N
NateDogg
Guest
Factory Yamaha rider Alex Barros started the 2003 MotoGP season in complete contrast to the way he rounded off 2002. The Brazilian veteran could only manage 8th position at Suzuka on Sunday, his first race with the Gauloises Tech 3 team and the beginning of a campaign in which many people were looking to him to be one of the leading figures after his two race wins at the end of last year and four consecutive podium finishes.
There was a reason for the 32 year old´s lacklustre result last weekend. A spill in warm-up resulted in damaged ligaments to his left knee and he was cleared to ride by the Clinca mobile but barely able to walk.
´Oh man I was in so much pain on the bike,´ he said. ´I had to adjust my riding style due to my knee and in the first few laps I tried to understand how it was affecting the bike. I could not take the left turns too well; I just tried to ride as smooth as possible. The front had good grip, but already after a few laps the rear tyre started to loose traction and I had a problem driving off the turns. Maybe because of the wet qualifying conditions we didn´t have the perfect rear tyre, I am not sure. All I could do was to overtake on the brakes.´
´This evening I will go to hospital to have further check-up on my knee to understand how we should treat the ligament damage, and get a more exact estimation on the recovery period.´
There was a reason for the 32 year old´s lacklustre result last weekend. A spill in warm-up resulted in damaged ligaments to his left knee and he was cleared to ride by the Clinca mobile but barely able to walk.
´Oh man I was in so much pain on the bike,´ he said. ´I had to adjust my riding style due to my knee and in the first few laps I tried to understand how it was affecting the bike. I could not take the left turns too well; I just tried to ride as smooth as possible. The front had good grip, but already after a few laps the rear tyre started to loose traction and I had a problem driving off the turns. Maybe because of the wet qualifying conditions we didn´t have the perfect rear tyre, I am not sure. All I could do was to overtake on the brakes.´
´This evening I will go to hospital to have further check-up on my knee to understand how we should treat the ligament damage, and get a more exact estimation on the recovery period.´