Capirossi: I'm to blame.

Loris Capirossi may have been competing in his 250th grand prix at Jerez on Sunday, but the Italian veteran believes he was to blame for his sub-standard weekend.

Capirossi totally dominated last year's Spanish Grand Prix - taking pole position, race victory and the fastest lap - but the Ducati Marlboro star qualified just 15th for the 2007 edition, which turned to a forgettable twelfth on race day. Meanwhile new team-mate Casey Stoner claimed fifth on the grid, then replicated that position in the 27 lap race.

"This morning we thought we had found a better set-up but the race didn't go well," sighed Capirex. "At the start something happened with the engine, I got a bad start and after... well, I didn't ride so well. We worked on engine mapping this morning but maybe we didn't get it right because I didn't have great acceleration and that made things worse. I'm not happy, I had a bad race. Yes, I finished, but this is not the way I like to race. During the next few weeks we will work on a few things to make sure we start Turkey in better shape."

With his wife Ingrid expecting their first child at any moment, speculation was rife that Loris might - justifiably - have had his mind on other things at Jerez, but the man himself gave a more technical explanation for his lack of pace.

"The track conditions weren't bad today, the tyres worked well, but maybe my riding style doesn't perfectly suit the engine character," said the triple 2006 race winner, who crashed out of the Qatar season-opener. "I'm a bit aggressive with the gas and maybe this is the problem. When we use the electronics to make the power more sweet the bike loses it competitiveness. It's a thing I have to work on - trying to adapt my style."

Meanwhile, Qatar winner Stoner now holds joint second in the championship with Dani Pedrosa - nine points behind Valentino Rossi - after fighting back from ninth at mid-race distance to finish 0.6secs off fourth placed Toni Elias and 2.3 seconds from the podium.

"It wouldn't have been too tough if we'd got away with them at the start but we just didn't seem to have it there at the beginning of the race and then I got shuffled back a fair way by a few dodgy pass manoeuvres," explained the 21-year-old. "Once we'd got our rhythm and finally got past Marco (Melandri) and Carlos (Checa) then we were free to put in some good lap times and push further forward. There were a few stupid manoeuvres out there which lost us a few seconds. The bike and the tyres were okay, so without that dodgy passes we would've been fighting for the podium at the end of the race but that's the way it goes, that's the way the race panned out. Now I'm going back to Australia for these next two weeks to train as hard as I can and get myself set for the rest of the season."