Newsgroup: it.sport
Titolo: Dorna NEWS - Marlboro Riders 500cc

First Qualifying Practice
ROBERTS JUNIOR third
Kenny Roberts Junior claimed a place on the provisional front row at 
sunny Mugello this afternoon, taking third fastest time in
only his third 500 GP. It was an amazing performance from the young 
American who has done nothing but impress since
returning from a leg injury to make his 500 debut at last month's 
Japanese Grand Prix. "That's not the hardest I've ever ridden
a motorcycle, it just seems the 500 suits my style, while the 250 
didn't," said the Marlboro Yamaha Team Roberts 500
rookie. "On the 500 we can make changes to the motorcycle and I end up 
going faster, it was never like that on the 250. The
Yamaha may be a few ks down on the Honda but it accelerates real hard 
and that's what really matters. The bike allows me
to work on my riding, and that wasn't how it was on the 250. I was 
always having to run the 250 into corners too fast to try
and stay with the other bikes. "I wouldn't be where I am this afternoon 
without my team. Nick (Davies) and Lars (Osth) did
an excellent job on the bike today. It's the team that's done the work, 
plus my dad and Randy (Mamola) who have been
telling me what to look out for out there."
CAPIROSSI battles for pole
Local hero Loris Capirossi was in the thick of the battle for 
provisional pole this afternoon. But while the Marlboro Yamaha
Team Rainey ace topped the table for a while mid-session, he eventually 
slipped to fifth fastest, less than one second off Mick
Doohan's fastest time. "I have to admit that I am feeling the pressure 
of riding at my home GP," said Capirossi. "All day I
have been riding into the turns too fast and that's making me slow on 
the corner exit. I think it's just the pressure which is
making me try too hard. I still remember that I crashed twice here last 
year so I have to get my confidence back for this race.
The bike is good, and we are working hard at trying to find the right 
race set-up, rather than the kind of set-up which will
allow me to do one fast qualifying lap."
BAYLE eighth
Jean-Michel Bayle finished his first day on a 500 at Mugello in eighth 
place, working closely with his Marlboro Yamaha
Team Roberts technicians to extract the best out of his YZR500. "We did 
a lot of work on settings this morning, but we still
have more work to do to get the chassis and the gearbox exactly right," 
said the Frenchman. "Overall I'm pretty happy today.
The bike is getting better with every session and though we haven't had 
time to do any real tyre testing today, we have
tomorrow to work on tyre choice."
ABE 14th
Norifumi Abe was 14th fastest on his Marlboro Yamaha Team Roberts 
YZR500. Winner of the Japanese GP at Suzuka,
Abe is rarely at his best during practice and the Japanese reckons he 
needs more time to learn the Mugello circuit. "Last year
was my first time here and I still feel like I need more time to really 
get to know the track," said Abe, who finished a great
sixth at Mugello last season. "The bike itself is pretty good. We have 
left it pretty much as it was at Jerez, so I can
concentrate on getting in as many laps as possible."
CADALORA second
Marlboro rider Luca Cadalora was closest challenger to provisional pole 
sitter Mick Doohan this afternoon. The Italian took
second fastest on his Kanemoto Honda, half a second off Doohan. "The 
bike is okay but not perfect. We did the best we
could with the time available but I had to risk too much to get that lap 
time," said Cadalora. "I want to be able to 54s without
taking big risks Ð that's what I need for Sunday. We have one bike here 
with Showa forks, and the other with Ohlins, and
this weekend I'm faster with the Showas, so far."
CRIVILLE fourth
Alex Criville was second fastest behind Mick Doohan for much of the 
session but ended up fourth, just a fraction of a second
slower than second-fastest Luca Cadalora. "I'm happy with that, because 
I needed to get my confidence back after Spain,"
said Marlboro rider Criville who crashed at the last corner after 
leading most of the Spanish GP two weeks ago. "My times
are good and I can go faster tomorrow. I'm still feeling some pressure 
here and I don't like that. I feel like I can win, but what
I must do is get some points."
DOOHAN fastest
Winner here last year, Mick Doohan topped the opening qualifying session 
on his Repsol Honda. The session was another
close affair, with one second covering the fastest six riders. "We're 
still messing around with the front end, changing springs
and stuff, but the bike seems half all right," said the World Champion. 
"This place is only really chicanes, you're just going
left-right, left-right all the time so you have to make the front end 
grip. There's only a couple of long turns where you have to
get the bike stuck properly to hold the line." Doohan said today that he 
may test Honda's NSR500V twin at the IRTA Imola
tests on Tuesday and Wednesday.
SUZUKI replace AWOL RUSSELL
The Lucky Strike Suzuki team have brought in substitute Terry Rymer 
after Scott Russell failed to turn up for practice this
morning. The American had been AWOL for several days and turned up at 
Mugello at lunch time, too late for the team to
change riders again. Londoner Rymer (29) has only raced a 500 once 
before (he finished sixth at the '92 British GP on a
Harris Yamaha) but rode three sessions as a Suzuki 500 test rider last 
year. He currently lies third in the British Superbike
Championship, on a Ducati 916. Rymer got the call to come to Mugello 
only yesterday afternoon, and arrived at the track at
2am this morning. "The bike is so fast after the Ducati," said Rymer, 
13th quickest so far. "I have no real aims here, just to go
as well as I can." Team number one Daryl Beattie was ninth today, 
battling a bad attack of hay fever.
