The following is from Alto Evolution Honda:
Sunday 15 June 2008 Difficult Races Day in Nurburgring for Alto Evolution
Sunday at the Nurburgring was a day probably best forgotten by the ALTO EVOLUTION HONDA team. After a tough qualifying that saw both riders further down the grid than they deserved, race day started with high hopes. Warmup showed that there were still some issues to be resolved with the bikes, but things had improved from Saturday.
Race one had a delayed start as the weather changed and it hailed. Whether this made a difference or not is hard to say, but just one lap after the start, Aoyama’s bike developed an electronic fault and he was forced to pull in. Although he tried to continue, he only managed one more lap before having to stop again.
Pridmore’s race began better as he made a reasonable start but he too soon ran into problems and dropped back. Though he was racing hard and trying his best, he crashed out with a few laps to go, uninjured but unable to continue.
Race two started better as both riders made clean getaways. Unfortunately, though, Aoyama made a mistake in the first lap and ran onto the gravel. He was able to restart without a problem but was at the back of the field and, despite pushing very hard was not able to close the gap.
Pridmore also had a hard time. Though the bike was fast, he struggled with setup and was losing out on the corners. A strong and brave ride, pushing hard all the way deserved better results than he achieved.
Aoyama: ” Today was a very hard day for us and the worst result of the season. I need to work on my approach in my head and try to ride like I did in America. I know Misano, anyway , and I like it so I will try harder next race and try to get some points.”
Pridmore: “ Today was pretty bad. Well the whole weekend was pretty frustrating – everybody works so hard and then this. Today’s results were pretty miserable for the whole team. But the positive thing is that we can only move forward. We’ve got to look to the future now. There are some things with the motorcycle that we need to change but the team is fantastic. We had a good meeting last night and for sure we know the direction we need to take. Misano won’t take me too long to learn, we just need to get the bikes right. We’ve got all the pieces we need, we’ve just got to make them fit and go on from there.”
