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Ducati improvements don’t pan out at Laguna MotoGP

Valentino Rossi crashes, Nicky Hayden seventh as the only new pieces on the engines are new motors to control the throttle valvesMONTEREY, CA, JULY 27 – The expected improvement in the fortunes of the Ducati Marlboro team didn’t materialize on the first day of practice for the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, with Valentino Rossi crashing and Nicky Hayden disappointed with clocking only the seventh fastest time at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

The Ducati team and riders had played down the expected improvements to the Desmosedici GP12 ever since Rossi’s ECU lost spark and sent him to the ground during the Mugello test. The only new parts both riders were using new motors to control the throttle butterflies, a minor piece that helped smooth out acceleration. With such a yawning gap to the fastest three, or four today with addition of Ben Spies, much more work needed to be done, they both admitted.

Rossi’s crash was his own fault, he said, the result of a cold right side of the front tire entering the first right-hander on Laguna Seca's 2.243-mile track. The 2008 winner was entering Turn 3, the first of the double rights, when the front end tucked and he slid into the gravel. His machine made it to the air fence, which deployed and deflated, causing a red flag stoppage while the air bags were replaced.




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