Monterey, 20 July 2008: On a near perfect summer’s day LCR Honda MotoGP Team racer Randy De Puniet gained his best result so far riding the Michelin-shod Honda RC212V in today’s U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca. The Frenchman put in a maximum effort over the 32-lap race and got the sixth place overall at the Californian track.

Randy made a strong start from the sixth place on the grid and started to lap consistently fast ending the first lap in seventh position. After that he battled bravely with Toseland for 12 laps showing his potential on this demanding track closing the race behind the World Champion Nicky Hayden. The race was won by Rossi ahead 46.879 spectators. Now Randy and the LCR Honda MotoGP Team will enjoy the summer break till the next GP at Brno on the 17 of August.

De Puniet – 6th: “After our worst Friday since the beginning of the season, we finally gained a very positive result. We struggled a bit with rear grip in the last two days but at the end the bike set-up was good and I could race as I like. My start was not perfect but I knew I had the potential to race up there. I was behind Toseland for many laps and tried to pass him three times without success. On lap twelfth I passed him pushing to close the gap with Dovizioso and Hayden. I was not able to pass them so decided to keep my position to get this positive result for me and the Team”.


Race:

1 Rossi
2 Stoner
3 Vermeulen
4 Dovizioso
5 Hayden
6 De Puniet
7 Elias
8 Spies
9 Toseland
10 Nakano
11 Hacking
12 Guintoli
13 De Angelis
14 Edwards
15 Capirossi
16 Melandri
17 West

OUT: Lorenzo