Press Release
(2005 FIM Road Racing World Championship)
YRC News
MotoGP : Rossi rules free practice as MotoGP returns at Brno

Round: 11 - Czech MotoGP
Circuit: Brno
Date: 26 August 2005
Temp: 27ēC
Weather: Sunny

Gauloises Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi continued his domination of the
MotoGP World Championship at the Brno circuit today, as the series returned to
the Czech circuit after its traditional summer break. Rossi needs just two more
victories to clinch the title for the fifth successive season and he started
this weekend's mission encouragingly, clocking under lap record pace with the
fastest time over two hours of free practice.

After falling from his Yamaha YZR-M1 machine in a collision with Troy Bayliss
(Honda) during the morning session, Rossi squeezed every available minute out of
the rest of the day's action as he worked on Michelin tyre combinations and race
set-up for Sunday's eleventh Grand Prix of the season, setting his fastest time
on his final lap of the day.

Rossi's Gauloises Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards, riding the YZR-M1 here for the
first time, was satisfied with his performance after posting the seventh fastest
time. The American immediately felt comfortable with the base set-up of his
machine and set his best lap of the day in the morning session, before focusing
much of his day's work on a variety of tyre tests.

Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Yamaha Team), 1st - 1'59.278

"Today was a strange day because we all came back from the holidays and it felt
like everybody was still in the beach rhythm! The crash this morning was not the
perfect way to start. Troy was pushing hard but he suddenly decided to come in
to the pit and braked in the middle of the corner. I was lucky because my front
brake made contact and I went down at 149km/h but I am not hurt. I think we need
to modify the pit entry for next season because at the moment it is dangerous; I
will talk about it with the Safety Commission. Anyway, my mechanics did a great
job to virtually rebuild the whole bike in just three hours and this afternoon I
was able to do a lot of tyre tests. In the end we went back to the first tyre
and I was able to go fastest. Tomorrow we need to work on the suspension to find
more grip but so far I am quite happy."

Colin Edwards (Gauloises Yamaha Team), 8th - 1'59.867

"The base set-up we started out with this morning was probably as good as I have
felt with the bike all season, it did exactly what I wanted it to do. The Yamaha
definitely suits this circuit and my pace in the first session was good. From
there we concentrated on tyre tests, although it turned out that the one we
tried first was the best of the lot. When we put that back on at the end I
immediately felt comfortable again. When Valentino put the same tyre on he set
the fastest time of the session, so we know what works. Tomorrow we'll have to
focus more on the bike set-up and I'm confident we'll improve the lap time and
the position."

Jeremy Burgess - Valentino Rossi's Crew Chief

"The track is quite dirty and there's not much grip so we have some work to do
to try and adjust the bike. It's early days yet, but the setting we've found so
far is quite good and, as always, we'll be looking to improve on it. The guys
did a good job to repair the damage to Valentino's bike, although they strip it
down after every session anyway so it doesn't make much of a difference whether
they put the same parts back on or fetch new ones!"

Toni Elias (Fortuna Yamaha Team), 15th - 2'00.286

"I am quite satisfied. In Germany we introduced a pretty radical change to the
set-up that worked quite well and here we've followed along the same lines. In
the morning we made progress and in the afternoon we continued to improve the
lap times, so hopefully we can carry on the same way. I think this is the way we
have to work. Personally I like this circuit quite a lot and I hope the whole
weekend is as favorable for us as this first day has been."

Ruben Xaus (Fortuna Yamaha Team), 20th - 2'02.716

"Brno is a bit of an unknown circuit for me. I have only raced twice on this
track before and it is very technical, more suited to 250cc riders who carry a
lot of corner speed as opposed to my riding style. I am a very aggressive rider
and I like to get hard on the brakes, pick the bike up and get out. For that you
need a bike with a lot of power and I've found it quite tough today because you
need to be quick through the corners. Without that you don't get very far."

Circuit: Brno

Circuit Length: 5403m
Lap Record: 1' 59.302 (Alex Barros, 2004)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 58.769 (Valentino Rossi, 2003)
Date: 26 August 2005
Temp: 27ēC

Free Practice :

Pos.Rider         Manufacturer  Nat.  Free Practice
 1  V. Rossi      Yamaha        ITA   1'59.278
 2  L. Capirossi  Ducati        ITA   1'59.366
 3  S. Gibernau   Honda         ESP   1'59.454
 4  M. Melandri   Honda         ITA   1'59.469
 5  K. Roberts    Suzuki        USA   1'59.755
 6  C. Checa      Ducati        ESP   1'59.807
 7  N. Hayden     Honda         USA   1'59.833
 8  C. Edwards    Yamaha        USA   1'59.867
 9  A. Barros     Honda         BRA   1'59.991
10  J. Hopkins    Suzuki        USA   2' 0.043
11  M. Biaggi     Honda         ITA   2' 0.058
12  A. Hofman     Kawasaki      GER   2' 0.146
13  T. Bayliss    Honda         AUS   2' 0.185
14  S. Nakano     Kawasaki      JPN   2' 0.227
15  T. Elias      Yamaha        ESP   2' 0.286
16  N. Aoki       Suzuki        JPN   2' 0.354
20  R. Xaus       Yamaha        ESP   2' 2.716
RELEASE INDEX