'Two stupid falls' hamper Melandri.

Marco Melandri, the only rider to have won a Turkish Grand Prix since its inclusion on the MotoGP three years ago, suffered an unlucky start to the 2007 event - falling in both the morning and afternoon free practice session.

"Today was more difficult than we expected," admitted the Gresini Honda rider after finishing the day in tenth. "We haven't tested here but I was fast straight away so maybe I was a little too aggressive. I had two stupid crashes, one under braking, the other opening the gas, and in both cases the front folded. That obviously affected our work today but I'm confident we have a big margin to improve. Today I wanted to check our rear tyre choice but I didn't have the right feeling. Tomorrow I'll try a different tyre, following the advice of the Bridgestone technicians and I'm very optimistic. To see three Bridgestone bikes at the front is an added motivation."

"Marco's two crashes didn't help things today and it's a shame because he was looking strong from the start. Marco still has to work on finding the right feeling on the front but he looks calm and confident to me," insisted team manager Fausto Gresini.

Further towards the front was Melandri's team-mate Toni Elias, who set the fifth fastest time at a circuit were he holds the official lap record.

"I'm really satisfied with this first day," smiled the Spaniard. "In the morning we were a little worried about the tyres but in the second half of the afternoon session our choice proved to be the right one. I found a good feeling with the tyres, I'm comfortable on the bike and we also made a small step forward with the set-up. We have to keep working in this way if we are to break into the lead group. The track conditions should be a lot better tomorrow because today it was quite dirty."

"Toni has set a good lap time and he is going well but there is still work to do," declared Gresini.

Crash