Yamano: `Immediate improvement required´ for 2009 title challenge

Falling short in their attempts to regain the MotoGP World Championship in 2008, Repsol Honda Manager Kazuhiko Yamano has targeted speedy work to prepare for 2009. The Japanese boss recalls the 2008 season –his first in the managerial role- with some degree of satisfaction, and has set out a plan for improvement over preseason.

`We were working towards the goal of taking back the title but, as everyone knows, we weren´t able to achieve this. There was something in the way for us, but we have learnt from the experience in many ways,´ says Yamano.

`Now we are trying to improve, and we have to do so immediately with some of the things that we haven´t been able to get to the bottom of this year.´

Whether an individual title would have been possible for Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa in different circumstances remains something of an incognito –and also a moot point now that the trophy has already been won and awarded. Yamano pinpoints the Spaniard´s crash at Sachsenring, when leading both the race and the standings, as the key moment for the team´s fortunes.

`Dani´s crash has been the most difficult part of the year,´ he says of the fall that left his rider out of action in the following round at Laguna Seca. `The injury was hard for the team, but I consider all experiences –both positive and negative- to be ultimately positive.´