Carlos Checa freewheeling, talks about Rossi, Yamaha and his expectations...

Interviewed by the website www.motogp.com Carlos Checa
talks about his new teammate Rossi and his expectations
for the 2004 season

These are the words of the Spanish pilot:

“After the tests at Phillip Island I stopped for a day in Australia,”
Checa said. “I shot Eastern Creek for the international presentation
of the new Yamaha R1. Immediately afterwards I flew to London where I managed to
stay at home for a day. I moved to Parliament Square from where I am
it's easy to get to Hyde Park and St. James Square, a very pleasant area
to go out for a jog. Of course I also train regularly in the gym.

In the last three days, however, I have been in France in Aix Les Termes with
my athletic trainer, Jaume, and I alternated cross-country skiing with trekking.
Next Thursday I'm flying to Melbourne for testing
next week, back to Phillip Island. I want to get a little bit in
advance to visit an engine exhibition taking place these days in
occasion of the Formula 1 race.

“The environment in the team has changed a lot. First of all
we have new colors and new sponsors. Rossi's arrival brought people
new, greater economic and technical means. All this has improved the level
of the structure and without a doubt in the end I will benefit from it too.
It's clear that a lot of things are coming to Rossi, he adapted immediately
at Yamaha and is making very good times. For my part, I keep this in mind
that the first race is in South Africa and that is where they start
to give the points. However, this is not to say that Rossi won't do it
well, in fact, quite the opposite.

I'm working with the new frame but I'm certainly not loose at the moment;
I'm looking for a way to feel more comfortable in the saddle. I'm also
waiting for the new engine, which should arrive in the middle of the month, for
the Barcelona tests. Simply put, during the last test they were there
several changes, new components were tested and now, both in Australia,
as in Catalonia, we will see if all this comes together well."

Rossi is the world champion, it seems logical to me that he does well
times. I'm trying different things to develop the bike and they're doing the same
Rossi and Abe. In Sepang and Australia we always tried new things. To Phillip
Island I encountered more problems than necessary and my times in fact
they weren't much. But there's a month and a half left until the start of
world championship and my goal is to be ready for the first race. Not me
I am particularly focused on making exceptional times because I give
relative importance to these things. We're in the middle of work and
the compromises I've found so far aren't the best. What I have is not mine
allows you to do more, at the moment. However, I think that the tests of
next week and those in Catalonia will help us understand clearly
our true level.

More horses? No, what I asked for is to be able to exploit
better the power we have, to find ways to improve the entrance
and cornering, to improve front traction. This is
There's no question about the character of the bike, but I want to try to improve
this area, to ensure that the front wheel is in closer contact
with asphalt..."

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