Kawasaki Racing Team - Donington

[MadKaw]

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2006
KAWASAKI RACING TEAM PRESS OFFICE
29 JUNE 2006 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONFIDENCE HIGH AS KAWASAKI HEAD FOR DONINGTON

Less than one week after Shinya Nakano claimed a career best result with second place in the Dutch TT the Kawasaki Racing Team are back in action, having crossed the North Sea from Holland to England for this weekend's British Grand Prix at Donington Park.

The British Grand Prix marks the halfway point in this year's 17 round MotoGP World Championship, and it is an important race for both Kawasaki riders.

Nakano heads for Donington determined to carry the momentum from his impressive Assen result into the second half of the season, but to do that he knows that he must secure another strong result around the 4.023 km Donington Park circuit this weekend.

Nakano has finished on the 250cc podium at Donington Park in the past, but the 28-year-old Japanese rider doesn't rate the East Midlands circuit as one of his favourites, nor as a circuit that has particularly suited the characteristics of Kawasaki's Ninja ZX-RR in the past.

This weekend Nakano will benefit from a new exhaust system on his Ninja ZX-RR, as well as tyres developed by Bridgestone specifically for the Donington Park circuit. Together with the advances made with set-up during the Dutch TT, these additional changes mean that the Japanese rider heads into this weekend's event confident of a strong performance.

Nakano's Kawasaki teammate, Randy de Puniet, arrives in Donington determined to kick-start what he feels has, so far, been a disappointing rookie season in the premier MotoGP class. The 25-year-old Frenchman has impressed during practice and qualifying at every round, but has been unable to translate this into strong race performances for a number of reasons.

A good result in Sunday's 30-lap British Grand Prix would be a big confidence boost for de Puniet, and the perfect start to the second half of his rookie season.

Shinya Nakano: #56
"There is nothing like a good result for building confidence, so after Assen my confidence going into this weekend at Donington Park is high. But, this is not only because of the second place in the Dutch TT; we made some advances with chassis set-up and the balance of our Ninja ZX-RR at Assen, which I know will stand us in good stead for the British Grand Prix this weekend. Also, we will have a new exhaust pipe here, which has been designed by Kawasaki to address some of the issues we've had in recent races, and I know that Bridgestone have brought something new for us to try here. At Donington Park you need a bike that is set-up to be stable on the brakes, but also able to accelerate quickly out of the slower corners, like the Fogarty Esses and the Melbourne Loop. With the progress we made at Assen, I think we will have a competitive package in the Ninja ZX-RR for this track, but I guess the proof will come in free practice on Friday."

Randy de Puniet: #17
"On the 250cc machine I was not such a big fan of the Donington Park circuit, but this will be my first time here on the Ninja ZX-RR, and there's a good chance that the circuit will look very different at the higher speeds possible on the MotoGP bike. This weekend marks the halfway point in the championship, and after a disappointing start to the season in terms of race results, I need to put in a strong performance in Sunday's race to carry us into the second half of the year on a hIgh. On the whole, we've been fast in practice and qualifying at each round this year, but so far I've been unable to translate this into race results. This weekend that needs to change. Despite the fact that our results in the last two races were not what we were hoping for, I have a good feeling on the bike and I'm confident that, with a little better luck that we've had recently, the race results will come. Obviously, my aim is that the improvement will start this weekend at Donington."

[Stace]

GO TEAM GREEN !!!!!

[HemiDuty]

Would be good to see both of them up there this time.

[MadKaw]

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2006
KAWASAKI RACING TEAM PRESS OFFICE
30 JUNE 2006 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NAKANO FIFTH FASTEST AT DONINGTON PARK

Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano finished today fifth fastest at Donington Park and just three tenths of a second behind Dani Pedrosa, who topped the timesheet at the end of this afternoon's free practice session.

Nakano tested a number of different rear tyres from Bridgestone during both practice sessions today, as he worked with his crew to identify a suitable race tyre for Sunday's 30-lap British Grand Prix.

The 28-year-old Japanese rider has narrowed the choice down to two different rear slicks, but will postpone making a final decision on which one he'll race until he has completed further comparison tests tomorrow.

The stop start nature of the Melbourne Loop section makes it difficult sometimes for riders to find a consistent rhythm at Donington Park, but Nakano had no such problems today. The Kawasaki rider ran top ten on the timesheet throughout this afternoon's hour-long session, before upping the pace to claim fifth place overall with his final lap.

Randy de Puniet was 14th fastest today, after struggling with front-end chatter on his Ninja ZX-RR. The Kawasaki rider worked with his crew during both hour-long practice sessions, trying different chassis and suspension settings in a bid to reduce the chatter, but the problem persisted and, as a result, the 25-year-old Frenchman was unable to show his potential around the Donington Park circuit today.

The Kawasaki Racing Team's technical staff will revisit the problem overnight, using data downloaded from de Puniet's Ninja ZX-RR machines, and they are confident of finding a solution ahead of tomorrow's all-important practice and qualifying sessions.

Shinya Nakano: 5th - 1'29.275
"We've been able to carry the momentum over from Assen to Donington, and I'm satisfied with my position in practice today. Our main focus today has been on rear tyre testing, to identify a race tyre for Sunday. We have tried three different rear slicks in the bike today, and it looks like we will have to go for a harder compound than we originally predicted, because the temperature is higher than we were expecting here at Donington. Today I did many laps, and I managed to find a good rhythm with the bike very quickly, especially around the stop start section that includes the Melbourne Hairpin, where it's very easy to lose valuable time. So, overall I'm happy with what we've achieved today, but I think we can improve further tomorrow."

