Assen GP .....Capriossi & Desmosedeci Ducati ...Pole Positions Again!!

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Assen GP .....Capriossi & Desmosedeci Ducati ...Pole Positions Again!!
By Ducati Marlboro Team / All Photos Ducati, Italy
Jun 27, 2003, 15:21 PST

DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM ON TOP AGAIN!

Ducati Marlboro Team rider Loris Capirossi scored his team’s second pole position of the year at Assen today, less than two weeks ago after he scored the Desmosedici’s first MotoGP at Catalunya, Spain. But there was little joy for team-mate Troy Bayliss, who ended the session 13^th fastest and planning some major set-up changes for tomorrow’s race, round seven of the 2003 MotoGP World Championship.

Lighting strikes again for Ducati at Assen

“It’s great to get pole again, it’s another sign that the bike works wherever we go, though it’s only the race that really counts,” said Ducati Marlboro Team technical director Corrado Cecchinelli. “We made some small detail changes for Loris – just a few clicks on damping and some different spring rates – then let him get out there and get used to the bike. He did his fastest lap on a race tyre, and he’s done race distance on the same tyre, so we’re pretty sure that we’ll run that Michelin for the race. We’re confident for tomorrow, though I have to say that Rossi seems to have a slightly better overall pace. We’re a bit disappointed that we couldn’t do better for Troy – he was faster in this morning’s session – so we’ll sit down with him and decide on some changes for the race.”

Capirossi scored the Ducati Marlboro Team’s first pole position at May’s Marlboro Spanish GP at Jerez.

CAPIROSSI SCORES SECOND POLE OF 2003

Loris Capirossi was in glorious form at sun-blessed Assen this afternoon – grabbing pole position from Valentino Rossi with seven minutes of the final session remaining and ending the day 0.171 seconds ahead of Max Biaggi. Capirossi – who made history a fortnight back by scoring Ducati’s first MotoGP victory – made some more history today, recording the first-ever sub-two-minute lap around the ultra-quick Dutch track, GP racing’s longest-running venue. And the Italian is confident for tomorrow’s race, because he ran his fastest lap with race tyres.

Mission accomplished....pole postion again

“I’m delighted,” smiled the former 125 and 250 king after scoring his sixth consecutive front-row start. “We’ve made a lot of progress with the bike over the past two days – we’ve made many small changes to the chassis settings, really changing things around. The machine is working really well now, and so are the tyres. I feel the Michelins we’ve chosen should be perfect for the race – I rode a lot of laps with the same set, riding at a very fast pace. The only thing that could change things is the weather, but I’m not worried if it rains, this track is very grippy when wet, and when it rains, it rains on everyone. I’m also really happy to be the first guy to get under two minutes here – I wanted to be the first, so I tried 110 per cent. Finally, I’d like to dedicate this pole to my mechanic Davide ‘Bibone’ Manfredi – it’s his birthday today.”

Royal Fans...Princess Anne

BAYLISS PLANS RADICAL CHANGES

Ducati Marlboro Team rider Troy Bayliss ended today’s session an unlucky 13^th quickest, and planning some radical changes to the set-up of his Desmosedici for tomorrow’s race. The Australian, who made good progress on settings during tests at Catalunya last week, hasn’t found those settings so useful at Assen, which has a character unlike any other MotoGP track.

Troy still tryin gto sort out the new Ducati

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“I’m not getting on with the bike, so we’re going to have to try something different,” said Bayliss, who nevertheless improved on his Thursday times by almost a second. “I can’t ride any harder than I’m already riding, I’m putting so much force into the bike, but I’m still banging my head against the wall. So we’re thinking of making some radical changes, going in the same direction as Loris, even though we usually run something a bit different. But where we are now, and looking at Loris’ lap times, we’d be crazy not to have a go in his direction.”