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Visste inte att Melandri var en så flitig och entusiastisk skribent! Hans webbsajt är full av långa texter om allt möjligt som inte har med GP att göra; men förstås också vad som händer i depån och på banan. Kul läsning!
Länk längst ner.
30 juli
As is traditional I’m here again after a GP! I’m still at the airport, but this time I’m sitting outside on a wall, waiting for my father to pick me up and take me home. I’ve stuck my iPod in my ears to listen to “dentro alla scatola” by Mondo Marcio. You might say, and I’d agree, “this is pure madness!!!” Why? But why not? I jump from Alex Baroni to Mondo Marcio! Haha it’s all true, I like different artists for different reasons. Now I’m listening to “Indietro” by Tiziano Ferro, good one Tiziano, you have really blown me away with this track! Is it just me, or does this track sound a bit like the Italian national anthem? Oh well, do you want to hear about the race? About the start? Let’s retrace our footsteps!
At Laguna Seca, there was a briefing between riders and management to discuss the fact that many riders sit in the wake like in the 125cc’s to make up time and are dangerously slow in the middle of the track. At the end of the briefing, I asked what were the limits to judge overtaking as correct or incorrect? According to me, that by Elias at Assen wasn’t wrong, or at least, it’s OK in the last bend of a Grand Prix, he didn’t even touch Capirossi and he himself went out… Or perhaps you like Formula 1 races in single file??? The rules say that if you block a competitor you must be punished, however, I think a bit of good sense goes a long way. According to the rules as they stand, Rossi cut Stoner off when overtaking at Laguna ’08, so he should have let him overtake again.
But he didn’t, and he wasn’t penalised, maybe because good sense prevailed and I don’t think he did so intentionally! After I’d said this, Stoner himself turned on me saying that Elias was in the wrong and Toseland the same! Firstly, he didn’t understand that I was on his side and secondly it seems like he’s playing blind man’s bluff at every start! How can riders have such different opinions? On Sunday, I started well enough, but Toseland arrived very wide right at the first bend like many other riders and so be it.
I dropped back a number of times, because I was almost pushed onto the grass, but I never gave up. Coming out of the first bend, Hayden was returning to the middle of
the track and Capirossi, already at the centre, was faster and passing him.
At the same time, Toseland came in like a bullet from the right of Capirex and violently slammed the door in his face, forcing him against Nicky, knocking them both by a good half-metre and jamming in to Loris’s back brake. I saw Loris nearly overturn and I braked abruptly at his side because it was not a good place to be, but it seems that no one else sees these things and everything is considered correct. Because I was forced to brake, both Canepa and Talmacsi passed me, so I was second last in front of Elias. I stayed calm; I was just trying to get my rhythm back slowly because I knew that the race would be really long. I led from Elias for the whole race, he was at least 5 or 6 tenths behind me, and I was sure he wouldn’t pass me. Even though I’ve been racing internationally for 12 years, something happened that I’ve never experienced before. Often I get to the finishing line without even touching one of the flip visors or at most one of the two available. In Germany, there were loads of insects and after 3 laps I was left with only one with 5 laps to go and I got rid of this as well because it was quite dirty and I wanted to be focused up to the very end. However, just as I got rid of the last, at the next bend, a mega bee burst right into the middle of my visor! No!!!!! Damn what a blow! I couldn’t see anything on the right, and was struggling to make out if my wheel was on the inner kerb or not, whilst things were a bit better on the left. At bends 4, 5 and 6 that is a long bend to the left, to be taken rather slow in third, I tried to clean it with my glove but I made things worse on the left side of the visor as well. I was mad as hell; I’d made a few mistakes, and over 3 bends I’d lost a second and Elias had overtaken me! I tried to stay calm for a few laps to get my bearings and work out where I was faster than him, but s**t he braked like nothing else even if he didn’t let the bike go that much on the sprints. I decided that I had better stick behind from then on because I wouldn’t have been able to take him on the last lap. I tried 3 times, but he always managed to overtake me when I braked and I ended up a bit wide. On the last bend, he was brilliant in blocking and I tried on the outside like in 2006 with Valentino, but I knew I couldn’t make it. I gave my Kawi a big whack on the tank, not because I was angry with her, but because I wouldn’t have lost if it wasn’t for that bee that came from nowhere! Oh well, looking at the overall classification I’ve said to myself: “Marco if they had said to you that after 9 races you would have been 6th in the championship ahead of a HRC and a Ducati for the record, would you have believed them?” But come off it!!! No one would ever have dreamt it possible. Well it’s all true and it’s all thanks to the guys that work as hard as possible at my side and the commitment and dedication that comes from all of us. Now I want to make up for it in England!!!
