MotoGP and Superbike World Championship Race

Lorenzo Don't Like To Be A Favorite

2010-12-06T14:29:00.000+01:00

Jorge Lorenzo is still amazed by his success became champions 2010 MotoGP season. For the 2011 season alone, he was reluctant to be a championship favorite. Why?

Rate Lorenzo's so impressive in the 2010 season. In 18 series, the Spaniard won nine races in one season or half of the race weekend.

In addition to nine victories earlier, Lorenzo also managed to climb the podium seven times. His worst performance was only finished in fourth position.

Injury Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa are smooth step Lorenzo won the world title. In his first season in MotoGP he won two of the first three series, with one other series completed in second position.

"I was not expecting to undergo such a fun season. It's almost perfect because it can finish with nine wins and be on the podium almost the entire race, you certainly could not ask more than that," she said to Crash.

"Every racer in the world want to be world champion in any category, but mainly in MotoGP. That is the maximum performance you can achieve in the world of motor racing and we did it," said Lorenzo cheerful.

With his performance last season and also crown of world champions, Lorenzo became favorite next season, but the Spaniard not want to be lulled by the predicate.

"I do not like the seals 'favorite' it. All riders will start with zero points before the first race and if you want to keep winning and is on top, you have to work hard."

"If you stop trying so others will overtake. We must work hard and try to be a favorite of people, that's what I want," he ended.

Ducati Hard To Turn

2010-12-06T12:58:00.000+01:00

Bologna - Seven years of riding a Yamaha, Valentino Rossi was not yet
comfortable with his new ride, Ducati. Mechanical mainstay Rossi, Jeremy
Burgess, admitted Ducati heavy to turn.

Rossi will start next year to defend Ducati Ducati motorcycles are trying out
last month in a test in Valencia. In the shoulder which is still injury,
practical Rossi as its motor control with one hand.

In fact, the Ducati is a motorcycle that has a great power. That is, the power
needed to make the Desmosedici maneuver is also quite large.

"Ducati need for more physical than the Japanese motors. Turned
the motor is one issue that we must to work on," Burgess said as reported by
Speed TV.

"You need a little force and it adds to the pressure that we did not expect.
We do not want to take risks," says an Australian expert's motor.

Although there are complaints, Burgess claims that Rossi felt there were many
positives from the Desmosedici. For the record, Burgess is the mainstay of
mechanical Rossi during the past decade and has worked with #46 since in Honda.

"Valentino said that if this bike had a steady grip in the rear and the engine
is perfect," he closed.

Lorenzo Lead Start The British Grand Prix

2010-06-19T21:12:00.000+02:00

Jorge Lorenzo took pole position at Silverstone after beating Randy de Puniet in the last minute qualifying session. Meanwhile, Dani Pedrosa had an incident, fell from his motorcycle.

Lorenzo claimed the best time 2'3,308 s and the right to lead the race for the day next week.

The Spaniard, who is leading the standings, involved a tight battle with Randy De Puniet, and just can not beat that rival his best lap in the last sector.

De Puniet struggles to win the pole end after he fell at the end of the session qualified. Nevertheless De Puniet will start in the second position because no one has surpassed the time he made notes.

Bad luck is also experienced by any other Spaniard, Dani Pedrosa who experienced an incident at the end of the session. He was thrown from his motorcycle, was injured due to medical need help to leave an arena team. The bike was damaged due to hit the guardrail.

Teammate Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso, ranked fourth, followed in succession by Nicky Hayden, Casey Stoner, Ben Spies, Marco Melandri, Marco Simoncelli, and Colin Edwards.

British Grand Prix qualification result :

1.    Jorge Lorenzo    Yamaha Factory    2:03.308
2.    Randy de Puniet    Honda LCR    +00.126
3.    Dani Pedrosa    Honda HRC    +00.278
4.    Andrea Dovizioso    Honda HRC    +00.687
5.    Nicky Hayden    Ducati MotoGP    +01.024
6.    Casey Stoner    Ducati MotoGP    +00.960
7.    Ben Spies    Yamaha Tech 3    +01.169
8.    Marco Melandri    Honda Gresini    +01.121
9.    Marco Simoncelli    Honda Gresini    +01.560
10.    Colin Edwards    Yamaha Tech 3    +01.727
11.    Hector Barbera    Ducati Aspar    +02.046
12.    Hiroshi Aoyama    Honda Interwetten    +02.404
13.    Aleix Espargaro    Ducati Pramac    +02.440
14.    Loris Capirossi    Suzuki MotoGP    +02.513
15.    Alvaro Bautista    Suzuki MotoGP    +03.299
16.    Mika Kallio    Ducati Pramac    +03.672

2010-06-19T20:40:00.000+02:00

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The Amazing Lorenzo..!!!

2010-05-06T17:46:00.000+02:00

Jerez - Jorge Lorenzo's incredible to appear in his own country. He claimed his victory in the last lap MotoGP Spain, beating Dani Pedrosa who led since the start of the race.

Lorenzo made record time was 45 minutes 17.538 seconds. The Fiat Yamaha Team rider was also collected his first victory at this season, after the first series in Qatar, only to be runner up.

The road race
Pedrosa secures pole position as the holder pole. Rossi start well and took two grid from 4th to 2nd. Nicky Hayden followed in third, behind Kentucky Kid was Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner.

Loris Capirossi on lap two after a stray out into the gravel, on lap seven Ben Spies was also out of the race because of tire problems.

In front, Pedrosa looked more steady performance. Slowly but surely he began to leave his rivals. Meanwhile, on 8th lap Lorenzo managed to climb into third position when he take over Hayden.

Until the middle of the race Pedrosa still dominated, while Rossi started "gasping" for approaching the Spaniard's Repsol Honda team.

After entering the race to 20 laps Lorenzo was behind Rossi and applying pressure to his team mate. Lorenzo successful take over Rossi in 22th lap.

Slowly but sure Lorenzo begin to approach Dani Pedrosa who was in front. In 24th lap they were so close, Pedrosa was so threatened.

At least three times Lorenzo trying to beat his rival was good around in the turn and straight tracks, but Pedrosa able to hold it with difficulty. However, when the race entered the last lap, Lorenzo finally succeeded take over Pedrosa in last corner.
Pedrosa had to settle for being runner-up at Jerez, while Rossi finished in third place.

Spain MotoGP final result :

1. Jorge Lorenzo       Fiat Yamaha            45 menit 17.538 detik
2. Dani Pedrosa           RepsolHonda               + 0.543
3. Valentino Rossi       Fiat Yamaha                  + 0.890
4. Nicky Hayden         Marlboro Ducati                   + 9.015
5. Casey Stoner           MarlboroDucati                   + 10.034
6. Andrea Dovizioso    Repsol Honda                + 23.144
7. Mika Kallio             Pramac Ducati            + 34.489
8. Marco Melandri      Gresini Honda     + 34.687
9. Randy de Puniet       LCR Honda           + 36.160
10. Alvaro Bautista       Rizla Suzuki               + 36.791
11. Marco Simoncelli   Gresini Honda          + 37.155
12. Colin Edwards       Tech 3 Yamaha          + 38.260
13. Hector Barbera     Aspar Ducati         + 38.371
14. Hiroshi Aoyama   Interwetten Honda    + 1m02.052
15. Aleix Espargaro     Pramac Ducati          + 3 lap

DNF
Ben Spies           Tech 3 Yamaha      7th lap
Loris Capirossi   Rizla Suzuki            2nd lap

Pedrosa Pole, While Rossi At 4th Place

2010-05-02T03:12:00.000+02:00

Dani Pedrosa makes a good start after bad result in Qatar when the Spanish Honda rider recorded the fastest time in qualifying at the Spanish MotoGP. Pedrosa followed by Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner. While Valentino Rossi will start at 2nd grid.

In the qualifying session on Saturday (01/05/2010), Pedrosa scored 1 minute 39.202. These achievements could not be exceeded its rival, and he was determined to start leading in the race, Sunday (02/05/2010).

The other Spaniard, Jorge Lorenzo became the second fastest rider in the session. The Fiat Yamaha rider who finished runner-up in the first series in Qatar is 0.285 seconds adrift of Pedrosa.

The Ducatiman, Casey Stoner, who defended the fall in the first series of successful start behind Lorenzo and Pedrosa after a record third best time. He also completed three drivers who start in the front row.

Meanwhile, the first series championship in Qatar and Lorenzo's teammate, Valentino Rossi will start at only four positions in the race later. Rossi will company with nicky hayden (Ducati Marlboro Team) in 5th position and Randy de Puniet (Honda LCR) at six position.

Complete result for ualications :
Position               Riders                                    Team                      Time
1                         Dani PEDROSA    Repsol Honda Team                       1'39.202
2                         Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team                  1'39.487
3   Casey STONER              Ducati Marlboro Team                    1'39.511
4                         Valentino ROSSI             Fiat Yamaha Team      1'39.558
5                         Nicky HAYDEN             Ducati Marlboro Team       1'39.560
6                         Randy DE PUNIET         LCR Honda MotoGP                      1'39.591
7                         Colin EDWARDS            Monster Yamaha Tech 3        1'39.970
8                         Ben SPIES                       Monster Yamaha Tech 3         1'39.989
9                         Andrea DOVIZIOSO      Repsol Honda Team 1'40.021
10                       Marco MELANDRI        San Carlo Honda Gresini    1'40.027
11                       Loris CAPIROSSI           Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'40.206
12                       Hiroshi AOYAMA           Interwetten Honda MotoGP            1'40.322
13                       Alvaro BAUTISTA    Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'40.416
14                       Hector BARBERA   Paginas Amarillas Aspar 1'40.482
15                       Aleix ESPARGARO         Pramac Racing Team 1'40.555
16                       Marco SIMONCELLI      San Carlo Honda Gresini                1'40.586
17                       Mika KALLIO                 Pramac Racing Team                       1'40.803

Rossi Ready For Sunday

2010-05-01T02:00:00.000+02:00

#46 admitted to not be able to perform maximally in this weekend's Spanish MotoGP. The statement he optimism following the change to be a free practice session I had endured.
Were obtained back injuries while riding motocross Rossi doubt that makes him not be able to perform maximal at Jerez on Sunday (02/05/2010) future. Despite a three-week rest, the back of The Doctor seemed to have not recovered properly.
However, these conditions changed after the champion's Fiat Yamaha follow the first session of free practice on Friday (30/05/2010) local time yesterday. Though still a bit annoyed, Rossi was optimistic because he did not have to go down to the track using pain relievers.
"My shoulders are a little sick, especially on two or three areas where to brake hard, but most importantly I was able to race. Of course this pain makes it harder, but I could eat 25 laps today without pain relief, and sense pain did not increase, "Rossi said in Autosport.
Rossi optimism that injury will not interfere with performance on Jeres, Sunday (02/05/2010) tomorrow can be known precisely when she began complaining about the condition of the motor.
"We need to add grip in the rear to be more competitive, because now it makes us more slowly than the injury that I experienced,"

Stoner Catch The First

2010-04-29T17:09:00.000+02:00

Spanish MotoGP rarely gives good results for Casey Stoner. After failing to finish in the series premiere, Ducati champion will seek its first victory at Jerez.

Total has 20 races won by Stoner in the MotoGP class since he joined the class of 2006. However, the amount and the period he has not even become the champion in Jerez.
Note best he could off the circuit is a third place finish in 2009 last season. Plus failure to finish in the opening series, Qatar then, Stoner desire to reap its first victory at Jerez bigger.
"In the past until now, this is not one of my favorite tracks, but we make a step forward last year and could finish on the podium. We started from scratch on this occasion and on Friday we will work hard to find the settings for the race," said Stoner in MCN.
In addition to the three positions gained last season, Stoner since the 2006 season in a row could only finish in 6th place, 5th and 11st. Conditions are much different from one host rider, Dani Pedrosa is in fact always been the podium since 2005.
"You need a good handling for this track and also a good stability and I think the direction we're taking GP10 related development will help us competitive in this coming Sunday," Stoner concluded optimistically.

MotoGP Race Schedule 2010 Season

2010-02-10T14:42:00.002+01:00

Date                      Circuit                       Country

April 11th                            Losail                                          Qatar
April 25th                            Japan                                          Twin Ring Motegi
May 2nd                             Spain                                           Jerez
May 23rd                           France     Le Mans
Juni 6th                              Italy                                             Mugello
Juni 20nd                           British                                         Silverstone
Juni 26th    Netherlands    Assen
July 4th    Spain Catalunya
July 18th                            Germany                                     Sachsenring
July 25th                            USA                                            Laguna Seca
August 15th   Czech Republic Brno
August 29th USA Indianapolis
September 5th San Marino     Misano
September 19th Hungary    Balatonring
October 10th Malaysia Sepang
October 17th Australia    Phillip Island
October 31st                     Portugal                                       Estoril
November 7th                   Spain                                           Valencia

Debut World Champion 250cc 2009 On Honda RCV212V

2009-11-10T07:35:00.000+01:00

Hiroshi Aoyama ride on Honda RCV 212V without electronics rider aids

The world champion 250cc last edition, Hiroshi Aoyama took to the track for his first ever MotoGP test aboard a Honda RC212V at Valencia on Monday and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Aoyama has been recruited by Daniel Epp to ride a satellite Honda in MotoGP next year as new team Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team but still riding in Scot colours.

Aoyama finished the last place from 17 riders at the half day test, but that might not be too much of a surprise considering he had been celebrating late into the night and chose to switch off the electronic rider aids.

Nonetheless he enthused, “It was the first time to try the MotoGP bike and it was a great experience for me”.
“Today we started a little bit later than the other riders as last night we celebrated my 250 title, yesterday my dream came true and today a new adventure starts. Even if I knew that I was going to ride a MotoGP bike, till yesterday I was 100 per cent focused on the 250.

“Today I tested a four-stroke MotoGP bike for the first time. We lapped without traction control and electronic system [anti wheeling] to get used to the new machine,” he confirmed.

“I was not used also to carbon brakes so today I concentrated to study the carbon brakes. Compared to 250cc there was a big difference on the brakes, so I could not get such a good feeling today, but it was ok for a first try. I still have two more days testing this week so the target will be to get the right feeling. For me everything was new today, new bike, new team so the first thing was to make laps and study the bike. Tomorrow we have the whole day to test, this would be very important as today we only completed 40 laps.”

Aoyama's best lap was 5.3s behind Casey Stoner (Marlboro Ducati) time and 2.7s behind the other MotoGP rookie, Marco Simoncelli (Honda Gresini).

Bautista Debut In MotoGP

2009-11-10T06:46:00.000+01:00

The first touch MotoGP with Suzuki

After ended the 250cc season 2009 Alvaro Bautista making debut a MotoGP during testing at Valencia Monday as Rizla Suzuki rider to replace Cris Vermeulen.
The Spaniard was 125cc world champion in 2006 and an eight time race winner in the 250cc class, was also making his four stroke debut at the test and finished the day with 52 laps with best time was a 1'35.772s.

The time was 0.543s behind top rookie, Morco Simoncelli (Gresini Honda), who has previous experience on a four stroke, including a podium finish in the Imola World Superbike round.
His time was only 0.853s slower than Vermeulen's best race lap.

“We have been delighted to see Álvaro riding the bike today - as well as him smiling a lot and basically enjoying himself,” declared Rizla Suzuki team manager Paul Denning. “He has never ridden a four-stroke motorcycle before - let alone a MotoGP machine - so to make a lap-time in the 1min 35sec within 50 laps of riding the GSV-R is very encouraging. He is already starting to feel a part of the bike and the team. Overall from both sides it has been a good first day of the test, so let's hope we can continue upwards tomorrow.”

“I would firstly like to welcome Álvaro to the team and the whole crew is looking forward to working with him,” he said. “I have been very impressed by the way he took to the bike today and his feedback has been excellent considering it is his first time on a MotoGP machine. His times are also very pleasing, but that is not the important thing right now. We need to get him familiarised with the bike and then we can start making adjustments and improvements that will help him to improve on his times. He has already gelled with the team and he looks like being a big asset to Suzuki.”
Tom O'Kane as crew chief comments his impresion for new Suzuki rider as quoted from crash.net.

The other Rizla Suzuki rider, Loris Capirossi used the short afternoon session to begin testing new components for the 2010 GSV-R. 'Capirex' began by evaluating a new cowling designed to improve cornering confidence in windy conditions and also tested some new Akrapovic exhaust systems.

“The test this afternoon has not been too bad for us, because the weather was so similar to yesterday we were able to do back-to-back comparisons on a couple of things without having to worry about outright lap-times,” he claimed. “We will make some big changes tomorrow because we have a lot of time and also a lot of things to try. We got a better feeling today than we had all weekend and the new cowling and pipes certainly made a bit of difference. It will be really important to get a full day tomorrow and make sure we understand the direction we are going in. I think already that the direction for 2010 is clear and that we can improve a lot.”

“The new cowling design that Loris tested was not a fundamental fix, but it has certainly helped his confidence,” “Although the ultimate lap-time isn't important the biggest benefit has been that his consistency and rhythm has improved a great deal. Along with some other detailed test items it has been a productive afternoon for Loris and small first step towards improving our level in 2010.”
Paul Denning stated as quoted from crash.net

Rizla Suzuki will test for a full day on Tuesday and another half-day on Wednesday morning.

Dominated Pedrosa Win At Valencia

2009-11-09T11:11:00.000+01:00

Repsol Honda rider closed this season with victory at home race

Dani Pedrosa won at his race home at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana, the Repsol Honda rider dominated race from start to finish and closed the 2009 with nice result.

The drama started before the race had even commenced, poleman, Casey Stoner’s high-side crash on the warm-up lap meant he was unable to take his place on the grid. That allowed Pedrosa to lead the charge from his position on the front row, and after taking the first corner in the lead the Spaniard never relinquished it. With Stoner absent from the race Pedrosa take the advantage and sealed third spot in the overall standings.

World Champion Valentino Rossi finished in second place with gap 2.630s behind Pedrosa and this was his 13th podium of the season.
The other Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo, who did well to hold onto his bike when a moment on the opening lap almost threw him off, took third place.

Casey Stoner ended the season in fourth place overall, Colin Edwards who finished in fourth place to shifted Andrea Dovizioso in the 2009 standings.
In the fifth place there was Nicky Hayden, who rode aggressive to held off the challenge of Toni Elías. The Spaniard came in sixth in his final race with the San Carlo Honda Gresini team.

Wildcard Yamaha rider Ben Spies rode to an impressive to finished at seventh placed, 'The Elbowz' passed Dovisiozo and make The Italian lose fifth place in the championship. A good progress from Spies since from Friday free pratice until the race he make step advanced.

Followed Spies there was Andrea Dovisiozo, who lose fifth place in championship finished eighth.
Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) the Rookie of the Year at nineth, while Toni Elias team-mate, Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) closed the top ten finished.

Hiroshi Aoyama Claim The Last 250cc World Champion

2009-11-09T09:09:00.000+01:00

A dramatic race for the last 250cc class when Hiroshi Aoyama seized the title at Valencia

Hiroshi Aoyama finally taken the last 250cc class world champion 2009 after finished seventh place at the

Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana on Sunday, with Héctor Barberá (Pepe World Team) winning the race at his home race.

The other Spaniard, Álvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar Team) and Aoyama team-mate, Raffaele de Rosa (Scot Racing) completed the podium.

The Honda rider only needed to finished at 11th or higher to secure his first championship and the final 250cc title before the category is replaced by the new Moto2 class from next year.

Exhilirating at lap nine Aoyama almost ended the race when he avoided Barbera in the corner and out to the sand, lucky he can controlled his bike and back to the track and dropped down to 11th.

In lap ten Aoyama take Baldolini to make secure at tenth place. His task was made easier when riders in the front line were retired one by one started from Mike de Meglio, Jules Cluzel followed get down and make Aoyama at 8th place for a while.

Hiroshi Aoyama actually to be world champions 250cc when race still run when his nearest title rival Marco Simoncelli crashed out while leading with seven laps to go.
Spaniard Hector Barbera won the race, whoever thought Barbera finally stand up as runner up at the championship and shifted Simoncelli at the third? This result make good provisions because he will move to MotoGP at 2010 season.

Alex Debon, who was quickest in qualifying on Saturday but crashed late in the session and suffered a suspected broken rib that meant he was unable to race, so Simoncelli started from pole.

Simon Close 125cc Season With Victory

2009-11-09T06:57:00.000+01:00

The last Bancaja Aspar riders duel

The Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana be the third success for Bancaja Aspar to finished straigh one-two their riders.
It's also for the third times Simon had snatched victory from his team-mate, Smith.
This time it was Smith who made the mistake, running wide with four laps to go and gifting Simon the lead, but Smith battled back to within striking distance as the last lap began.

It's like Smith desperate to beat Simon, made a lunge for the lead early in the lap, but Simon cut straight back inside on the exit. Smith then struck again under braking at the end of the back straight, only for Simon to nip back past through the twisty sections.

