Mika Kallio goes for broke with new chassis ahead of Misano GP

In his fight for the 2008 250 cc World Championship title, Red Bull KTM star Mika Kallio decided to go for broke and try out a brand new chassis on Saturday as he chased a good starting position the San Marino and Riviera die Rimini Grand Prix.

KTM Technical Director Harald Bartol had planned to test the new development on Monday after the race, but since the test was cancelled, Kallio decided to take the risk and try out the new chassis straight away. The 25-year-old Finn immediately noticed improved handling characteristics and better corner speed but still reports some traction problems on the corner exits. He eventually had to settle for tenth grid position. Team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama was fastest KTM rider in fifth place, closely followed by Spanish Repsol KTM rider Julian Simon in seventh position.

"We started this weekend with a completely different set-up compared to the last race in Brno two weeks ago, but it worked straight away and I was consistently fast from the first practice session. We tried to further improve things this afternoon with different springs for the front fork, but it seems that the bike steered a little easier before, so we might go back to our previous set-up for the race.

I just missed out on a front row start by a fraction of a second which is a pity, but I still feel confident for the race. I hope to get a good start, because my aim is to hang on to the front group of riders and to stop anybody from getting away!"

"We worked very well today and managed to fine-tune our set-up. My aim was to cut the gap to the fastest guys with a really strong final run in qualifying. Then I ran into traffic and got held up by another rider in the last section of the track, which spoiled my lap time. But we're running at a good pace, we're well prepared for the race tomorrow, my team is doing an excellent job and we really want to go out and do well in the race!"

"We knew we wouldn't be able to get anything more out of the old chassis than we had managed in recent races sp we took the risk and tried a completely new chassis for this race. There are definitely a lot of positive aspects about this frame, but there are also some negative things that we still need to sort out. The good thing is that the new bike is easier to handle and faster in direction changes.

But the overall grip level, on front and rear, seems to be a little bit lower. That's our main problem at the moment. If you don't get enough feedback and a complete feeling of confidence from your tyres, it's difficult to push. Now we have to decide whether to continue with the new chassis tomorrow or go back to the old bike!"

"The improvements with Mika's new chassis are clearly visible in some of the corners, but it's also a fact that we're still struggling in some other areas. We are a little bit down on engine power at the moment we have a smaller air box with the new chassis. And we're still working on a new fuel tank design to compensate for that. It was Mika's decision to take the risk and try out the new chassis in a race this early.

That's completely understandable because he wants to pull all stops in our hunt for the world title. It's now up to us to find the set-up solutions that will enable him to be fully competitive in the race tomorrow!"

- KTM-Sportmotorcycles Mattighofen-