The Ducati Marlboro Team is down to one man at Phillip Island, Carlos Checa doing a fine job in today's practice and qualifying sessions while team-mate Loris Capirossi continued his recovery in a Melbourne hospital from yesterday's high-speed tumble. Checa ran fastest or second fastest through much of the morning and afternoon sessions, eventually taking fourth spot on the grid, just 0.046 seconds off a front-row start.

"It's a pity that Carlos missed the front row by so little, because he's been doing an incredible job today," said Ducati MotoGP project manager Livio Suppo. "On race tyres Carlos and Valentino Rossi were well ahead of the rest, but we still lack a little with qualifying tyres. Carlos did some very fast, consistent runs with the same tyres in both morning and afternoon sessions, and that's the main thing, that we are looking good on race tyres, which makes us feel pretty confident about tomorrow. Our thanks to Bridgestone for their big effort. Of course, it's a great shame that Loris isn't here because he really loves this track, he's the lap record holder and he's finished on the podium the last two years. We wish him all the speediest of recoveries."

CHECA CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY
Carlos Checa celebrated his 33rd birthday today with some stunningly fast runs on his Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici, suggesting that he will be in the hunt for victory tomorrow. Greeted at the end of qualifying by his team with two birthday cakes and sparklers, the Spaniard is feeling confident even if his performance on qualifying tyres wasn't quite enough to get him onto the front row.



"Getting older. and faster!" grinned Checa, who became the first man to ride a sub-one and a half minute lap of Phillip Island with 15 minutes of this afternoon's session remaining. "Today was a really good day for us, good testing and good work. I feel comfortable on the bike and I'm very happy with the race tyres we've got here, so I was able to do some fast runs. For the race I feel we have the potential to be in the fight for victory. My thanks to Bridgestone and to the team for all their work. and the birthday cakes! I will have a quiet evening tonight so I'm ready for tomorrow. Maybe we'll be able to have a good birthday party tomorrow night. "

CAPIROSSI STABLE IN MELBOURNE
Loris Capirossi is stable and comfortable in Melbourne's Cabrini hospital, following his heavy tumble at Turn One during Friday afternoon practice. The Ducati Marlboro Team rider suffered chest injuries in the fall and is still having bleeding from around his right lung drained. He is expected to leave hospital within the next day or two but has already been ruled out of next weekend's inaugural Turkish MotoGP event.

"Loris is in hospital, being very well looked after by local doctors and a member of the Clinica Mobile staff, he is in some pain but in good spirits," explained Livio Suppo. "We will decide over the next day or so when he will return home to Europe. There are two options: he may be able to fly in a few days, with the chest drain still attached, or wait 12 days or so and fly home normally. For sure he will miss Turkey, which unfortunately means we're now considering a replacement rider for that race."