That set up a last turn showdown, with late-braking star Simon taking a defensive inside line, while Smith opted for a wide entry to try and blast past on the exit. It did not work and Simon finished 0.220s ahead and takes his seventh win of the season.

Double 2009 winner Pol Espargaro (Derbi Racing Team) take the last podium after finished at third place riding on lonely race, but his point not enough to deprive Terol for final standing for championship.
Although Nicolas Terol (Jack & Jones Aprilia) only finished in tenth place, he sealed third in the season’s overall standings.

A thrilling when seven riders fight for fourth place went right to the flag with Simone Corsi on top by just 0.34sec from Germany wild-card, Marcel Schrotter (Toni Mang Honda team) with Joan Olivé (Derbi Racing Team), Efrén Vázquez (Derbi Racing Team), Sandro Cortese (Ajo Interwetten) and Randy Krummenacher (Degraaf Grand Prix) followed behind.

Top ten Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana

1. Simon (Aprilia)
2. Smith (Aprilia) +0.220sec
3. Espargaro (Derbi) +12.123sec
4. Corsi (Aprilia) +17.577sec
5. Schrotter (Honda) +17.917sec
6. Olive (Derbi) +18.334sec
7. Vazquez (Derbi) +18.502sec
8. Cortese (Derbi) +18.553sec
9. Krummenacher (Aprilia) +18.731sec
10. Terol (Aprilia) +21.280sec

Stoner Takes Valencia Pole

2009-11-08T07:07:00.000+01:00

Third Stoner pole of the season

Casey Stoner will start race at the first position after he claims his third pole of the year during qualifying at Valencia. Fastest in free practice, Stoner dominated the one hour qualifying session, he locked the first place ahead home Spanish stars Daniel Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) and Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha).
Australian, who won from pole at Valencia last year, will be fighting for his third race victory in a row on Sunday having been classified second, first and first since his comeback from a three round break to treat fatigue problems.

The world champion MotoGp 2009, Valentino Rossi will start the race from fourth place. The Italian has taken seven poles this year, more than any other rider won the 2009 BMW Best Qualifier award.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider, Colin Edwards start at fifth place. Stoner team-mate, Nicky hayden claims the last second row at sixth position. The 'Kentucky Kid' made a good progress with his Ducati in several series.

Randy de Puniet put on an excellent display for much of the session, the Frenchman will start from seventh, while another Spaniard, Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini) at eighth place.
2009 World Superbike champion Ben Spies, who race as wild card for Yamaha made the good adaption in MotoGP. 'The Elbowz' who had been 15th in Friday practice, then 12th on Saturday morning finally set up the his place in nineth position at qualifier.
Spies, who qualified a best of fifth at Indianapolis last season, is riding a fifth YZR-M1 and will replace James Toseland at Tech 3 Yamaha in 2010.

Andrea Dovizioso will start at tenth position, Mika Kallio (Aspar Ducati) and Toni Elias team-mate, Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) will joining with him at 4th row.
Rizla Suzuki rider #65, Loris Capirossi in 13th, while Toseland's last MotoGP race before switching back to WSBK will begin from a disappointing 14th on the grid.

Marco Melandri qualified his Hayate-run ZX-RR 15th for Kawasaki's last MotoGP race, Aleix Espargaro who replace Niccolo Canepa at the 16th position followed by Gabor Talmasci (Scot Honda) at 17th.
Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki) will start his final grand prix for the foreseeable future from a disastrous 18th and last.

Debon Claims 250cc Valencia Pole

2009-11-08T06:07:00.000+01:00

Alex Debon cashes after securing 250cc pole

Alex Debon who's claimed the last 250GP season pole position during qualifying at Valencia on Saturday, then crashed heavily just seconds after setting his best lap time.

The Aeropuerto Castello Blusens rider improved on his pole time with one minute to go, with a time 1’36.116s. Instead of celebrating his second pole of the year, he was taken to the Clinica Mobile, where a suspected broken rib was diagnosed.

Following Debón onto the front row of the grid, Marco Simoncelli (Metis Gilera) improved on his free practice times to take second place. The other Spaniard, Héctor Barberá (Pepe World Team) will start from the third of the row, while Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT SAG), who claimed his first front row start at fourth place.

Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Honda), who will start race with a 21 point advantage over defending world champion Marco Simoncelli and therefore just needs to finish in the top eleven to claim world champion 250cc class qualified in fifth position. Thomas Luthi (Emmi Caffe Latte), Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) and Mattia Pasini (Paddock GP Racing Team) joining with Aoyama at second row.

The last slot for top ten contain former title contender, Alvaro Bautista (Aspar Aprilia) who will in moving to MotoGP in 2010 at nineth place, while another Spaniard Hector Faubel in tenth place.

The new Moto2 class will replace 250GP from 2010. The first 250cc World Championship was held during the inaugural year of motorcycle grand prix racing, in 1949.

125cc World Champion To Lead The Valencia Race

2009-11-08T04:29:00.000+01:00

Julian Simon Claims the last pole at this season at Valencia

Julian Simon secured his seventh pole position at this season at Valencia track on saturday qualifying.
Simón set up his fastest lap 1’41.472s, Simone Corsi (Fontana Racing) tucked in behind Simon at just the right time and was towed up to second position, just 0.004sec from pole.

Simon's team-mate and runner up for championship Bradley Smith, at the third place, 0.358s from him.
KTM factory rider, Marc Marquez will start from fourth position.

The second row will comprise Joan Olivé (Derbi Racing Team) at fifth place, Nicolas Terol (Jack & Jones Team), that has a 15 point lead over Pol Espargaro for third in the championship qualified in sixth. Young German wild card Marcel Schrotter (Toni Mang Team) to continue his impressive weekend by qualifying in seventh and Pol Espargaró (Derbi Racing Team) at eighth.

Scott Redding, who experienced a spill in the final minute qualify in ninth place, and Sandro Cortese (Ajo Interwetten) at tenth place to complete top ten of qualifying.

Laverty Stay At Palkargar

2009-11-04T07:52:00.000+01:00

Miguel Praia set to Eugene Laverty team-mate

Eugene Laverty finished runner-up to Cal Crutchlow in this year’s standings after a season-long battle until last series at Portimao is on the verge of re-signing with Parkalgar Honda for 2010.

Although Laverty was issue to follow Crutchlow by graduating to the Superbike or switch to the newly formed Moto2 he choice to stay with his old team to steady next season.

Laverty who won four races (Qatar, Assen, Kyalami and Portimao) was the best honda rider, ahead of Ten Kate.
Miguel Praia, Portugal rider will set to be Laverty's team-mate.

To Be The Best Of The Rest

2009-11-04T07:27:00.000+01:00

The last race to set final place at championship

Valentino rossi may has sealed the world champion for MotoGP, but the last series at Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana will show of violent competition.

'The Doctor' Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo had 90% secured the second place for championship with a 25 point margin between him and Casey Stoner, it's mean he just need 1 point to safe the place.

Casey Stoner, who make brillian comeback after illness with 1 runner up and 2 winner series will try to maintained third place from Dani Pedrosa who left behind 11 point.
A big chance for the Australian, because he had good record at Valencia with victory last year and second the season before.
For Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa he will show to his team that he appropriate was maintained for next season.

Andrea Dovizioso and Colin Edwards will fight for fifth place with 6 point difference between them.
Exciting to fight seventh place, there are six candidates to competition. Marco Melandri (Hayate Racing), Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki), Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini), Toni Elías (San Carlo Honda Gresini), Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki) and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) are all separated by just seven points from positions seven to 12.

Valencia also will become debut for world champion Superbike 2009, Ben Spies as a wildcard for Yamaha in preparation for his first full MotoGP season with Monster Yamaha Tech 3 in 2010.

The Last 250cc Class Battle...

2009-11-03T08:00:00.000+01:00

Hiroshi just need finish eleventh to be world champion 250cc class

Hiroshi Aoyama's struggle to become world champion 250cc class the season depended results that were achieved in Valencia this Sunday. After prevailing in his epic battle with Marco Simoncelli at Sepang, Hiro one step closer to his aim.

Simoncelli had narrowed the gap at the top of the standings to just 12 points right now be 21 point after lost duel head to head against Aoyama. Simoncelli's bad luck continued when he passed by Barbera exact in the line finish that was determined by photo finish.
Simoncelli must win at Valecia and, while Aoyama would need to finish no lower than eleventh to maintained his degree.

Héctor Barberá could mathematically take the second position, but he would need to finish second or higher

at Valencia and hope for poor result for 'Super Sic'. Barberá has a good record at this circuit, having finished inside the top five on five occasions in the 250cc and 125cc classes.

Álvaro Bautista hopes to close this season with good result at his home race. Two crash in three races that's not a good provisions to race in MotoGP next season.
He still had a chance to end this season at third place with condition he finish ahead Barbera.

Spanish Riders Battle

2009-11-03T06:49:00.000+01:00

Simon looking for three successive victories at Valencia

Bancaja Aspar rider, Julian Simon still looking for victory of this season although he had crowned world champion 125cc class.
If Simon win at Valencia in the final race of the season it's would make the Spaniard the first rider to take three successive victories in the 125cc class since Alvaro Bautista in 2006.

The other top riders this season will show the battle between Nicolas Terol versus Pol Espargaro. Terol who's in the third position lead 15 point from Espargaro will try finish in front Espargaro to secured third position.

To remind Terol finished second at Valencia last season, while Espargaró’s best placement at the track is
sixth, in his debut season in 2006.

FTR Moto2 Project Ready Next Season

2009-10-30T03:16:00.000+01:00

FTR will supply bikes for Moto2 team next year

The owner of Fabrication Techniques Racing (FTR), Steve Bones, spoke to motogp.com this week to explain how the British constructors are progressing with their Moto2 project, via private development and testing and through their recent participation in the Spanish national championship (CEV Buckler).
The firm of chassis specialists ran a Moto2 bike at the CEV Catalunya race weekend earlier this month, using their own prototype design incorporating Ohlins suspension, Marchesini wheels, Brembo brakes and Dunlop tyres, with plans for further participation in the competition at the two remaining rounds at Jerez and Valencia.
Company chief Bones provided details on how the project is developing and what the next steps will be as they look to confirm contracts with teams in the new Moto2 World Championship category for 2010.
Firstly can you explain how FTR is approaching Moto2?
“We are purely constructors, we don’t intend to have any team involvement. We intend to design and build race bikes and offer them as a constructer would, then the teams would buy them from us and run them as they see fit.”
“We have been long established in making parts for teams over the years, but never actually in a position where we have put out our own design to show what we can do ourselves. This is the beauty of Moto2 in my opinion, in that it gives us an opportunity to show what we are capable of doing in an environment which is not cost prohibitive.”
Who are you targeting in terms of the types of clients you aim to work with in Moto2?
“The main market place for us is the World Championship with Moto2, but it is wider than that too. We have built the bike with Grand Prix in mind and we are talking with four teams with regard to GP. We are also talking to teams in Spain with regards to bikes in the Spanish domestic championship and with two teams in Germany, but the running of Moto2 bikes in the IDM (German national championship) is still yet to be confirmed.”
“For GP, we are talking with Team Germany, with Ajo Motorsport, with the sponsors of the G22 Racing Team and with Stop And Go Racing, so there are a few teams we are in negotiations with at the moment.”
Why was it so important for you to start participating in the Spanish national championship?
“From a constructors point of view it is essential that you get amongst your competition. When you are testing on your own you don’t know where you are. You have got to be in there competing so that you know your strengths and weaknesses and the Spanish championship for us is the only place where we can do that at the moment. Because FTR is a new brand, although we have been involved in Grand Prix racing for many years, not everyone knows what we have done in the past.”
“As soon as the bike rolled out at Barcelona though, the attitude towards us switched immediately. People could see the quality of the bike and the thought and effort that had gone into the machine. We looked at the race weekend as an event to get the bike out, show people what we had done and show that it is for real and then all of a sudden the doors open and you are in a position to actually talk about the bike.”
“The bike isn’t up to speed yet, it has had limited testing time and we are still at the bottom of the development curve, but it is showing all the right signs. I am completely confident that it is going to be up there with the best of them.”
What was your experience of the Catalunya race weekend in general?
“The weekend went much better than we anticipated. Diego Lozano is an excellent feedback rider and he was under instructions not to push the bike too hard and not to crash, because it was the only bike we had.”
“He qualified 23rd and we were so impressed with a bike that had only covered 100m before leaving the pit-box on Friday morning, so we thought we may as well put the bike in the race. Unfortunately the clutch started slipping on lap three and the bike retired on lap 13. I think the clutch was damaged on the grid, but it is all part of the learning curve.”
“We are going to put the bike out again at Jerez and Valencia with the Joe Darcey team running it again and with Graeme Gowland riding it.”
FTR are technical partners to more than 70 racing teams worldwide and count Suzuki, Yamaha, Ducati and Team Roberts amongst their clients past and present.

source from motogp.com

Bancaja Aspar Riders 125cc For 2010 Season

2009-10-30T03:01:00.000+01:00

Bancaja Aspar manager, Jorge Martínez set the 125cc team for 2010 season

Bancaja Aspar 125cc team who to be World Champions this year with rider Julián Simón and secured the runner up with Bradley Smith is striving for more success next season.

The team has looks set to comprise another competitive rider line-up next year.
At last weekend’s at Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix Jorge Martínez confirmed the recruitment of talented Spanish rider Nicolas Terol and continues to negotiations with Bradley Smith to renew his contract for 2010 season before the end of the current campaign.

As quoted from Motogp.com Jorge Martinez said, “We are getting close to finalising things with Bradley Smith and we have confirmed with Nico Terol,” Martínez stated. “So I hope to continue with the same high level of competitiveness with our 125cc team and fight for the title again.”

Details of the 125cc team Bancaja Aspar project for 2009 should be announced at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana next week.

Amazing Spies.......

2009-10-25T18:44:00.001+01:00

Ben Spies will go to MotoGP as the new World Superbike Champion

Having win the opening race to make gap 15 point advantage over Noriyuki Haga who DNF Ben Spies only 10 point to secured World Champions Superbike 2009 no matter where Haga finished.

Although the race 2 Haga finished in second place and Spies in fifth, that's not enough for Haga to take the title. He lose six points in championship from Spies as long as epic season long battle

The race 2 was won by Noriyuki Haga's team-mate Michel Fabrizio, who passed Jonathan Rea on the final lap. The Northern Irishman would go on to make a further mistake to slip behind Haga too. Shane Byrne finished fourth, ahead of Spies and Max Biaggi.

An outstanding weekend for Yamaha having secured the MotoGP title by Valentino Rossi, World Supersport title by Ben Spies and Wolrd Supersport by Cal Crutchlow on the same day.

Laverty Win The Last Series

2009-10-25T18:19:00.000+01:00

Finish at 4th was enough to bring Cal Crutchlow become World Champion Supersport 2009

Cal Crutchlow become the new World Champion Supersport 2009 after his fourth place result in the final race of the season at Portimao Portugal.

Eventhough he just need to finish at tenth place Crutchlow shied away from challenging for the victory. Cal become the first non from Ten Kate Honda rider to win the title in seven years.

The race was won by Crutchlow rival in championship, Eugene Laverty doing exactly what he needed to do in claiming a dominant victory on Parkalgar Honda’s home ground.

The race run was not interested, particularly compared to many of the epic races that have defined the 2009 season, Laverty got a good start from pole position to take a lead he wouldn’t lose into the opening bend.

Followed by Kenan Sofuoglu, Crutchlow would run third initially before being passed by the Joan Lascorz. The Spaniard would also get the better of Sofuoglu on lap three, but his hopes of overhauling the Turk for third in the standings were dashed just moments later when he crashed out of the race.

Laverty had opened up gap time lead over fellow Sofuoglu, the Irishman sprinting to the chequered flag to win his fourth race of the season by 3.4secs.

Crutchlow just defend his position until the race end, eventhough he passes by Garry Mc Coy who ride Triumph Cal still ride calm, not provoked to act careless.

h the finish, a strategy he stuck to on lap eight when he refused to get embroiled in a fight with the charging Triumph of Garry McCoy, the Briton preferring to let him into third place.

Crutchlow was left to simply shadow McCoy, crossing the line to become Britain’s first World Supersport champion by five points.

The Stoner Second Victory After Comeback

2009-10-25T17:07:00.000+01:00

Casey Stoner win at Sepang with wet race, while Rossi sealed world champions

Ducati Marlboro Team rider Casey Stoner took his second victory in Sepang with wet race condition, where his team-mate Nicky Hayden picked up fifth place.
A heavy tropical downpour just moments before motogp riders take the start saw the race delayed by 36 minutes, and the race was stated in the wet condition.

After taking the lead on the first lap the Australian opened up an advantage of almost four seconds by the end of the second circulation increasing it lap by lap to over 17 seconds at one point as he stormed to his fourth victory of the season, becoming the first rider ever to win at Sepang from the second row of the grid.

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) at who make a good start finished at the second place. After passed by Stoner Pedrosa could not approach and even was left far until the race was finished.

The last podium took by Valentino Rossi at the same time to stopped Lorenzo's opposition for world

championship. The Italian make bad start when race began, slow but sure he he passed the other riders to be the front row. Saw he will finished at fourth place, but a mistakes from Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda Team) sent "the doctor" to third.
Rossi's team-mate and rival for the championship, Jorge Lorenzo only finished in 4th position, that's buried for title.

Nicky Hayden also finished an excellent race of wet weather riding as he guided his Desmosedici GP9 to fifth place from seventh on the grid. The 'Kentucky Kid' was involved in a series of breathtaking battles throughout the 22 lap affair, passing Loris Capirossi and Toni Elias with his trademark style, determination and fighting to complete big five.

The Bloody Duel..!!!

2009-10-25T11:22:00.000+01:00

Hiroshi fourth victory at Sepang this season brought him to closer to the world champion

Hiroshi Aoyama one step closer to be world champions for 250cc class after win at Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Sepang with 21 point advantage over Marco Simoncelli on Sunday.

Jules Cluzel make a good start turned his first ever front row start into the race lead at turn one, and did his growing reputation no harm at all by continuing to lead the race until he overtaken by Simoncelli on lap 4 of 20.

Defending world champions, Simoncelli had fought has way forwards from just eighth on the grid, passes Aoyama on lap three.
Aoyama had lost the position and back to fourth after a botched attempt to take the lead from Cluzel early in the race, but the Scot Honda rider not wasted time to be back in second position, behind Simoncelli.

The really bloody duel happened in middle lap (lap 11 from 20 laps). Aoyama then decamped for the lead into the final hairpin, but Simoncelli kept the inside line and chopped firmly across the Japanese on the exit forcing Aoyama over the kerb.

Unlucky Jules Cluzel fell from third at the halfway mark, while a nightmare race for the Aspar Aprilia team saw Mike di Meglio and then Alvaro Bautista lowside out of the lead group on lap five and six respectively, it's mean Bautista ended for championship title battle.

Aoyama displeasure at the incident and momentarily lost the gap from Simoncelli, but he and regained second by the end of the lap.
Hiroshi repeated the hairpin move with more success on lap 11 but was repassed by Simoncelli on the home straight, pushed Simoncelli wide at turn one and then lost out to Simoncelli again at turn two!

Fail that's not mean to surrender, Aoyama try again to took over the race with a surprise pass on lap 13, prompting a repeat of the side by side action through turns one and two, and success to overtake Simoncelli.
Lead the way, Aoyama built gap time from Simoncelli who started lost the speed and tyre of grip, while "Super sic" more slower Barbera approached to seize the runner up with six laps to go.

Simoncelli had been desperate to To pursued aoyama, the Japanese was able to do in the closing stages, building a one second lead with five laps to go before riding to a vital fourth victory of the season by 6.397sec

Barbera's attempt to pass Simoncelli at the last turn in hairpin, but Simoncelli still lead the way. The Spaniard don't give up and pushed for last in straight tracks. Both riders passed the same time at finish line.
A lengthy video review followed before Race Direction declared that it was a dead heat, but that Barbera had been awarded second position over the Metis Gilera rider because of a faster race lap.

With this result Aoyama lead 21 point from Simoncelli in championship. With 1 round to go and 25 point available Aoyama just need to 5 point to be world champions. For Simoncelli he still has the chance to be the champions with condition he must win at the last round in Valencia and Aoyama finish at least not in 10th position.

After a near fall at R1, Thomas Luthi charged all the way up to fourth position for Caffe-Latte Aprilia. Barbera takeover third place championship from Bautista.

Win At Sepang became gift for his 28th birthday, Aoyama celebrated enthusiastically. Simoncelli sportingly hugged the Japanese in parc ferme.