A big hug to everyone!!!
28 april
Whenever I jump on a plane my fingers are itching to hit the keyboard and tell you something new. The wonderful thing is that I make it up as I go, it’s not as if I choose what to write. I like this strange feeling!
The Japanese GP was run the other day and I’m very happy, but something inside me isn’t satisfied and is crying out for more!!!! I like this feeling even more… I’m hungry for success!
I realise that from now on it will be very hard to continue to improve at this rate, but I’m proud of the winter I faced and of how hard I’m working.
GP was once again upset by completely mad weather, or perhaps we in MotoGP are the mad ones for going to Japan at what’s known to be the most unstable time of the whole year, but so be it, there must be a reason why it was moved from October to April!
I arrived in Tokyo early on Wednesday morning, nervous at the thought of spending two days in Motegi with nothing to do. The hotel was nice and right in the middle of natural beauty, but there wasn’t anything, not a gym nor a single international TV channel. I felt like I’d aged overnight and ended up in an retirement home.
Luckily I’d bumped into Yashu, who is Japanese or “Riminese” as he says. He’s Japanese, but he loves Italy, has lived there for a bit and speaks Italian very well… In fact he speaks a little too much at times…hehehe…but he’s a great guy.
Yashu came with me and Cyborg (the driver of my new motor home and assistant) and took us sightseeing all day around Tokyo…I’ve been going to Japan since ’98 and I’d never been to Tokyo!!!
A friend who works in fashion had told me about a place where I could find my type of clothes and I gave it a go. I’m not a big spender, in fact I’m often told that I’m as tight as a drum, but what can I do if I’m happy with so little??? I see it as a blessing!
On Wednesday I was like a child in a sweetshop with carte blanche. I’ve never really been shopping, in general I’m one that goes into a shop, heads straight for what he’s after and is off, but on Wednesday I behaved like a real Japanese. When we left Cyborg was loaded up like a mule…Hehehe. Japanese hip hop is so cool!!! Whether they wanted to or not everyone got an eyeful of my trousers and loads of people asked me where I’d bought them, Vermullen’s girlfriend asked me if next year they could come with me. I’d love to dress Cyborg like that for the starting grid, or better still I’d love to see him in flip-up Kanye West sunglasses…ahaha…
I think that after all the comments I got from women he’ll be asking me to dress him, but I managed to take him into a typical Japanese restaurant where you sit on the floor without shoes and cook your own meat on the grill. Damn it was great!!! I also tried sushi. It amazed me!
We were about to leave Tokyo to head for Motegi and I saw something that I’d been searching for years, I was almost overcome!!! The toilets that function as bidets with heated seats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t be without one for my new motor home…) Because in Japan they don’t have space for a bidet they’ve put it in the toilet itself. A simple button when you’ve finished your business releases a powerful water jet that washes you all as well!!! They are geniuses!!!
Generally when I come home I can’t wait to eat my grandmother’s pasta and drink a good coffee, now I can’t wait to do a poo…hahaha…how disgusting I am! Ah…Then I also raced in Japan…))
The trials didn’t allow for much, only 7 laps in the dry and I took off for the race with a untried set-up and improvised electronics based on dry and wet data. I was a bit sceptical, luckily we were nearly there but it’s there that we have to progress even further.
