Dutch TT - Round 7 - MotoGP
Assen - Thursday June 23rd, 2005 - Free Practice

Positive first day of practice for Camel Honda at Assen

It was a positive first day of practice at Assen for the two riders from the
Camel Honda team, as the duo made progress on their base set-up of the RC211V.
Alex Barros improved his time by over one and a half seconds with respect to the
morning session, whilst Troy Bayliss took about a second off his best. The team
is on the right track as they prepare for tomorrow's qualifying session, which
according to forecasts should take place in the same splendid weather enjoyed
today. The two team-mates had differing opinions about the modifications made to
the circuit, which sees the rhythm of the lap broken about halfway round. For
Alex the modifications have taken away from the character of the track, whilst
Troy is focused simply on memorising the new layout.

Sito Pons - Camel Honda

"I think we have begun the Dutch event well. Alex is just two-tenths behind the
fastest times, which is nothing at this track, and he has a good pace going.
Obviously we need to keep working hard to improve the setting, we still need to
pick out the race tyre, but the most important thing is that I can see he is
determined and confident in his chances. Troy is also making steps forward and I
think that he could take a much better spot on the grid. I think that in
qualifying tomorrow the times will come down a lot more and we will get to the
sort of lap times set for pole last year, even though the track is slower."

Alex Barros - Camel Honda - 4th fastest

"This morning the bike felt a bit heavy in the changes of direction but we were
able to improve it a bit by the afternoon, working on the forks, on the front
tyre and putting on a slightly modified shock absorber. We have picked out a
good base setting and tomorrow we have just to fine-tune things and pick the
tyre for the race. As regards the track and the modifications they have made, I
have to say that I don't like them. I understand that they have been done for
safety reasons, but I think they take something away from the track, they break
the flowing rhythm. Where once there were a series of fast bends linked in to
each other now there's a section just like any other modern track, with
hard-braking and hard acceleration: that's why it's not like Assen any more, I
preferred what it was like before."

Troy Bayliss - Camel Honda - 13th fastest

"I'm thirteenth, not the greatest result, not spectacular by any means, but
we'll obviously go out to improve it tomorrow. On a positive note though, we're
not far off the top ten, just four tenths, which isn't a lot on this track. The
new section honestly doesn't bother me too much, you just have to learn the new
lines quickly. What I need to focus on is making a step forward with the set-up
and we hope to manage that tomorrow."