Simon 6th Victory In 125cc

2009-10-25T09:27:00.000+01:00

Smith surrender to Simon for second time

A close battle between Julián Simón and Bradley Smith at the Shell Advance Malaysian Grand Prix was won by Spaniard in a final lap fight.

Simon took the lead on lap two of 19 and had begun to break away from the pack by lap five, but Smith follow him and both riders had pulled a four-second advantage over Pol Espargaro by the midway point of the race, Espargaro narrowly leading a frantic seven-rider fight for third.

Smith try to get his third grand prix victory of the season, could not escape from Simon, took the chance when Smith made a mistake on corner-entry with three laps to go.

Smith approached again and began the last lap just 0.432sec behind Simon, who soon found Smith breathing down his neck then looked the wrong way, allowing Smith alongside.

But Simon held the inside line at the following turn and it all came down to an out-braking battle into the final hairpin and Simon, who has been backing his 125 into turns for much of the season, unsurprisingly came out on top.

Smith, who broke a bone in his foot during a qualifying crash on Saturday placing secured second position in this year’s World Championship as well with one round remaining, after his rival Nicolas Terol only managed fifth on Sunday.

Helped by accidents and incidents around him, Pol Espargaró (Derbi Racing Team) completed the podium. Among those that made a premature exit from the group were Jonas Folger, pole sitter Marc Marquez, Efren Vasquez and Simone Corsi. Folger, Vasquez and Corsi all fell, while Marquez suffered an engine seizure on his KTM.

Behind Espargaro was Sergio Gadea (Bancaja Aspar) in fourth place and Nicolas Terol (Jack & Jones Team) complete top five for 125cc result.

Ben Spies Again

2009-10-24T19:35:00.000+02:00

Spies takes Superpole #11 at Portimao

The final Superpole session of 2009 was dominated by one man, Ben Spies made it 11 out of 14 for the

Yamaha World Superbike team, an outright record for the series, at the Algarve Circuit in Portugal.

The Texan's lap time of 1 minute 42.412 seconds was almost one second under last year's best lap set by Troy Bayliss. Spies be favorite to win the race tomorrow because his rival for the title, Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox) will only start from row 3 of the grid with the tenth quickest time, after not making the cut in Superpole 2.

Shane Byrne (Sterilgarda Ducati) will start race in second place behind Spies while Noriyuki Haga team-mate, Michel Fabrizio in third place. The front row was completed by Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda).

Top ten superpole

1. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 1'42.412
2. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1'42.996
3. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'43.015
4. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'43.126
5. Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'43.523
6. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'43.526
7. Nieto F. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1'43.553
8. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1'44.719
9. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1'43.240
10. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1'43.377; 1

Hiroshi Aoyama Claimed His Second Pole Of The Season At Sepang

2009-10-24T18:58:00.000+02:00

Aoyama complete free pratice with pole position

After dominant in free pratice Friday and Saturday finally Hiroshi Aoyama set a new 250cc pole position lap record with time 2’06.767s at Sepang.

Jules Cluzel (Matteoni Racing) in second place 0.332s slower than Scot Honda rider, Manfre Aspar rookie, Mike di Meglio in third place Héctor Barberá (Pepe World Team) completing the front row.

di Meglio team-mate, Alvaro Bautista start in second row on the grid at fifth place. Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT SAG) and Héctor Faubel (Valencia CF - Honda SAG join Bautista in second row, while Metis Gilera rider Marco Simoncelli qualified in eighth.

Thomas Luthi (Caffe Latte) ninth fastest and the last for top ten complete by another Scot Honda rider who take 3rd podium at Phillip Island, Raffaele de Rosa.

Rossi Crash Sepang Pole Record

2009-10-24T13:40:00.001+02:00

 Rossi Take Pole At Malaysian Grand Prix With A New Record

Valentino Rossi take pole at the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix with time 2’00.518s for Sunday’s race at Sepang, with Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa completing the front row.

The Italian broke his own previous pole record at the circuit recorded on a 990cc machine in 2006 by 0.087s and lapped 0.569s faster than his Fiat Yamaha team-mate Lorenzo.

"My target was go under 01.0 (2.01.00) but on the last lap I was able to go faster," a beaming. I see on the board 00.5 and I say 'agh!' - somebody beat me. But it was mine. So it's great to start from the pole position tomorrow", Rossi's said as quoted from crash.net

Lorenzo, who crashed on his MotoGP race debut at the track last season, was followed onto the front row of the grid by Pedrosa.

"For sure this day is not the happiest day of my life, but tomorrow is the race and we try to do the best we can," he said.

#3 had been the fastest in practice, but was unable to match the blistering pace set by #46, finishing a further 0.167s behind #99.

Casey Stoner, who won the race at Sepang in 2007, will head up the second row after lapping at almost a full second slower than Rossi, while Loris Capirossi secured fifth spot on the grid on his Suzuki GSV-R.
Toni Elías (San Carlo Honda Gresini) complete the second row in sixth place.

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro) on seventh, Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) in 8th, Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) at ninth and Toni Elias team-mate, Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) the last riders in top ten.

Hiroshi The Fastest On Saturday Free Pratice For 250cc

2009-10-24T13:06:00.000+02:00

Japanese rider lead free pratice 250cc at Malaysian Grand Prix

Championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama show of force as the fastest rider in Free Practice by topping the second session of the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix weekend on Saturday.

Aoyama who the fastest too in Friday’s opening session, the Scot Honda rider was again on top as he trimmed over 0.7s off his own time set the previous day by lapping at 2’07.160.

Héctor Barberá (Pepe World Team) also improved on his first session time to set the second fastest lap in the second practice. Defending champion Marco Simoncelli (Metis Gilera) was over 0.5s down on the lead time in third.

Mattia Pasini (Paddock GP Racing Team) and Raffaele de Rosa (Scot Racing) also moved into the top five slots in the Saturday session, with Héctor Faubel (Valencia CF - Honda SAG) recording the eighth-quickest time before a low-side crash ended his session early.
Álvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar Team) only in 11th fastest.

Marc Márquez Take KTM To The Top

2009-10-24T10:06:00.001+02:00

Marquez earns second career pole in Sepang

Marc Márquez put the outgoing factory KTM leading the qualifying in the 125cc class on Saturday morning, recording a best lap of 2’13.756 to secure pole position on the grid for the second time this season, and in his career.

The world champions, Julián Simón secured second spot with a final lap which was 0.055s off Márquez’s

time, while Simon team-mate, Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar) in third and Sandro Cortese (Ajo Interwetten) completed the front row.

Bradley Smith who needs to secure four points more than Nicolas Terol to secure second in the championship

on Sunday, suffered a painful highside out of the final hairpin while holding second position with three minutes to go. Smith then lost the position to Simon.

In order Nico Terol (Jack & Jones Team), Esteve Rabat (Blusens Aprilia), Joan Olivé (Derbi Racing Team) and Danny Webb (Degraaf Grand Prix) will comprise the second row.

Pol Espargaró (Derbi Racing Team) eventually qualified in 11th place on the grid, whilst Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) and Simone Corsi (Fontana Racing) both saw their sessions ended early.

Haga Sure To Finish The Title In Portimao

2009-10-24T09:34:00.000+02:00

Haga believes his bike fast and competitive

Nominate champions Noriyuki Haga was keeping cool about his chances for the remainder of the World Superbike weekend in Portugal after finishing the opening day in ninth position, half a second down on Ben Spies.

However, #41 was unable to improve his lap times quite as much during provisional qualifying, leaving him in ninth position.
Focusing on race set-up, although Haga admits he is not entirely satisfied with having ended the day as only the fifth best placed Ducati, he remains 'pretty confident' he will be competitive when it matters.

“The lap times today were faster than those recorded during testing earlier this year. In general we haven't had any real problems but we are working to find the optimal setting and we'll continue this work tomorrow. I would like to find more grip but apart from that I am pretty confident, I know we are fast and that we can be very competitive here.”

Team-mate Michel Fabrizio didn't fare much better down in seventh position, behind the three satellite 1098s of Jakub Smrz, Shane Byrne and Fonsi Nieto. Nonetheless, he insists things are 'under control'.

“For now I'd say we have things under control. Today we worked mainly with the hard tyres to improve feeling on the track surface. I don't yet have total faith in the front of the bike and the asphalt was not in the best condition, which meant I couldn't really push as hard as I wanted to.

“Tomorrow we'll make some more changes, testing some different tyres and hopefully I'll be able to improve significantly on my time", as quoted from crash.net

Byrne Optimist In Portimao

2009-10-24T09:20:00.000+02:00

Shane Byrne confident for his chances in Portimao after start in the front row.

#67 believes he is capable of scoring a 'great result' for his team, Sterilgarda Ducati after an encouraging provisional qualifying session saw him end the day in fifth position.

Much is expected Byrne at Portimao following his star turn during pre-season testing around the Portuguese circuit when he topped each session.

While his season hasn't quite mirrored that early promise, Byrne's momentum has gathered pace as the year has worn on and he is in the hunt for eighth in the overall standings with just two races remaining.

Even so, while Byrne went straight to the settings he used during those Portimao tests, he insists he felt more comfortable on his updated set-up, one which allowed him to provisionally qualify fifth.

"We worked on two different bikes today. One had the same setup as in the January testing, the other bike had the one we used at Magny Cours. I had a better feeling with the latter though as I set a series of fast laps and I went really close to the quickest time.

“Unfortunately, when I put the soft tyre on, I was a bit slowed down by the riders in front of me. However, the time I set today wasn't that important anyway, but it will be tomorrow.

“It's crucial that we start in the front so that we don't lose valuable time in the pack and the opportunity to score a great result, especially in the first laps.”

taken from crash.net

Portimao Q1 By Rea

2009-10-24T09:03:00.000+02:00

Hannspree Ten Kate rider set the quickest time

Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) set the quickest time in today's opening qualifying session at the Portimao circuit in Portugal. Rea grabbed the provisional pole from Jakub Smrz in the final stages of the session, with a time of 1 minute 43.786 seconds, eight-hundredths faster than Smrz. Behind both riders there's Ben Spies (Yamaha World Superbike) who was four tenths quicker than his title rival Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox), who in ninth place.

While in fourth place there's Jonathan Rea's team-mate Carlos Checa, Shane Byrne (Sterilgarda Ducati) and Fonsi Nieto (Ducati DFX) in fifth and sixth place. In an overall result that saw the private Ducati lap quicker than the factory machines. Seventh place in fact went to Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox), just four-hundredths ahead of fellow Italian Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing).

Things looked positive in Suzuki Alstare, with Yukio Kagayama up amongst the front-runners for much of the session and Sylvain Guintoli less than one second away from his team-mate on his WSB debut. The two BMWs of Ruben Xaus and Troy Corser were twelfth and thirteenth respectively, with the two Kawasakis of Broc Parkes and Makoto Tamada making up the top 15.

Increasingly Close..!!!

2009-10-18T11:08:00.000+02:00

Another Simoncelli's winning reduce the gap for championship

Defending world champions, Marco Simoncelli narrowed the gap on champion leader, Hiroshi Aoyama in the 2009 250cc World Championship to 12 points with a win at Phillip Island, as the Japanese rider was classified in seventh position when the race was red flagged.

The red flag was flown after Roberto Locatelli crashed in high side which resulted in him lying stricken on the track and he can't get up brought the action to a premature end, with Simoncelli leading.

Simoncelli assumed the lead early on and the Italian maintained that for the remainder of the race, until a red flag on the 18th lap handed him the win, with Héctor Barberá in second and Raffaele de Rosa in third.

de Rosa team-mate, Hiroshi Aoyama was down in seventh from third on the grid in the early stages, Bautista whos start from tenth place kept push was steadily improved upon as the race progressed.

Barberá kept pace with Simoncelli at the front, with pole holder De Rosa just over 0.5s further back, and Mattia Pasini crashed out with 17 laps remaining.

Bautista crashed and make him threw the opportunity away to reduce the point from Aoyama, and on the next lap Jules Cluzel was crashed either. The drama intensified however with Locatelli’s spill at MG Corner.

With the final result taken from the end of the previous lap, that handed Simoncelli the race victory, Barbera in second place. de Rosa claimed his first ever grand prix podium in his fifth season of world championship racing, but first in the 250cc class with a well deserved third. While Cluzel was handed fourth despite his crash and Mike di Meglio finished fifth. Karel Abraham in sixth.
The Japan, Hiroshi Aoyama in seventh place following by Faubel in eighth, Wilairot (nineth). Bautista rejoint to race again and classified in tenth place, where he start the race.

Roberto Locatelli suffered bruising to his lower back but escaped without serious injury, while Simoncelli’s win was the 200th for an Italian rider in the 250cc class.

Simon Finished 125cc World Champion Title At Phillip island

2009-10-18T09:32:00.000+02:00

Julian Simon sealed world champions for 125cc class after win against Bradley Smith at Phillip Island

Julian Simon won his fifth race in 125cc class at this season with a last lap pass on his team-mate Bradley Smith at Iveco Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island and sealed for 2009 world championship with two rounds to go.
Simon, who needed to beat Smith and Nicolas Terol to take his first world title on Sunday, finished the first lap in eighth position behind both his rivals.

From there, an excitingly tight early race ensued as a group of seven which included Julian Simón, Bradley Smith, Nicolas Terol, Pol Espargaró and Simone Corsi starting on the front row for the first time in 2009 – all jostled closely for position.
Efrén Vázquez and Sandro Cortese behind the first group, but at the midway point it was Smith and Simón who were battling for the lead.

The two Aspar riders then broke away at the front, with Smith just a tenth ahead as the last lap began.
With four laps remaining there was just under a full second between Simón at this point in second position and Corsi in third, with the Spaniard seemingly happy to wait until the final lap to launch his bid for the victory which would deliver the title.
Simon made his title winning pass with Smith forced wide in a turn Simón attacked on the inside to stream through and take victory

Cortese takes the last podium, whilst the poleman, Espargaró finished fourth position. Corsi ended the race in fifth spot with Nicolas Terol (Jack & Jones) taking sixth.
Behind Terol there were Vazquez (Derbi), Iannone (Aprilia), Marquez (KTM) and Gadea (Aprilia) to complete top ten.

Stoner Canceled Rossi's Pole

2009-10-17T19:51:00.000+02:00

Casey Stoner take pole position again since the Qatar round at home race

The Ducati rider, winner of the Australian Grand Prix for the past two seasons, seized pole from Valentino Rossi two minutes to go with margin 0.05 sec.

Stoner, who finished second on his MotoGP comeback last time at Estoril, starts round 15 just three points behind third in the championship Dani Pedrosa.
In the post qualifying press conference Stoner "thanked Marlboro for allowing me to wear the new livery tomorrow" indicating that the 2007 world champion will wear special colours on Sunday.

Pedrosa who suffered a fast fall from his Repsol Honda at turn two halfway through the session claim third position.. Lorenzo who challenge for championship must worked hard to beating his rival and team-mate, Rossi.

Behind the Spaniard was Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) in fifth position, while Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) on sixth.
Nicky Hayden took seventh on the second factory Ducati, ahead of LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet, Pramac Ducati's Mika Kallio and Repsol Honda's Andrea Dovizioso.

Toni Elias (Gresini) and James Toseland (Tech 3) will be disappointed with eleventh and twelfth. Suzuki riders, Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen only in 13th and 15th position.
Hayate's Marco Melandri, who struck a seagull at high speed this morning, will start race between duo Suzuki. Gabor Talmacsi once again at the last place.

Niccolo Canepa, who injured his arm in Friday practice, will not take part in the remainder of the weekend and is also expected to miss next weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix.
Aleix Espargaro, who has taken Canepa's seat for 2010, will replace Canepa at sepang round.

A shocked From de Rosa

2009-10-17T18:55:00.001+02:00

de Rosa lead 250cc race class at Phillip Island

Raffaele de Rosa claimed his first 250cc pole on his last lap of qualifying for the Iveco Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island. This is his first season in 250 after four years with no podiums and only one pole in 125.
The Italian beating defending world champion Marco Simoncelli by 0.225sec.
de Rosa's Scot Honda team-mate and championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama jumped from sixth to third on his last lap.

Rain disrupted the running of the qualifying practice session, Alex Debon (Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens) and Mattia Pasini (Paddock GP Racing Team) crashing on their first laps.
Debon recovered from his crash to take fourth place recored time 1’33.389s, whilst Barberá will line up in fifth was followed by Mike de Meglio (Mapfre Aspar) and Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT SAG).

Mattia Pasini came back from his spill in the same spot as Debon to take eighth place, with Héctor Faubel (Honda SAG) on nineth.
The other candidate for champions, Álvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar) lagged behind to completing the top ten.

Top ten Iveco Australian Grand Prix Phillip Island 250cc

1. de Rosa (Honda)    1min 33.389sec
2. Simoncelli (Gilera)                +0.225sec
3. H. Aoyama (Honda)    +0.244sec
4. Debon (Aprilia)                   +0.497sec
5. Barbera (Aprilia) +0.539sec
6. di Meglio (Aprilia)     +0.641sec
7. Wilairot (Honda)                 +0.725sec
8. Pasini (Aprilia)                    +0.803sec
9. Faubel (Honda)                  +0.896sec
10. Bautista (Aprilia)               +1.199sec

Pol Takes Pole On Phillip Island

2009-10-17T13:01:00.000+02:00

Pol Espargaro took his first pole position of this season on qualifying session 125cc Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island.

Pol Espargaró will start in first row for 125cc class at Iveco Australian Grand Prix on Phillip Island. The Derbi rider who has won two of the last three races, at Indianapolis and Estoril was the fastest too in free practice recorded with time 1'37.770s.

Nicolas Terol, who at 0.279s behind Espargaro pushed world championship leader Julían Simón down to third place. Simón was a further 0.018s behind Terol claim the front row of the grid. Complete the first row there is Simone Corsi (Fontana Racing) took fourth spot with a best time of 1’38.136s.

On the second row is the other Bancaja Aspar riders, Bradley Smith who fell at the Hairpin in the final minute of the session, managed to take over 0.5s off his best practice time to claim fifth place.

Marc Márquez (Red Bull KTM) and Sandro Cortese (Ajo Interwetten) were next in line, with Andrea Iannone (Ongetta Team ISPA), Joan Olivé (Derbi Racing) and Esteve Rabat (Blusens Aprilia) completing the top ten.

Top ten qualifying Iveco Australian Grand Prix Phillip Island

1. Espargaro (Derbi) 1min 37.770sec
2. Terol (Aprilia) +0.279sec
3. Simon (Aprilia)             +0.297sec
4. Corsi (Aprilia)              +0.366sec
5. Smith (Aprilia)              +0.385sec
6. Marquez (KTM)          +0.522sec
7. Cortese (Derbi)    +0.782sec
8. Iannone (Aprilia)          +0.798sec
9. Olive (Derbi)                +0.808sec
10. Rabat (Aprilia)            +0.818sec

MotoGP Free Pratice Leading By The Host

2009-10-17T11:34:00.000+02:00

Casey Stoner to be the fastest of the Iveco Australian Grand Prix second practice session on Saturday morning.

The weather Saturday’s session was preceded by spots of rain early in the day, but the track was dry enough at the start for Stoner to set the fastest lap of the hour-long session with a circuit of 1’30.626, cut off 0.408s Valentino Rossi’s time who leading friday free pratice.

The Spaniard Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) on second fastest with a time of 1’30.674 to make him second fastest, while Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha)0.275s behind Stoner.

The other Spaniard, Rossi team-mate, Jorge Lorenzo suffered rear-grip and fitness issues on Friday which contributed to a late crash, on fourth with the best lap of 1’31.427. Lorenzo still try seek further improvements ahead of qualifying to ensure he is competitive in Sunday’s race.
Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini), complete the big five for Saturday free pratice.

Passini Lead 250cc Free Pratice

2009-10-17T11:00:00.000+02:00

Pasini show of force in Phillip Island free pratice

Mattia Pasini be the fastest on saturday free pratice 250cc class in Phillip Island with time 1’34.021 after beat down Barbera who take Friday pratice.

Following in Pasini’s trail, Raffaele de Rosa (Scot Racing) came in 0.323s behind to again take the second-best time, while Mike de Meglio (Mapfre Aspar) in the third place. Jules Cluzel (Matteoni Racing) was fourth and Marco Simoncelli, defending champion (Metis Gilera) at fifth with a best lap of 1’34.649. Hiroshi Aoyama, who could secure the title in Australia if results go his way, also made a marked step up from his Friday effort with a seventh-fastest 1’34.862.

125cc Free Pratice By Smith

2009-10-17T09:51:00.000+02:00

Bradley Smith set the fastest lap in free practice session 125cc class

Bradley Smith was fastest in Free Practice 2 on Saturday morning with time of 1’39.756, but his time not more better than Pol Espargaró’s Friday session lap time of 1’38.435. Nicolas Terol (Jack & Jones) followed in second place with time 1’40.037.
Simone Corsi (Fontana Racing) was the third fast with 0.256s off Terol’s pace. Behind Corsi there was Andrea Iannone (Ongetta Team ISPA).