I thought I’d battle it out for eighth, but I took off like a gun, I would have lapped at 5th or even 4th, but when Dovizioso saw me behind him on my all black Kawi I think he lost sight of reason and ended up really long, hitting me with his back wheel on my right knee and sending me out wide, luckily no one was on the outside, otherwise I would’ve struck out.
Because of this I was overtaken by Dovi, who passed only because I braked and then Edwards, Toseland, Vermullen and Capi… After the first bend I felt comfortable again and straight off at the second I passed Capi and Edwards a little further on. I was faster than the group ahead of me and wanted to overtake in a hurry, I didn’t want to risk making a mistake because of a lapse in concentration as in Qatar and decided to attack.
I passed Toseland mid-bend and exiting I thought I could exploit the whole track as I thought he’d let me pass to try and cut across my line. I couldn’t see him but I could hear him!!!
We shouldered each other a bit accidentally but luckily no pace was lost. I saw red, in every sense. I had Stoner a little in front and realised that he was struggling a bit and arrived on his heels at the 3rd bend. I passed him at the start of a big 4th curve, in a move that made it worth racing this year. I had something to prove, I’d taken my revenge even if I was aware that he could have changed pace and I couldn’t. After passing Vermullen I started to chase Dovi, I wanted to take him and was pushing really hard. I wanted to take him but I wasn’t completely in control when I braked. The electronic brake system still has to have that something extra to allow me to push harder and I made a small mistake because the back wheel blocked on me in braking and I nearly went off the track again. That mistake allowed Stoner and Vermullen to pass me and then I decided that I wouldn’t force the pace because those in front had that something more.
I kept on like this and finished in 6th that I thinks counts as a personal victory and one for the team. Everyone applauded me when I returned to the garage, they were really happy and I was even more so. We have worked rationally and to a plan and we deserve a bit of satisfaction and enjoyment.
Now both the team and I already want to be on the track again for a whole test day, we could do with it more than ever, but unfortunately it’s not allowed.
In a few days we’ll be in Spain for another chapter in MotoGp… I’d like to write a few pages myself!”
http://www.marcomelandri.co.uk/?cat=3
Länk längst ner.
30 juli
As is traditional I’m here again after a GP! I’m still at the airport, but this time I’m sitting outside on a wall, waiting for my father to pick me up and take me home. I’ve stuck my iPod in my ears to listen to “dentro alla scatola” by Mondo Marcio. You might say, and I’d agree, “this is pure madness!!!” Why? But why not? I jump from Alex Baroni to Mondo Marcio! Haha it’s all true, I like different artists for different reasons. Now I’m listening to “Indietro” by Tiziano Ferro, good one Tiziano, you have really blown me away with this track! Is it just me, or does this track sound a bit like the Italian national anthem? Oh well, do you want to hear about the race? About the start? Let’s retrace our footsteps!
At Laguna Seca, there was a briefing between riders and management to discuss the fact that many riders sit in the wake like in the 125cc’s to make up time and are dangerously slow in the middle of the track. At the end of the briefing, I asked what were the limits to judge overtaking as correct or incorrect? According to me, that by Elias at Assen wasn’t wrong, or at least, it’s OK in the last bend of a Grand Prix, he didn’t even touch Capirossi and he himself went out… Or perhaps you like Formula 1 races in single file??? The rules say that if you block a competitor you must be punished, however, I think a bit of good sense goes a long way. According to the rules as they stand, Rossi cut Stoner off when overtaking at Laguna ’08, so he should have let him overtake again.
But he didn’t, and he wasn’t penalised, maybe because good sense prevailed and I don’t think he did so intentionally! After I’d said this, Stoner himself turned on me saying that Elias was in the wrong and Toseland the same! Firstly, he didn’t understand that I was on his side and secondly it seems like he’s playing blind man’s bluff at every start! How can riders have such different opinions? On Sunday, I started well enough, but Toseland arrived very wide right at the first bend like many other riders and so be it.
