MotoGP News - Estoril qualifying and 2010 Teams

The boys of MotoGP are back in action this weekend in Estoril - even Casey Stoner who appears to be in top form after his "medical leave".

The qualifying session this morning went swimmingly, leaving us with the comfort of the usual front row qualifiers, Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner - Pedrosa took first chair in the second row. Just as it should be.

Fiat is taking brilliant advantage of it's sponsorship of the top two riders in the world by running a one-off livery design to announce the unveiling of it's new 2010 Evo Punto car.


The bikes (as well as Rossi and Lorenzo) are clad in a classy silver and white design, inspiring Lorenzo to top it off with a special helmet painted in the theme of Neil Armstrong's astronaut helmet.






Now on to the line-up for 2010....

Every season's end brings surprises, disappointments and smatterings of hope for MotoGP fans, teams and riders, and this year is no exception. Although not quite as cliff-hanger-esque as the last couple of seasons, there are a few surprises and indeed, a few disappointments.

One surprise that played out a little earlier than planned is Ben Spies step-up to MotoGP. Originally sited for the 2011 season, Ben and Tech 3 Yamaha have bumped up the timeline and signed a contract for the 2010 season. But, Ben will not wait until 2010 to make his first appearance in the premier class. He will ride as a Wild Card in the Valencia race, the last race of the year, and he will be racing on track with James Toseland.... the man he is poised to replace. Juicy... I know :)

James Toseland will cross back over to SBK for 2010 along with Chris Vermeulen, who's Rizla Suzuki ride is being taken over by Alvaro Bautista.

San Carlo Honda Gresini has given both of their 2009 riders the boot. Alex de Angelis and Toni Elias are floating at the moment without a confirmed ride for next year. Toni seems to be calling his own shots thus far and is waiting to decide his own future in MotoGP. He will reportedly wait until after Sepang and Philips Island to pin-down plans for next year. According to him, top six finishes in both sessions will mean MotoGP for 2010, and sub-top-six will result in a switch to Moto2. His options for a ride in MotoGP are down to Scot Racing and Pramac Ducati.

San Carlo will have a fresh pair of riders in their camp next year - Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli.

FB Corse is reportedly working on a bike for a new MotoGP team next year. This looks to be Alex de Angelis' best bet for a ride. The team is building a bike around the engine designed by BMW for their MotoGP efforts... which turned into a SBK campaign, and the engine was thus abandoned. Being an all-Italian effort, FB Corse will likely seek an Italian rider. Alex fits the bill.

Pramac Ducati has confirmed Mika Kallio for 2010, and I believe Aleix Espargaro has signed with them as well. Niccolo Canepa has made this his first and last year in MotoGP. He will not race the premier class next year. He is allegedly entertaining several offers from SBK as well as the Moto2 series.

Here it is in a less-confusing layout:

Repsol Honda

• Dani Pedrosa
• Andrea Dovizioso

Tech 3 Yamaha

• Ben Spies
• Colin Edwards

Rizla Suzuki

• Loris Capirossi
• Alvaro Bautista

LCR Honda

• Randy De Puniet

San Carlo Honda Gresini

• Marco Melandri
• Marco Simoncelli

Ducati Marlboro

• Casey Stoner
• Nicky Hayden

Pramac Ducati

• Mika Kallio
• Aleix Espargaro (not confirmed)
  

Fiat Yamah

• Valentino Rossi
• Jorge Lorenzo

Scot Racing

• Not confirmed

Until next time.....

Rubb'er Down!!!!

Kristen

San Marino dominated by "The Donkey"

Valentino Rossi, in a characteristic show of humility, wore a special lid for the Misano race today, with a big donkey painted on the top - his opinion on crashing out at Indianapolis. In a fantastic show of support, his crew greeted him in the winners circle, wearing gigantic donkey ears..... which Rossi confiscated at proceeded to wear during the podium presentation.

Jorge Lorenzo landed the one-two punch for fiat Yamaha today, following Rossi over the line to take second place. Dani Pedrosa took third, and in a surprising show of humor after his Repsol machine ran out of gas and left him stranded on the track, thumbed a ride from Toni Elias back to the garage.

Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards were savagely taken out in the first turn of the first lap by an over-zealous Alex de Angelis - extremely disappointing for them. Nicky was clearly upset as he picked himself up and took a couple of shots at Alex. A short while later, he was interviewed back at the garage, and had simmered down and returned to his diplomatic, southern gentleman demeanor.

Other than that, it was an uneventful race with Rossi taking the lead by midway and maintaining a comfortable 2 second lead until the end.

Until Next time

Rubb'er Down!

MotoGP Indianapolis extravaganza

An astounding race in Indianapolis this afternoon. Pedrosa snagged pole for the start of the race, and came into it on fire after breaking the track record in qualifying. He led the race for the first couple of laps, and looked as though he was poised to give Rossi and Lorenzo a run for their collective money..... right up until he crashed. He did recover, and ended up with a well-earned post-crash 10th place spot. Several laps later, it was Lorenzo leading Rossi after a smooth overtaking by the Spaniard. Rossi was left to do what Rossi does best.... pressure from behind. This time however, it backfired on him. He tried to make up the gap with a hard drive into the corner and tapped the brake - I was a little - nay, a LOT - surprised to see him make such a rookie mistake. He went down hard, but managed to get back on his faithful Yam and return to the track..... only to retire a few laps later after being passed by Pedrosa, due to the effects of the crash on the bike. The irony was palpable as we viewed Rossi and Pedrosa swapping licks for 16th position not 2 minutes after they were swapping for the lead - and off rode Jorge Lorenzo with a 10 second lead over the rest of the pack... to victory.

Nicky Hayden did very well as he carried not only himself, but the weight and nerves of his entire family and gaggle of friends that attended this race with him. He made us all proud as he held up under the pressure of Dovizioso's barrage of attacks and ended up with a 3rd place spot on the podium. By the way, props to Nick who wore a specially designed "Make a Wish" helmet that will be auctioned off after the race for the benefit of the Make a Wish Foundation - solid charity and a solid show of character from Nicky.

Alex de Angelis claimed second place and ran a fine race indeed. Marco Melandri - who by the way snagged a contract with Gresini Honda for next year - suffered a spectacular crash near the end of the race. He made a fine mess of his Hayate machine and was not able to rejoin the race. His moment of enlightenment was clearly visible as he walked up to his bike and discovered that he did such a thorough job of crashing it, the back tire came off. Niccolo Canepa did not finish the race either. It appeared that he had a mechanical problem with his Ducati.

All in all, a very good race with very unexpected results.... just the way I like 'em :) A couple of last-minute mentions before I conclude my ramblings, Chris Vermeulen is now seeking a ride after Rizla Suzuki confirmed the signing of 250cc super star Alvaro Bautista for the 2010 season, and Jorge Lorenzo put rumors to bed about his contract, by signing another year with Fiat Yamaha.

That'll do it for me.

Until Next time

Rubb'er Down!

Rossi eeks out 0.099 second win over Lorenzo in Germany

The boys of MotoGP did not disappoint today in Germany. The race was a battle among the top four riders in the championship series - and there is no doubt why they are the 4 fastest men on two wheels. With only 28 points seperating first from third in the standings and half a season of racing to go, the claws are coming out.

Casey, Jorge and Rossi each shared the pressure of leading the race today at some point. Rossi led off the start and was eventually overtaken by Stoner, who volleyed the lead back to Vale, only to have Jorge Lorenzo swipe it again. Dani Pedrosa held his ground like a champ and ended up with the third place position over the line. Casey was remanded to fourth.

The last three laps of the race were a balls-out battle between Rossi and Lorenzo which ended in Rossi claiming victory with Jorge only 0.099 seconds behind him - or next to him as it were. It was indeed 30 laps of full-on entertainment.

Nicky Hayden got shut out and swallowed up at the start, backing him up to 13th position at the end of the first lap. He battled his way up to 8th by race end.... with some very impressive riding and aggressive overtakes.... looks like the Nikcy of yore may be on his way back. Yesterday during a wet qualifying session, Nicky suffered a tremendous high side and took Nicola Canepa out from behind.... with body to body contact. If you can find the clip, it's worth watcing. Canepa said later that he had no idea what hit him - I guess not!

