Simoncelli takes pluses from Laguna

Marco Simoncelli was in mature mode when assessing the disappointment he suffered at Laguna Seca, as a crash on lap 19 ended the Italian rookie’s round nine race early.

It had been a testing first GP at the circuit for the San Carlo Honda Gresini rider until the race, as he fell in both the first practice session and warm up. However, in what has become the trademark of his season to date he did not hold back in the race and had battled with team-mate Marco Melandri for eighth place before the crash at turn five which cut short his participation.

“Bad things usually come in threes and that proved to be the case for me this weekend. I crashed again in the race and it was a shame because I was running really well,” said the former 250cc World Champion, who went into the race fresh off the back of a season’s best finish of sixth in Germany.

“I could have finished seventh but in any case I was struggling more under braking today than yesterday and I couldn’t find my pace particularly over the opening few laps. I managed to ride around my problems and put together a decent pace but as soon as I pushed a tiny bit harder under braking I hit a bump and the front folded. Now we have to wait and see if we can make up for it at Brno."

The Czech circuit is one Simoncelli has previous good form on, having won there in the 250cc class last season.