Melandri rejects new Honda chassis

Marco Melandri has ditched a new Honda chassis that he tested for the first time yesterday in Mugello.

The Gresini Honda rider only got the dry morning session to evaluate the new frame for his RC212V, but told MCN he was unhappy with its performance and he won’t run it again this weekend.

Instead, Melandri has persuaded Honda to hand him back a chassis he tested for the first time in Le Mans after the French GP.

Melandri scored his first podium of 2007 in the rain-lashed French GP, and at the test used a new frame to help handling performance on his V4 800 machine.

The former world 250 champion said: “Honda gave me a new frame that was different to the one I tested in Le Mans. I didn’t fully understand it in Le Mans because I had a problem with the engine.

“But for Mugello they brought me another one, pretty similar but a bit different. I didn’t find a good feeling with it though. I asked them to come back with the same one I tested in Le Mans but they said it wasn’t available. But I’ll be using that today.”

The 24-year-old said the new chassis he’d received for Mugello had not been specifically designed to his requests, but it had been filtered down from the official factory team and was similar to the one currently being run by Spaniard Dani Pedrosa.

“I think its different stiffness but the geometry is the same. They didn’t say if it was softer or harder.

My feeling is it’s harder because in the dry yesterday I had much more chatter and vibration and that’s why I won’t use it again here (Mugello). I think the chassis comes from the factory team. I don’t actually know.

“I never asked for a chassis. I asked to improve the braking area and the entry of the corner but with the vibration it is difficult,” said the Italian, who is bidding for his first premier class podium on home soil in tomorrow’s Mugello GP.