YONNY HERNANDEZ CRASHES IN THE FIRST MINUTES OF THE QUALIFYING PRACTICE AT THE GP OF THE CHECK REPUBLIC AND CLASSIFIES 33RD. MASHEL AL NAIMI ENDS 37TH AND TITO RABAT CRASHES TOO, SO ONLY MAKES IT TO THE 12TH PLACE, HIS WORST POSITION THIS YEAR
Brno, 14th August 2010. Things were difficult today for two of the riders of the team Blusens-STX at the qualifyings of the Grand Prix of the Check Republic. Both Yonny Hernandez and Tito Rabat have crashed, getting worse results than expected. On the other hand, Mashel Al Naimi has finished 37th, which is three positions better than in the last events at Assen, Montmeló and Sachsenring.
Half an hour before the end of the official practice, Yonny has crashed badly when braking too hard and his motorbike has suffered so much that he has not been able to join the practice anymore and improve the 22nd place he had at that time. Yonny has injured his left hand and he has lost a nail, but he thinks this will not be a problem in the race tomorrow.
In 125cc., Tito Rabat has crashed three minutes before the end of the practice because of Johann Zarco. He was condemned to start in the third row. The rider of Blusens-STX, who had real options of being in the second row, will start tomorrow in the 12th place, his worst position this year. Despite of that, his goal still is to reach the first group and battle for the top five. His best result at Brno was an 11th position in 2007, so he hopes everything will be fine at the end this time and win a few positions to get closer to the best riders. He is now eighth with 63 points, 14 away from Koyama who is fifth.
68 YONNY HERNÁNDEZ (33º. 2’05.871, +2.419): “I have lost one nail. I entered the curve too fast and lost the front wheel. It was a shame because I was in the fourth lap; I could not re join the practice after that because the bike was too damaged. I was feeling good, maybe my mistake was an excess of confidence. I believe I could have been very fast and classify a lot better. I feel bad because it will be hard now to score any points, which was our goal this weekend. In this category starting behind is a handicap, but we still have a chance. The important day is tomorrow and the injury in my finger will not stop me from trying. I am going to give everything I have to get the best result possible.”
95 MASHEL AL NAIMI (37º. 2’06.130, +2.678): “I am happy because I have improved my times in every session and I have done a second and a half less today, so I am a bit closer to the best riders. This means we are still progressing and every day I feel more comfortable with my bike. Moreover, I really liked this circuit, it feels easier to me than Sachsenring because the fast tracks are more attractive than the curvy ones and in those I can show more of my abilities. This afternoon I had troubles because I was not feeling comfortable in the BQR-Moto2, but in the last laps I felt fine again and this helped me finish 37th, which is the same I did in Losail in my best classification of the season.”
12 TITO RABAT (12º. 2’09.793, +2.530): “The weekend was going ok in general, but I was unlucky at the end. It was hard at the beginning to find the rhythm and put the bike where we wanted, but once we did it and soon before the end of the qualifying practice, Zarco has crashed right in front of me and I could not avoid him. This crash is a real shame because we could have been quite to the front, in the second row for sure, but it is not worth it to feel sorry now. We have to be ambitious because our motorbike has a great setting and if I start well I think we can be in the battle for the top five, which is my only goal. We were in the top five in the free practice of Friday and this morning, even though we had some troubles that were solved thanks to the team’s hard work, I felt very good on my Aprilia. Also, this is a circuit where I could never obtain great results, so I want to change that and I am optimistic about my options.”
