Catalunya GP - Round 6 - MotoGP
Montmelo - Sunday June 12th 2005 - Race

Hard-fought race from Camel Honda pair

Alex and Troy are two warriors who give it from the heart under race conditions
and today they proved that particular point. The Brazilian was just a whisker
away from a podium spot, fighting tooth and nail throughout the whole race in
which the top five rode under lap record time from the second lap until the end.
It was a relentless pace, that kept the 100,000 fans crammed into the stands on
the edge of their seats. Bayliss, who got a poor start, and even crossed the
line in eighteenth at the end of the third lap, made a stirring surge through
the pack to a final position of eighth, his second best result of the year so
far.

Sito Pons - Camel Honda

"Today's was a great race and was such a scrap. Alex fought hard until the final
corner to try and claim a podium spot. He had a few problems under braking and
at the end he was unable to pass Melandri, but we are happy because he has
proved he has his confidence back and has the pace to be able to fight for
victory. Tomorrow we stay on for a day's testing and we will work on the problem
we had so we can be on top form in Assen and go well there. Troy also had a
great race, despite the bad start. He picked off several riders ahead of him,
and made so many passes, just showing the progress made here this weekend in
Catalunya. Tomorrow we will try to continue in this positive direction."

Alex Barros - Camel Honda - 4th

"I'm quite happy because it was a while since I had a race like this. I enjoyed
myself and even thought I would have obviously preferred to have got on the
podium, I think I had a nice battle with Marco and Nicky. I got away well and
had a good first lap, tagging along with the front group straight away. Towards
the sixth lap though, I began to have a problem when braking. I just couldn't
brake properly and went too deep on a couple of occasions. So I had to work with
the problem, without losing ground. Towards the end I overtook Nicky and then
waited until the last lap to try and pass Marco too. I wanted to get him at turn
six, but I was too far back, I then tried it a turn nine and didn't manage it.
It's a shame, but in the end it was a good race and now we can look forward to
the next one at Assen, a track which I really love."

Troy Bayliss - Camel Honda - 8th 

"Qualifying didn't go as planned yesterday, but in the free practices I was
quick, so I knew that in the race today I could go fast. I had a start though
which will rank alongside the worst in my whole career. Incredible, I couldn't
believe it, I was something like seventeenth or eighteenth at the end of the
first lap. I got my head down though and began to fight back, riding
consistently at a good pace. We're improving, but now we need to make another
step forward and I'm hoping we can do it when testing here tomorrow."