Difficult weekend gives Melandri ideas for improvement
Monday, 31 March 2008
Marco Melandri had what, by his high standards as a proven MotoGP race winner, was an egregious weekend in Jerez.
Marco Melandri had what, by his high standards as a proven MotoGP race winner, was an egregious weekend in Jerez. The Italian has consistently struggled with the Desmosedici GP8 run by his Ducati factory team, and hit a dead end in qualifying with last place on the grid.
The former MotoGP World Championship runner-up finished twelfth in the Sunday race, one place behind team-mate Casey Stoner despite the Australian´s two off-track excursions. As Melandri later commented, the visit to Jerez had been one plagued by problems.
`It was a very difficult weekend, especially being in Jerez, which is maybe the worst track for Ducati,´ he explained in a resigned tone.
`I started on the last grid place, because I crashed in qualifying and had to use the second bike that I don´t really like. The race was difficult at the beginning; I couldn´t really ride the bike, and when it had improved and I could brake and enter the corners so much better, I was still missing the rear grip. I couldn´t open the throttle as I would have liked.´
Looking for an upside to the weekend, Melandri could only say that he has at least learnt a little more about the bike as he attempts to turn the situation around.
`I´m not happy, but I can see what we need to improve.´
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