Grand Prix 2000 - Round 13 - Valencia - Repsol Honda Preview
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REPSOL YPF HONDA LOOKING TO LEAVE EUROPE ON A HIGH This weekend's Grand Prix will be the last in Europe this season. After Valencia, it's back to the "long-haul" flyaway races with the Brazilian Grand Prix on October 7th followed by the Pacific and Australian Grand Prix. Repsol YPF Honda's riders arrive in Valencia in high spirits, after a good Portuguese Grand Prix. Sete Gibernau has a lot to feel optimistic about. He led the race for the first few laps and then ran amongst the leaders until an unfortunate crash. But despite this disappointing end to his hopes for Portuguese Grand Prix glory, Gibernau has shown that he's back at his best. "I've had a few days to recover from my Portuguese Grand Prix crash so I don't expect that my bruised back and neck will be too troublesome this week-end," Gibernau explains. "Riding in front of my home crowd always seems to give me an extra boost. I'm obviously very optimistic for this race in light of our recent progress and especially the Portuguese Grand Prix, where I fought for a podium finish. Cheste is a difficult track. It's small and twisty and it's a very difficult track for a 500 so that you have to be very cautious on the throttle. But I'm sure I will be scoring a good result for the team and the fans that are coming down to the Cheste circuit this week-end." Alex Crivillé also has a lot to be optimistic about. The world champion left Portugal to head off to Catalunya, near Barcelona, where he was involved in a two-day test. He was the only member of the Repsol YPF Honda team to do the test, where he focused on preparing Honda's assault on the 2001 world championship. "We tested many different set-ups for 2001 and we made some good progress," Crivillé says. "I've been enjoying myself more and more on the bike lately so I hope to do well in Valencia. This will only be the second time that we race there. Pre-season testing went well in Valencia, but it is a tight and twisty circuit where it's hard to overtake. Last year, the surface wasn't too grippy because it was so new, but when we went testing there in January, it had really improved so I'm sure it will be perfect this week-end. Last year, the race didn't go as planned. It was raining and I crashed while trying to get back up towards the front of the race. But this time, I intend to do a lot better. The fans that will be coming to see us deserve no less!" Tadayuki Okada finished fourth in last year's Valencia Grand Prix. He was seventh in Portugal this year, and also found he was getting on better with his Repsol YPF Honda. "It was the first time I was really enjoying riding the bike this year," he admits. "So now, for Valencia, I'm hoping to take that one step further and turn it into a podium result. And when I say that, I'm talking about being on top of the podium, of course!" Starting grid in 1999: Pole position in 1999: R. Laconi 1'36.132 |