I dropped back a number of times, because I was almost pushed onto the grass, but I never gave up. Coming out of the first bend, Hayden was returning to the middle of
the track and Capirossi, already at the centre, was faster and passing him.
At the same time, Toseland came in like a bullet from the right of Capirex and violently slammed the door in his face, forcing him against Nicky, knocking them both by a good half-metre and jamming in to Loris’s back brake. I saw Loris nearly overturn and I braked abruptly at his side because it was not a good place to be, but it seems that no one else sees these things and everything is considered correct. Because I was forced to brake, both Canepa and Talmacsi passed me, so I was second last in front of Elias. I stayed calm; I was just trying to get my rhythm back slowly because I knew that the race would be really long. I led from Elias for the whole race, he was at least 5 or 6 tenths behind me, and I was sure he wouldn’t pass me. Even though I’ve been racing internationally for 12 years, something happened that I’ve never experienced before. Often I get to the finishing line without even touching one of the flip visors or at most one of the two available. In Germany, there were loads of insects and after 3 laps I was left with only one with 5 laps to go and I got rid of this as well because it was quite dirty and I wanted to be focused up to the very end. However, just as I got rid of the last, at the next bend, a mega bee burst right into the middle of my visor! No!!!!! Damn what a blow! I couldn’t see anything on the right, and was struggling to make out if my wheel was on the inner kerb or not, whilst things were a bit better on the left. At bends 4, 5 and 6 that is a long bend to the left, to be taken rather slow in third, I tried to clean it with my glove but I made things worse on the left side of the visor as well. I was mad as hell; I’d made a few mistakes, and over 3 bends I’d lost a second and Elias had overtaken me! I tried to stay calm for a few laps to get my bearings and work out where I was faster than him, but s**t he braked like nothing else even if he didn’t let the bike go that much on the sprints. I decided that I had better stick behind from then on because I wouldn’t have been able to take him on the last lap. I tried 3 times, but he always managed to overtake me when I braked and I ended up a bit wide. On the last bend, he was brilliant in blocking and I tried on the outside like in 2006 with Valentino, but I knew I couldn’t make it. I gave my Kawi a big whack on the tank, not because I was angry with her, but because I wouldn’t have lost if it wasn’t for that bee that came from nowhere! Oh well, looking at the overall classification I’ve said to myself: “Marco if they had said to you that after 9 races you would have been 6th in the championship ahead of a HRC and a Ducati for the record, would you have believed them?” But come off it!!! No one would ever have dreamt it possible. Well it’s all true and it’s all thanks to the guys that work as hard as possible at my side and the commitment and dedication that comes from all of us. Now I want to make up for it in England!!!
A big hug to everyone!!!
28 april
Whenever I jump on a plane my fingers are itching to hit the keyboard and tell you something new. The wonderful thing is that I make it up as I go, it’s not as if I choose what to write. I like this strange feeling!
The Japanese GP was run the other day and I’m very happy, but something inside me isn’t satisfied and is crying out for more!!!! I like this feeling even more… I’m hungry for success!
I realise that from now on it will be very hard to continue to improve at this rate, but I’m proud of the winter I faced and of how hard I’m working.
GP was once again upset by completely mad weather, or perhaps we in MotoGP are the mad ones for going to Japan at what’s known to be the most unstable time of the whole year, but so be it, there must be a reason why it was moved from October to April!
I arrived in Tokyo early on Wednesday morning, nervous at the thought of spending two days in Motegi with nothing to do. The hotel was nice and right in the middle of natural beauty, but there wasn’t anything, not a gym nor a single international TV channel. I felt like I’d aged overnight and ended up in an retirement home.
Luckily I’d bumped into Yashu, who is Japanese or “Riminese” as he says. He’s Japanese, but he loves Italy, has lived there for a bit and speaks Italian very well… In fact he speaks a little too much at times…hehehe…but he’s a great guy.
Yashu came with me and Cyborg (the driver of my new motor home and assistant) and took us sightseeing all day around Tokyo…I’ve been going to Japan since ’98 and I’d never been to Tokyo!!!
