Aoki scrapes elbows.
Nobuatsu Aoki's managed a massive three quarters of a second improvement in today's final qualifying session after chassis geometry revisions and a tyre gamble solved the front-end grip problems he was complaining of yesterday.
It meant he was able to start exploiting the lightweight KR3's cornering speed advantages at the fast, sweeping circuit ... leaning over so far that he was even scraping his elbow on the track as well as his knee-slider.
Nobuatsu Aoki's managed a massive three quarters of a second improvement in today's final qualifying session after chassis geometry revisions and a tyre gamble solved the front-end grip problems he was complaining of yesterday.
It meant he was able to start exploiting the lightweight KR3's cornering speed advantages at the fast, sweeping circuit ... leaning over so far that he was even scraping his elbow on the track as well as his knee-slider.
"The first thing we did was to work on the chassis side, with different steering clamps that brought the forks closer to the steering head without changing the angle, to work the front tyre harder. That was good," explained the Japanese, who will start from 14th on the grid. "Then we tried a wider front rim ... 3.75 inches from 3.60. That was quite early in the final session, and I knew right away it was working better. Then I was able to try for some better times, and I am feeling much more confident than yesterday."
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
