Calendar & Results
GP 16 : Malaysia
Injury for Márquez, crash for Rabat and fracture for Simón
A GP TO FORGET
A GP TO FORGET
The Haulotte riders arrived at the Malaysian GP full of hope, after the good sensations they had had during their last date in Australia. But reality brought something else. During the first practice for the125cc in Sepang Marc Márquez was run over by another rider, with such bad luck that he ended up injured and out for the rest of the World Championship. His colleague, Tito Rabat, had many problems throughout the whole weekend, that on top of everything ended up with a crash during the race. And Julito Simón, who was once again ready to fight for the podium, had to say good-bye to his aspirations due to a fracture in his KTM. A disaster.
FRUSTRATION
The GP didn’t get off to a good start for Julito Simón. On Friday he wasn’t able to find a good set up for his bike, putting him in a temporary twelfth place. “It was a complicated day. The truth is that I like Sepang very much and I’m not very sure why it was giving me so much trouble. Comparing Aoyama’s data with mine in the telemetry, you can see that in many corners I made technical mistakes. The track didn’t have too much grip and made things a little more complicated. The main objective for Saturday was to improve those aspects, to get ourselves in the best possible position. The KTMs were doing well, since Aoyama and Kallio were up ahead, so we also had to be there”. Julito managed part of his objectives. Even if during the free practice in the morning a huge shower left the riders with few options for improvement. In the afternoon, Simón got his act together, improving his time and advancing to sevenths place at the starting grid. “I improved my register quite a bit, although I was still far from the best time. I was pleased because the day had started off quite badly. It rained a lot during the morning and we thought it would be impossible to improve the time. But during the GP practise the track dried off, and I was able to try all the modifications out. I soon felt the bike was better and I was able to improve. I was very happy with respect to the race, and with the hope of fighting for the podium”. And he was able to do so. The Haulotte rider soon got into the group at the head, and settled into a quartet with Simoncelli, Bautista and Aoyama. He was able to take the lead of the race, giving the feeling that the podium might be close. Until his KTM had enough. Julito finished with the frustration of not being able to know if Sunday at Sepang was going to be his day. “We worked well all weekend, and I want to thank the team because we have been able to improve at every practice. I started off the race well. I rode as aggressive as I could during the first laps, since they were vital in order to set a good pace and escape. I did so, although I think it would have been more complicated to follow Bautista, since he was doing quite well. However, I think it was feasible to fight for the podium against Aoyama and Simoncelli. It was a pity. The good thing is that we have another race this week in Valencia, and I am pleased because I am very excited about getting there to do a good job."
BAD FROM START TO FINISH
It was a bad start for Tito Rabat at the Malaysian GP. Things didn’t turn out at the first free practice, and things got even worse when he crashed during the official leaving him in 25th place at the provisional starting grid. “It was a hard day, since we couldn’t find the correct set up for the bike, both referring to the chassis and the motor. And on top of it, in the afternoon I crashed. I rode with the same tyres for the whole time, but not only that, the exhaust pipe had been bashed and it made the motor not work properly. And I also had some problems with the chassis. I had to find the line in Sepang in order to find the right set up and move forward”. Saturday’s rain didn’t let the 125cc riders improve Friday’s registers. Adding to this the fact that Rabat still couldn’t find the right path for his KTM, and the result was a bad place at the starting grid on Sunday. The only consolation was that if it rained during the race, the Haulotte rider had a clearer idea of what to do. “It was a slightly more positive day. During the morning, with the rain, I was pretty fast, I finished amongst the first twelve, which is not bad considering the conditions. During the afternoon we started off with rain and I also rode well. But when we stopped at the boxes mid-session, we made a couple of changes that didn’t turn out as we wanted them to. The positive thing was that if it rained during the race we would a have a more or less good set up. If not, and considering how much I had to catch up at the start, I would have to have a good start off and try to surmount.” And he tried. He overtook some positions during the first rounds, up to the ninth round when he lost control of his front tyre and crashed to the ground. A bad ending for a bad GP. “It was a difficult race, since we had many problems with both the chassis and the motor. In the end, I’m not sure what happened, but I crashed. The truth is that I wasn’t doing very well either…The team is trying it’s best and so am I, but in the end the results aren’t good. I hope that in the next race I can do things well”.
A SCARE FOR MÁRQUEZ
Marc Márquez missed out on the first two GPs of the season due to an injury. Now another injury will leave him out of the last two dates of the 2008 World Championship. During the first practice on Friday, the French rider Cyril Carrillo suffered a crash in which he ended up running over the Haulotte rider. With such bad luck that his right leg was caught between the wheel and the bike’s frame. After a few tense moments in which his own mechanics ran over with a power saw in case they had to cut off a piece of the bike, they were able to take Marc over to the circuit’s clinic. There they confirmed that he hadn’t broken anything, but he did have an injury serious enough to make him have to go back home. Once he was back in Barcelona and after an exhaustive inspection, his injury was confirmed: a fracture in his tibia’s growth cartilage at the height of his right ankle, and another fracture, this time of his calcaneus, in the same ankle.Sufficient to have to have the injured area immobilized and for the doctor to decide that this was how he was going to end his debut in the World Championship. “It was an ugly crash, and even though it seemed minor at first, my leg was caught between the wheel and the frame. It’s something very rare, but I was lucky it wasn’t any more serious than it is. They sent me back to Barcelona and here they told me what I had. I was able to sleep a little in the plane, so the trip went by faster, although I had a little pain during the flight. Now I’m just thinking about getting better as soon as possible, in order to get back on the bike with the same enthusiasm”.
