Pedrosa And Dovizioso Goes With 2008 Honda Chassis

Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso will not have a 'new' Repsol Honda for the 2009 racing season,may be to end the technical instability experienced at the factory team in recent seasons.Here is the both riders statement:

Pedrosa said,

"I am happy that we can continue with the bike from last year, because since 2005 I have changed machine every winter," said the 125 and double 250cc world champion, speaking to Crash.net outside his pit garage at Sepang. "So it's always been difficult at the beginning of the new season and when I find more-or-less something that I like it is already the middle or the end of the season. So I didn't want any big changes this time.

"There is no difference really between the bike I finished last season with and the bike I have now," confirmed the Catalan. "I didn't ask Honda for anything new as such; there were just some items that we wanted to improve such as braking, because we can see that our rivals are very strong in braking now."

"The best part of this bike at the moment is that it has a powerful engine," Dani said, the only Honda rider to win an 800cc race. "The chassis I'd like to improve because with the Bridgestone tyres it's kind of difficult to ride it - with the Michelin it was a little smoother - but the grip performance is better now."

While Dovizioso said,

"I had already tried both the old and new chassis at Jerez [in November], but we compared them again here because it is the best track to understand exactly what the difference between them is,” the Italian told Crash.net at the end of day two. "We need to have a meeting now to decide which way to follow, because the new chassis is a little bit better during braking but is worse on corner exit."

The outcome of that team meeting was a decision to go with the older chassis design.

"We have fixed the line to follow for the season," said Repsol Honda team manager Kazuhiko Yamano.

Dovizioso then repeated his eighth position during the third and final day of testing, leaving him 0.9sec from the top and half a second behind Toni Elias, also riding a factory Honda but for the satellite Gresini team.

Dovizioso listed the strengths and weaknesses of his machine as follows:

"The engine is much, much better than what I had last year in terms of power, but the delivery is too aggressive. In terms of the chassis the stability on the front is much better than last year, but still we have a problem with stability at the rear, especially during the last part of braking.

"I think the main problem in terms of braking is the clutch," he revealed.

Dovizioso said he thinks team-mate Dani Pedrosa feels the same about the bike, but isn't sure.

Meanwhile, making things more complicated for Dovizioso is that he spent his debut premier-class season on Michelin tyres, at JiR Team Scot.

"One of our problems is that we come from Michelin. So we don't know exactly how the chassis and Bridgestone tyres need to work together," said Andrea, who made his MotoGP podium debut with third in October's Malaysian Grand Prix. "The casing of the Michelin was very soft, but with Bridgestone it is harder so it is difficult to put enough weight on the tyre. It is almost the opposite of the Michelin."

The Last Test Day In Sepang

Casey Stoner showed consistent best performance. The Ducati riders is back to be the fastest at the last day MotoGP test at Sepang.

Stoner already to fight in MotoGp 2009 season. After yesterday became the fastest, The Aussie back in the top position during the last test day in Sepang, Saturday (7/2/2009).

Stoner with a lap of 2:01.043 on his Ducati and completed the 38 lap. He was able to get the best results even his hands still feel pain after the operation end of season ago.

Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) and Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) were Stoner's main rivals,taking second and third places - just 0.094 and 0.219 seconds off the pace respectively.

Colin Edwards continued his encouraging debut on Bridgestone rubber by breaking into the top four, ahead of Gresini Honda's Toni Elias, who has been a top six factor throughout the test. While Honda riders Dani Pedrosa has withdrawn from the Sepang test a day early due to pain from a knee injury.

Result Of the last test day in Sepang,Saturday (7/2/2009):

1. Casey Stoner Ducati 2:01.043
2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 2:01.137
3. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 2:01.262
4. Colin Edwards Yamaha 2:01.413
5. Toni Elias Honda 2:01.560
6. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 2:01.666
7. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 2:01.907
8. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 2:01.955
9. Mika Kallio Ducati 2:02.386
10. Nicky Hayden Ducati 2:02.497
11. Alex De Angelis Honda 2:02.523
12. Sete Gibernau Ducati 2:02.727
13. Randy De Puniet Honda 2:03.418
14. Yuki Takahashi Honda 2:03.474
15. Niccolo Canepa Ducati 2:03.901
16. James Toseland Yamaha 2:03.953
17. Norihiko Fujiwara Yamaha 2:04.328
18. Wataru Yoshikawa Yamaha 2:04.614

Result Of The Motogp Second Test In Sepang

Improvement performance by Ducati riders Casey Stoner.By placing himself in the second position on the first test session at Sepang circuit, on Thursday (5/2/2009), The Aussie finish first on the second test session.