Where is the leader of championship Julian Simon? The Bancaja Aspar rider played it safe, riding just a single lap as he opted to take no risks ahead of a potential title-winning race on Sunday.

Lorenzo's Flag At Estoril Again

2009-10-06T09:08:00.000+02:00

Lorenzo reduce the gap to Valentino Rossi in the standings to 18 points

Jorge Lorenzo victory from pole on Sunday to challange Valentino Rossi for world champion title 2009.
The Fiat Yamaha pair got away in first and second places on the grid but Rossi was unable to match the pace of Lorenzo as he pulled away quickly at the front. Casey Stoner comeback rode brilliantly to follow Lorenzo across the line in second place, whilst Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa was third.

The Spaniard was in unstoppable form at Estoril and take his fourth win of the year and finished by a 6.3s ahead 2nd position.

Runner up Casey Stoner performed admirably on his return to action after two months away due to illness, achieving his first podium since Assen in June. The next round at Phillip Island, he hope he make the best result at his home race.

Pedrosa rode smoothly from fourth grid, make good start and lead for few time before he take over by Lorenzo and Stoner and finally finished at 3rd place to be his eighth podium of 2009. World Champion Rossi appeared to be playing safe at 4th position and finishing 23 seconds behind Lorenzo.

Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was 10 seconds back on Rossi in fifth place, while Toni Elías (San Carlo Honda Gresini) claim the 6th place ahead Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) at 7th place.

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro), James Toseland (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki) complete the top ten riders stading.
Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) crashing out early on and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) and Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) retiring due to technical problems.

Win And Fight For Wolrd Champions 250cc

2009-10-06T08:02:00.000+02:00

Simoncelli win again and struggle for championship

Simoncelli had a chance to defend his title for 2550cc after win at Estoril last monday. His nearest rivals, Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Racing) just finished in 4th place while Alvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar) crashed in 4th lap. Bautista’s engine appeared to seize up and he can't control it causing him out from the race. That make Bautista feel frustated.

The other accindent by Raffaele De Rosa (Scot Racing) that crashed by own mistake when he too push his bike on parabolic turn and cause lost the grip. With the retired of the two riders in the front line made Aoyama rose to the fourth position after he succeeded in running away from JulesCluzel ((Matteoni Racing 5th) and Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT SAG 6th).

Behind Simoncelli, Mike di Meglio (Mapfre Aspar) and Héctor Barberá (Pepe World Team) crossed the line neck and neck, and although they were given exactly the same race time second place was awarded to Di Meglio (who had performed the fastest lap of the two riders).

Thomas Luthi (Emmi - Caffe Latte), Mattia Pasini (Team Globalgest), Alex Debon (Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens) and Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) to complete the top ten.

Enjoy The Race And Win Estoril Round

2009-10-05T18:56:00.000+02:00

"Super Sic" take his fifth race at this season

The defending world champions Marco Simoncelli finish the 1st place at portugal and moved to within 28 points of championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama with three races remaining. Fourth victory in the last six rounds to stressed Simoncelli in 250cc class. Only injury and crashes hindering him, particularly early in the year, and he still has a chance of retaining the 250cc crown before moving into MotoGP next season.

“It’s good to win, but I’m not thinking about the championship. Every time I do that I seem to make another error,” said the Italian.

“It was a good weekend in Portugal, despite the early problems I had. Things turned out ok, but when we were getting started I couldn’t get comfortable on the bike. I rode in a race at Imola on an Aprilia RSV4 during the break, so I had to re-adapt to my GP bike in the first session.”

He continued, “On Saturday I had another problem but we did manage to find a good setting in qualifying. The bike started to run really well and we made some more improvements in the warm-up. In the race I lost a few positions in the early laps but when I got going the bike responded really well and I was able to ride the way I wanted to. Once I got in front I tried to push to the maximum to get away from the pack and I was able to do it.”

“Next up is Phillip Island which I really like and I will have a smile on my face under the helmet when I’m riding there", as quoted from motogp.com

Pol Espargaro Win At Estoril Drama

2009-10-05T18:21:00.000+02:00

Julian Simon Delay The World Champion For 125cc Class After Crash In Estoril Round

Pol Espargaró (Derbi Racing) take victory at Estoril after finish ahead Sandro Cortese (Ajo Interwetten) and Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar) in the tight race. While world Championship leader Julián Simón (Bancaja Aspar) crashed on the 16th lap when leading by more than five seconds, but he can get up and finish in 13th place.

Lucky for Simon because Nicolas Terol (Jack & Jones Team), the nearest rival for championship crash too in 7th lap with Marc Márquez (Red Bull KTM) hitting the deck shortly afterwards. Andrea Iannone (Ongetta Team I.S.P.A.) also suffered a DNF as he had an accident early in the race.

Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) was ten seconds to take the 4th place and Joan Olivé (Derbi Racing Team) was a further six seconds back in fifth.Sergio Gadea (Bancaja Aspar), Esteve Rabat (Blusens Aprilia), Dominique Aegerter (Ajo Interwetten), Johann Zarco (WTR San Marino Team) and Randy Krummenacher (Degraaf Grand Prix) completed the top ten.

With this result Simon still leader 50.5 point from 2nd position, Bradley Smith. With the maximum 75 point Julian Simon only necessary finish on big five for last three races round that remained to ascertain the class world champion 125cc.

Lorenzo Got His Third Victory At This Season

2009-08-31T19:18:00.000+02:00

After falling from the lead at the last two races, Jorge Lorenzo finally won MotoGP race at Indianapolis

The battle for the 2009 World Championship was blown wide open at Indianapolis Grand Prix as Jorge Lorenzo scored a great win and his Fiat Yamaha colleague Valentino Rossi suffered his first DNF of the year.

Lorenzo eventually crossed the line with a 9.5s winning margin to cut Rossi’s championship lead in half, as the deficit dropped from 50 to 25 points, with five races remaining.

Behind Lorenzo there was a great ride from San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alex de Angelis who did his quest to remain in MotoGP no harm at all in second place, gaining his first ever premier class podium from fourth on the grid.

Nicky Hayden also rode brilliantly after qualifying sixth, repeating his 2008 Indianapolis podium, this time in third position – his best result with Ducati. 4th placed was Andrea Dovizioso, the Italian yet again having to settle for fourth on the last lap.

Valentino Rossi hit the ground on lap nine when battling for the race lead with Lorenzo, the Italian able to remount and try to continue only to have to retire a couple of laps later due to the damage his M1 machine sustained. It was the first time Rossi has failed to finish a race since Valencia in 2007.

Before Rossi Dani Pedrosa crashed too on the fourth lap when the pole man was leading the race. He bravely picked up his RC212V and rejoined in last place, doing well to finally finish in 10th position.

The other American rider, Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) finished in fifth place, whilst there was a late crash from Marco Melandri (Hayate Racing) when battling with James Toseland (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) for sixth. Italian’s mishap left the Englishman to again equal his best ever MotoGP result.

The top ten also featured Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki), Mika Kallio (Ducati) and Toni Elías (San Carlo Honda Gresini). A special mention must go to Pramac Racing’s temporary replacement rider Aleix Espargaró who earned three points in 13th place on his MotoGP debut.

Simoncelli Again...!!

2009-08-31T18:49:00.002+02:00

The fourth victory Super Sic this season

Marco Simoncelli became the winner for 250cc race class with 1.943sec victory over world championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama.

#58 and #4 reached the front of the pack within four laps while Alvaro Bautista, who began round eleven 12 points behind Aoyama, once again made a sluggish start.
The Spaniard finished lap one in tenth place before rising to fourth - behind Simoncelli, Aoyama and pole sitter Mike di Meglio - on lap 8 of 26.

Aoyama continued to match Simoncelli's Metis Gilera through the middle stages, while Bautista took third from Aspar Aprilia team-mate di Meglio with ten laps to go. #19 then faced a 1.5sec gap to Aoyama, which he was unable to bridge.

Aoyama slow down the tempo five laps to go gave Simoncelli vital breathing room and the Gileraman won his fourth race of the year by just under two-seconds from the Scot Honda rider.

Simoncelli thus became the first rider this season to take back-to-back wins, and has closed the gap from 32 points to 27 points from Aoyama with five rounds to go. Bautista remains second, but is now 16 points from the Japan.

Class rookie di Meglio, who survived a near highside and contact with Aoyama early in the race, confirmed fourth.

Jules Cluzel, fastest in the wet on Friday, produced a further surprise by leading the first three laps of the race before a spectacular fall from fourth on lap 8 left the Frenchman - second at the Qatar season opener - punching the grass in frustration.

125cc Race Belong Espargaro

2009-08-31T17:51:00.000+02:00

Pol Espargaro has taken his first 125cc grand prix win with a close victory over Bradley Smith Indianapolis

An exciting 125cc race with five riders lead turn around finally went down to the very last lap and ultimately ended with Pol Espargaró (Derbi Racing Team) earning his first Grand Prix win. The 18 year-old Spaniard finish ahead Briton Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar) by 0.120s.

Simone Corsi (Fontana Racing) finished in third place, three tenths down on Smith, to claim his second podium of the season.

4th position was gained by Nico Terol (Jack & Jones Team) who won last year in Indianapolis. The poleman and championship leader Julián Simón (Bancaja Aspar) only finish in fifth.

Next position featured Marc Márquez (Red Bull KTM) in sixth, Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) at seventh, Joan Olivé (Derbi Racing Team) eighth, Takaaki Nakagami (Ongetta Team I.S.P.A.) nineth and Dominique Aegerter (Ajo Interwetten) completed for ton ten.

De Angelis Start 4th Place

2009-08-30T09:18:00.000+02:00

The best de Angelis start position in MotoGP

Alex improved the position on the Saturday the morning after on the Friday only in the position 5th. He will begin the race in position 4th after failing to maintain the 3rd position when his time passes one hundredth of a second on a flying last lap by Rossi.

“Clearly I would have preferred to start on the front row but this is still a wonderful day for me. The team have worked well and so far it has been a perfect weekend. It is never easy to get near the pace of the front three but I’m enjoying riding my bike here and we have never been this close, so I’m delighted. I could have gone even faster on a new tyre at the end but we had an electrical problem and I had to roll off the gas. It sorted itself out, but by that time the tyre had gone cold and I couldn’t push. Anyway, I’ll be going on the attack in the race because this is a big opportunity for me to score a top result and to move up in the championship, with there being a small gap to the guys currently ahead of me. I have always believed I have the talent but it was good to show everybody today that when things are right I can be there.”

De Angelis team-mate Toni Elias will start a competitive seventh despite falling at the end of the session while trying to chase Rossi.

“I crashed, purely because I was pushing too hard to try and stay with Valentino,” he said honestly. “Having said that seventh on the grid isn't bad. The race will be pretty tough tomorrow so the target is just to get a good start and follow the group ahead of me.”

Not Lorenzo, Not Rossi But Pedrosa...!!!

2009-08-30T07:47:00.000+02:00

Dani takes Indianapolis pole position after beat Lorenzo's time 0.506 seconds faster and be a full second quicker than the pole position time recorded by race winner Valentino Rossi in the inaugural event here last year.

Lorenzo, who was the second-fastest qualifier for the second consecutive event, had a fast lap of 1:40.236 and Rossi, who is aiming for a ninth world championship and currently leads the series, was third at 1:40.609.

Pedrosa showed consistency in both sessions. His quickest eight laps in the morning were faster than any other rider in the field could manage before he went on to capture his second pole and sixth-front row starting berth of the season.

Lorenzo, meanwhile, moved past Rossi in a tight race for the BMW M Award for the best qualifier on the circuit. By being the second-fastest qualifier for the third time in four races the Spainard brought his point total to 244 for the season, while Rossi dropped to second with 240.

Alex de Angelis on a Honda and American Colin Edwards rounded out the list of top five qualifiers, Kentucky Kid who finished second to Rossi here last year, was sixth quickest.

Asked about friday result into helping with a dry setting for Saturday, Pedrosa replied, “Not really, because if it is dry it is another story and we will have to set-up again for the dry. But I think for the wet it looks good. I think the weather is due to improve but in case of rain we have started in a good way.”

“It was raining all the time but the grip was good. There were only big patches of water in a few areas, but for the rest of the track it was ok, so the grip wasn’t bad and we had a good practice.” He commets the Friday session as quoted from motogp.com.

di Meglio Firt Pole On 250cc

2009-08-30T07:00:00.000+02:00

Reigning 125cc world champion Mike di Meglio taken his first 250cc pole position in Indianapolis

The 250cc qualifying session at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix saw provisional pole change hands numerous times during the final ten minutes, with Frenchman Mike di Meglio eventually taking his first pole in the category.

di Meglio benefitted from a tow behind world championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Racing Team), whose 1’44.461s time was 0.120s off the pole pace.

Simoncelli (Metis Gilera) who crashes in the session accident in FP2 will start in third place and Barbera (Pepe World Aprilia) on the outside of the front row in fourth.

The second row comprises Jules Cluzel (Matteoni Racing) that suprised at friday pratice,
di Meglio's team-mate Álvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar Team), Mattia Pasini (Team Toth Aprilia) and Alex Debon (Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens).

Mike is one of the few riders in the 125cc class to have raced at Indianapolis, as the 250cc contest was of course cancelled last season due to bad weather.

Indianapolis Pole Position By Simon

2009-08-30T05:57:00.000+02:00

Simon lead the start 125cc Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix race

Bancaja Aspar rider, Julián Simón took first place in qualifying on Saturday afternoon at Indianapolis as he set a new pole position with a 1’49.337.

Behind Simon was Sandro Cortese (Ajo Interwetten), whose best effort came late in the session and was just 0.05s off Simón’s.

The fastest free pratice on friday who won last year, Nicolas Terol (Jack & Jones Team) in third grid, while Pol Espargaró (Derbi Racing Team) exact behind him.

Second row contain Britain’s Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar), Italian Simone Corsi (Jack & Jones Team) and two Spaniards, Sergio Gadea (Bancaja Aspar) and Efrén Vázquez (Derbi Racing Team).

Stefan Bradl suffered a crash and was classified in 15th place as he ended up having a hand injury assessed at Clinica Mobile.

Cluzel Fastest On Free Pratice

2009-08-29T08:08:00.000+02:00

Cluzel lead the friday pratice

Privateer Jules Cluzel made the most of slick conditions to set the pace during 250cc Friday practice for the Indianapolis Grand Prix. Frenchman who laid down a 1’53.512 lap midway through the 250cc practice on his Aprilia machine.

The Matteoni Racing rider, a shock second in the damp Qatar season opener, finished a soaking wet opening session at Indy with a comfortable advantage over 2010 MotoGP riders Hector Barbera and Marco Simoncelli.

Barbera (+0.732sec) was the only rider within one second of Cluzel for Pepe World Aprilia, world Champion Marco Simoncelli (Metis Gilera) was third on the timesheet, with a time more than a second off Cluzel’s pace, whilst Czech competitor Karel Abraham crashed late in the session when pushing too hard and ended up fourth.

Mike di Meglio (Mapfre Aspar) and Héctor Faubel (Valencia CF - Honda SAG) were fifth and sixth. World championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama, who starts round eleven 12 points ahead of Bautista, was a cautious 14th fastest for Scot Honda - although only four places behind Bautista's Aspar Aprilia.
The 250cc class did not get to race at Indianapolis last year, due to the appalling weather.

To ten Indianapolis free pratice result :

1. Cluzel (Aprilia) 1min 53.512sec
2. Barbera (Aprilia) +0.732sec
3. Simoncelli (Gilera) +1.187sec
4. Abraham (Aprilia) +1.495sec
5. di Meglio (Aprilia) +1.602sec
6. Faubel (Honda) +1.871sec
7. Debon (Aprilia) +1.969sec
8. Locatelli (Gilera) +1.989sec
9. Baldolini (Aprilia) +2.013sec
10. Bautista (Aprilia) +2.047sec

Terol Takes The Friday

2009-08-29T07:46:00.000+02:00

Terol deserved to be counted on as the serious challenger for the world championship 125 cc after recording fastest results on Friday

2008 Indianapolis Grand Prix winner and victor last time out at Brno, Nicolas Terol (Jack & Jones Team), showed his strengths again at the famous American circuit as the action got underway on Friday, the Spaniard lapping in 1’50.603 to head the FP1 timesheet.

He laid down his best time on the 20th of his 21 laps, before precipitation brought the riders back into their pit-boxes before the end of the session. The one-hour session took place in overcast conditions, with light rain falling in the final six minutes and effectively bringing the session to an early end.

Second fastest was Terol’s former team-mate Simone Corsi (Fontana Racing), who was a tenth of a second off the pace man, whilst Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar), Sandro Cortese (Ajo Interwetten) and Marc Márquez (Red Bull KTM) all went round within 0.5s of Terol.

With Efrén Vázquez (Derbi Racing Team), Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) Sergio Gadea (Bancaja Aspar), Julián Simón (Bancaja Aspar) and Joan Olivé (Derbi Racing Team) all at the business end of the timesheet there were six Spanish riders in the top ten.

New Sign For 2010 Season

2009-08-28T21:54:00.000+02:00

Lorenzo and Capirossi agree with their old team, while Hayden still waiting

Lorenzo has make deal with Yamaha to stayed at 2010 season. 22 year-old who is 50 points behind Rossi, had been linked particularly to rivals Honda.

"We hope that he will remain at Yamaha for many years to come," We have no doubt that he has the ability and drive to become MotoGP World Champion and we are proud that he has decided to remain with Yamaha, despite having received some very serious approaches from some of our competitors." Yamaha Racing managing director Lin Jarvis comments about the deal.

On the other side Rizla Suzuki list their riders for 2010 season. Loris Capirossi will sign a one-year extension to his current Suzuki contract during the Indianapolis MotoGP this weekend. The Italian joined Suzuki at the start of the 2008 season and has become a highly respected and influential figure within the Hamamatsu factory's racing division.

The agreement with Capirossi finalises Suzuki's 2010 MotoGP rider line-up, following the recent announcement that 24-year-old Spanish star Alvaro Bautista will join Suzuki for the next two years.

"I am very happy to continue working with Suzuki and everyone involved with the Racing Group and the team. I love working with my crew and feel really at home here. When I joined Suzuki I really wanted to win races and this is still the target. I love the competition and the challenge and my ambition to succeed is as strong as ever. We are 100% focused on developing the GSV-R into a race-winning machine and the improvements that have come through recently show that Suzuki is working in the right direction. I am pleased to have signed again at this time of the season as it gives me a great motivation for the rest of the year and an incentive to get the bike ready for 2010." Said #65.

"Loris brings so much character, bravery and experience to Suzuki, and his technical input is invaluable. He still has an enormous drive and determination to succeed - we now have to react to his requests and give him the tools to be as competitive as possible. We hope that Loris, with the youthful exuberance of Alvaro alongside him next season, will be a good partnership. Loris is a great team-mate but certainly won't want to be beaten by the younger guy so I am sure he will be fighting hard!, Rizla Suzuki team manager, Paul Denning told his statement.

"This announcement confirms that Suzuki and Chris Vermeulen will not be working together in 2010. On behalf of Suzuki Motor Corporation and the whole team, including title sponsor Rizla, I want to wish Chris the best of luck in his future career. He has been a great asset to us and a true professional at all times - even when things have not quite gone to plan. We have had some amazing high-points with Chris - taking Suzuki's first four-stroke Grand Prix win at Le Mans in 2007 being the obvious highlight. We hope that he continues to have success throughout his career and trust that Chris, Toni and his family will always remain friends of the team."

In Ducati team Nicky Hayden still waiting new sign for 2010 season. When asked about his future the Kentucky Kid replied:

“You know, I've been in this game long enough, I realise, like it or not, MotoGP is a business and, I mean, you look at the result sheets, maybe my results wouldn't -they've got sponsors, people to please. I realise that I probably made some hard phone calls on Monday with some of them 12th places.

“So do I like it? No, because it's - when I look in the mirror, I see why they need to bring somebody else in because I haven't got the results. So that hurts when it's on the inside. But, you know, it's business. They've got to do what they feel best.”

Since joining MotoGP in 2003, Ducati has changed one rider from its factory line-up every year except 2004, when the team stuck with Capirossi and Troy Bayliss.

Stoner, who joined Ducati at the start of the 800cc era in 2007, has been partnered by Capirossi, Marco Melandri and now Hayden - all of whom have struggled to get near the Australian, a winner of 18 races and a world championship. Of the three, only Capirossi took a podium finish (and win) while alongside Stoner.

“I don't know if just bringing in new guys every year is the right thing, you know, if it is the best way to fix the situation,” Hayden continued. “So we'll see what happens. I'm still - I signed up for two years, so I still got this challenge and really feel like we can do it.