-- 
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Italian GP - Final Qualifying Practice
CAPIROSSI moves up to second
Loris Capirossi got the home crowd cheering at sun-blessed Mugello this afternoon as he moved up to second 
fastest in an enthralling final 500 session. Despite stopping the session early, the little Italian got to 
within four tenths of a second of pole sitter Mick Doohan (Honda) for another front row start. But the leading 
times are once again very close Ð less than three tenths of a second separates Capirossi from the next three 
riders. "The bike had an engine problem and that forced me to stop seven or eight minutes early, but I should 
be able to race with that engine tomorrow," said the Marlboro Team Rainey 500 ace. "Yesterday I was struggling 
a little because I was running too fast into the corners. I changed my style and got that fixed today so I 
could improve my corner exit speed Ð I'm now riding the bike a bit like it's a 250. I think the race will be 
run in the 54s tomorrow. Not many people will be able to do those times, but I hope I'll be one of them."
ROBERTS Junior on second row
Kenny Roberts Junior scored his best ever 500 grid position this afternoon, taking seventh fastest time aboard 
his Marlboro Yamaha Team Roberts YZR500 for a second row start. The American youngster marginally improved on 
his Friday best after making a crucial chassis adjustment and he is hopeful of a strong ride tomorrow. "We're 
happy, my guys did a great job today," said Roberts Junior, praising his technicians. "This is only my third 
500 race and we learned a lot this afternoon. We made a minute chassis change which will hopefully help us 
quite a bit with tyre life, although we still need to put some more laps on the rear we're planning to use in 
the race. "The thing I've got to consider is that the guys in front of me have got so much experience. I'm 
actually glad I'm not up in the top three because I know I've got a lot left in me. What I've really got to
learn about now is bike set-up."
BAYLE gets it right
Jean-Michel Bayle came up with a good chassis set-up just ten minutes before the end of the final session. He 
ended up ninth fastest, just two tenths of a second off a second row start. "That didn't allow me much time to 
go for a really fast time, but I'm feeling pretty confident about the race because the set-up we've got should 
allow me to go fast for full-race distance," said the French Marlboro Yamaha Team Roberts ace. "We had spent 
most of the session trying out a lot of different things with both bikes, and once we had got one bike right, 
I went out on new tyres to get a good time. I'm happy Ð I got into the 54s, and though I could have been 
faster if I'd had more time with the bike in its current shape, a third row start isn't so bad. There's
not a lot of difference between where I am now and the second row, and once again the times are very close."
ABE gets faster
Norifumi Abe improved on his Friday best by almost half a second this afternoon, but stayed 14th fastest for a 
fourth row start. Blaming himself for yesterday's performance, Abe ran into chassis problems in this 
afternoon's final qualifier. "Yesterday it was me, but now I seem to have a bit of a chassis problem," said 
the Marlboro Team Roberts man. "The bike isn't turning the way I want it to, it's running wide through a lot 
of the corners. My technicians are working on a solution for tomorrow,and as always I'll be trying my very 
best in the race."
CRIVILLE fifth
Marlboro rider Alex Criville was up to second fastest at one stage during this afternoon's final qualifying 
outing, but by the end of the hour-long session he had slipped to fifth, just one thousandth of a second off 
the front row. "We spent a lot of time working on the suspension today," said Criville (Repsol Honda). "The 
track is very bumpy and it's really important to get a good set-up so you can get a good drive out of the fast 
chicane before the final corner. Tomorrow morning we'll be testing more tyres, but overall I'm happy, fifth is 
okay when you're only six tenths off pole."
CADALORA sixth
Luca Cadalora was disappointed with sixth fastest time aboard his Kanemoto Honda. The Italian will start his 
home Grand Prix from the second row of the grid. "The bike runs wide through the turns when I try to go fast," 
said the Marlboro rider.
"I'm having to slow down to maintain the right line and that's costing me a lot of time. We'll try something 
radical for the warm-up session because I really need the bike to be easier to ride. I think it's a geometry 
problem, rather than a suspension thing. If we don't get it right it's going to be a very hard race."
DOOHAN takes pole
Mick Doohan secured his third pole position of the season today, bettering his Friday best by almost seven 
tenths of a second. "We're back to running both bikes with the new suspension," explained the double World 
Champion. "I'm getting more feeling with the new forks here. We've got them to a point where they make the 
bike more stable, the only down point is that they're a bit heavier through all the changes of direction. I'm 
expecting another close race. Obviously the Italians are going to be up there and trying tomorrow, plus Alex 
(Criville) and Daryl (Beattie)."
BEATTIE third
Daryl Beattie bravely overcame a bad attack of hay fever to take third fastest time for the Lucky Strike 
Suzuki team. The world number two is suffering badly and has even tried wearing a face mask to keep the 
Mugello pollen out of his lungs.
"When I'm on the bike my eyes are okay, but I can't breathe properly so I'm weak and I get tired really fast," 
he said. "I can do the race but I don't know how tired I'm going to get. If I'm occupied and with other people 
it won't be so bad." Honda twin rider Tadayuki Okada has also been struck down by hay fever and did not ride 
at all today.
ROMBONI on front row
Aprilia twin rider Doriano Romboni delighted the Italian factory by making the front row alongside the fours. 
"We just about solved the front fork problem we had yesterday," said Romboni, fourth fastest. "I'm happy with 
my lap times but the race will be hard because it's a long run to the first turn and the fours are so fast on 
the long straight."
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