Capirossi and Barros square up against 4-strokes.

Loris Capirossi and Alex Barros were in the thick of the action during the first Official Practice of the Italian Grand Prix. The fifth race of the season takes place on Sunday at the Mugello Circuit. The closing minutes of the session were tremendously exciting as Carlos Checa, Max Biaggi, Valentino Rossi and Loris Capirossi frantically battled for pole position in temperatures topping 30 degrees. Loris Capirossi once again showed true grit in achieving a front row grid position, while Alex Barros was eighth at the track where he clinched victory last season under a torrential downpour.

"I always give it my all because our goal is to be amongst the leaders and I know that I must take more risks than my competitors," said Capirossi. "Obviously the 4-stroke bikes are much quicker and lap constantly faster. I can pull off one fast lap, but keeping up the pace over the whole race is more complicated. It is hard to take, but it's the truth. Anyway, I think we can improve the bike settings still further so that I can lap more comfortably in those lap times.

"The main problem is still that the bike does not turn as it should," said Barros. " We have improved a little, but there is still work to do as I am finding it difficult staying with the 4-stroke bikes. The goal tomorrow is to lap with race tyres in the low 1min 53's and complete one fast lap in 1min 52'. I think we can achieve this as we have room for improvement. I have already lapped faster than last season and I hope to make further improvements.

"Yamaha made great progress in Le Mans and they seem to have consolidated that progress here in Mugello," said Sito Pons. "This means that there is even more competition for the top places. Our riders can improve still further in this Grand Prix and they are very motivated. During the last two seasons the team, with Alex and Loris, have won the race here and we are looking forward to repeating those victories."