“I'm not ready to give up just yet. So we'll see what happens. If it works out, do I get my feelings hurt? No, I'm not that big a sissy. I mean they make me that offer they made Lorenzo, then all things will be forgotten!” he joked. “Eight million a year will patch things up pretty easy, so we'll be good!”

When asked about how hard it would be to switch manufacturer now that winter testing has been severely reduced, Hayden indicated that the real question is whether a rider is changing from Japanese to Italian machinery.

“Switching to Honda or Yamaha is not the big change like going to Ducati or something completely different,” he said to laughter from the press. “Obviously, that's my opinion. If you look at it, the Japanese bikes all work in a similar way and do similar things; where Ducati is, you know, it's a different manufacturer, I would say. Would be the same if you're on 250cc Yamaha, Honda and you went to Aprilia."

Despite the uncertainty surrounding his MotoGP future, Hayden - who finished second in last year’s storm-shortened inaugural Indy event – is fully focused on this weekend’s event.

“On race day you're not thinking about that, really,” he declared. “I mean, yeah, you want a job, you want to do your best, but you can't just drive yourself crazy with it. That's not going to change the situation. I've tried that before and it don't help. So it will work itself out, I'm sure.”

Rossi Win Brno Round

2009-08-17T08:51:00.000+02:00

Rossi lead 50 point from Lorenzo at the championship

Valentino Rossi got the best of his Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo again at the Cardion AB Czech Republic Grand Prix on Sunday with the young Spaniard crashing out with five laps to go, as the pair battled for the race lead, handing Rossi a 50 point title advantage with six races to go.

“This is a very important victory for us! Jorge had shown all weekend that he was very strong and, when we still weren't feeling perfect after the warm-up, we decided to make one more small modification to improve the feeling with the front and the result was brilliant; my Yamaha really flew today”, he commented. “I got a good start and I was able to ride exactly how I wanted, using all of the track to get the best lines. At the end, when Jorge passed me, I thought that the fight was starting and I was really ready for it, but then he made a mistake and crashed. Of course I'm sorry; it's really bad for him but I have to say that it's great for us because now we have an advantage of 50 points with six races to go. However it would be very stupid to relax now because Jorge is very strong and for sure we expect another hard fight with him in Indianapolis. Today I arrived at the top of the all-time podium list and I'm very proud of this, especially here at Brno where I took my first victory 13 years ago! Thanks to Yamaha and my team for today, it was a great win.”

“I got a bad start and had to get by some people, and then I just didn't have the same pace that I'd had all weekend. I was slower than in the practices and it really wasn't what I was expecting”, commented Lorenzo. “Unfortunately for me Valentino was just as strong as he'd been all weekend and I had to push very, very hard to stay with him. Towards the end I began to close the gap and after I passed him I was doing everything to stay in front, but then I made a mistake and crashed. There's nothing more I can say except that I'm so sorry to the team and to Yamaha and I will do everything I can to make it up in America.”

In front of a crowd of nearly 140,000 fans the Fiat Yamaha duo had built up a ten second lead over the rest of the field but with Lorenzo desperate for points after his Donington DNF the 22 year-old from Mallorca pushed too hard again and slid out, with Rossi eventually finishing more than 11 seconds ahead of second placed Dani Pedrosa.

Behind Pedrosa, two more Honda riders, Toni Elías and Andrea Dovizioso, dueled for the final podium slot, with San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Elías just outdoing Repsol Honda’s Dovizioso. Repeating his 2008 Brno podium was a perfect reaction from Elías as he learned he has lost his Gresini ride for next year.

Just over a tenth of a second behind his compatriot Dovizioso there was a morale-boosting result for Loris Capirossi in fifth place for the Rizla Suzuki team. Nicky Hayden, meanwhile, bolstered his confidence in sixth, from eighth on the grid.

Hayden’s countryman Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) will be disappointed to have ended up seventh after qualifying fifth and both Americans will be looking for top five results at the next round in Indianapolis.

The Brno top ten was completed by Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini), James Toseland (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda).

Mika Kallio and Marco Melandri were left bickering in the gravel after the pair crashed out when Kallio braked too late on the penultimate lap and both riders hit the deck.

www.motogp.com

Simoncelli Winning The "Italian Battle" Part II

2009-08-17T07:20:00.000+02:00

'Super Sic' completed this weekend in Cardion AB Czech Republic Grand Prix with win race class 250cc at Brno track.

World champion’s performance from pole position, leading for most of the race and eventually crossing the finishing line just over half a second ahead of his compatriot Mattia Pasini (Team Toth Aprilia) who had tried to chase him down from seventh on the grid.

Both Italians exchanged the lead for much of the second half of the race, with Simoncelli just 0.187 seconds ahead as the last lap began. The Metis Gilera rider then pushed hard to successfully break the challenge of Pasini, who will test for the Pramac Ducati MotoGP team on Monday.

"I started with a hard tyre and my bike was perfect in the second half of the race. I pushed hard on the last lap and succeeded in getting a small gap over Mattia," said Simoncelli.

Alvaro Bautista fought his way forwards from seventh on lap one and was almost within touch of the Italians with five laps to go, in a strange incident on the warm down lap Bautista crashed his Aprilia, causing considerable damage. Aspar Aprilia rider to back off and settle for third - in the knowledge that he would gain ground on title leader Hiroshi Aoyama. The Scot Honda rider led in the early stages of the race but had dropped back to fourth by the halfway mark, when he remained at the chequered flag.

"I tried to do a wheelie and instead I did a back flip!" said a smiling Bautista. "Anyway, I'm happy with the race. I tried to catch Mattia and Marco, but with six laps to go my rear tyre began to slide a lot and it was impossible to follow them. These are important points for the championship and it's been a good day, except after the race!"

Simoncelli now trails Aoyama by just 32 points and Bautista by 20 points, with six races remaining. He celebrated with a huge burnout, something that won't be seen after the MotoGP race due to the new rule limiting engine changes.

The top ten also featured Roberto Locatelli (Metis Gilera), Raffaele de Rosa (Scot Racing), Héctor Barberá (Pepe World Team), Jules Cluzel (Matteoni Racing), Mike di Meglio (Mapfre Aspar) and Héctor Faubel (Valencia CF - Honda SAG).

Di Meglio (Mapfre Aspar) made a mistake nine laps to go while riding in fifth place and was lucky to avoid more than an excursion off track having clipped the rear tyre of Aoyama. The Frenchman eventually finished ninth.

At the start of the race there had been heartbreak for home rider Karel Abraham (Cardion ab Motoracing) who clashed with Thomas Luthi (Emmi - Caffe Latte) and both went down on the first corner.

Terol Win At Brno

2009-08-17T05:36:00.000+02:00

Jack & Jones rider Nicolas Terol took his first victory of the year at Brno track.

Nicolas Terol (Jack & Jones Team) continued his good performance when he took his first 2009 victory ahead of World Championship leader Julián Simón (Bancaja Aspar), in Czech Republic at Brno track.

After consistant to finish in the top five at the previous five consecutive rounds, It's time Terol got his first victory at this season when he holds off Simon on the last lap and crossed the line 0.168s head his rival. The result extended Simón’s championship advantage to 54.5 points, and Terol at into second place in the standings.

Pole man Andrea Iannone (Ongetta Team I.S.P.A.) was not quite able to match the pace of the front two as he rode a lonely race in third place to complete the podium, eight seconds behind Terol.

By lap five of 19 the trio were already four seconds clear of fourth placed Bradley Smith, who had lost ground after a near high-side whilst holding third on the opening lap. Terol led the majority of the race with Simon and Iannone in close pursuit - until Iannone began losing ground with five laps to go.

Simon began the last lap just 0.224sec behind Terol, but Terol race with cooled and not worry for Simon pressured to win at Brno track for the Jack & Jones Aprilia team. Iannone confirmed third for Ongetta Aprilia.

Bradley Smith that to be Simon rival for the 125cc world championship is only able to finish in 4th place. Pol Espargaró (Derbi Racing Team) and Sandro Cortese (Ajo Interwetten) battled for fifth place right at the death with the Spanish rider getting the better of the German by just 0.06s.

The remainder of the top ten was tightly packed, as Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing), Marc Márquez (Red Bull KTM), Sergio Gadea (Bancaja Aspar) and Joan Olivé (Derbi Racing Team) all crossed the line within 1.25s of Espargaró.

Best Position Start For Canepa

2009-08-16T10:30:00.000+02:00

Niccolò has been really constant during qualifying session reaching the top ten half way through the session. For only a few tenths of a second he didn't make it to remain until the end and he finished in twelfth position.

"I am very happy on how things went today”, he said. “In both sessions we have made it to be competitive maintaining good positions. I am only two tenth of a second from Mika and four from Nicky who is the fastest Ducati rider today. Apart the first five or six riders I believe we can compete with every other rider tomorrow in the race."

Fabrizio also made it to sensibly improve his best lap times today conquering the sixteenth position. The Roman rider obtained really interesting lap times even if this is for him the first time on the Pramac Racing Desmosedici GP9 Sat.

"We have sensibly improved our lap times today. For sure it is not easy to get to know and adjust a bike in only three hours of work, but we have done our best and tomorrow in the race we will try to obtain a good result”, he said. “We have made it to adjust a bit the bike and tomorrow morning in the twenty minutes warm up we will try to make the final modifications on the bike to result even more competitive in the race."

Tomorrow morning twenty minutes of warm up to make the last modifications on the bike to result competitive during the Czech Republic GP that will start tomorrow at 2pm local time.

Rossi Explain About The Crash

2009-08-16T10:20:00.000+02:00

Duo Fiat Yamaha comment after qualifying time

Valentino Rossi – pole

“Pole position is great, but the most important thing is that I’m okay after the crash. I have a bit of pain in my right thumb but that’s all, so I think I’ve been quite lucky. I’ll get it checked out at the Clinica Mobile later but I don’t think it’s anything bad. This weekend only one of the front tyres is working well for us, which means we only have four for the weekend, so we’re putting quite a lot of stress on just a few tyres. I arrived to brake very deep and just lost the front, it was unlucky. Anyway, we did a great job in the session and being on pole again is important. We have a good race pace and I think it’s possible to be competitive tomorrow.”

Jorge Lorenzo – 2nd

“This morning we tried the softer Bridgestone tyre but I didn’t feel so good on it. This afternoon we gave it another chance but again it didn’t seem to work so well, so we decided to just concentrate on the harder tyre. I had a very strong pace and like yesterday I felt very comfortable on the bike, but I couldn’t quite get the pole position today. Being on the front row is always important though and we’ve reached this target; we know that we’re very fast. Everyone is excited and motivated as usual and we’re confident that we have the race set-up to allow us to challenge tomorrow.”

source : www.motogp.com

#46 Takes Pole Position Despite Crash

2009-08-16T08:45:00.000+02:00

Valentino Rossi survived a late crash during qualifying at the Cardian ab Czech Republic Grand Prix to take his fifth pole position of the season at Brno track.

At one of his favourite venues on the calendar Rossi took his Yamaha M1 round the circuit in 1’56.145 on the 21st of his 23 laps after a battle for supremacy with his team-mate and closest World Championship rival Jorge Lorenzo – who trails him by 25 points in the standings and was 0.05s behind the Italian in this session.

Dani Pedrosa could be the biggest threat to Rossi and Lorenzo, with the talented Repsol Honda rider having qualified in third place, just under four tenths down on Rossi. He completed the front row on the Repsol Honda RC212V as the 23-year-old posted a best time of 1.56.528.

Toni Elías, meanwhile, reacted well to the news that he will not be riding for the San Carlo Honda Gresini team next year, placing himself at the front of the second row on his RC212V.
Spaniard put himself in the shop window with fourth place, a best lap of 1.56.817 just 0.289s away from Pedrosa.

With Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) qualifying in fifth to seventh respectively the top seven was dominated by Yamaha and Honda.

De Angelis will be joined on the third row by Ducati’s Nicky Hayden and Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi, who survived a scary moment to qualify ninth. Mika Kallio’s promising start to his factory Ducati career came to a crashing halt in the final ten minutes of the session. The Finn crashed heavily when he lost the front of the GP9 he will ride in place of Casey Stoner. He ended up down in 10th place on the grid. James Toseland is facing a tough 22-lap race tomorrow after he ended up languishing down in 14th place on the grid. The British rider could only manage a best time of 1.58.331 that was over two seconds off the fastest pace. Randy de Puniet ran off track at one stage and qualified 13th.

Super Sic Start Race In Brno At The 1st Place

2009-08-16T07:47:00.000+02:00

The world champions Marco Simoncelli took his third pole position of the season at Brno

Metis Gilera rider, Marco Simoncelli at the foremost position class 250cc race after he fought for the place against Hiroshi Aoyama, to take pole at the Cardion AB Czech Republic Grand Prix at Brno.

The Italian had already looked set for his third pole of the year in the final stages of the session when Scot Racing’s championship leader Aoyama laid down a time off 2’01.961 to take provisional pole. Nonetheless Simoncelli fought back on his final lap, riding around Alex Debon (Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens) to improve on Aoyama’s best by 0.35s.

Héctor Barberá the fastest at free pratice qualified in third place for the Pepe World Team, 0.453s behind Simoncelli and just ahead of Debon to completed the front row covered by 0.775s.

The second row will comprise Mike di Meglio (Mapfre Aspar), Roberto Locatelli (Metis Gilera), Mattia Pasini (Team Toth Aprilia) and Álvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar Team). The Aspar Aprilia rider will start eighth on the grid, he crashed out at the same corner where Valentino Rossi fell in the MotoGP session with three minutes to go.

Barbera Be Fastest At Second Pratice

2009-08-16T06:07:00.000+02:00

Pepe World Team rider lead in Saturday’s 250cc free practice

Héctor Barberá will go in search of his fourth pole position in five Grands Prix this afternoon at Brno having been the fastest rider in both 250cc practice sessions so far at the Cardion ab Czech Republic Grand Prix.

The Aprilia-equipped Spanish rider put down a best lap of 2’02.416 at the conclusion of the session to keep himself in front of the pack, though he was pushed hard by compatriot and rival Álvaro Bautista who lapped around a tenth of a second behind him and briefly topped the timesheet towards the end of the practice.

World Championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Racing) lapped with a similar pace to Bautista, whose team-mate Mike di Meglio was fourth fastest and was less than two tenths off Barberá’s pace.

Roberto Locatelli (Metis Gilera), Mattia Pasini (Team Toth Aprilia), Marco Simoncelli (Metis Gilera), Héctor Faubel (Valencia CF - Honda SAG), Alex Debon (Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens) and Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT SAG) completed the top ten.

Andrea Iannone Back To Peak Performance To Heat The 125cc Championship

2009-08-16T04:57:00.001+02:00

Ongetta Team ISPA rider who winner of the first two races of the season, Andrea Iannone took his second pole position of the 125cc season at Brno in the Czech Republic.

Iannone 2’08.171s time on the 12th of his 14th laps was enough to put him at the head of the grid in front of second fastest competitor Nico Terol (Jack & Jones Team) who lapped 0.3s behind him. The front row of the grid for the tenth 125cc race of the year is completed by German rider Sandro Cortese (Ajo Interwetten) and World Championship leader Julián Simón (Bancaja Aspar), that pair going round with a similar pace to Terol’s.

While another Bancaja riders, Bradley Smith will start in fifth place, having lapped 0.786s down on Iannone’s pace.
Third Aspar rider Sergio Gadea currently second in the championship, 50 points behind Simon will starting from seventh, one place behind German Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing). The last second row completely by Pol Espargaró (Derbi Racing Team).

A disappointing session for Marc Márquez (Red Bull KTM) saw him qualify down in 20th place having crashed towards the end of QP, whilst the young Spaniard’s team-mate Cameron Beaubier misses Sunday’s race due to the fractured left collarbone which he sustained on Saturday morning.

Pole result at Brno

Rider Team Time
1. Andrea Iannone Aprilia I.C. 2:08.171
2. Nicolas Terol Aprilia WRB 2:08.484
3. Sandro Cortese Aprilia Emmi 125 2:08.507
4. Julian Simon Aprilia Aspar 125 2:08.542
5. Bradley Smith Aprilia Aspar 125 2:08.957
6. Stefan Bradl Aprilia Kiefer 2:09.184
7. Sergio Gadea Aprilia Aspar 125 2:09.240
8. Pol Espargaro Derbi Belson 2:09.418
9. Efren Vazquez Aprilia Blusens 125 2:09.434
10. Joham Zarco Aprilia San Marino 2:09.462
11. Joan Olive Derbi Belson 2:09.480
12. Simone Corsi Aprilia WRB 2:09.741
13. Michael Ranseder Aprilia I.C. 2:09.962
14. Luis Salom Wildcard 2:10.024
15. Daniel Webb Aprilia Molenaar 2:10.081

Lorenzo Lead The Friday Pratice

2009-08-14T21:06:00.000+02:00

Jorge Lorenzo had the fastest lap time in Friday’s practice for the Czech Grand Prix. He covered the 5.403-meter (3.358-mile) Brno circuit in 1 minute, 56.595 seconds to beat Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi by 0.399 second.

Riding at close to 100% fitness at present, something which has far too infrequently been the case over the last year, Dani Pedrosa will be aiming to at least get on the podium in the Czech Republic and he started the weekend in third place with a best time of 1’57.584, around a second behind Lorenzo.

Colin Edwards, who took his first podium of the season last time out at the British GP, take the 4th place. Edwards was the only other man under one minute 58 seconds as he recorded the fourth quickest time on his Yamaha Tech 3, while Andrea Dovizioso rounded out the top five.

San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Spanish rider Toni Elías, who finished second in last year’s Czech MotoGP contest, was just behind Dovizioso, to make it three Hondas and three Yamahas in the top six.

The top performing Ducati rider on track was the impressive rookie Mika Kallio, who made use of his temporary factory Desmosedici GP9 ride to lap seventh fastest.

The young Finn, a best of eighth so far this year, made a flying start to his factory career by running fifth throughout the middle stages of the session, a position he returned to with one minute to go. However, last gasp improvements by Dovizioso and Toni Elias (Gresini Honda) pushed him back to seventh, 1.707sec behind Lorenzo but still the top Ducati rider.

Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Italians Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) and Marco Melandri (Hayate Racing) completed the free pratice 1 top ten.

Dani And Dovi Still With HRC In Season 2010

2009-08-14T20:08:00.000+02:00

Repsol Honda confirmed their riders for next season

Mr Tetsuo Suzuki, the new HRC President and the Managing Director of Honda R&D announced HRC riders for 2010. Mr. Suzuki confirmed that Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso the two Repsol Honda riders will sign extensions to their contracts for the next two seasons.

Mr. Suzuki said, “I'm very pleased to announce that we reached a basic agreement with Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso. Making this announcement now, in August, earlier than we usually do, will allow the riders to focus on the seven remaining races and also allows HRC to focus on the preparation for next season as early as possible.”

“Dani and Andrea are two young riders, they’re in good condition and are motivated. We’re convinced they can get good results in the second half of the season and next year. Both riders have been performing well with Honda since early in their career, winning races in the 125cc class, so we want to develop a competitive machine for two riders with a big potential.”

He continued, “We spoke with Lorenzo, but we eventually concluded that Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso would be the best line-up for us and there are no plans to provide another bike to Lorenzo.”

Pedrosa has been a Honda rider for his entire grand prix career, which began in the 125cc class in 2001. The Spaniard won the 125cc world championship in 2003 and then the 250cc crown in 2004 and 2005.

Graduating to MotoGP with factory Repsol Honda in 2006, Pedrosa was a race winner in his first premier-class season and, until Dovizioso's victory in the recent British Grand Prix, was the only Honda rider to win races in the 800cc era, which began in 2007.

Pedrosa, who has battled frequent injuries in recent years, was second in the 2007 MotoGP World Championship and is presently fourth in the 2009 standings after ten of 17 rounds. Pedrosa has won seven MotoGP races.

Dovizioso has been a Honda rider since his first full 125cc season in 2002 and won the 2004 world championship before spending three seasons in the 250cc class. Dovi finished twice runner-up to Aprilia's Jorge Lorenzo before joining the Spaniard in moving to MotoGP in 2008.

Fifth in the championship with one podium also made Dovizioso the top satellite rider and he was promoted to the factory team for 2009. Dovizioso currently sits sixth in the championship with his Donington win also marking his first podium of the year.

The news of an unchanged factory Honda line-up for 2010 means that Jorge Lorenzo is almost certain to remain at Fiat Yamaha - and that Yamaha's bargaining power has now increased significantly.

Meanwhile, the President also acknowledged that negotiations with Repsol to continue as the team’s main sponsor have reached an advanced stage, although a final agreement has still to be signed.

