Top six result brings smiles and satisfaction for Melandri

If Marco Melandri was supposed to be merely making up the numbers on the MotoGP grid in 2009, then someone forgot to tell the Italian. Little was expected of the Hayate Racing rider at Motegi after near-enough a free diary over the winter and a ride without factory support, but grit and a superb performance conspired to give him a top six finish in Japan.
Having said before the season s start that he had nothing to lose , Melandri s is now aiming for more than just damage limitation to his reputation as a rider.
This can be the starting point for something good. I started well, and when (Andrea) Dovizioso made a mistake I got past him. I knew that my pace wasn t like that of the top three, but we were keeping it consistent and we definitely had a good race.
Melandri also couldn t resist the chance to mention one of the highpoints of his race, a cheeky manoeuvre on the teammate who he came nowhere near to matching in his annus horribilis as a Ducati rider.
It was fun to fight with the top guys, and the overtaking move on Stoner was greatly satisfying for me, beamed the Italian.
Among those impressed by Melandri s race was his Crew Chief, Andrea Dosoli.
Marco had a very good start, and he had good confidence with the bike. Consistent lap times were strong for him, and even if we were thinking of using the softer tyres, the decision to run the harder compound worked out ok, said the Hayate Racing team member. We had very little track time, but the advantage for us is having Marco, who is a very good rider and someone who can help us in finding the correct setting.

TAGSJapanMarco MelandriHayate Racing Team

Date published : 27 Apr 200909:47:48

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MOTO GP CURRENT STANDINGS

MOTO GP
250cc
125cc

pos	name	pts
1	Valentino Rossi	306
2	Jorge Lorenzo	261
3	Dani Pedrosa	234
4	Casey Stoner	220
5	Colin Edwards	161
6	Andrea Dovizioso	160
7	Toni Elias	115
8	Alex de Angelis	111
9	Loris Capirossi	110
10	Marco Melandri	108
11	Randy de Puniet	106
12	Chris Vermeulen	106
13	Nicky Hayden	104
14	James Toseland	92
15	Mika Kallio	71
16	Niccolo Canepa	38
17	Gábor Talmácsi	19
18	Aleix Espargaró	16
19	Sete Gibernau	12
20	Ben Spies	9
21	Yuki Takahashi	9

pos	name	pts
1	Hiroshi Aoyama	261
2	Héctor Barberá	239
3	Marco Simoncelli	231
4	Alvaro Bautista	218
5	Mattia Pasini	128
6	Raffaele De Rosa	122
7	Thomas Luthi	120
8	Mike Di Meglio	107
9	Hector Faubel	105
10	Alex Debon	101
11	Roberto Locatelli	85
12	Jules Cluzel	82
13	Ratthapark Wilairot	81
14	Karel Abraham	74
15	Lukas Pesek	74
16	Alex Baldolini	41
17	Shoya Tomizawa	32
18	Gábor Talmácsi	28
19	Shuhei Aoyama	27
20	Aleix Espargaró	22
21	Valentin Debise	18
22	Imre Toth	12
23	Balázs Németh	11
24	Vladimir Leonov	9
25	Axel Pons	3
26	Bastien Chesaux	3
27	Toby Markham	2
28	Kazuki Watanabe	2
29	Steve Bonsey	1

pos	name	pts
1	Julian Simon	289
2	Bradley Smith	223.5
3	Nicolas Terol	179.5
4	Pol Espargaró	174.5
5	Sergio Gadea	141
6	Sandro Cortese	130
7	Andrea Iannone	125.5
8	Marc Márquez	94
9	Joan Olive	91
10	Stefan Bradl	85
11	Simone Corsi	81
12	Jonas Folger	73
13	Dominique Ägerter	70.5
14	Efrén Vazquez	54
15	Scott Redding	50.5
16	Takaaki Nakagami	43
17	Daniel Webb	38.5
18	Esteve Rabat	37
19	Lorenzo Zanetti	37
20	Johann Zarco	32.5
21	Randy Krummenacher	32
22	Luis Salom	21
23	Marcel Schrötter	18
24	Tomoyoshi Koyama	17
25	Michael Ranseder	9
26	Lorenzo Savadori	7
27	Jasper Iwema	3
28	Riccardo Moretti	3
29	Cameron Beaubier	3
30	Gregory Di Carlo	2
31	Marvin Fritz	2
32	Martin Glossop	2
33	Daniel Kartheininger	1

Top six result brings smiles and satisfaction for Melandri

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