August 18, 2006 - Part I - Results of FP1 at Brno

Oh happy day!! The boys are back on track!! Well, most of them anyway. Sete Gibernau will not be piloting his G06 this weekend. He went in for a scan yesterday following his second surgery, and was told that it would not be advantageous for him to ride this weekend, so Alex Hofmann will be filling in for him. There were no further complications from the second surgery, however, Sete decided that indeed it would be better to make a full recovery so that he can give the next 5 races 100%. Hurry Back Sete!!! It was good to see him on track a couple of times since that horrendous crash at Catalunya, but it will be better to see him out again when he is 100%.

The first free practice was held at 4 a.m. (our time) today at Brno. Guess who came out on top??? It was the Hayden knownst to the masses as Nicky. No real surprise there... the Kentucky kid is ON FIRE!! Well rested and coming back strong after his win at Laguna. Granted, this is only the first free practice. There are two more free practices (one today and one tomorrow morning) and then of course, the qualifying round. I won't be surprised to see Nicky on top.... he seems to have made himself a nice little home there... a comfort zone, if you will :)

Vale!!!!! He showed up in position #2 after the first FP. This excites me...... a lot. Yamaha has been working hard over the break to remedy the succession of mechanical failures that have had such a profound effect on Rossi's points standings. Let's hope they have resolved the issues. I am holding my breath!! Don't get me wrong, I love our home boy Nick, but if there's one person that I wouldn't mind seeing boot him out of the #1 spot in the standings, it's Rossi.

Okay, so here are the standings after this morning's first practice session...

Position	Rider	Manufacturer
1	Hayden	Honda
2	Rossi	Yamaha
3	Melandri	Honda
4	Roberts, Jr	KR211V
5	Pedrosa	Honda
6	Stoner	Honda
7	Nakano	Kawasaki
8	Elias	Honda
9	Edwards	Yamaha
10	Capirossi	Ducati
11	Hopkins	Suzuki
12	de Puniet	Kawasaki
13	Checa	Yamaha
14	Tamada	Honda
15	Hofmann	Ducati
16	Vermeulen	Suzuki
17	Ellison	Yamaha
18	Cardoso	Ducati
19	Silva	Ducati

The next practice session kicks off in an hour.... so, I'll be back with the results a little later!!

Until next time......

Rubb'er Down :)

Kristen