There were no announcements with regard to the Honda satellite teams’ 2010 line-ups as the confirmation of names for next year cannot be made until the respective deals are finalised.
The news that Pedrosa and Dovizioso are staying means that five 2010 seats are now confirmed, the three others being Rossi (Fiat Yamaha), Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro) and Marco Simoncelli (Gresini Honda).

Randy de Puniet Ready To Race At Brno Round Despite Injury

2009-08-14T19:21:00.000+02:00

The LCR rider, Randy de Puniet has confirmed that he will try to race in Brno although he was got despite a recent ankle fracture.

“Immediately after the surgery I was discouraged and thought I wouldn’t be able to race in Brno. But thanks to the rehabilitation programme my ankle is improving day by day,” said #14.

The Frenchman was motocross training to maintain his fitness in France over the break when he suffered a crash and fractured his left ankle, but a brief surgical intervention and some hard rehabilitation work have seen him recuperate rapidly. The satellite Honda man will therefore be ready to ride again at Brno on Friday, much to the relief of his team and his fans.
He believes a rehabilitation programme with the Clinica Mobile will enable him to ride at round eleven.

“Brno is one of my favourite race tracks and the good placements we gained in the first part of the season have given us more incentives to be in the front,” added the 28-year-old.

Frenchmanis currently eighth in the MotoGP World Championship standings, having already scored 13 points more than during the whole of last season.

The Battle Three Candidates Championship At Brno

2009-08-13T14:11:00.000+02:00

Scot Racing’s Hiroshi Aoyama to be favourite to win 11th series 250cc class at Brno

Courtesy of his three wins, two additional podiums and his consistent overall form Hiroshi Aoyama currently enjoys a 15 point lead over second placed Álvaro Bautista and 44 point from Marco Simoncelli ar third placed in the 250cc World Championship.

A repeat of his 2006 Brno 250cc podium would therefore keep Aoyama at the head of the standings, even if Bautista were to be victorious, moreover Simoncelli in the Czech Republic.

Following his costly late crash in a duel with Aoyama at Assen Bautista has bounced back with two consecutive podiums and the Mapfre Aspar rider was a winner in the Czech Republic in 2006 during his 125cc title-winning campaign. As the title race intensifies Bautista will look to go one better than his second place at Donington and prevent another 2009 Aoyama victory.

Indeed, Bautista was second in last year’s 250cc Brno contest just ahead of reigning World Champion Marco Simoncelli who finished third. The Italian Metis Gilera rider is also third in the current classification and will be looking for better form in the second half of the year after a rollercoaster season so far, as he prepares for his move up to MotoGP with San Carlo Honda Gresini.

Just one point behind Simoncelli at present is another Spanish rival Héctor Barberá who saw a run of four consecutive top five results come to an end in eighth place at Donington. Last year’s Czech 250cc winner Alex Debon, meanwhile, lies sixth overall in the standings, just behind Mattia Pasini.

Preview For 125cc Class At Brno

2009-08-13T14:03:00.000+02:00

Julián Simón continuing his performance in 125cc championship at Brno.

Bancaja Aspar team have a strong grasp on 125cc class championship race at 11th series in Brno, courtesy of their three riders Julián Simón, Sergio Gadea and Bradley Smith, who hold the top three positions in the points table.

Simón has a huge 50 point lead at the head of the standings and has performed well all year having dropped back down into the 125cc category for a title assault. The Spaniard rode intelligently again at Donington to grab victory in the rain-interrupted race - adding to his win the previous weekend in Germany - and he will go into the Czech round full of confidence.

For Sergio Gadea and Bradley Smith race at Brno is a chance to Rectified their mistakes at Donington. Gadea crashed out having finished first and second at the previous two Grands Prix, whilst there was Smith at his home event as he hit the deck in the second part of the race when leading the way and ultimately finished 20th, having also crashed out at Sachsenring.

Behind the Aspar riders standings sits Nico Terol from Jack & Jones Team, who has overcome his early season problems to put together a string of solid top five results in the last five rounds.

Although Andrea Iannone has won three races this year he don't have consistent performanced. Italian don't got point at Donington in the difficult conditions saw him slip back to fifth overall, behind Terol.

Yamaha As Fast As Ducati

2009-08-09T14:26:00.000+02:00

Valentino Rossi reckons the engine performance of his factory Yamaha YZR-M1 is now a match for MotoGP world title rival Casey Stoner’s Ducati.

When MotoGP introduced the new 800cc rule for 2007, Ducati stole a massive march on its Japanese rivals with an engine that at times was over 10mph faster on the straights.

Stoner dominated the ’07 title race and won ten races, while Rossi had a torrid time, his struggling YZR-M1 only good enough for the Italian to win four races.

Yamaha’s in-line four-cylinder contender dramatically improved in 2008, with Rossi capturing his first world title since 2005 with nine victories.

The Yamaha has now become the dominant brand in MotoGP, with Rossi and Fiat team-mate Jorge Lorenzo winning six out of the opening ten races in 2009.

The 30-year-old told MCN: "This story starts back in 2007. The performance started in the winter of 2007 when Yamaha decided to put in a great effort to improve the bike and last year it was already a great bike. But it was difficult to fight with Ducati and at times last season the Ducati was still a bit stronger than us.

"But we have improved again this year and I think we have the best team. We have the best riders because Lorenzo and me are very strong and this is not the case in the other teams. This is also good to work on the development of the bike with two riders very fast and now the M1 is very competitive."

Rossi said the key change in performance was largely down to Yamaha making big improvements to the power delivery and acceleration of this year’s YZR-M1.

The eight-times world champion added: "We have improved the engine a lot but we have really made big progress with improving the acceleration. It looks like the Ducati might still be a little bit faster, but we are more or less on the same level. Last year was different, and especially two years ago it was a lot different."

Honda Riders Battle For Championship

2009-08-09T13:53:00.000+02:00

Until Max Biaggi separated them with his 45-point haul in one day in Brno, Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Leon Haslam (Stiggy Honda) had been locked in a friendly but serious fight for fourth place in the championship. With only 26 points now between Rea in fourth place, and Haslam in sixth, it is still very much an open contest between these friendly rivals.

At stake are several points of honour. First off, they are both young British rivals, who have raced against each other in the UK in the recent past. They are also both Honda riders, who want to be top Honda rider of all, now that the outright championship win is a fast-fading dream.

But this year the real frisson of excitement is that Rea represents Hannspree Ten Kate Honda, the established Honda force in modern WSB racing. Haslam, on the other hand, represents Stiggy Honda, a first year WSB team that made all the early running in 2009, when Ten Kate struggled.

The season has continued in an unpredictable fashion for each rider, but in general Rea has had the best recent form, and particularly at Brno. For the neutrals, Honda's most civil of Civil Wars is another fascinating element that makes up the 2009 WSB championship.

Rea, speaking after a third and fourth at Brno, having qualified on the front row, said: "All in all, it's been a good couple of races for us so we head into the summer break going in the right direction and I'm looking forward to recharging the batteries before we come back fighting again at Nürburgring in September."

Haslam, on the other hand was fairly dejected with his Brno fortunes. "I am pretty disappointed with the whole weekend," he confessed, after qualifying 17th and finishing seventh and 12th. "We found an average set-up for race one and I was happy to be able to coming through in seventh place. We made a few changes for the second race, but I had a lot more chatter, from lap one in the second race. I was doing lap times half a second off what I did in warm-up. The group in front was not that far away but I couldn't go any faster than I did."

Jeremy Back To Race Ride KTM

2009-08-09T13:29:00.000+02:00

Former MotoGP rider Jeremy McWilliams has clinched a deal to ride a KTM RC8R in the final two rounds of the German Superbike championship.

The KTM-Akrapovic Team will contest a third RC8R for the veteran British racer in Assen on August 23 and Hockenheim on September 13.

The 45-year-old enjoyed the best moment of his career at the Assen circuit when he won the Dutch 250GP in 2001 and he was one of the Britian’s longest serving Grand Prix riders.

He claimed two podium finishes in MotoGP for Aprilia in 2000 but his premier class career was ended by the withdrawal of the ill-fated Ilmor squad after just one race in 2007.

Recently McWilliams has undertaken a test and development role on several projects, including BMW’s foray into the superbike arena with the S1000RR.

Sykes Felt At Home In His Team

2009-08-09T13:19:00.000+02:00

Britain’s Tom Sykes remains determined to keep his ride in the factory Yamaha World Superbike team in 2010, but knows he faces stiff competition for the coveted ride.

Sykes currently sits seventh in the World Superbike Championship standings on 150 points – 30 points behind Leon Haslam in sixth and just five points ahead of Carlos Checa in eighth.

"I’d love to stay because I’ve learnt a lot and I don’t want this year to go to waste. With the exception of Ben (Spies) I feel I’ve had a pretty good rookie year and I’m seventh in the championship There is no question that I’ve been overshadowed by Ben and there are obviously a few people out there that want my ride.”

During his rookie season, Sykes is yet to find the confidence and setting to allow him to challenge for race wins. In the opening 20 races he has been unable to secure a podium finish with a best result of fourth at Assen.

Despite being unable to match the pace of his American team-mate, Sykes has warned any potential candidates for his ride that it might not be as easy as Spies is making it look.

He said: “There are a few people out there that think they could get on this bike and do a better job, they think that they could get on it and do what Ben is doing. I have to say that I think they would be in for a bit of a surprise and they’d be setting themselves up for a big fall.”

Corser Believes BMW Will Take Podium At This Season

2009-08-09T13:07:00.000+02:00

Following BMW’s impressive turnaround and strong results at the last round of the World Superbike Championship at Brno, Troy Corser believes that the team have the potential to secure a podium finish by the end of the season.

At Brno both Corser and team-mate Ruben Xaus were rejuvenated with a much improved S1000RR. In qualifying both men made it into Superpole 3 to line up in the top eight. In the races with Corser led early on after a short battle with Spies before securing the team’s best finish of fifth position.

Since the previous Donington Park race at the end of June the team have worked tirelessly at the workshop and completed a total of five days testing, which resulted in the teams best results at the Czech track.

“I can race the bike now, it’s competitive and the performance is a lot more consistent. The step we made at Brno was the first of three. For the next race in Germany we’ll have the next step and I think our bike will work well around the Nurburgring.”

“In Brno I made the wrong tyre choice which was disappointing because I think I would have been able to run with Spies for three or four laps had I been on the right tyre. If we can carry on in this direction it will be good. It’s still going to be difficult to win, but there’s a chance of a podium", he said.

Ten Kate use 2 Riders Not 3 In 2010 Season

2009-08-09T12:06:00.000+02:00

Ten Kate Honda have revealed that they are likely to run two Superbike riders in 2010 instead of three in 2009. The Dutch squad expanded their highly successful team in 2009 to three riders with WSB rookie Jonathan Rea joining Carlos Checa and Ryuichi Kiyonari.

Rea’s impressive performance to date including a win at Misano and three further podiums have backed up Ten Kate’s faith in the young Brit, but whilst Rea’s place in the Dutch team is secure the fate of his two WSB and two World Supersport team-mates is less so.

Ronald Ten Kate said:
"Right now we have one rider in the ‘green zone’ which is Jonathan and the rest of the riders are in the ‘open zone’ and their contracts are open.

“In Supersport we would like to keep Kenan Sofuoglu and Andrew Pitt to give them a full year with decent material underneath them.

“We’ve started speaking about next year and we had a meetings with Honda Europe to discuss the situation. Like everything nowadays the decision is budget related so we could have two Supersport and two Superbike. There is also the issue of efficiency with our resources spread over three riders. I personally don’t believe this is the real issue but for sure running two riders instead of three will make life easier.

Checa Wants To Remain In WSB For Season 2010

2009-08-09T11:56:00.000+02:00

On form Ten Kate Honda rider Carlos Checa has revealed he wants to race for at least two more years, but will quit WSB if he is unable to find a competitive ride in 2010.

The Spanish veteran showed that he is still a contender I the world championship after finishing second and fifth in the two races at Brno last week, but his season to date has been disappointing.

With one years experience in WSB, Pirelli tyres and the Ten Kate Honda, Checa was expected to be a contender in this years title races. Instead, along with his Ten Kate team-mates, Checa has made a slow start to the season due to the teams winter development of the Honda Fireblade.

In the opening rounds, Checa and Britain’s Jonathan Rea struggled with harsh power delivery and it was only when the team addressed the issues that the results began to improve. The riders have also been helped after the Dutch squad switched from WP suspension to Ohlins Andreani before the Misano race in June.

“I have a good relationship with Ten Kate and with Honda and we are talking about different things. I want to race for one or maybe two more years, but if I can not race at this level in the World Championship then I will stop”, he said.

“My first year in WSB was good, but this year has been difficult. If I look back at my career I am satisfied. I have always had a plan of how my career would work out. I want to continue to do my best but I don’t want to just keep racing on and on. If I race for two more years I will be getting close to 40 and there are many things that I would like to do in my life", he added.

Checa currently sits eighth in the championship standings, five points behind Tom Sykes. He has scored two podiums so far this year, one at Miller and one in Brno. In 2008 Checa finished fourth in the overall standings with two wins to his credit.

Xaus Ready For Nurburgring After Sucessful Surgery

2009-08-09T11:47:00.000+02:00

Ruben Xaus has revealed that he is already itching to make his return to WSB after undergoing a successful operation on his broken right femur. Xaus crashed spectacularly on the opening lap of race one in Brno, which saw his factory BMW S1000RR cartwheel along the side of the track and the Spanish rider slide hard into the gravel trap.

Xaus said:
“I think the reason I hurt myself was because the gravel had not been raked over and the recent rain had made some of the ridges as hard as concrete. Hitting one of those was what did the damage, otherwise I would’ve just walked away from the crash without a problem.”

Xaus was diagnosed with a broken right Femur and airlifted out of the Brno circuit on Sunday afternoon. He underwent a successful operation at the Centro Medico Teknon hospital in Barcelona on Monday where three screws were inserted into his Femur.

The tough Spaniard was released from hospital on Tuesday and has already begun swimming and physiotherapy in an effort to regain fitness in time for the next round of the WSB championship on 6th September in Germany.

“The operation went very well and I had three screws put into my femur and twenty-four hours later they told me I could leave! At the moment I am on crutches, because I am not allowed to put any weight on my right leg, but I can sit down normally and get about OK. I can start swimming almost straightway and physiotherapy very soon. I am in no pain and I am really looking forward to getting fit and back on my bike again”, he said.

Xaus’ crash came as a bitter blow to the team due to the huge improvements they had shown at the Czech race. After struggling with the performance of the S1000RR in earlier rounds, both Xaus and his team-mate Troy Corser were on the pace in Brno. Both men qualified in the top eight with Troy Corser going on to lead both races with a best finish of fifth in race one.

Spies Confident To Champions SBK This Year

2009-08-09T11:14:00.000+02:00

Despite trailing championship leader Noriyuki Haga by seven points, WSB sensation Ben Spies remains 100% confident he can win the title in his rookie year.

The American rider saw his chance of taking the lead in the standings disappear in race one at Brno on Sunday when he was taken out by Haga’s team-mate Michel Fabrizio.

The factory Yamaha man made amends in race two by taking the win ahead of a hard charging Max Biaggi.
Out of the remaining four rounds of the series, Spies knows two of the tracks – Imola and Portimao and with 200 points still available is bullish about his chances of taking the title.

He said, “People are saying that there is not much racing left, but for me, with the way the points are in WSB it’s like being half way through the year back in AMA. It’s far from over.

“I’m still going for race wins, I’ve tested at Imola, I think the bike will work well at Nurburgring and Magny Cours and we know the bike is good at Portimao and I know I’m fast there. If it comes down to the last weekend and we’ve got to go to Portugal and win races I’ll be looking forward to it.”

During his rookie season Spies has won an incredible 11 races but has been robbed of vital points in seven races.

“With the DNF’s I’ve had I’m not where I should be in the championship and both Nori and Michel know that. I’ve still got a lot of confidence and I’m feeling good for the rest of the season, he added."

WSB Promoters Issue Warning To Dorna

2009-08-09T10:55:00.000+02:00

WSB series promoter Infront Motor Sports has issued a press statement, effectively a shot across the bows, telling Dorna to ditch any idea of introducing production-based 1000cc machinery alongside the existing MotoGP machinery.

The reaction comes in the wake of a proposal last week by Dorna boss Carmelo Ezpeleta, suggesting manufacturers might lease 1000cc production-based engines to privateer teams to help bolster MotoGP grids.

The press statement issued at the Brno WSB round this weekend said:

“With reference to several declarations published recently by daily newspapers and weekly magazines, according to which the organizer of the Grand Prix World Championship is reported to be evaluating the possible participation of bikes equipped with production based 1000 cc engines in the MotoGP class, Infront Motor Sports wishes to make the following statement.

"Infront Motor Sports does not consider a similar idea either to be realistic or feasible in view of the existing contracts between the FIM and Infront Motor Sports itself and in view of the specific characteristics of the World Superbike and MotoGP championships.

We believe therefore that such a project will not have any follow-up.

"Nevertheless, wherever future developments should render necessary any action of defense of the rights of Infront Motor Sports, as well as those of all the teams, manufacturers, riders, sponsors and media who have invested in the Superbike and Supersport World Championships, such action will be immediately set in motion at all levels.”

Dovisiozo MotoGP First Win At BritishGP

2009-07-26T22:50:00.000+02:00

A maiden win for Andrea Dovizioso in the premier class could not have come at a better time for the Italian. Following three races without claiming World Championship points, a month in which speculation about his future has been debated and some tough times chasing a first podium as a Repsol Honda rider, the sophomore star gave an assured display when some of the more experienced names in MotoGP fell foul of the Donington Park conditions.

The 23-year-old Italian came home 1.360 seconds ahead of American veteran Colin Edwards after championship leader Valentino Rossi and his Fiat Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo both slipped off the slippery circuit.

“I won on the wet here in 2007 in the 250cc class, so I knew the conditions well,” said the Italian.
“The emotion this tine is very different as it is in another class. The start of the season has not been easy so it gives me great pleasure to get this victory for the team,” added Dovizioso, who was crowned world 125cc champion in 2004.

Edwards for his part bemoaned the fact that having changed tyres, they took too long to warm up which could have made a difference to between breaking his MotoGp duck after over a hundred races.
“I am too old for this shit!” joked the 35-year-old.
“My tyres were too cold towards the end after I changed them (because it was raining). There was just not enough warmth in the tyres.”
De Puniet was over the moon to have got onto the podium.

Pole-sitter Rossi came off his bike when leading with 11 of the 30 laps to go, but was able to keep it running and resume the race. The Italian dropped back to 11th place but stormed through the field to finish fifth and extend his lead to 25 points.

The first new MotoGP racewinner since last year’s Portuguese round (won by persistent 250cc rival Jorge Lorenzo) Dovizioso now has a huge weight lifted from his shoulders. However, whilst he may have looked confident when leading the British Grand Prix, things were still tough for ‘Dovi’ on Sunday afternoon.

“This race was very difficult. With these conditions the temperature of the tyres was too low, and the light rainfall for the whole race meant that it was probably the worst scenario for riding on this tyre. We couldn’t change the bikes either, so it was really difficult to manage,” said the Honda factory rider after an ecstatic celebration on the podium. He had led the race since lap nineteen, when reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi went in too hot on the Fogarty Esses, but the lack of a close rival actually made the final eleven laps harder for the eventual winner.

“Before Valentino crashed it was easy, because I just followed him; after that I needed to understand the track better,” he explained. “Wearing a light visor also meant that I couldn’t see clearly which lines were the driest.At the end Randy (De Puniet) and Colin (Edwards) were riding at 100% and catching me, which was difficult to manage. I think maybe for the last two laps I was pushing so hard that they couldn’t risk reaching me.”

Marlboro Ducati rider and 2007 World Champion Casey Stoner also had a bad afternoon as his tyre gamble backfired to leave him in 14th place.
British rider James Toseland took his Tech 3 Yamaha to a sixth place finish as British fans said goodbye to Donington ahead of next year’s move to Silverstone.

Hiroshi Takes Third Win Of 2009 At Donington Park

2009-07-26T22:18:00.000+02:00

"Aoyama winning BritishGP used wet tyre on a dry track"

World championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama has won the 250cc British Grand Prix at Donington Park, using wet tyres on a dry track, ahead of title rival Alvaro Bautista and Mattia Pasini.
The race began in the wet, and with almost all the field fitting full wet tyres, but a dry line began to appear as early as lap 3 of 27, by which time Aoyama was already pulling clear of the field.

The race began in the wet, and with almost all the field fitting full wet tyres, but a dry line began to appear as early as lap 3 of 27, by which time Aoyama was already pulling clear of the field.
By then the track was clearly dry, causing some of the less forgiving riders problems as their sliding rear tyres overheated, but the leaders were in a class of their own - pulling 30 seconds clear of the third placed battle between Mattia Pasini and Alex Debon (both of whom fell and remounted) with 10 laps to go.

