Dovizioso encouraged by early pace

Article from http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2010/Dovizioso+happy+with+Motegi+FP1

Andrea Dovizioso was extremely pleased with how his opening practice at the Grand Prix of Japan went on Friday as he set the second fastest lap time of the hour. The Repsol Honda rider led the session with his time of 1’48.387 but was deprived of top spot by a last-lap effort from Valentino Rossi, and the feeling on his factory RC212V was of great satisfaction to the Italian.
“I’m really happy and surprised because I think we have room to improve, and the other riders are not faster than us,” said Dovizioso, who was part of a top four separated by just 0.307s. “It’s always difficult to start on this track because it’s hard to manage the wheelie, and I think we can improve this and also our acceleration.”
He continued: “We’ve already tried a different set-up in this practice and I think we already have the correct way to work on this track. We didn’t try our front tyre and I think that will improve the stability under braking. I think the pace will be faster if the conditions are okay.”
Dovizioso will be the sole Repsol Honda representative after team-mate Dani Pedrosa was ruled out of Sunday’s race following a crash early in the session which resulted in a fractured collarbone.
“It’s very unfortunate, Dani had a bad crash. I was behind him and it’s always bad luck when you have an injury,” added Dovizioso.