A friend who works in fashion had told me about a place where I could find my type of clothes and I gave it a go. I’m not a big spender, in fact I’m often told that I’m as tight as a drum, but what can I do if I’m happy with so little??? I see it as a blessing!
On Wednesday I was like a child in a sweetshop with carte blanche. I’ve never really been shopping, in general I’m one that goes into a shop, heads straight for what he’s after and is off, but on Wednesday I behaved like a real Japanese. When we left Cyborg was loaded up like a mule…Hehehe. Japanese hip hop is so cool!!! Whether they wanted to or not everyone got an eyeful of my trousers and loads of people asked me where I’d bought them, Vermullen’s girlfriend asked me if next year they could come with me. I’d love to dress Cyborg like that for the starting grid, or better still I’d love to see him in flip-up Kanye West sunglasses…ahaha…
I think that after all the comments I got from women he’ll be asking me to dress him, but I managed to take him into a typical Japanese restaurant where you sit on the floor without shoes and cook your own meat on the grill. Damn it was great!!! I also tried sushi. It amazed me!
We were about to leave Tokyo to head for Motegi and I saw something that I’d been searching for years, I was almost overcome!!! The toilets that function as bidets with heated seats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t be without one for my new motor home…
) Because in Japan they don’t have space for a bidet they’ve put it in the toilet itself. A simple button when you’ve finished your business releases a powerful water jet that washes you all as well!!! They are geniuses!!!Generally when I come home I can’t wait to eat my grandmother’s pasta and drink a good coffee, now I can’t wait to do a poo…hahaha…how disgusting I am! Ah…Then I also raced in Japan…
))The trials didn’t allow for much, only 7 laps in the dry and I took off for the race with a untried set-up and improvised electronics based on dry and wet data. I was a bit sceptical, luckily we were nearly there but it’s there that we have to progress even further.
I thought I’d battle it out for eighth, but I took off like a gun, I would have lapped at 5th or even 4th, but when Dovizioso saw me behind him on my all black Kawi I think he lost sight of reason and ended up really long, hitting me with his back wheel on my right knee and sending me out wide, luckily no one was on the outside, otherwise I would’ve struck out.
Because of this I was overtaken by Dovi, who passed only because I braked and then Edwards, Toseland, Vermullen and Capi… After the first bend I felt comfortable again and straight off at the second I passed Capi and Edwards a little further on. I was faster than the group ahead of me and wanted to overtake in a hurry, I didn’t want to risk making a mistake because of a lapse in concentration as in Qatar and decided to attack.
I passed Toseland mid-bend and exiting I thought I could exploit the whole track as I thought he’d let me pass to try and cut across my line. I couldn’t see him but I could hear him!!!
We shouldered each other a bit accidentally but luckily no pace was lost. I saw red, in every sense. I had Stoner a little in front and realised that he was struggling a bit and arrived on his heels at the 3rd bend. I passed him at the start of a big 4th curve, in a move that made it worth racing this year. I had something to prove, I’d taken my revenge even if I was aware that he could have changed pace and I couldn’t. After passing Vermullen I started to chase Dovi, I wanted to take him and was pushing really hard. I wanted to take him but I wasn’t completely in control when I braked. The electronic brake system still has to have that something extra to allow me to push harder and I made a small mistake because the back wheel blocked on me in braking and I nearly went off the track again. That mistake allowed Stoner and Vermullen to pass me and then I decided that I wouldn’t force the pace because those in front had that something more.
I kept on like this and finished in 6th that I thinks counts as a personal victory and one for the team. Everyone applauded me when I returned to the garage, they were really happy and I was even more so. We have worked rationally and to a plan and we deserve a bit of satisfaction and enjoyment.
Now both the team and I already want to be on the track again for a whole test day, we could do with it more than ever, but unfortunately it’s not allowed.
In a few days we’ll be in Spain for another chapter in MotoGp… I’d like to write a few pages myself!”
http://www.marcomelandri.co.uk/?cat=3
