Technical problems leave Rizla Suzuki disappointed
Sunday, 04 May 2008
Capirossi´s ninth place and Vermeulen´s retirement leave team ruing misfortune in Shanghai.
Technical problems plagued the Rizla Suzuki garage in Shanghai, as Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen both saw their race adversely affected by the misfortune with the GSV-R. Capirossi lost places at the end of the race, whilst a broken chain ended Vermeulen´s hopes of points in China.
Loris Capirossi – 9th
`It´s difficult to say that this was a positive day, but we did improve a lot and if it wasn´t for my mistake early on it could have been a lot better. I didn´t want to lose touch with the top guys and my rhythm was really good, but I ran off and that cost me some places. I got back up to seventh and then I had a technical problem and I lost two positions right at the end. Now we will go to Le Mans and make sure that we are competitive there – we had the potential to do much better today!´
Chris Vermeulen - DNF
`Obviously I'm not happy with today's result; in fact that´s probably an understatement! I had a problem right from the start and the chain kept slipping making the bike really difficult to ride. I felt like my pace was quicker than the four guys in front of me, but every time I tried to pass them the chain would just slip and I´d lose my momentum. Then towards the end of lap six the chain came off and I had to go into the pits and that was the race over. I am really disappointed with what happened, but we have to learn from this and make sure that it doesn't happen again. We now have to re-group and come back even stronger in France!´
