Capirossi disappointed to miss fourth

The Suzuki veteran took advantage of a first-lap crash that sidelined three rivals ahead of him and overtook Gresini Honda's Toni Elias midway through the race.

In the final stages he battled with Honda's Andrea Dovizioso, but after overtaking him on the penultimate lap he was passed back on the last lap and had to settle for fifth place.

"I am very disappointed and quite upset to lose fourth place on the last lap," said the Italian. "I think we deserved it and it would have been a great result for the whole team, Suzuki and all the sponsors.

"Dovizioso was a little bit faster than me on the last lap and although I tried to close the door he overtook me quite fast. I tried to get him back but just didn't do it.

"We got better all weekend and it was a great race for us today and although I am upset at losing out on fourth - because that would have been the best result this year - we are certainly getting closer all the time and I think very soon we will be right up there."

Today was the fifth time this year that Suzuki scored a fifth place, four times thanks to Capirossi and once in the hands of team-mate Chris Vermeulen.

The Australian, who started from 13th spot, ended up ninth after losing some ground at the start by running over the debris of the first-lap crash that was started by Gresini Honda's Alex de Angelis and involved Ducati's Nicky Hayden and Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards.

"I got a good start and got past the whole row in front of me - including Loris," he said.

"But then I was really close to the incident and everyone went so slowly all of a sudden. I went to select first gear and got neutral instead - so that really slowed me down.

"Then I ran over Colin's mudguard and lost a lot of momentum which allowed a lot of guys to get back past me. (Pramac Ducati's Aleix) Espargaro was going well in front of me and it made it difficult for me to get past him and get some consistent lap-times. Once I got past him my speed was quick and good enough for the top-five.

"It's the same old thing though, we need to qualify better and get closer to the front and make life a bit easier. The guys all did a good job this weekend and the package worked well in the race, but our biggest downfall was outright speed because it made it difficult to pass.

"I am now looking forward to a short break, but I can't wait to get back racing again and challenging at the remaining GPs coming up."

Following the cancellation of this year's Hungarian Grand Prix, the next MotoGP event will be the Portuguese GP in three weeks' time.