Malaysian GP - Round 13 - MotoGP
Sepang - Friday 23rd September 2005 - Free Practice

Alex Barros amongst quickest both in wet and dry

After the first day of practice at the Sepang circuit, Alex Barros was in the
top five on a dry track in the morning, (fifth position), and then again on a
wet track in the afternoon (second position). The Brazilian rider showed he was
comfortable whatever the weather, even though the team will have to work on the
set-up of the forks tomorrow, weather permitting, as it had been scheduled for
this afternoon. There is still a set up to find for Shane Byrne too, who worked
diligently throughout the whole first free practice to get some confidence in
the RC211V,  and with his chief technician Santi Mulero he had planned to make
lots of changes in the afternoon. Instead, due to the rain, the Briton was
unable to improve on the eighteenth fastest time he set in the morning, but is
confident of making progress tomorrow.

Sito Pons - Camel Honda

"I think that having tested so much at this track, and with Alex always having
been amongst the quickest here in the winter, we should be able to get amongst
the top guys both in qualifying and the race. We still have to fine-tune the
set-up but already this morning Alex has showed he is in good shape. As for
Shane, everything is new for him, there's so much to work out, both with the
team and the bike, and he has to pick it up as he goes along. Slowly he will
understand how to get the best out of both the engine and the chassis, and he
will gradually get comfortable on the RC211V. This afternoon he wasn't able to
improve his time because of the rain, but if he is able to work tomorrow, he
will make a big step forward."

Alex Barros - Camel Honda -   2'03.624 -  5th fastest

"This morning we began on a very, very dirty track. We needed more than half the
session to begin to clean and lay some rubber down on the surface, and only at
the end could we put on a suitable tyre to begin the work on set-up and  the
forks. We decided to do some more detailed work this afternoon, but we had to
postpone it until tomorrow. In any case, my first impressions are positive, we
have a decent base and I hope we can perfect it tomorrow."

Shane Byrne - Camel Honda -    2'08.678 -  18th fastest

"I'm feeling very, very positive about it all at the moment. The most incredible
thing is the way the engine responds when you open the gas; it's phenomenal. It
pushes so hard, and it's something I'm not used to really. This morning we began
to work hard, and  we had several things lined up for this afternoon, but
unfortunately the conditions were a little bit mixed, not completely wet but not
completely dry, and it was this combined with the fact that I'm riding
cautiously at the moment, trying above all to not make any mistakes, means that
we haven't been able to get very far today. We're hoping that tomorrow the
weather allows us to work a bit more, because I think that the team have a few
good ideas we can try. I'm working really well with them and I can't wait for
tomorrow now."