The tyre choice for the start of the British Grand Prix was in no doubt: the declaration of a wet race meant that the softer and cut tyres would be the rubber for the opening laps. Before the halfway mark, however, the asphalt had dried, leaving a big decision as to whether to come in, miss a lap and attempt to recover time on slick tyres, or risk a slip-up on the notoriously treacherous Midlands track.

Aoyama had a pair of near-misses, but managed the degradation of his Dunlops to perfection as none of the big guns elected to make a switch. Backmarkers and riders attempting to unlap themselves came into play, but Aoyama remained cool to add to his win total and World Championship lead.

Title rival Bautista had been just eighth at the end of lap one, but fought his way up to second by lap 7, although Aoyama's Scot Honda remained six seconds clear by the halfway mark.
Bautista began closing on the Japanese as the race neared its conclusion - sitting two seconds adrift with 3 laps to go. But a calculating Aoyama responded as needed, gaining ground back from the Aspar Aprilia rider to win his third race of the year by 5.723 seconds.
Aoyama, who came into round nine 10 points ahead of Bautista, will leave Donington for his summer holiday with an advantage of 15 points.

Mattia Pasini bounced back from a crash to take the final podium spot. The Italian fell with eleven laps remaining when battling with Alex Debón, sliding off at Melbourne. Debón also took a tumble some ten seconds later, but both rejoined the race without having been passed.

Fourth place went to reigning World Champion Marco Simoncelli, ahead of Mike di Meglio with Debón sixth. The highest placing rider to switch to slicks was Karel Abraham, who finished fourteenth after crashing, changing tyres and setting the fastest lap of the race.

Double 250cc World Championship runner-up Ralf Waldmann, making a one-off GP return at the age of 43 to a track where he tasted victory in both 1997 and 2000, gambled on intermediate tyres, in a reverse of his memorable 2000 decision.
The German was 25th and last until lap five, when the improving weather helped him lap significantly faster than those around him, but he pulled into the pits and retirement soon after, ending hopes of a shock result.

Aoyama, who came into round nine 10 points ahead of Bautista, will leave Donington for his summer holiday with an advantage of 15 points.

Simón Winner In Restarted 125cc Race

2009-07-26T21:42:00.000+02:00

Julián Simón emerged victorious in a five-lap sprint for glory in the final 125cc World Championship race at Donington Park. Rainfall eleven laps from the scheduled end of the twenty-five lap showdown closed back up the field and created a thrilling finale to the British Grand Prix, won by the series leader.

After a wet warm-up the original race began in cool, windy and officially dry conditions.
But the weather gradually deteriorated and when the race was stopped due to rain on lap 15 of 25, Pol Espargaro was leading by 3.296 seconds from Nicolas Terol, followed closely by Marc Marquez, Bradley Smith and Aspar Aprilia team-mate Simon.

Espargaro had fallen from the lead moments before the race was stopped, but with the starting order for the restart taken from the end of the last full lap the Derbi rider was able to assume 'pole position' for the five lap sprint.
Tyres of choice were full wets, soon justified by increasing rain, and the race began with Smith pulling a brave outside move to lead on the exit of turn one.

The triumph was the Aspar Team’s 100th, the day after they announced their move up to MotoGP for 2010. More importantly for Simón, it was his third of the 2009 season.

Second place went to Fontana Racing’s Simone Corsi, taking his first rostrum since the final round of the 2008 season at Valencia. He had led the race on the final lap, but was taken by Simón and unable to regain the place.

Last year’s victor at Donington Park, Scott Redding made an unlikely push for the podium from twelfth on the grid. The Blusens Aprilia rider had a great first section of the race to move up to the second row of the revised grid, and held his nerve in the rain for third place and a home top three finish.

The ‘second race’ began with a mercurial start for Bradley Smith, who took the lead before taking a crash on the wet track when battling with Marc Márquez. He rejoined to take his bow in front of the home fans, whilst the battle at the front raged on. Two laps on, when leading the race, Márquez fell to the same fate.

Also seeing a push for victory fall by the wayside was Sergio Gadea, who fell just a pair of laps before the rain was deemed to heavy to continue, whilst Pol Espargaró fell to pieces after leading the first section. Starting from ‘pole’ –despite being the final rider to crash before the red flag was shown- he dropped down to tenth at the chequered flag.

An early crash for Andrea Iannone, Jonas Folger, Danny Webb, Sandro Cortese, Joan Olivé and Stefan Bradl created some early drama, ironically enough caused by Corsi’s touching Olivé’s Bainet Derbi machine.

SBK Race 2 : Spies Takes The #1 Podium

2009-07-26T20:41:00.000+02:00

Ben Spies heads into the summer break just seven points behind Noriyuki Haga in the World Superbike standings after resisting a late charge by Max Biaggi to win the second race at Brno.
Spies led to the chequered flag from the second turn, but not before a breathtaking final few laps as he and Biaggi disputed the lead, the American putting on a display of precision riding to not allow his rival an opportunity to pass.

Going a long way to making up for his retirement in race one at the hands of Michel Fabrizio, Spies is now just a handful of points behind Noriyuki Haga. Even so, the margin could have been smaller but for Haga's outstanding determination to finish in sixth position.
Spies was in charge of the race from early on, taking just one corner to dispatch of Troy Corser, the BMW man once again getting the run down into the first turn from sixth on the grid to briefly lead.

Spies was promptly followed by Fabrizio and Biaggi and, as expected, the trio quickly began asserting their authority over the competition.
Although an error by Fabrizio early on in the race allowed Spies an advantage, both he and countryman Biaggi continued to keep the leader honest, eventually reducing the gap so that all three riders were covered by less than a second.

However, Spies' cause was being aided by Biaggi's persistent attempts to overtake Fabrizio. Indeed, while the Aprilia appeared to have an advantage over the Ducati in a straight line, Biaggi was evidently having problems getting the bike stopped in time to complete the manoeuvre.
It meant Biaggi managed to overtake Fabrizio on four occasions, only for his rival to coolly sweep back through when he promptly ran wide.

After several laps of harassment, though, Biaggi finally made his move stick with five laps to go. Immediately setting the fastest lap of the race, Biaggi quickly latched onto the back of Spies and began his assault on the Yamaha man.
However, other than the odd feigned move and close encounters mid-corner, Spies was inch perfect to prevent Biaggi from ever getting into a position where he could prise away the race lead.

Battling it out until the very final corner, Biaggi had to settle for second position behind a delighted Spies, the American putting his race one devastation behind him as he celebrated across the line.
Behind Biaggi, who enjoyed his best World Superbike weekend in almost two years, Fabrizio was a close third having run out of laps to try and regain second from his fellow Roman.

Some distance back, Ten Kate Honda were once again the best of the rest, although the positions were reversed to have Jonathan Rea leading Carlos Checa across the finish line.

Despite Spies' win, Haga can be happy to have emerged from the event still intact after another heroic performance in race two. Getting up inside the top ten from the start, Haga took on – and beat – Shane Byrne and Troy Corser before holding off Tom Sykes to finish a fine sixth and protect some of his threatened lead overall. Haga now has more than a month to get back in full fitness for the final four rounds of the season.

Following his retirement in race one, Sykes recovered from a poor start to finish exactly where he started in seventh position, the Briton managing to fend off a hard charging Byrne and Jakub Smrz, the Czech rider being cheered on to ninth by his home crowd. Despite fading as the race wore on, tenth place Corser can nonetheless consider this to have been a breakthrough weekend for the BMW team.

Unable to match the pace of his team-mate, Aprilia's Shinya Nakano crossed the line in 11th position, ahead of Leon Haslam, who was another to fall away as the race progressed. Matthieu Lagrive, Ryuichi Kiyonari and Lorenzo Lanzi rounded out the points paying positions having benefitted from crashes for Makoto Tamada and Yukio Kagayama, as well as a retirement for John Hopkins.

Race 2 Result :
1. 19 Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 40'15.420 (161,055 kph)
2. 3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 0.213
3. 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 0.657
4. 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 8.311
5. 7 Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 8.915
6. 41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 21.175
7. 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 21.384
8. 67 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 21.599
9. 96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 21.726
10. 11 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 25.180
11. 56 Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 25.612
12. 91 Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 25.622
13. 9 Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 26.246
14. 14 Lagrive M. (FRA) Honda CBR1000RR 31.098
15. 57 Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 32.706
16. 23 Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 33.173
17. 10 Nieto F. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 34.953
18. 77 Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 57.751
19. 94 Checa D. (ESP) Yamaha YZF R1 1'00.273
20. 88 Resch R. (AUT) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'29.794

RET 53 Polita A. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9
RET 99 Scassa L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R
RET 51 Cihak M. (CZE) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9
RET 121 Hopkins J. (USA) Honda CBR1000RR
RET 71 Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9
RET 25 Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R
RET 100 Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX 10R
NP 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR

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SBK Race 1 : Biaggi (Still) King Of Brno

2009-07-26T20:04:00.000+02:00

Max Biaggi has taken Aprilia to their first victory since returning to the World Superbike Championship after capitalising on a collision between Ben Spies and Michel Fabrizio during the opening race at Brno.

The first World Superbike win for Aprilia since Regis Laconi claimed victory at Imola back in 2001, Biaggi's triumph also marks his first since 2007 when he won at Vallelunga almost two years ago.
Although the Italian was in contention for victory from the start of the race, his cause was undoubtedly aided by a coming together between Fabrizio and Spies on lap four as they disputed the lead of the race.

Having recovered from a tardy start, Fabrizio was tailing Spies as they entered the final corner complex, the Italian proceeding to attempt a move on the inside of his title rival. However, with Fabrizio not quite alongside as an unsuspecting Spies closed the door, the Ducati Xerox folded beneath him, pushing him into the side of the Yamaha.

Sending them both barrelling out of the race, an incensed Spies vented his frustration at an apologetic Fabrizio having been denied a perfect opportunity to close on a laboured Noriyuki Haga in the standings.
Their demise would duly play into the hands of a following Biaggi, who simply moved into the lead of a race he wouldn't lose.

Prior to Fabrizio and Spies' collision, Corser had grabbed the headlines in the early stages after sweeping into the lead of the race at the first corner, the Australian capitalising on a season-best grid position of sixth to push ahead of Spies, Jonathan Rea, Fabrizio and Biaggi.

He valiantly held onto the spot too, the visibly improved S1000RR proving a match for its rivals in a straight line, while Corser even shrugged off Spies' move for the lead on lap two by snatching it straight back at the very next corner.
Unsurprisingly, Spies' second attempt proved more successful, while Fabrizio and Biaggi dragged themselves through into second and third too.

However, despite Corser's immense start, there was disappointment on the other side of the garage for Ruben Xaus who suffered a dramatic accident mid-way round the first lap, the Spaniard losing the rear of his BMW before it proceeded to flip end-over-end across the gravel.

Together with Lorenzo Lanzi coming down on lap three, as well as Spies and Fabrizio's accident, four of the top ten contenders were already out of the race, while an unscheduled pit-stop for Tom Sykes had also ruled him out.

With Biaggi now comfortably in charge, Ten Kate Honda pair Rea and Carlos Checa, up from tenth on the grid, were left to fight over second position, the Spaniard getting the edge on his younger team-mate on lap five.

Further back, all eyes were focused on Haga too, who was putting in a fine performance as he attempted to capitalise on Spies' unexpected retirement. Rising to eighth position, Haga's hopes of avoiding a strenuous race were ended as he became embroiled in an intense tussle for sixth with Leon Haslam, Makoto Tamada and Jakub Smrz.

Having made an excellent start from 17th position on the grid, Haslam led the quartet for the majority of the race, resisting the attentions of Haga firstly and then Tamada, the returning Japanese rider producing possibly his most convincing ride on the Kawasaki to date.

As it happens, all three would fall foul of Smrz, the local favourite being cheered on as he picked his way back up the order from a 12th place starting position. He would eventually pass Haslam three laps from the chequered flag to secure an encouraging sixth place finish.

Back at the front, despite Checa's best attempts to reel him in, Biaggi was untroubled as he made sure of keeping the RSV-4 upright through the final turns to claim a marvellous victory for the Italian team. His win also makes him only the fifth different race winner this year, while it also moves him back up in the fight for fourth overall.

Checa finished a lonely second for what remains one of his most convincing performances of the season, while Rea completed a good race for Ten Kate Honda in third, despite having been unable to match his team-mate in terms of race pace.

The battle for fourth came down to an exchange between Corser and Shane Byrne, the Briton stalking his way back into contention before overtaking the former champion on lap 14. Fourth marks his fifth top six result in five races.

Despite slipping back in the closing stages, fifth still represents BMW's best-ever result at World Superbike level, Corser's inspired performance the best indicator yet of the team's potential at this level.
Behind Smrz in sixth, Haslam was a satisfied seventh having endured a troublesome weekend so far, although his Stiggy Honda team-mate John Hopkins didn't fare so well when he crashed out whilst running in tenth position.

Perhaps the most important result of the race, however, was Haga's eighth position, the championship leader defying crippling pain in his shoulder and wrist to finish comfortably inside the top ten. Crucially, this adds eight points to his margin over Spies, an advantage that now stands at 22 points.

A late charge by Matthieu Lagrive saw him claim his best result yet on the Althea Honda in ninth place, the Frenchman taking advantage of a problem for Tamada in the closing stages to sneak ahead. Nonethless, Tamada held on for tenth position, his best World Superbike finish in 34 races.
Outside the top ten, Fonsi Nieto was a solid 11th on his debut with the DFX Ducati team, the Spaniard just edging out Broc Parkes on the second Kawasaki.

Ryuichi Kiyonari, who finished inside the top five at Brno last season, continued his struggles on the HRC-liveried Ten Kate Honda down in 13th position, just ahead of countryman Yukio Kagayama on the sole Alstare Suzuki. Vittorio Iannuzzo was 15th to score his and the Squadra Corse Italia team's first point of the season.

Max Biaggi :

"It's great! What can I say! When I crossed the start-finish I was so happy to be winning this race and I had so many flashbacks of Brno, I can feel that it is one of my favourite circuits. Of course I don't want to take anything away from Spies and Fabrizio, they were both very fast, but I remember Barry Sheene used to say ‘To finish first, first you have to finish' and this is a part of the deal. I put my head down and did not make any mistake, so a big thanks to all my crew, Aprilia and in particular Gigi Dall'Igna, the ‘papa' of our bike!."

Carlos Checa :

"It's a good result for the team to get two riders on the podium and I think we did a very good job. At a certain point I thought maybe I could catch Max, but in the end I had to preserve my tyres as the right side in particular was not so good, and I could see there was no way. I settled for second as I could see that Johnny was 4 seconds behind."

Jonathan Rea :

"Well, in Superpole we had to ride through the problems and get a good result and we did the same here in the race, so I feel quite fortunate to get a podium. We didn't quite have the pace of Max , but my team have done a really good job. I really love this place, but I can't understand why I had a slow start to the weekend."

Race 1 Results :
1. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 40'18.306 (160,863 kph)
2. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 3.631
3. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 9.948
4. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 12.952
5. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 14.599
6. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 19.359
7. Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 19.680
8. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 20.731
9. Lagrive M. (FRA) Honda CBR1000RR 21.923
10. Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX 10R 27.807
11. Nieto F. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 35.263
12. Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 36.535
13. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 38.586
14. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 40.061
15. Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 40.280
16. Scassa L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 40.641

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Foret Win Brno Series

2009-07-26T19:34:00.000+02:00

Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda) has moved himself back into the World Supersport title fight after Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha World Supersport) was forced to retire whilst dominating proceedings at Brno. Crutchlow had to retire with a mechanical problem two laps from the end as he was heading for another dominant victory, thus re-opening the title battle.

The win, after the four-way battle for second turned into the fight for first, went to his team-mate Fabien Foret, who returned to the top slot for the first time since last year, the Frenchman thus wiping out all memories of his nasty crash here on this track twelve months ago. In the sprint finish, the runner-up slot went to Anthony West (Stiggy Racing Honda), who managed to get the better of the two increasingly competitive Kawasakis of Joan Lascorz and Katsuaki Fujiwara.

South African Sheridan Morais put in a good run for sixth place, ahead of Italian Massimo Roccoli (Intermoto Honda) and Garry Mc Coy (ParkinGo Triumph), while the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team again had a disappointing day, their two champions Kenan Sofuoglu and Andrew Pitt only finishing ninth and tenth respectively.

Crutchlow was leading the race by more than six seconds when his Yamaha began slowing with less than three laps remaining, his demise instead allowing team-mate Fabien Foret to claim a stunning last gasp win.
Although he couldn't take full advantage, Laverty's fifth place means Crutchlow's margin over him in the overall standings is down to 17 points with four races and a maximum of 100 points remaining.

Crutchlow looked to be on course for a decisive fifth win of the season having been in charge of the race from the second lap, the championship leader setting a series of fastest laps to pile on the margin over closest rival Joan Lascorz. However, it was all to no avail, Crutchlow slowing midway around the 15th lap before cruising into his first retirement of the season.

His demise, however, would go on to prompt an outstanding race finale as four riders disputed what had now been upgraded to race victory.
Having faded into the clutches of Foret and Katsuaki Fujiwara, Lascorz was doing his best remain in contention, the Kawasaki rider initially losing out to Foret, only to snatch what was now the lead on the final lap of the race.

However, with Foret, Fujiwara and now Anthony West, the Australian launching a remarkable charge up the order during the latter stages, all in close company, the quartet jostled for position in each of Brno's sweeping bends.
As they made their way up the hill for the final time, it was West who had forged his way into the lead, ahead of Lascorz and Foret, who himself had only just managed to resist a barrage of passing attempts by Fujiwara earlier in the lap.

However, despite the Stiggy Honda rider's best attempts, he couldn't do anything about an inspired late lunge from Foret into the final bend, the Frenchman moving up two positions to claim a surprise victory.

Ensuring the Yamaha team still had something to smile about, victory at Brno marks Foret's 12th career Supersport triumph, although it is his first win in over a year.

A slightly disappointed West had to make do with second position, a great performance on a day when the Honda CBR600RR didn't seem a match for Yamaha or Kawasaki.

Lascorz held on for the final podium position, just edging out stalwart team-mate Fujiwara. Although not quite the win either rider had been hoping for as they entered the final lap, third and fourth marks Kawasaki's best combined Supersport performance for more than two years.

Well behind the fight for victory, Laverty will be frustrated at not being able to take full advantage of Crutchlow's retirement, but 11 points for fifth place still represents a significant inroad at the end of what has been a tricky weekend for the Parkalgar Honda rider.

Beyond the leaders, Sheridan Morais put in a remarkable performance on his World Supersport debut, the South African finishing sixth for the Yamaha YZF team after taking on, and beating, Massimo Roccoli and Kenan Sofuoglu in a straight fight.

The former Superstock front runner even managed to get the better of Garry McCoy in the latter stages, the Triumph rider keeping the points ticking over in eighth, behind Roccoli, while Sofuoglu had to persevere with ninth having made minimal progress from his 14th place starting position.

By contrast, Andrew Pitt's rise through the ranks was more impressive, going from 24th to tenth, although it wasn't enough for him to retain his WSS crown, the 100 point deficit to Crutchlow now ensuring there will be no back-to-back title win this year.

Elsewhere, Michael Laverty scored his first points for the Echo CRS Honda team in 13th position, behind Barry Veneman and Danilo Dell'Omo, while Gianluca Nannelli and Jesco Gunther completed the top 15.

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Suzuki Try Do The Best At Donington

2009-07-26T06:59:00.000+02:00

Rizla Suzuki is in the midst of its second frustrating event in the space of a week, with Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi qualifying just 13th and 14th for Sunday's British Grand Prix at Donington Park will have their work cut out right from the start as they try to fight their way through the field after both qualified on the fifth row of the grid today, following a frustrating qualifying session for the pair.

"The issues we suffered from at Sachsenring last weekend have unfortunately transferred over to this weekend and we have been unable to give either rider a package to enable them to push to their maximum level,” admitted team manager Paul Denning.

Vermeulen put the qualifying performance down to a lack of turning agility and front end feel.

"I am really frustrated because I was looking forward to Donington as I've had some success here and the bike has worked well, but this weekend so far has been quite difficult,” he said.

“In the wet we had reasonable success, but it has been really tough for us in the dry today. We have struggled to make the bike turn how we would want it to and to keep the front end feeling and speed through the corners.”
The Australian is now hoping that race day rain can help resurrect his weekend.

“I know I don't really like the rain, but we might get lucky tomorrow and it will be wet - which would certainly help us this weekend. You never know what the weather will do at Donington so we will have to wait and see."

"I don't really have a lot to say about today!”, commented Capirossi. “I would like to thank my crew for the fantastic job they did at lunchtime today when they changed an engine in about 25 minutes, which was great work. It has been hard work on the bike today as we tried to find the best solutions for here but we are still struggling a bit. We have a couple of issues to still sort out, but things were better this afternoon compared to this morning. Overall the situation does not look too good, but we are here to fight as hard as we can and we will continue to do our best tomorrow, it won't be easy but we will be trying!"

