MotoGP 2006 - Round Three

After the disappointment of the Grand Prix of Catalunya last weekend, Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano and Randy de Puniet head for Assen determined to resurrect their respective championship campaigns with a strong performance in Saturday's 26-lap Dutch TT.

Both Nakano and de Puniet lost places in the World Championship standings as a result of not finishing the Catalunya race, but both riders remain confident that the advances made in Spain with the Ninja ZX-RR during practice and qualifying make a good result in Assen a realistic target.

Formerly the longest circuit on the MotoGP calendar, the Assen track has been reduced in length from almost six kilometres to just 4.750 kilometres, as a result of major changes to the famous North Loop over the winter months.

Gone are the old S-Curve, Witterdiep, Madijk, Haarbrocht and Ossebroeken corners, although the names Haarbrocht, Ossebroeken and Strubben are used for turns on the new, shorter and tighter section of track that replaces the old North Loop.

The reduction in length means that, instead of racing over 19 laps as they did last year at Assen, the MotoGP riders will complete 26 laps of the new circuit during Saturday's Dutch TT race.

Always considered a riders' circuit, Assen features highly on any list of favourite tracks, but whether the new North Loop will retain the distinctive character of the old layout remains to be seen.

To familiarise themselves with the new circuit layout, the MotoGP riders will receive an additional 30 minutes of free practice time on Thursday morning, with the opening session scheduled to start earlier than normal at 09.25 local time (07.25 GMT).

Shinya Nakano: #56
"For sure we need to make an improvement here in Assen, after the problems we had in the race at Catalunya, but still I'm confident in our ability to secure a good result. This season our performance in qualifying has been good, but the races have sometimes been difficult. But at Catalunya last Sunday, both in morning warm up and in the one lap we managed to complete before the race was stopped, the bike felt good and I felt confident of a good result. So, I arrive in Assen this weekend with the same aim that I went with to Catalunya; to push hard and to try and improve upon our best result of the season so far."

Randy de Puniet: #17
"Catalunya was a big disappointment, because I crashed out of a race that we should have come away from with a good result. In Catalunya I got a bad start and did not such a good first lap, and that resulted in me being held up for too long by slower riders. Once I got past them I had a lot of ground to make up, and I ended up pushing too hard to close the gap and crashed out of the race. So, I need to think about my start this weekend, and also about my strategy for the all-important first lap. If you allow the leading riders to get away on the opening lap then it is very difficult to close the gap later in the race. I like the Assen track, but I'm not sure about the new section they've built over the winter. The old North Loop was very technical, while the new section that has replaced it doesn't look to have the same character. It seems a lot tighter, which I think will make overtaking through this section difficult. I guess we will see for sure when free practice starts on Thursday."