Solid 9th A Positive Result For Barbera & Aspar At Laguna Seca

The first section of the season has come to a close for the MotoGP riders, as they headed into a short summer break with an exciting race at the 3,610m-long Laguna Seca track. Casey Stoner was the eventual winner of a United States Grand Prix that looked to be Jorge Lorenzo’s to lose. The latter had started from pole and got of to a storming start, but the World Championship leader was able to reel him in and take advantage of the reigning titlist’s fatigue to make a pass. Stoner then pulled away for the last six laps, winning by just over five seconds. Dani Pedrosa completed the podium, as the three fastest men of the weekend lived up to their promise.

The series returns in mid-August with the Czech Republic Grand Prix at Brno.

Riding at Laguna Seca for the second time, MAPFRE Aspar rider Héctor Barberá was able to claim his first finish in a US GP. Last year he was forced into retirement with a mechanical problem, but he managed to make amends in 2011. A merit-worthy ninth place was his end position, and kept up a run of strong form from the last three races. His main difficulty Stateside emanated from the decision to run a softer rear tyre for the race, and the gamble didn’t pay off for the Spaniard. Riding solo for most of the race and lacking rear-end grip, Barberá focused on keeping the bike upright and completing the 32-lap contest. It was a positive result on the sophomore MotoGP rider’s 150th GP appearance in all classes; besides home rider Colin Edwards, no satellite rider placed ahead of Barberá.

9th Héctor Barberá:
“To tell the truth, it was a strange race for me today. At the start everything pointed towards me being able to achieve my target, which was to keep up with the factory Ducati bikes. However, I started to feel that I was losing the rear later on. We had put a softer tyre on the rear and the bike was moving about a lot. I had an awkward time getting onto the straights on a couple of occasions and I’m not sure why. That was when Valentino and Nicky got away from me, because I lost nearly a second over the course of two laps. I opted for a more powerful engine map after that, and I had to muscle the bike around a lot with my arms. After ten laps my shoulders began to tighten up and fatigue. The race wasn’t as good as our practice sessions, but nonetheless we managed to finish ninth. On the one hand it is positive, because I consider it to be a good result. However, I am a bit disappointed with myself because I know that I could have done even more.”

Source: Aspar Media