Valentino Rossi
"This was one of the most fun and definitely one of the most important second places of my career! We were on the limit for the whole race and there were some amazing slides, it was ‘old-style' racing. To have a race like this in the sunshine at Phillip Island is an incredible emotion and I really enjoyed myself. Of course I wanted to win but I had to use my head a bit and once I'd seen that Lorenzo was out, I knew that if I made a mistake it would be a big disaster! Anyway I tried in places but Stoner was a bit faster than me. I didn't give up until the end but Casey really deserved this win; I want to give him my congratulations. We leave with twenty important points and now the championship lead is big and we can try to finish it in Malaysia, where we will have the first ‘match point'."
Jorge Lorenzo
"I'm a little bit sad for this crash, not for the championship but for my mistake; I didn't expect this kind of mistake from myself. It was totally my fault, I miscalculated the distance off the line and Nicky braked earlier than I was expecting and I hit him. I thought I could save it but my front brake was broken and so when I tried to brake for the corner I couldn't and the rear made a big slide. I have a bit of damage to my nose and my finger but it could have been a lot worse. This is what happens in racing and, although I am disappointed about the race, the most important thing is that I am not badly injured. I want to say sorry to Nicky because I ruined his race today. As for the points, the title was a long shot anyway and now I just want to look forward to the final two races."
Dani Pedrosa
“It’s good to be on the podium again, especially after the crash in qualifying yesterday, so I’m happy about that. I pushed myself to the maximum in the race and we led for a short while from the start. Actually it’s a shame they don’t award points for getting the holeshot! Casey and Valentino were going superfast today and I just couldn’t keep pace with them once they came past. From then on I just tried to keep my rhythm going and tried not to make any mistakes. It’s a little frustrating of course not to be able to fight at the front, but considering the crash yesterday this result was OK and I’d like to say thanks to the team because they worked hard this weekend. The next race is in Malaysia and it’s a track that I like, so I’m looking forward to next weekend and I hope we can get another strong result.”
Andrea Dovizioso
“In the second half of the race my feeling on the machine improved and this was probably the highlight of my weekend here. Once I was clear of the battle for sixth I was able to ride at a good pace and realistically I think I could have fought with De Angelis and Edwards in this race. It’s just a shame that I lost time starting from tenth and then fighting with Kallio, De Puniet and Elias - which is what I feared might happen. I cannot be happy with the 6th position but I have to consider the whole weekend and the set-up issues we experienced in the practice sessions and also my physical condition which wasn’t perfect this weekend. Still, I felt good at the end of the race, so I’m looking forward to Malaysia with confidence.”
Chris Vermeulen
"We went with the harder rear tyre because we didn't notice a lot of difference between that and the softer one in practice, but in the first few laps we lost a lot of time as it took a lot to warm it. I was struggling, but then I had Loris on my tail for the rest of the race, so at least that gave us something to fight for. I had to ride consistently and make no mistakes, so with having Loris there kept me honest for the last few laps. Obviously we haven't taken the step forward here that we wanted to, but hopefully it will be a lot better at Sepang."
Loris Capirossi
"It's easy to say that today has been tough, but really we have struggled all weekend and never found the best solution. We also had an engine problem in the warm-up and that forced us to start on the back of the grid, but that was no big problem. My start was not too bad but I just didn't have any feeling in the bike in the first five or six laps, so that was a nightmare for me. I caught up with Chris and we had a bit of a battle, but I couldn't get past him. Overall this race track is very difficult for us and I think we need to forget this weekend because we tried as hard as we could and got nothing from it. I hope we will have a better weekend in Sepang because we really need a good result, but we also need to fix why things have been so bad here."
Colin Edwards
“I'll hold my hands up and say I really messed up the start. I pretty much fell asleep and when the lights went out, I was just sat there. That left me down in ninth place but the pace was pretty quick in the low 31s and I was able to pick off a few of them quite quickly. I knew if I didn't get my head down then I'd be towing them around because of how you can slipstream at this track. I never relented and my pace was pretty hot, and thankfully it wasn't too difficult for me to make a break from the pack. I saw de Angelis in front of me and I tried everything I could to get close to him. I'm tired of finishing fifth, so I gave it everything I had. But the start cost me fourth and some precious points. Towards the end of the race I star ted to lose some side grip and I couldn't do anything more to try and put pressure on de Angelis. I beat Dovizioso again which is all I can do to try and get fifth in the championship. I really want that fifth to reward all my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3. They've been great and I'll be giving it my all for them in the last two races.”
James Toseland
“I'm really struggling to describe how I feel right now. All I can say is I feel the jump start decision was incredibly harsh and I am extremely disappointed. I have looked at the start on TV and I can't see I've done anything wrong. It is hard for me to take but I've got to try and put it behind me as soon as possible and aim for a strong result in Sepang next weekend. I was confident of a strong race today and I was latched onto the back of the group fighting for fifth. I felt my pace was strong enough to hav e put up a strong fight for a positive result, but the ride through ended all that. I want to thank all my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 for all their hard work and effort this weekend. They have been brilliant as always and I'm not going to let this disappointment stop me from giving my all to finish this season on a high at the last two races.”
