Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden endured a difficult race at Misano today, the Australian again struggling with front-end problems and the American crashing out at the second corner after making contact with Loris Capirossi.
 
Their disappointment at the race was nothing, however, compared to their sadness and that of the whole paddock at the news that Shoya Tomizawa had passed away following an incident in the Moto2 race.
 
CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 5th
“I am very, very disappointed with our performance today considering the feeling we found yesterday after a few modifications. The feeling today was completely different from warm-up this morning. I tried to stay with Jorge in the race but I started to make mistakes because the front kept closing. It became a challenge just to make it to the end of the race and hold my position. This is not important today though considering what has happened. I am deeply saddened for Tomizawa, his family and everybody who worked with him. It is something truly terrible and it left me breathless, like a week ago. It was a pleasure to watch him ride and I was looking forward to see him have a great career.”
 
NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati Marlboro Team) DNF
“This hasn’t been a great track for me over the last couple of years. I got quite a good start and made up some positions but on the exit of turn two when I got on the gas and opened up for the next turn I touched with Loris, who was closing his line a little.  I’m sorry but it was a racing incident that can happen at any time and when you start so far back you tend to cross lines. The shifter was damaged and I had to come back in. All this is irrelevant though compared with what happened to Tomizawa. I am really sad, we have lost two riders in two weekends. My thoughts are with his family and his team but I think the whole paddock has been hit hard by this tragedy. At the end of the day we are all brothers here. We have lost a talented kid with a great personality. I loved his style, his determination and the smile he always wore.”
 
VITTORIANO GUARESCHI, Team manager
“This was a very difficult weekend for a lot of different reasons. Firstly we are all feeling the pain and sadness from the loss of Shoya Tomizawa and on behalf of the whole team I would like to pass our condolences to his family and to his team. The race result obviously wasn’t good for us but it is secondary on a day like this. Casey started well but after a couple of laps he had to contend with a bike that did not allow him to run at the front because of a problem that has dogged him all year – front end feel. There’s not much to say about Nicky, he got a good start but unfortunately collided with Loris and his race was over in the second corner.”

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