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The Qatari Grand Prix proved a tough challenge for the Camel Honda riders, as Brazilian veteran Alex Barros struggled with the set-up of his RC221V while Shane Byrne, deputizing again for the injured Troy Bayliss, was still learning the V5 machine. After a particularly difficult weekend of qualifying for Barros at Losail, he rode a determined and fault-free race, but was unable to get involved in the battle at the front. The Brazilian lay in fourteenth at the end of the first lap, and moved up to finish ninth at the flag. “I think that Qatar has been the worst weekend of the year, despite having finished the race in the top ten and even having passed a few guys,” commented Barros. “To be honest I was never able to get a decent enough feeling to aim for a better result and of course, that doesn’t make me happy. I didn’t enjoy it, I was quite slow, I couldn’t battle and to put it simply, I was frustrated. The bike was running well, we worked as well as ever and we found a good set-up. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a suitable front tyre for me on this track. We hope that in Australia where conditions are really different and it’s cooler, Michelin can help me find a solution to improve front end response.” Byrne, who has made significant progress with the Honda in just two weeks, and at a track he had never been to before, took thirteenth place after riding at a good pace throughout. “From a certain point of view I’m quite happy with this race, but from another I’m not so happy,” admitted the Briton. “We got really close to the rest here, but in the race I had a lot of trouble with the front. The team had done a great job with setting up the rest of the bike though. Chassis, suspension, rear tyre, everything was perfect, but just as I began to push I got problems on the front end. I knew that I could go quicker, but every time I tried, I risked going down. It’s a real shame because after the practices we did, I thought we could get into the top ten.


RC221V? Is this the new bike, or a typo?

[Stealth]

Typo