[mickey]

les reactions avant le debut des essais :

CASEY STONER

"At Donington we again proved that the Ducati has got more than just power. The bike and tyres are working well for me and we are competitive at pretty much every circuit. I'm really enjoying the races and I'm going to keep working at it like that because if you look start looking at the championship maybe you'll get too involved in it. I'm sure there's going to be some great races at Assen this year, but the new circuit is disappointing because the old layout was unbelievable, really good fun to ride. They even ruined what was probably my favourite corner in the world [De Bult], it was a great banked left-hander and now they've flattened it out and destroyed it. Anyway, we were quite competitive there last year. I think I came from 14th or 15th at the first corner to fight for the top three and I got fourth, so it was a really good race for us. I think this year we can go there with slightly higher expectations. The new Assen is really confusing for set-up, it's got flat corners, banked corners, long corners and tight little dinky corners, so it's really hard to find out what you need though you can pretty much go with any bike and it'll work. You have to find the right tyres that will last the race with the right amount of grip."

LORIS CAPIROSSI

"Assen is always interesting, I still like really it. The new layout isn't too bad, though the old one was much, much better, it was the best track in the world. There's no doubt that they've destroyed some of its character with the shorter layout but anyway it should be good for us and good for our bike. Of course, I've got bad memories from last year when I raced with the injuries I'd received at Barcelona. This year we go there in much better shape, with a good opportunity to get a good result. I may have crashed at Donington last Sunday but overall things are going much better for us now. Our front-end set-up is improving, which is very important for all the high-speed corner entries at Assen. We may also continue working with our new engine spec this weekend - we didn't get the chance to try it at Donington because the weather conditions kept changing. Although the new Assen is very different from the old layout you still need similar bike characteristics - you need stability, good brakes and good front-end feeling. I'm really looking forward to making up for the disappointment of Donington - we will work hard as always and I will do my best as always."

VALENTINO ROSSI

"I wasn't happy after the race on Sunday but we had a long meeting afterwards and we know what our problems are - now we need to fix them," said Rossi. "I'm happy to get the chance to ride again so soon and forget about the race at Donington because I was so disappointed to finish fourth at a circuit I love so much and have always done well at in the past.

"Assen is another of my favourite tracks and after riding injured there last year I want to get back to winning ways. It is a shame they had to change the circuit layout last year because they have removed the most exciting part of the track, which I still cannot understand. Anyway, it is like this and Assen is still a legendary place, with a great atmosphere and great fans. Hopefully we can make a good show for them and be competitive like we know we can be once again."

Colin Edwards

"It's weird because Assen holds my best MotoGP memory and also my worst!" reflects Edwards. "I know I should have won and I guess I gave Nicky Hayden the gift of a lifetime. I know and love the track, I won there loads of times in World Superbikes and the fans are fantastic - there's always a ton of Texas Tornado t-shirts and flags around the circuit, as there was at Donington, and that always gives you a great boost.

"I'm taking a lot of confidence from the weekend just gone because we worked really hard and found a setting for the dry and for the wet in a really limited amount of time. We think we've fixed the problems we've been having with the bike and from a personal point of view I was delighted to be back on the podium. The key now is to keep it going, make up for that disaster at Assen last year and carry some good form through to my home race at Laguna Seca in a few weeks' time."

Dani Pedrosa
“I’m looking forward to getting to Assen so quickly after Donington so that we can keep working towards the kind of result that I think we deserve. Donington went well at first. We were fast in the wet and in the dry and I was quite confident, but it didn’t work out for us in the race with the weather, tyres and track conditions and this is unfortunate. I hope we have dry conditions this weekend but it’s not unknown to have rain at Assen too! The layout of the new shorter circuit is not my favourite, but we come here with the experience from last year so I hope to get to a good pace quickly because it took me some time to work up to speed last year. The race was also quite difficult last year and I had some big battles with Melandri and Stoner. If things go according to plan I think we can get a good result here.”

Nicky Hayden
“I’ve got good memories from Assen last year. It was my first MotoGP victory away from home soil and that was a pretty special moment. This is a track I’ve really enjoyed in the past and I’ve had some good results here too. It’s quite a unique circuit, less so now since they made the changes for last year, but it’s still a cool track and has a different feel from most other circuits in the world. There were definitely some positives from last weekend at Donington in spite of the crash in the race, and we just need to build on them. We learned some important things with the bike set-up and being fast in the practice sessions gave me a lot of confidence. So this weekend we need to keep the momentum going and get a good set-up and another good grid position. And to say I need to get a good result this weekend is a bit of an understatement! We’ll see what happens. Hopefully it’ll be a good weekend for us. There’s not really a lot of pressure now so I’ll just try to go and have fun