So it seems certain that the Australian MotoGP was Mika Kallio’s last race for the Pramac Ducati team – Kallio will be replaced by Carlos Checa for the remaining two races.

Kallio managed to finish in 11th position in a race that was once again severely depleted of riders due to Loris Capirossi and Dani Pedrosa pulling out of the race with injury.

Aleix Espargaro had a solid performance and finished in 8th position after a lengthy battle with Marco Melandri.

Fabiano Sterlacchini – Technical Director
“We are pleased with how things went today. After two races to forget we’ve got two good results that give us great confidence in our assets for the last two races of the season. Today’s result acquires more importance because it was obtained with both riders in not perfect physical condition. This morning we tried a couple of technical solutions during the warm up, we then used this set up during the race, we knew that Ducati has a good performance on this track and we made our best to be able to made the riders lead the race in the best way. ”

Aleix Espargarò – 8th
“What a great race, I am happy for the final result. Being back in the top ten in these conditions is a good thing. This morning after the warm up I had a little pain in my forearm and in my inflamed wrist. Before the race I had an acupuncture treatment in the mobile clinic that has helped me to feel less pain during the race. My start was not the best, after the first corner I lost three positions. Fortunately, in a couple of laps, when my tyres came up to the right temperature, I lowered my lap time and I overtaken some riders who were ahead of me. I then reduced the gap I had from Melandri in just three laps. Once I reached the Italian rider I started a brawl with him that we have continued until the last straight. I managed to end the race in eighth position by a breath. I am satisfied with how things went, especially when I think to the two previous races in which I could not be competitive as I wanted. Now I’ll have a week off in which I hope to resolve my physical problems and be back in top form for the next Portugal Grand Prix.”

Mika Kallio – 11th
“What a pity, I am very sorry for the final position. By a narrow margin, less than 3 cents of a second, I could not close the race in the tenth position. The disappointment is even greater when I think about the fact that I was in the tenth position for almost the entire race. Returning to the race, my start was not the best but I have limited the damage, I was in twelfth place after the first round. Then on the fifth lap I managed to climb to the tenth position. I kept my pace consistently fast for about ten laps, this allowed me to be very close to my teammate and to Melandri. Unfortunately, over the course of the race the shoulder pain was aggravated and with for that reason my pace lap has suffered greatly. With four laps to go I was overtaken by Bautista, an in the next lap I was overtaken also by De Puniet. But thanks to an excellent last lap I managed to overtake Bautista. Too bad because my final gap from De Puniet, and from the tenth position, was less than 3 cents, a real blow and I finished the race in eleventh position. “

Popularity: 1% [?]

Subscribe to the post comments feeds or Leave a trackback