Capirossi and Denning review eventful race

Loris Capirossi was determined to put on a good show for the home fans in Italy on Sunday and for several laps he looked to be in contention for the victory at Mugello before he faded on the final two laps to drop from second to fifth.

The Italian rider reflected on his fortunes after a brilliant effort in the second half of the race, pointing out that the Suzuki GSV-R still lacks the top end punch of some of his rivals’ MotoGP prototypes.

Only two Honda satellite machines and Marco Melandri’s Kawasaki produced lower top speeds than the Suzuki bikes at the Italian track so Capirossi hopes the updated engine he will receive at Catalunya in two weeks will address that issue as he failed to fully compete with Ducati’s Casey Stoner, Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi and Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso in the final stages in Italy.

“I tried to do my best but the conditions were a bit strange and I think I made the right decision about when to change onto slick tyres,” Capirossi said at the end of another wet-dry contest. “Then my pace was really good and the rhythm was constant. I tried to stay in contact with Casey (Stoner) and although the bike was good in general we were losing out because of top speed, so we look forward to getting the new engine in Barcelona.”

Capirossi’s Team Manager Paul Denning stated, “It would have been nice if it had just been a 21 lap race because that would have given Loris a well-deserved podium. He worked extremely hard but we just didn’t have the engine speed to keep ahead of our rivals. Once they come past you on the straight it is hard to come back at them on a wet-dry track without that engine speed so that is something we need to work on.”

Having seen Capirossi’s team-mate Chris Vermeulen make an amazing start to lead on lap one after commencing 11th on the grid in the wet, only to fade in the dry second half of the race, Denning also commented, “Starts have not traditionally been Chris’ strongest point but this year he has really got it sorted out. To go from 11th to the lead within a lap was fantastic and he pushed really hard. He timed his pit-stop correctly but the difference between him and Loris on the slicks particularly towards the end of the race was huge so that’s what we have to look at with him.”

Asked whether he thought the new engine would make an immediate impact on results at Catalunya, Denning replied, “We only have the data and I don’t want to say too much until the thing is plugged into the chassis, because we just don’t know until then.”