ROUND 4 - GRAND PRIX ALICE DE FRANCE, LE MANS
14 MAY 2005 - QUALIFYING PRACTICE

SUPER SHINYA STORMS TO SIXTH AT LE MANS

Kawasaki factory rider Shinya Nakano turned in a superb qualifying effort today,
to secure sixth place, on the second row of the grid, for the French Grand Prix.

Riding his Ninja ZX-RR, Nakano was the highest placed Bridgestone rider;
finishing just 0.3s from the pole position claimed by Valentino Rossi, in a
session run in mainly sunny but slightly overcast conditions.

Teammate and local hero Olivier Jacque will start from 13th position, in just
his second race for Kawasaki as a replacement for the injured Alex Hofmann.

Nakano was twice on the provisional front row during the one-hour session and
with 13 minutes remaining he was the fastest rider on the 4.1 km Bugatti
circuit.  He briefly dropped to seventh and then surged to third quickest with
five minutes left to run in a highly competitive session, before finishing in a
close sixth place.

Jacque continued to demonstrate his fast adaptation to the ZX-RR after a seven
month break from MotoGP, and is now much more comfortable in dry conditions.

There is intense fan support for Jacque at his home race, following his
impressive second place podium result in the rain-hit Chinese GP two weeks ago.

Both Nakano and Jacque appear ready for any conditions in tomorrow's 28-lap
race. The forecast is for showers, although both riders would prefer a
continuation of this afternoon's warm and sunny conditions.

In the morning free practice session run on a wet track Jacque and Nakano were
seventh and eighth fastest respectively, an indication they will contend for top
ten results in the wet or dry.

Shinya Nakano: #56 - Sixth - (1'33.536)

"I was aiming for the second row, so sixth position is right where I wanted to
be for the race. I went faster on each qualifying run and tried for pole, it was
very close.  I did some race tyre runs early in the session, and it appears we
have two options for the race if it is dry, and the Bridgestone wets have
performed very impressively. I have good chassis balance in both the wet and the
dry, especially for turn-in for all the slow corners, so we are ready for the
race."

Olivier Jacque: #19 - Thirteenth - (1'34.403)

"I was much more comfortable in the dry conditions this afternoon compared to
yesterday, although I'm still struggling a little in the final sector of the
lap. Yesterday I was hoping for rain, but now I'm really enjoying the ZX-RR in
the dry, so I hope it is sunny for the race. The bike feels more balanced
following adjustments to the engine brake system. I'm not paying attention to
the hype, I'm just concentrating on the race."

Harald Eckl: Team Manager

"Shinya is very fast in both the dry and the wet, so I expect him to be very
competitive no matter what the weather conditions for the race. Olivier goes
faster in every session, despite a limited amount of test kilometres in dry
conditions. He has been very impressive, especially in out-qualifying some
regular MotoGP riders from Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha."

QUALIFYING PRACTICE - FINAL TIMES

 1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Gauloises Yamaha Team  1'33.226
 2. Colin Edwards (USA) Gauloises Yamaha Team      +0.223
 3. Marco Melandri (ITA) Movistar Honda MotoGP     +0.239
 4. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Movistar Honda MotoGP      +0.241
 5. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda                +0.288
 6. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki Racing Team       +0.310
 7. John Hopkins (USA) Team Suzuki MotoGP          +0.368
 8. Max Biaggi (ITA) Repsol Honda                  +0.473
 9. Carlos Checa (SPA) Ducati Marlboro Team        +0.501
10. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team     +0.547
11. Alex Barros (BRA) Camel Honda                  +0.650
12. Toni Elias (SPA) Fortuna Yamaha Team           +0.765
13. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team      +1.177