Definitely it was quite fun. When it?s like that, the bike?s working, the bike has got grip, and the lap comes together, it?s a lot of fun to ride the bike like that. Really enjoyed it. |
Everything felt really good today with the bike and the grip, |
I do enjoy battling with Valentino. It doesn't get any better than him and it just feels good to know he's the world champion and it just brings out the best in people to be right there and fighting with him. |
I enjoyed running at that pace, I tried to just hang on to Valentino, |
I mean, you can?t spot a guy like that a second around this track with only a few laps to go. That was my own fault, |
I needed to get a good start. It just wasn't as comfortable, my pace wasn't as fast. |
I was hoping to go under (one minute) 29.5 and it is quite fun when the bike is working and the lap comes together, |
I'm looking forward to this end part of the season, ... Riding the bike in Japan for a factory Honda rider is a real honour. We left Brno two weeks ago after the race and tests in pretty good spirits. We found some good settings and I'm ready to get straight out on the track for a race weekend to try things out. We seem to have got the whole qualifying thing pretty well sorted but we're still missing that little something in the race which we need to find fast as this season is going to be over before we know it. |
I'm so happy to be to be on the podium today. Before the race things weren't going to plan. In the morning warm-up we were so slow and were in real trouble. My guys made some changes and I have to be real grateful to them as they got it right and that's why I got third. The bike was so much better in the race than it had been all weekend - so much faster. |
I'm so happy to be to be on the podium, |
It's been a really worthwhile test and we've achieved a lot. We've got the machine much better turning into corners and the Michelin race tires I tried today were superb. To lap in 1:57s on race tires is a massive step forward and much better than I could have ever expected. We've improved the machine, found some good tires and I think I've improved my riding as well over these past two days. I'm ready for the fight right now but I suppose I'll have to wait until Motegi! |
It's been a really worthwhile test and we've achieved a lot. We've got the machine much better turning into corners and the Michelin race tyres I tried today were superb. To lap in 1min 57secs on race tyres is a massive step forward and much better than I could have ever expected, |
It's been a really worthwhile test, ... We worked on getting into the corners a bit quicker and we made a lot of progress with some improved front fork settings. To lap in 1m 57s on race tyres is a massive step forward and much better than I could have ever expected. |
It's not the way I want to move up the tables, ... I want a proper podium and that's what I'll be working hard for, but I'm pretty happy with the season's best placing. |
It's second place and it does take something away from it, |