Czech Republic GP - Round 11 - MotoGP
Brno - Saturday 27th August, 2005 - Qualifying

Alex and Troy ready to do battle in Brno

An exciting qualifying session at the Brno Grand Prix forewarned of a fiery race
tomorrow, with thirteen riders able to lap under Valentino's pole position
record from last season. The MotoGP riders have been pushing it hard since the
very first laps on Friday morning and once the the official qualifying session
got under way, they switched positions every two seconds, as they searched for
the all important hot lap. Alex Barros made use of every last second of the
practice to get his yellow RC211V set up correctly, finishing with the seventh
fastest time and with laps regularly at race pace. Troy Bayliss also looks good
in terms of race speed, but was unfortunate when on his last qualifying lap with
the soft tyres. A minor technical glitch prevented him from using his final lap
to set a quick time.

Sito Pons - Camel Honda

"Alex has a good race pace going, similar to the fastest riders out there, and
we are aiming to improve things for him in the warm-up tomorrow. Anyway, it
isn't too bad at all now, and if he gets a good start he could tag along with
the front group and get involved in the race for victory. It's a shame that Troy
couldn't use his last soft tyre due a slight technical hitch. Nevertheless he
has made good strides forward again today, and in a hard-fought race like
tomorrow's promises to be, we are sure to see some of his famous fighting spirit."

Alex Barros - Camel Honda -  1'58.223 -  7th fastest

"We have worked so hard on the set-up; up to the last minute before having to
switch to the qualifying tyres to set a lap time. Suspension, settings,
geometry, electronics, everything, much more than usual to try and get the best
set-up. With so many tests and changes to the bike the rhythm isn't perfect yet,
but it's not too bad at all. We're lapping in the 1'59.5s or 1'59.7s, so perhaps
we need to cut a couple of tenths off that to be up with Sete and Valentino.
Generally I'm happy though with the work we have done, and I think that in
tomorrow's warm up we can improve yet further. Compared to Friday, Michelin
brought us some different tyres which are working well. Tomorrow will be a very
tough race, there's lots of riders close together performance-wise, but I feel
ready for it."

Troy Bayliss - Camel Honda -   1'58.662 -  13th fastest

"I'm thirteenth, but that aside, things haven't gone too badly this weekend. We
have improved in every session and even this afternoon everything was going
right until the last five minutes when I couldn't get in my final lap with the
soft tyres on due a minor part breaking. It's a little annoying, but it's
something you can understand, I'm happy with the work we have done on the bike
and I'm confident about the race tomorrow."