Qatar GP - Round 14 - MotoGP
Doha - Saturday 1st October 2005 - Race

Qatar as gruelling as expected for Camel Honda riders

After a particularly difficult weekend of practices for Alex Barros in Qatar, he
rode a determined and fault-free race, but was unable to get involved in the
battle at the front. The Brazilian lay in fourteenth at the end of the first
lap, and charged through to finish ninth at the flag. Shane Byrne, who has made
significant progress with the Honda in just two weeks, and on a track he has
never been to, took thirteenth place after riding a good pace throughout.

Sito Pons - Camel Honda

"Alex had a decent race considering the difficulties he had all weekend trying,
albeit unsuccessfully, to find a set-up that would give him the confidence
require to ride as hard as he can. Of course, it's not a result to be satisfied
with considering how fast we can be, and as we have already demonstrated we can
be, but now we're looking forward to the next race in Phillip Island where
conditions will be very different and where we hope to find Alex extremely
competitive once again. In my opinion Shane had a great race considering how
little he has ridden the Honda, and the fact that he had never ridden here in
Qatar before. He has worked well with the team, he didn't make any errors, and
today he rode at the same pace as the top ten riders. It really was a good job."

Alex Barros - Camel Honda -  9th

"I think that Qatar has been the worst weekend of the year, despite having
finished the race in the top ten and even passing a few guys. To be honest I was
never able to get a decent enough feeling to aim for a better result and of
course, that doesn't make me happy. I didn't enjoy it, I was quite slow, I
couldn't battle and to put it simply, I was frustrated. The bike was running
well, we worked as well as ever and we found a good set-up. Unfortunately I
couldn't find a suitable front tyre for me on this track. We hope that in
Australia where conditions are really different and it's cooler, Michelin can
help me find a solution to improve front end response."

Shane Byrne - Camel Honda -   13th

"From a certain point of view I'm quite happy with this race, but from another
I'm not so happy. We got really close to the rest here, but in the race I had a
lot of trouble with the front. The team had done a great job with setting up the
rest of the bike though. Chassis, suspension, rear tyre, everything was perfect,
but just as I began to push I got problems on the front end. I knew that I could
go quicker, but every time I tried, I risked going down. It's a real shame
because after the practices we did, I thought we could get into the top ten."