Makoto Tamada, saw the name at the top of the time sheets alternate three times.

In the final minutes, a rear tyre change allowed Rossi to set his best single lap of the day, a 1''47.275, only 0.045 seconds off provisional pole man Hopkins (1''47.230). The provisional front row was rounded off by top Honda rider of the day Tamada in third, with a 1''47.650. All three of the front row runners beat the previous track best, 1''47.696. Checa''s late session misfortune put him 13th overall, with a best time of 1''48.658. Rossi''s closest challenger for the overall title, Sete Gibernau (Honda) ended his day tenth quickest, on 1''48.195.

Fortuna Gauloises Tech3 men Marco Melandri and Norick Abe got to grips with a sultry Motegi track to qualify in a provisional 12th place, Norick in 15th. Marco (1''48.425) put in his usual effort at a track where severe braking is required at several points, but still overnight work is needed on his YZR-M1 to fully dial the machine in to the demands required for a top six qualifying performance.

Norick (1''48.731) is relishing performing in front of his home crowd and the rapid Japanese is confident he can cut a fast lap tomorrow without the traffic that slowed him slightly today.

Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha) second - 1''47.275
''I''m happy because the bike is going well here, and better this afternoon than this morning. It feels stable and good to ride. We''ve made good improvements since the Brno test and also at the Estoril test, and we have a bit better pace. I was unable to get provisional pole, Hopkins rode really well, and he is up front. I made one really good lap. Honda and Suzuki seem very competitive here but so are we. This is not my favourite circuit but when the bike works well the track always seems better.''

Carlos Checa (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha) 13th - 1''48.658
''Not the best day. Two tumbles in the timed session, one at the beginning and another attheend.Itwasunexpectedbecause this morning''s session was so good. I made a small mistake in turn one and then I had to swap to my second bike, which I was not as comfortable with. With a soft rear tyre fitted just before the end the feel was a little scary from the front, but I pushed quite a lot. Maybe I pushed a bit too hard on the brakes, trying to get a good lap time. I just want to forget about today and restart tomorrow.''

Davide Brivio, Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha team director
''Valentino had a very good day. We were able to keep a good pace through all of the timed session and only missed provisional pole by a small margin. Vale''s best lap was slower in the first section but he recovered in T3 and T4 and that was very impressive. So far we''re looking OK and what we tested at the Estoril test has worked well. For Carlos, it was a case of good this morning then two crashes this afternoon. He can go fast but now we need to put together a good session and he can be ready for the race as well.''

Marco Melandri (Fortuna Gauloises Tech3) 12th - 1''48.425
''This morning I had problems and then I improved a little bit this afternoon. But the bike is hard to ride in its current set-up and not stable enough on the brakes into turns. We''re working mainly on that at the moment. It doesn''t help my right hand either, especially with all this hard braking, which is still healing. I hope that too will be better tomorrow.''

Norick Abe (Fortuna Gauloises Tech3) 15th - 1''48.731
''This afternoon felt good and on a race tyre I was going well. At the end of the session we put a qualifying tyre on, but Checa crashed in front of me on a fast lap and I lost concentration; which slowed me down. But I''m not sure how fast the lap would have been anyway. I think I''ll try to stay on my own in tomorrow''s sessions.''

Hervé Poncharal, Fortuna Gauloises Tech3 team director
''A reasonable first qualifying session for us. Both riders were concentrating on laps more than times for provisional grid positions. It''s the first time at Motegi for us where the track temperature has been this high - but the weather looks steady so it looks like qualifying will be decided tomorrow. Both riders have a few problems to solve and we''re working hard on that, but meanwhile we can look forward to seeing Norick doing well in front of his home crowd.''

Round: 12 - Motegi Grand Prix
Circuit: Twin_Ring
Circuit Length: 4801
Lap Record: 1'' 48.885 (Valentino Rossi, 2003)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1'' 47.696 (Max Biaggi, 2003)
Date: 17 September 2004
Temp: 29ºC

Session 1 :
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying
1 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA 1'' 47.230
2 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'' 47.275
3 M. Tamada Honda JPN 1'' 47.650
4 M. Biaggi Honda ITA 1'' 47.814
5 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA 1'' 47.886
6 K. Roberts Suzuki USA 1'' 47.929
7 A. Barros Honda BRA 1'' 47.963
8 N. Hayden Honda USA 1'' 48.071
9 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'' 48.174
10 S. Gibernau Honda ESP 1'' 48.195
11 C. Edwards Honda USA 1'' 48.221
12 M. Melandri Yamaha ITA 1'' 48.425
13 C. Checa Yamaha ESP 1'' 48.658
14 N. Hodgson Ducati GBR 1'' 48.728
15 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 1'' 48.731

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