Today's qualifying was held in cool and windy conditions with track temperatures only getting up to 31ºC. World Championship leader Valentino Rossi will start from pole position on his factory Yamaha.
Tomorrow's race will be the last motorcycle Grand Prix since GP racing returned to Donington in 1987 and a big British crowd is expected to turn up and witness end of an era when the lights signal the start at 15.30hrs local time (14.30hrs GMT).

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#46 Takes Pole At Donington

2009-07-26T06:26:00.000+02:00

Valentino Rossi took pole position number four of the 2009 season on Saturday afternoon with the fastest lap of MotoGP qualifying at Donington Park. The Fiat Yamaha rider’s time of 1’28.116 gave him his first top spot for the British Grand Prix since 2005 –the last occasion in which he won at the Midlands track.

After Friday's wet session, qualifying took place in the dry, with Fiat Yamaha star Rossi claiming his fourth pole of the season by 0.095sec over Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa. Pedrosa won the 2006 event and had been fastest in both free practice sessions this weekend.

Rossi now has twice as many pole positions as he did for the entire 2008 season and, following his pole position last week in Germany, heads the qualifying timesheet for consecutive races for the first time since the beginning of 2007. His hot lap came at the end of the session in a frantic shootout, in which he sent Dani Pedrosa –the top man in both Free Practice sessions- packing by just under a tenth of a second.

Teammate and title rival Jorge Lorenzo was also hot on the Italian’s heels, placing third on the grid and maintaining his 100% record of front row starts in the current campaign. He relegated Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner –who lowsided at Macleans for his second fall of the day- to the head of the second line by just 0.044. This afternoon's fastest laps were set using the softer rear tyre, but the harder front option.

Interestingly, Rossi was not completely satisfied with his pace on the harder rear tyre. By contrast, Lorenzo's problems materialised when he switched to the softer rear for a late pole attack.

Third in the championship Casey Stoner, winner at Donington for the past two seasons, fell from his Ducati in morning practice and again at the halfway mark of this afternoon's session.
The young Australian, who lost the front at the Melbourne Hairpin in the morning, tumbled at the McLeans right-hander while holding second behind Lorenzo halfway through qualifying.

Stoner looked to save a rear wobble on corner entry, but the front then crumbled as he tipped his Desmosedici into the turn. Stoner walked away unharmed but never looked fully comfortably thereafter, on what is thought to have been his spare bike.
Nevertheless, the #27 claimed a close fourth place on his last lap, 0.330sec behind Rossi's M1.

Andrea Dovizioso and Colin Edwards join Stoner on row two, riding for Repsol Honda and Monster Tech 3 Yamaha, respectively. Edwards’ teammate and the only home rider in the premier class, James Toseland equaled his best qualifying performance of the year with ninth in the session.

Seventh and the final rider within one second of Rossi was Hayate's Marco Melandri, with Toni Elias eighth for Honda Gresini. Home star James Toseland will start from the outside of row three in ninth for Tech 3.

Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) edged out rookie Mika Kallio (Pramac Ducati) for tenth, while the Rizla Suzukis of Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi will start just 13th and 14th, immediately behind Alex de Angelis (Gresini Honda).
Nicky Hayden struggled throughout the session on his way to 15th on the second factory Ducati, ahead of only Pramac's Niccolo Canepa and Scot Honda's Gabor Talmacsi.
Donington Park has hosted the British round since 1987. Weather forecasts warn of possible rain on race day.
In addition to Stoner’s fall, Scot Racing rider Gabor Talmacsi also came off his bike during the run-out.

Complete Qualifying (without time) :

1. Rossi
2. Pedrosa
3. Lorenzo
4. Stoner
5. Dovizioso
6. Edwards
7. Melandri
8. Elias
9. Toseland
10. de Puniet
11. Kallio
12. de Angelis
13. Vermeulen
14. Capirossi
15. Hayden
16. Canepa
17. Talmacsi

www.motogp.com
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Haga Still To Race At Brno Despite Injury

2009-07-26T06:17:00.000+02:00

"#41 vows to battle through pain barrier"

Noriyuki Haga insists he will race on at Brno despite confessing the pain from his shoulder injury is getting worse as the weekend progresses.
Having struggled for pace during free practice, Haga failed to improve on his provisional qualifying time in the morning, but had done just enough to ensure that he would progress to Superpole.

Given an injection to help ease the pain in his shoulder, Haga breezed through the first qualification phase but couldn't manage anything better than 14th in the closely contested Q2 session.
Indeed, having described the pain today as 'worse' than before, Haga is aware the two races are likely to take their toll on him.

“It's not been easy, the pain is worse than yesterday. We made some changes overnight to the bike but to be honest they didn't make much difference and the pain is constant, worse when braking. Before the free practice Doctor Corbascio gave me an injection to kill some of the pain in my shoulder but it was still hurting me during the Superpole.

“I pushed as hard as I could in the first two sessions but it wasn't hard enough and I finished 14th. I'll go back to the Clinica tomorrow morning to see what we can do before the races but I know that tomorrow will be tough.”

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First Pole For Barbera In 2009 At BritishGP 2009

2009-07-26T05:52:00.000+02:00

"Barbera (PepeWorld) takes pole position after overcoming Simoncelli time"

Héctor Barberá took his third pole position in four races with a final throw of the dice at Donington Park on Saturday, as the Spaniard looks for a second victory of 2009.

Riding the PepeWorld Aprilia RSA, Barberá was just 0.094 quicker than Marco Simoncelli when the session was shut down. A seventh pole of his Grand Prix career went to the title contender.

Hiroshi Aoyama bounced back from a morning cylinder problem to clock the third fastest time of the session, just over two-tenths of a second down on Barberá’s 1’31.802 hot lap. He starts from the front row as the World Championship leader, with the final spot on the first row occupied by Alex Debón.

Mike di Meglio out-qualified Mapfre Aspar teammate Álvaro Bautista for the first time in his rookie year, heading the second row. Bautista ended his 100% record of front row starts after suffering the after-effects of two crashes in previous sessions, but will begin the British Grand Prix from sixth. Mattia Pasini –a faller in qualifying- and Ratthapark Wilairot complete the row.

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Jorge Martinez Confirms Ducati Deal

2009-07-26T05:48:00.000+02:00

Jorge Martinez’s Aspar squad has confirmed today at Donington Park that it will move to MotoGP in 2010 with Ducati.After failed talks previously with Yamaha and Suzuki, the Spaniard also talked with Honda in the early part of 2010.

But he will run a GP10 for Bologna factory Ducati with a one-rider effort signed for 2010. Martinez then plans to increase his involvement to a two-rider squad in 2011.
Today’s announcement made no mention of who will ride Aspar’s Ducati next season, but it is widely expected that his current 250GP title contender Alvaro Bautista will take the ride.

Reluctant previously to ride for Ducati, the Spaniard is understood to have an assurance from Ducati that he will move into its factory team for the 2011 world championship.
Martinez, who has run a hugely a successful 125 and 250 team for years, said: “It seems that after three years we are finally able to achieve our dream of presenting a MotoGP project.

"It’s been three years of fighting and looking for the best option and after sounding out various factories; we have finally reached an agreement with Ducati. I hope that this will be a fruitful arrangement that will continue in the long term.
"In theory we will have one ride in 2010, with the idea being to expand to two in 2011. Our goal is primarily to grow strong in MotoGP from a technical viewpoint.

"We will continue with the 125cc team and compete in the Moto2 class, so we feel that this is a big step for the whole team.
"Today the big news is that we are moving up to MotoGP with Ducati, so the second thing is we have to confirm the rider. We hope to be able to do that by the time we get to Brno.”

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/

Casey Start From 4th Place

2009-07-26T05:34:00.000+02:00

Casey Stoner, winner at Donington Park for the past two years, salvaged fourth on the grid for the 2009 event at the end of a 'really difficult day' that included two crashes for the Ducati Marlboro star.

The Australian suffered two front-end falls, one in morning practice and then again halfway through qualifying, before claiming fourth on the grid on his last lap with his spare bike.

"I'm a bit frustrated because I think we could have been on the front row today but considering everything, fourth place isn't that bad,” said the 2007 world champion, who starts round ten third in the world championship behind Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.

“It was actually a really difficult day for us, we had a few problems this morning, we have struggled to find the good feeling with the bike that we've had in the last few races, but we modified the set-up for the afternoon and things felt better, allowing me to go fast from the start.

“We were trying a different configuration on each bike but unfortunately about halfway through the session, when we were trying something with the front, I crashed and damaged my number 1 machine and that obviously made things worse.

“We didn't have enough time left to transfer that setting onto the second bike so we managed to improve a little on the soft tyre but it still wasn't enough. We'll have to see what happens tomorrow and to try to get as many points as possible. I'd almost prefer it to rain because it would be better for my physical condition,” he concluded.

Team-mate Nicky Hayden, who qualified a Ducati-best fourth last weekend in Germany, will start just 15th for the final Donington Park MotoGP round. Like Stoner, the American won’t be disappointed if the forecast rain materialises for race day.

“It hasn’t been a very productive day for us at all. We’ve struggled a lot to get feel into the bike, especially on the left side it has been a problem getting enough heat into the tyres to give me good feedback,” explained Nicky.

“My qualifying lap was only an improvement of about a second on my first run this morning, which was our first time on the track in the dry, and obviously that’s not good enough.
“I did a pretty poor job today at the end of qualifying and probably stayed out too long when I had another soft tyre I could have come in and changed to, but time was running out.

“I also had a little clutch problem there at the end, which didn’t help but the bottom line is we haven’t been fast enough all day. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping for rain tomorrow. I’ll be sorry for the fans if it does but selfishly we might need it!” he confessed.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/

Bradley Smith Takes Poles At Home Race

2009-07-26T05:32:00.000+02:00

Bradley Smith will start his home Grand Prix at Donington Park with the best view in the house on Sunday morning, sitting on pole position for the second time this season. The Bancaja Aspar rider had to pull something special out of his box of tricks in the final minute of the qualifying session, duly obliging with a 1’37.442 lap to grab the top spot from Marc Marquez.

Smith has never had the best of results at the venue for the British Grand Prix, but his final chance to take glory at the Midlands circuit is his best shot at a memorable victory.

Red Bull KTM rider Marquez separates Smith and World Championship leader Julián Simon on the grid, with third Aspar rider Sergio Gadea putting the entire squadron on the front line for only the second time this year. Simón had crashed early on in the session.

Row two continues the Spanish theme, lining up Joan Olivé, Nico Terol, Pol Espargaró and ‘odd-one-out’ German rider Sandro Cortese.

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Ben Spies Take The Superpole (Again)

2009-07-26T05:08:00.000+02:00

"Biaggi dominance at free fratice but spies takes the superpole"

Ben Spies (Yamaha World Superbike) added another Superpole scalp to his crown as he took his ninth trophy of the year, one away from Doug Polen's 1991 record for Ducati, difficult at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic. Yamaha rider Spies dominated all three superpole sessions on his Yamaha YZF-R1. The Texan's time of 1 minute 58. 868 seconds was the quickest seen all weekend so far but was still half a second away from the circuit best lap held by Troy Bayliss.

The Yamaha rider did not have it all his own way however as he was pushed hard by Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) and Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing). The two Italians, both from Rome, will start tomorrow's two 20-lap Races from second and third on the grid and look to be Spies' most serious challengers for the wins.

The front row was completed by Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), who hauled himself up to fourth slot after a struggle to get to the front over the first two days. Meantime Fabrizio's team-mate and current championship leader Noriyuki Haga managed to qualify 14th on his return after his crash at the Donington Park WSB round.

Complete superpole list :

1. Ben Spies USA Yamaha WSB YZF R1 1min 58.868s
2. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1098R 1min 58.950s
3. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Racing RSV-4 1min 59.055s
4. Jonathan Rea GBR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 1min 59.740s
5. Shane Byrne GBR Sterilgarda Ducati 1098R 1min 59.787s
6. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR 2mins 00.046s
7. Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR 2mins 00.096s
8. Tom Sykes GBR Yamaha WSB YZF R1 2mins 00.240s
9. Lorenzo Lanzi ITA DFX Corse Ducati 1098R 1min 59.730s
10. Carlos Checa ESP HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 1min 59.748s
11. Makoto Tamada JPN Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R 1min 59.873s
12. Jakub Smrz CZE Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R 2mins 00.159
13. Yukio Kagayama JPN Alstare Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 2mins 00.223s
14. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1098R 2mins 00.235s
15. Shinya Nakano JPN Aprilia Racing RSV-4 2mins 00.262s
16. Matthieu Lagrive FRA Althea Honda CBR1000RR 2mins 00.498s
17. Leon Haslam GBR Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR1000RR 2mins 00.718s
18. Ryuichi Kiyonari JPN Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 2mins 00.811s
19. Broc Parkes AUS Kawasaki SRT ZX-0R 2mins 03.819s
20. John Hopkins USA Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR1000RR 2mins 14.727s
21. Fonsi Nieto ESP DFX Corse Ducati 1098R 2mins 01.510s
22. David Salom ESP Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 2mins 01.643s
23. Luca Scassa ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 2mins 01.816s
24. Vittorio Iannuzzo ITA SCI Honda CBR1000RR 2mins 02.346s
25. Alessandro Polita ITA Celani Suzuki GSX-R1000 2mins 02.718s
26. David Checa ESP Yamaha France GMT 94 2mins 02.785s
27. Roland Resch AUT TKR Switzerland Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 2mins 04.041s
28. Milos Cihak CZE ProRace Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 2mins 04.905s

Brno WSS Pole Belong Crutchlow After Fighting For The Place With Laverty

2009-07-26T04:41:00.000+02:00

Cal Crutchlow completed his domination of Free Practice and Qualifying by securing pole position for tomorrows 18 lap World Supersport race. Onboard the factory Yamaha R6 Crutchlow came within 6/100ths of a second to breaking into the 2m 01s with his lap time nearly a second faster than last years best.

Crutchlow’s closest rival was once again Eugene Laverty who over the course of the weekend is gradually creeping closer to the front, but still sits 0.848 seconds off the lead.

“It wasn’t so bad today considering we only used one set of tyres again,” the Yamaha rider said. “We found the new front tyre to be very good round here so we tried that and stuck to the rear we normally use. I did 15 good laps on them at the end so all good.

I think the race will be different, Eugene will be able to tag along and do the pace, I just don’t think he’s showing it today. I had a few moments out there, the wind was really strong and picked me up in a few places when it got under the front wheel and pushed me wide. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

Haga Targets Points To Maintain Position

2009-07-25T13:01:00.000+02:00

Noriyuki Haga has vowed to fight like he does on any other race weekend in Brno despite riding with a recently plated forearm and broken Scapula sustained at Donington Park three weeks ago. Haga finished the opening Free Practice session in 18th place after completing 17 laps in the hour long session.

Speaking to MCN at the end of the session the championship leader was wearing a special cooling vest to keep his body temperature down and had a constant supply of ice packs being placed on his shoulder in an effort to reduce inflammation.

He said: “My Forearm is no problem. The pain I have is in the muscle on my shoulder, not really the Scapula which is broken. For sure it is difficult but I think this afternoon will be better. So far I have not had any pain killers and we will see what happens for the rest of the day.

“This weekend will be hard but I know what I have to do. I have to fight for as many points as possible.”

Cal Continues Domination At Brno Free Pratice

2009-07-25T12:55:00.000+02:00

Cal Crutchlow continued to stamp his authority on World Supersport proceedings as second free practice got underway at Brno, the championship leader commanding a nine tenth advantage over his nearest rivals.

Having blown the field away with his immediate pace during first free practice, Crutchlow resumed his place out front five minutes into the session before going on to set his fastest lap time in the dying seconds.

A tenth quicker than his lap record from a day earlier, Crutchlow was run closest by Joan Lascorz, the Spaniard making big gains to almost drop into the 2mins 02secs bracket and reduce the margin to the front to less than a second.

More importantly, Crutchlow’s nearest title contender Eugene Laverty remained well placed in third, but he continues to be 1.2secs a lap slower than his key rival.

Fabien Foret maintained his good start to the weekend in fourth, ahead of Kenan Sofuoglu and Anthony West, while Garry McCoy and Katsuaki Fujiwara were once again top ten contenders in seventh and eighth.

Massimo Roccoli, who spearheads the Intermoto Czech team’s challenge at their home round, moved into ninth, ahead of countrymen Gianluca Nannelli and Michele Pirro.

Qualifying Times (1 And 2 ) Brno

2009-07-25T12:33:00.000+02:00

Full qualifying times(1) from the tenth round of the 2009 World Superbike Championship at Brno, Czech Republic.

NB: Makoto Tamada, originally classified fourth, has lap time deleted after setting it after chequered flag

1. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Racing RSV-4 1min 59.982s
2. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1098R 2mins 00.066s
3. Carlos Checa ESP HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 2mins 00.205s
4. Ben Spies USA Yamaha WSB YZF R1 2mins 00.558s
5. Lorenzo Lanzi ITA DFX Corse Ducati 1098R 2mins 00.581s
6. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR 2mins 00.603s
7. Shinya Nakano JPN Aprilia Racing RSV-4 2mins 00.648s
8. Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR 2mins 00.731s
9. Broc Parkes AUS Kawasaki SRT ZX-0R 2mins 00.887s
10. Yukio Kagayama JPN Alstare Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 2mins 00.958s
11. Shane Byrne GBR Sterilgarda Ducati 1098R 2mins 01.017s
12. John Hopkins USA Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR1000RR 2mins 01.021s
13. Jonathan Rea GBR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 2mins 01.023s
14. Jakub Smrz CZE Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R 2mins 01.031s
15. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1098R 2mins 01.062s
16. Tom Sykes GBR Yamaha WSB YZF R1 2mins 01.070s
17. Makoto Tamada JPN Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R 2mins 01.385s
18. Leon Haslam GBR Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR1000RR 2mins 01.403s
19. Ryuichi Kiyonari JPN Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 2mins 01.439s
20. Matthieu Lagrive FRA Althea Honda CBR1000RR 2mins 01.720s
21. Luca Scassa ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 2mins 02.155s
22. Vittorio Iannuzzo ITA SCI Honda CBR1000RR 2mins 02.346s
23. Fonsi Nieto ESP DFX Corse Ducati 1098R 2mins 02.644s
24. David Salom ESP Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 2mins 02.691s
25. David Checa ESP Yamaha France GMT 94 2mins 02.785s
26. Alessandro Polita ITA Celani Suzuki GSX-R1000 2mins 02.940s
27. Roland Resch AUT TKR Switzerland Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 2mins 04.041s
28. Milos Cihak CZE ProRace Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 2mins 04.905s

Full combined qualifying times from the tenth round of the 2009 World Superbike Championship at Brno, Czech Republic.

1. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Racing RSV-4 1min 59.982s
2. Ben Spies USA Yamaha WSB YZF R1 2mins 00.043s
3. Jakub Smrz CZE Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R 2mins 00.052s
4. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1098R 2mins 00.066s
5. Carlos Checa ESP HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 2mins 00.205s
6. Shane Byrne GBR Sterilgarda Ducati 1098R 2mins 00.355s
7. Lorenzo Lanzi ITA DFX Corse Ducati 1098R 2mins 00.581s
8. Tom Sykes GBR Yamaha WSB YZF R1 2mins 00.600s
9. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR 2mins 00.603s
10. Broc Parkes AUS Kawasaki SRT ZX-0R 2mins 00.623s
11. Shinya Nakano JPN Aprilia Racing RSV-4 2mins 00.648s
12. Jonathan Rea GBR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 2mins 00.702s
13. Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR 2mins 00.731s
14. Yukio Kagayama JPN Alstare Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 2mins 00.958s
15. Leon Haslam GBR Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR1000RR 2mins 01.012s
16. John Hopkins USA Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR1000RR 2mins 01.021s
17. Ryuichi Kiyonari JPN Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 2mins 01.033s
18. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1098R 2mins 01.062s
19. Matthieu Lagrive FRA Althea Honda CBR1000RR 2mins 01.199s
20. Makoto Tamada JPN Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R 2mins 01.287s
21. Fonsi Nieto ESP DFX Corse Ducati 1098R 2mins 01.510s
22. David Salom ESP Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 2mins 01.643s
23. Luca Scassa ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 2mins 01.816s
24. Vittorio Iannuzzo ITA SCI Honda CBR1000RR 2mins 02.346s
25. Alessandro Polita ITA Celani Suzuki GSX-R1000 2mins 02.718s
26. David Checa ESP Yamaha France GMT 94 2mins 02.785s
27. Roland Resch AUT TKR Switzerland Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 2mins 04.041s
28. Milos Cihak CZE ProRace Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 2mins 04.905s