Randy de Puniet: 14th - 1'30.342
"Today was difficult because I had some problems with front-end chatter throughout practice that we couldn't seem to dial out, and this made it almost impossible to lap consistently at a reasonable pace during both practice sessions. We will look again at the problem overnight, using the data from the bike, and I'm confident that the team will find a solution and we'll be back on the pace tomorrow."

Naoya Kaneko: Technical Manager
"Shinya focussed today on tyre testing, to identify a race tyre for Sunday, and while we have a couple of potential options open to us, we won't make a final decision until we've run some more comparison tests tomorrow. Shinya went well today, but there are still some improvements to be had tomorrow from refining the chassis and engine settings on his two bikes. Randy has had a difficult day, but when you look at his partial lap times they are not so bad. I think that, at the moment, he doesn't have the confidence in the front end to be consistent, but we hope to solve this problem overnight ready for practice and qualifying tomorrow."

FREE PRACTICE - COMBINED TIMES
1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1'28.970; 2. John Hopkins (USA) Team Suzuki MotoGP +0.055; 3. Casey Stoner (AUS) LCR Honda +0.094; 4. Marco Melandri (ITA) Fortuna Honda +0.226; 5. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki Racing Team +0.305; 6. Colin Edwards (USA) Camel Yamaha Team +0.409; 7. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Camel Yamaha Team +0.446; 8. Kenny Roberts (USA) Team Roberts +0.574; 9. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +0.587; 10. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team +0.828; 14. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team +1.372

[MadKaw]

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2006
KAWASAKI RACING TEAM PRESS OFFICE
02 JULY 2006 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DE PUNIET TWELFTH AT DONINGTON AS NAKANO RETIRES

Randy de Puniet was the sole Kawasaki survivor in today's British Grand Prix at Donington Park, bringing his Ninja ZX-RR home in 12th place after a mechanical problem forced his teammate, Shinya Nakano, to retire from the race at the halfway stage.

De Puniet opted for a relatively soft compound Bridgestone rear tyre for today's 30-lap race in a bid to take maximum advantage from his second row grid position, but the 25-year-old Frenchman was forced to revise his race strategy after a disappointing start saw him down in 12th place at the first turn.

In the early stages of the race de Puniet was able to run with current championship leader, Nicky Hayden, and reigning World Champion, Valentino Rossi, but was forced to slow as his rear tyre went off towards the end of the race.

Despite the problems, the Kawasaki rider looked set for his first top ten finish of the season, but was pushed back to 11th place after a late charge by Carlos Checa, and then lost one place more to Makoto Tamada on the very last lap.

After the high of finishing second at Assen just one week ago, Shinya Nakano experienced the other end of the emotional spectrum today at Donington, as a mechanical problem forced him to retire his Ninja ZX-RR at the halfway point.

From the start the 28-year-old Kawasaki rider experienced problems when changing down through the gearbox on his Ninja ZX-RR, which he managed to compensate for with the clutch, but then, on lap 14, the bike suddenly lost power and Nakano was forced to retire from the race at Macleans.

Dani Pedrosa took his second win of the season in today's British Grand Prix, which was run in unseasonably hot conditions and enjoyed by 68,000 sunburnt British race fans.

Randy de Puniet: 12th
"I got a bad start, once again, but for the first half of the race I was able to follow the group with Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, Colin Edwards and Shinya, but then I started to lose grip at the rear in the middle of the race and I wasn't able to continue at the same pace. My original strategy for the race was to try and stay with the leading group from the start, and for that reason we opted to go with the softer of the two rear tyre compounds we had available. A disappointing start put paid to that plan. I just tried to keep pushing as hard as I could when the rear tyre started to go off, but I think I was losing one second each lap, which allowed Carlos Checa and Makoto Tamada to catch me towards the end. I was hoping for better than 12th today after good practice and qualifying sessions yesterday, but my pace during the early part of the race was encouraging and I'm happy to have another race finish behind me."

Shinya Nakano: DNF
"Right from the beginning of the race I was struggling with a gearbox problem that made it difficult to shift down through the gears. After a few laps I figured out how to compensate for this problem using the clutch. I was pushing as hard as I could to catch the group of riders in front of me, but then I felt the engine suddenly lose power and I had no other option but to retire from the race. It's disappointing after finishing so well in Assen, but now we need to concentrate on our preparations for the next race at Sachsenring, which is an important one for the Kawasaki Racing Team."

Harald Eckl: Team Principal
"It is not the day we expected. After good practice and qualifying sessions yesterday, today's result is disappointing for us. Of course, we need to analyse the problem that Shinya experienced with his race bike and, if necessary, come up with a solution ahead of the next race at Sachsenring. Randy was also disappointed with his result today, but I think he went for too soft a rear tyre for today's conditions, and that's why he lost the two places right at the end of the race."

MOTOGP RACE RESULT - DONINGTON PARK
1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 44'54.878; 2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Camel Yamaha Team +3.864; 3. Marco Melandri (ITA) Fortuna Honda +4.016; 4. Casey Stoner (AUS) LCR Honda +5.776; 5. Kenny Roberts (USA) Team Roberts +9.596; 6. Colin Edwards (USA) Camel Yamaha Team +21.710; 7. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +25.764; 8. John Hopkins (USA) Team Suzuki MotoGP +29.034; 9. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team +35.606; 10. Carlos Checa (SPA) Tech 3 Yamaha +40.442; 11. Makoto Tamada (JPN) JIR Konica Minolta Honda +41.062; 12. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team +42.197; DNF. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki Racing Team +17 Laps