Ducati Marlboro Team riders Carlos Checa and Loris Capirossi made a strong start to this weekend's season-ending Valencia Grand Prix, ending the day second and fifth fastest. It was a particularly impressive performance from Capirossi, who has been out of racing since last month's Australian Grand Prix, where he crashed heavily, sustaining chest injuries.
This afternoon's session was one of the closest in MotoGP history, Checa just 0.042 seconds off pole, Capirossi 0.266 seconds down, and the fastest 11 riders covered by a mere 0.697 seconds.
"We've made a good start to the weekend," said Ducati MotoGP project manager Livio Suppo. "Most of all, it's amazing to see Loris back on a bike and immediately riding so well. We're very happy about that and we'd like to offer our thanks to Dr Claudio Costa and the staff of the Clinica Mobile. Carlos is doing a good job out there, he was second this afternoon and fastest this morning, when he did a 17 lap run, mostly in the 33s, which shows that the Bridgestones are working well here."


CHECA SECOND, JUST 0.042s OFF 'POLE'
Carlos Checa was a superb second quickest in this afternoon's second practice session, a fraction behind Marco Melandri, after heading this morning's session, just ahead of Sete Gibernau. The Ducati Marlboro Team man, who has scored two podium finishes in the last four races, is aiming to end the season with another top-three podium in front of his home fans.
"It's been quite a positive day for us but we still have some work to do for race pace," said Checa. "This morning I did a fast run but the temperature came up this afternoon, which gave me more movement from the rear tyre. I was losing stability from the rear quite early, so that's what we'll be focusing on tomorrow, when we'll keep working our way through the tyres and trying a few minor suspension adjustments to find more traction. The rest of the bike is fine, I'd say the power delivery is better than when I first rode the bike here last year."

COURAGEOUS CAPIROSSI FIFTH FASTEST
Loris Capirossi made a courageous return to racing at Valencia today, exactly three weeks after his 200kmh/125mph tumble at Phillip Island. Riding in some pain, and experiencing breathing difficulties from the chest injuries he suffered in the crash, the tough little Italian didn't even let a slow-speed tumble (after a collision with Shinya Nakano) prevent him from riding within a fraction of a second of 'pole position'.
"The last three weeks haven't been the best of my life, but riding here and trying hard is what's important to me," said the Ducati Marlboro Team rider. "My thanks to Dr Claudio Costa and the Clinica Mobile staff, who've been very close to me since my accident. I knew it would be difficult to ride here but I asked Claudio to help me, and here we are. This morning Nakano and I made contact with each other, we both crashed but it was nothing serious. This afternoon was better, because the track temperature was higher, and I was able to ride more laps, making some useful adjustments. Unfortunately it's harder than I thought it would be, I can feel the wound in my chest when I'm riding. This makes me breathe faster and shorter which makes riding quite difficult. Anyway, I wanted to ride here and I'm not too slow! My target for the weekend was to understand my condition. Today I made runs of just five or six laps, tomorrow I'll try 15 laps together, then I should be ready for 30 laps on Sunday."