He is able to surpass some other top riders,Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa.

Unfortunately for other Ducati riders Nicky Hayden. The Kentucky Kids only able finish in ninth on the the second test session.

Result of the motogp second test session friday (6/2/2009) listed below:

1. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 2min 1.483 sec
2. Loris Capirossi ITA Team Suzuki 2min 1.555 sec
3. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 2min 1.626 sec
4. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team 2min 1.860 sec
5. Chris Vermeulen AUS Team Suzuki 2min 2.086 sec
6. Toni Elias SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini 2min 2.232 sec
7. Colin Edwards USA Tech 3 Yamaha 2min 2.241 sec
8. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team 2min 2.434 sec
9. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team 2min 3.034 sec
10. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 2min 3.056 sec
11. Sete Gibernau SPA Onde 2000 Ducati 2min 3.308 sec
12. Alex de Angelis RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini 2min 3.518 sec
13. Mika Kallio FIN Pramac Racing 2min 3.774 sec
14. Niccolo Canepa ITA Pramac Racing 2min 4.021 sec
15. Norihiko Fujiwara JPN Yamaha Test Rider 2min 4.312 sec
16. Yuki Takahashi JPN Team Scot 2min 4.332 sec
17. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 2min 4.507 sec
18. Wataru Yoshikawa JPN Yamaha Test Rider 2min 4.536 sec
19. James Toseland GBR Tech 3 Yamaha 2min 4.597 sec

Fastest Thursday time:
Loris Capirossi ITA Team Suzuki 2min 1.869sec

Rossi Still Perform Fast

First official test session of MotoGP 2009 in Sepang circuit Malaysia, Valentino Rossi passed smoothly. However, Rossi has just experienced injury.

Left hand and foot of Rossi has received several stitches for his injury as infected of fraction glass table in his home in Italy this earlier weekend.

Luckily there is no signs that the world champion to crash due to injury. Rossi still perform fast while across the Sepang circuit Malaysia, Thursday (5/2/2009).

The Doctor successfully completed the first official MotoGP test in 2009, he is finish in the third behind Casey Stoner and Loris Capirossi.

Six times world champion MotoGP wearing Fiat jacket, but still put a black helmet on his head that was designed specifically for winter training.

Casey Stoner Still Feels Pain In Sepang First Tests

Casey Stoner test at Sepang is good, but still doubt in his heart of 2009 season begins. Now,Freddy is the hope of Stoner.

In Sepang first tests , Thursday (5/2/2009), Stoner actually achieve a good finish, that is in the second with a time 2:02.038. He was only about a second behind the fastest riders Loris Capirossi.

Although the results are not really bad, Stoner still disappointed. Moreover, throughout the test, he still feels pain in the circle due to hand surgery a few months ago.

"This morning was really difficult, I really didn't feel comfortable on the bike," Stoner said. "My wrist is still in a lot of pain and I honestly hoped it would be in better shape than this after three months since the operation. Even though the lap times were good from the start the wrist was still giving me a lot of problems - it is weak and painful under braking, especially in the first left-hand turn. I can't do more than four or five laps at a time and there's nothing I can do about that at the moment, other than hope that it improves over time.

"Sepang is a physically demanding circuit and probably not the best place to be riding for the first time after three months out. I preferred not to ride too much and tire myself out and hopefully it will already be a bit better tomorrow. Freddy, our physiotherapist, has a bit of work to do tonight!

"The GP9 is running well and I have the same positive feeling as the last two tests at Barcelona and Valencia. The chassis is completely different and we'll have to work on improving the set-up but we have a good starting point and we can use the GP8 as a reference. The power delivery has improved and now we have more torque, which helps on the exit of the slower corners. Bridgestone have brought two compounds here that both work well, although I prefer the harder one because even though it is a little more difficult to ride it guarantees a more consistent performance."