Márquez is going to have to miss the World championship’s last date. It will be this very next weekend in the Ricardo Tormo circuit where the Community of Valencia will hold the GP that will be disputed. And where the two Haulotte riders that will be on the track will try and close the season with good results.
FRUSTRATION
The GP didn’t get off to a good start for Julito Simón. On Friday he wasn’t able to find a good set up for his bike, putting him in a temporary twelfth place. “It was a complicated day. The truth is that I like Sepang very much and I’m not very sure why it was giving me so much trouble. Comparing Aoyama’s data with mine in the telemetry, you can see that in many corners I made technical mistakes. The track didn’t have too much grip and made things a little more complicated. The main objective for Saturday was to improve those aspects, to get ourselves in the best possible position. The KTMs were doing well, since Aoyama and Kallio were up ahead, so we also had to be there”. Julito managed part of his objectives. Even if during the free practice in the morning a huge shower left the riders with few options for improvement. In the afternoon, Simón got his act together, improving his time and advancing to sevenths place at the starting grid. “I improved my register quite a bit, although I was still far from the best time. I was pleased because the day had started off quite badly. It rained a lot during the morning and we thought it would be impossible to improve the time. But during the GP practise the track dried off, and I was able to try all the modifications out. I soon felt the bike was better and I was able to improve. I was very happy with respect to the race, and with the hope of fighting for the podium”. And he was able to do so. The Haulotte rider soon got into the group at the head, and settled into a quartet with Simoncelli, Bautista and Aoyama. He was able to take the lead of the race, giving the feeling that the podium might be close. Until his KTM had enough. Julito finished with the frustration of not being able to know if Sunday at Sepang was going to be his day. “We worked well all weekend, and I want to thank the team because we have been able to improve at every practice. I started off the race well. I rode as aggressive as I could during the first laps, since they were vital in order to set a good pace and escape. I did so, although I think it would have been more complicated to follow Bautista, since he was doing quite well. However, I think it was feasible to fight for the podium against Aoyama and Simoncelli. It was a pity. The good thing is that we have another race this week in Valencia, and I am pleased because I am very excited about getting there to do a good job."
BAD FROM START TO FINISH
It was a bad start for Tito Rabat at the Malaysian GP. Things didn’t turn out at the first free practice, and things got even worse when he crashed during the official leaving him in 25th place at the provisional starting grid. “It was a hard day, since we couldn’t find the correct set up for the bike, both referring to the chassis and the motor. And on top of it, in the afternoon I crashed. I rode with the same tyres for the whole time, but not only that, the exhaust pipe had been bashed and it made the motor not work properly. And I also had some problems with the chassis. I had to find the line in Sepang in order to find the right set up and move forward”. Saturday’s rain didn’t let the 125cc riders improve Friday’s registers. Adding to this the fact that Rabat still couldn’t find the right path for his KTM, and the result was a bad place at the starting grid on Sunday. The only consolation was that if it rained during the race, the Haulotte rider had a clearer idea of what to do. “It was a slightly more positive day. During the morning, with the rain, I was pretty fast, I finished amongst the first twelve, which is not bad considering the conditions. During the afternoon we started off with rain and I also rode well. But when we stopped at the boxes mid-session, we made a couple of changes that didn’t turn out as we wanted them to. The positive thing was that if it rained during the race we would a have a more or less good set up. If not, and considering how much I had to catch up at the start, I would have to have a good start off and try to surmount.” And he tried. He overtook some positions during the first rounds, up to the ninth round when he lost control of his front tyre and crashed to the ground. A bad ending for a bad GP. “It was a difficult race, since we had many problems with both the chassis and the motor. In the end, I’m not sure what happened, but I crashed. The truth is that I wasn’t doing very well either…The team is trying it’s best and so am I, but in the end the results aren’t good. I hope that in the next race I can do things well”.A SCARE FOR MÁRQUEZ
Marc Márquez missed out on the first two GPs of the season due to an injury. Now another injury will leave him out of the last two dates of the 2008 World Championship. During the first practice on Friday, the French rider Cyril Carrillo suffered a crash in which he ended up running over the Haulotte rider. With such bad luck that his right leg was caught between the wheel and the bike’s frame. After a few tense moments in which his own mechanics ran over with a power saw in case they had to cut off a piece of the bike, they were able to take Marc over to the circuit’s clinic. There they confirmed that he hadn’t broken anything, but he did have an injury serious enough to make him have to go back home. Once he was back in Barcelona and after an exhaustive inspection, his injury was confirmed: a fracture in his tibia’s growth cartilage at the height of his right ankle, and another fracture, this time of his calcaneus, in the same ankle.Sufficient to have to have the injured area immobilized and for the doctor to decide that this was how he was going to end his debut in the World Championship. “It was an ugly crash, and even though it seemed minor at first, my leg was caught between the wheel and the frame. It’s something very rare, but I was lucky it wasn’t any more serious than it is. They sent me back to Barcelona and here they told me what I had. I was able to sleep a little in the plane, so the trip went by faster, although I had a little pain during the flight. Now I’m just thinking about getting better as soon as possible, in order to get back on the bike with the same enthusiasm”.
Márquez is going to have to miss the World championship’s last date. It will be this very next weekend in the Ricardo Tormo circuit where the Community of Valencia will hold the GP that will be disputed. And where the two Haulotte riders that will be on the track will try and close the season with good results.
