LCR Honda’s Toni Elias crashes out as Kousuke Akiyoshi earns 4 points at Japanese GP – MotoGP news
LCR Honda team riders endured a tough race day at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit on Sunday. Toni Elias crashed out while delivering a competitive performance and team’s wild card rider Kousuke Akiyoshi claimed 12th position
in the Japanese GP held on October 2, 2011.
Though the Spanish rider started the race from the 16th place on the grid but he had a good pace to compete for the top ten places. Elias was helped by the shuffling of riders in the top squad.
Elias said, “Well... first I am very disappointed because we could fight for the 7th position taking the best result so far. The adjustments we made this morning after the warm up session made the bike more stable and even today I took a very good start
from the back of the pack.”
Casey Stoner went wide while Andrea Dovizioso, Marco Simoncelli and Cal Crutchlow were penalised. This gave Elias an opportunity to race in for a seventh seat but the luck was not on his side.
The Spaniard was riding faster than the qualifying round due to the setup changes made in the warm up session. The little changes enhanced the front-end feel which could have helped in the season’s best results for the team and rider.
However, while entering turn 5, Elias ran over a bump and lost the traction at the front end. The corner is taken on hard brakes but a hard hit on the bump crashed him in the gravel. Elias was safe from the crash and will work hard to get his lost points
in the Phillip Island event.
Akiyoshi said, “I am very happy about my performance today. Maybe I could have started a bit better but my pace was consistent till the end. I hope that Japanese fans enjoyed this racing weekend and want to thank the Team for their good job.”
The HRC test rider Kousuke Akiyoshi was called in to race for Japanese GP as a support for his nation. Although he qualified for 17th position on the grid but he rode well to complete the home event.
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