Ninjette Newsbot
April 5th, 2012, 06:00 PM
Qatar MotoGP 2012 Thursday practice report—Stoner on top
http://image.sportrider.com/f/news/146_12040_qatar_motogp_2012_thursday_practice_report/37353007+ppromo_large/146-12040-+motogp-qatar-2012-thursday-practice-report-result+.jpg
Despite struggling with tire chatter, Stoner once again steals top spot in the last minute of practice, over Lorenzo and a surprising Hayden; Spies fourth, Edwards 14th (http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_12040_qatar_motogp_2012_thursday_practice_report/index.html)LOSAIL, QATAR, APRIL 5 – Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner thought he was going “lose all the feeling in my teeth” from a persistent front end chatter, but the 2011 MotoGP World Champion and his team worked through it to clock the fastest time in the first practice session of the 2012 MotoGP World Championship under the desert lights in Qatar on Thursday.
When he first took to the dirty and windblown track around 8 p.m. on Thursday evening—the Qatar GP is the only one spread over four days, and the only night race—Stoner said the chatter was “three times worse” than it had been in Sepang, but he and the team were able to reduce “it back to the normal amount. This was a relief, because the first two exits were unbelievable. I thought I was going to lose all the feeling in my teeth because it was so bad. We made some progress, and the last exit I could feel a bit more the track because when it is so slippery and dirty off line and you have a lot of chatter, it doesn’t give you a lot of confidence.
“Tomorrow we can move forward. It was on every single corner on the track. When I was 50% lean angle it was not too bad, but at maximum lean angle it was a disaster. It is not comfortable and it doesn’t give me confidence, but we can ride for the race no problem. But the one earlier in the evening I was scared of it. It was chattering so much in the middle of the corner that I didn’t have any contact with the tarmac, but now it is acceptable.”
He added that he didn’t expect to “have such a big problem at the beginning. In the end we just fixed the problem without improving the bike. I thought with the track conditions being so good that we should have been a bit faster. But we will wait for tomorrow.”
Photo Gallery: Qatar MotoGP 2012 Thursday practice report—Stoner on top - Sport Rider Magazine (http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_12040_qatar_motogp_2012_thursday_practice_report/index.html)
Qatar MotoGP 2012 Thursday practice report—Stoner on top (http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_12040_qatar_motogp_2012_thursday_practice_report/index.html) | Digg It (http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_12040_qatar_motogp_2012_thursday_practice_report/index.html&title=Qatar MotoGP 2012 Thursday practice report—Stoner on top) | Add to del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us/post?url=2&url=http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_12040_qatar_motogp_2012_thursday_practice_report/index.html&title=Qatar MotoGP 2012 Thursday practice report—Stoner on top)
Click here for full story... (http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_12040_qatar_motogp_2012_thursday_practice_report/index.html)
http://image.sportrider.com/f/news/146_12040_qatar_motogp_2012_thursday_practice_report/37353007+ppromo_large/146-12040-+motogp-qatar-2012-thursday-practice-report-result+.jpg
Despite struggling with tire chatter, Stoner once again steals top spot in the last minute of practice, over Lorenzo and a surprising Hayden; Spies fourth, Edwards 14th (http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_12040_qatar_motogp_2012_thursday_practice_report/index.html)LOSAIL, QATAR, APRIL 5 – Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner thought he was going “lose all the feeling in my teeth” from a persistent front end chatter, but the 2011 MotoGP World Champion and his team worked through it to clock the fastest time in the first practice session of the 2012 MotoGP World Championship under the desert lights in Qatar on Thursday.
When he first took to the dirty and windblown track around 8 p.m. on Thursday evening—the Qatar GP is the only one spread over four days, and the only night race—Stoner said the chatter was “three times worse” than it had been in Sepang, but he and the team were able to reduce “it back to the normal amount. This was a relief, because the first two exits were unbelievable. I thought I was going to lose all the feeling in my teeth because it was so bad. We made some progress, and the last exit I could feel a bit more the track because when it is so slippery and dirty off line and you have a lot of chatter, it doesn’t give you a lot of confidence.
“Tomorrow we can move forward. It was on every single corner on the track. When I was 50% lean angle it was not too bad, but at maximum lean angle it was a disaster. It is not comfortable and it doesn’t give me confidence, but we can ride for the race no problem. But the one earlier in the evening I was scared of it. It was chattering so much in the middle of the corner that I didn’t have any contact with the tarmac, but now it is acceptable.”
He added that he didn’t expect to “have such a big problem at the beginning. In the end we just fixed the problem without improving the bike. I thought with the track conditions being so good that we should have been a bit faster. But we will wait for tomorrow.”
Photo Gallery: Qatar MotoGP 2012 Thursday practice report—Stoner on top - Sport Rider Magazine (http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_12040_qatar_motogp_2012_thursday_practice_report/index.html)
Qatar MotoGP 2012 Thursday practice report—Stoner on top (http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_12040_qatar_motogp_2012_thursday_practice_report/index.html) | Digg It (http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_12040_qatar_motogp_2012_thursday_practice_report/index.html&title=Qatar MotoGP 2012 Thursday practice report—Stoner on top) | Add to del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us/post?url=2&url=http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_12040_qatar_motogp_2012_thursday_practice_report/index.html&title=Qatar MotoGP 2012 Thursday practice report—Stoner on top)
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