Suppo stays positive despite problems

Reigning champion Casey Stoner suffered a mechanical failure while trying to hold on to third position on lap 21 out of 28, while Marco Melandri had a terrible weekend when after qualifying 17th, his engine switched off at the start and he needed to be push-started.

The two riders ultimately classified in 16th and 15th position respectively, both of them lapped by today's winner Valentino Rossi, who with his Fiat Yamaha now leads the championship with 41 points over fourth-placed Stoner.

"It wasn't our day today," Suppo told Italia1 television.

"However I want to think positive: Stoner rode in an incredible way throughout the weekend, and has demonstrated he can make the difference, because this track is historically better suited to the Yamaha, just like Phillip Island is better suited to us.

"Despite this Stoner was able to stay at the front in qualifying and in the warm-up, and today in the race he did extremely well while he was allowed to.

"He's there, and it's a more enjoyable championship. Last year they were telling us it was boring because he was dominating, so this year we'll try to make our fans enjoy themselves more."

"There's no point looking at things negatively: he rode like a god, the way he knows. When he's in shape he is in my opinion the best rider in the world, and this is a certainty for us that makes us proud."

Suppo then explained that his leading rider didn't just suffer a mechanical problem, but was also troubled by his front Bridgestone tyre.

"Unfortunately Stoner's engine broke down," said the Italian boss. "These things happen. It was a long time since it last happened, but unfortunately it happened.

"On top of that he had a problem with his front tyre, which despite being of the same type as in practice and with the temperatures being similar, after a few laps it stopped working well on the right side, and therefore he had to lean on the knee in order not to fall.

"We've looked at the tyre with our man from Bridgestone, it was an abnormal behaviour, we need to understand what happened."

Suppo hopes that the post-race testing session the team will do on Monday and Tuesday at the French track will allow them to make up the gap.

"We just need to put ourselves in the condition to recover," he concluded. "It's a nice stimulus: we have two days to do so, with many important things to try out."