Rossi back with a bang at Brno

Valentino Rossi showed that he has lost none of his sharpness over the summer
break as he clocked the fastest time on the first day of action at the Gauloises
Grand Prix Ceske republiky today. Rossi's time of 1'59.278 on the very final lap
of this afternoon's second free practice at Brno ousted Loris Capirossi from the
top of the time sheets by just 0.088 seconds and spoiled an otherwise perfect
day for the Ducati rider, who had set the quickest time during the morning
session as Rossi suffered his second crash in as many meetings.

"Today was a strange day because we all came back from the holidays and it felt
like everybody was still in the beach rhythm!" said Rossi, who holds the pole
record at this circuit with a time of 1'58.769 set two years ago. "The crash
this morning was not the perfect way to start. Troy was pushing hard but he
suddenly decided to come in to the pit and braked in the middle of the last
corner. I was lucky because my front brake made contact and I went down at
149km/h but I am not hurt. Tomorrow we need to work on the suspension to find
more grip but so far I am quite happy."

Last year's winner Sete Gibernau was third fastest today as he begins his quest
to record his first victory of the season. The Spaniard also has one eye on
second place in the championship as he currently lies in third place, just one
point behind his Honda team-mate Marco Melandri. The Italian youngster, who has
won three times at this track in the smaller Grand Prix classes, was fourth
fastest today ahead of Suzuki rider Kenny Roberts and Ducati's Carlos Checa.
Nicky Hayden was seventh fastest whilst Colin Edwards was the only rider that
failed to improve from the morning to the afternoon session as he slipped to
eighth. Alex Barros, the lap record holder, completes the theoretical front
three rows in ninth place ahead of tomorrow's definitive qualifying session.

Veteran rider Jeremy McWilliams made an impressive return to MotoGP action with
Proton Team KR today, lapping just 3.611 seconds slower than Rossi on the 2004
version machine he rode last season. The team have rolled out their V5 motor for
the first time this year after Austrian engine suppliers KTM decided to end
their involvement in the joint MotoGP project last week.

Daniel Pedrosa produced a late lap inside his own circuit record to snatch
provisional pole position for the 250cc race from Jorge Lorenzo. The pair have
been the subject of a speculative war of words in the Spanish press during the
summer break but they did their talking on the track today with an entertaining
battle for top spot. Lorenzo ended the session in second place after Pedrosa
clocked 2'03.184 with his last of 17 laps. Hiroshi Aoyama and Casey Stoner, who
trails Pedrosa by 50 points in the championship, complete the provisional front
row.

Mika Kallio set the early pace in the 125cc class, clocking the fastest time in
the morning free practice before clinching provisional pole position in the
afternoon with a lap of 2'08.875. Kallio's KTM team-mate Gabor Talmacsi was
second fastest in both sessions as the factory aim to take their fourth
consecutive victory in the series. Mattia Pasini and Sandro Cortese complete the
provisional front row ahead of series leader Thomas Luthi who was fifth fastest.

INFO 2005/123. 26-08-2005
DORNA COMMUNICATIONS
www.motogp.com