Randy De Puniet made a brilliant start, finding himself in 4th position for nearly a whole lap before he duffed it. If you blinked, you missed it... one second he was right there behind Pedrosa, and the next second there was nothing but sparks and parts.... no Randy. Amazingly enough he didn't take anyone out with him.... and everyone else remained on two for the rest of the race. Andrea Dovizioso retired from the race early due to a tire problem.

The drama will continut next weekend in Donington followed by a short summer break. After the first half of the season, these guys will certainly be looking forward to that.... if for no other reason than to heal their wounds.

Pedrosa breaks dry spell for Repsol

Very uncharacteristic of the European flat circuit terrain, the Mazda Raceway succeeded in tossing a lot of riders over the weekend. Many that rode on Sunday were riding injured from their tangles with the track during free practices and qualifying. Several riders feel victim to the track during the race on Sunday as well. Andrea Dovizioso, Sete Gibernau and fresh-meat G. Talmacsi all went skittering off into the gravel traps. Loris Capirossi didn't finish the race, however, his DNF was chalked up to mechanical problems, and James Toseland was "excluded" from competition for a refusal to take a ride-through as a penalty for jumping the start (which even on the replay.... in slow motion.... I did not see).

Dani pulled well away early after a perfect start, and maintained his lead throughout. There was a fantastic last-lap rally by Rossi, who ALMOST overtook him on the last turn before the line. In the post race interview, Dani admitted to being a little too comfortable with what he thought was a formidable lead - until he heard Valentino's bike. As he came to the realization that Rossi was a fraction of an inch off his six, he tipped his Honda in a hair earlier than necessary to close the gap and ran like hell for the line. I must say, it was amusing to see his reaction - equivalent to that of a fourth grader that got caught napping in class. Nice save Dani - and a well-deserved win.

Nicky Hayden with his fantastically festive Ducati and leathers, once again bettered his best, finishing 5th. He rode a spectacular race - who knows.... we may even see him back on the podium before season's end. Mika Kallio did not participate in this weekend's race due to a severely injured finger as a result of last week's untimely crash on the last turn at Assen. He will be back for Sachsenring.

Over all, it was a good race. Aside from the crashes, Jorge's hail Mary pass-attempt on Rossi (which damn near took them both out of the race) and Rossi's last minute sneak attack on Pedrosa kept it interesting. In two weeks, everyone should be healed from the beating inflicted by the infamous US circuit and back in form to entertain us with what will no-doubt be a close race at Sachsenring.

1	D. Pedrosa	Honda
2	V. Rossi	Yamaha
3	J. Lorenzo	Yamaha
4	C. Stoner	Ducati
5	N. Hayden	Ducati
6	T. Elias	Honda
7	C. Edwards	Yamaha
8	C. Vermeulen	Suzuki
9	R. De Puniet	Honda
10	M. Melandri	Kawasaki
11	A. de Angelis	Honda
12	N. Canepa	Ducati

Until next time....

Rubb'er Down

Kristen

Flawless victory in Assen marks 100 Grand Prix wins for Rossi

Valentino Rossi, once again, gave the master class in Grand Prix racing, as he dominated the Assen TT and brought home his 100th GP victory in classic Rossi style. The first two laps saw 3 different race leaders with Rossi, Stoner and Lorenzo teasing us with another epic battle, but it was not to be. Rossi pulled ahead and enjoyed a pressure-free race leaving Lorenzo and Stoner well spaced-out to claim 2nd and 3rd respectively. A full 23 seconds separated Rossi and Stoner - evidence of the total domination displayed by the Italian uber-racer.

The real action today was the race for 6-12. James Toseland, Randy De Puniet, Mika Kallio, Nicky Hayden, Toni Elias and Loris Capirossi absolutely battled for position - bumping, grinding, swapping paint and pushing one another off track several times. I think every rider in that group suffered an off-track excursion at some point during today's race. The biggest disappointment was Mika Kallio who rode an outstanding race, swapping licks with James Toseland for 6th place, which would have been his best finish yet in his MotoGP career..... had he not crashed out on the last turn before the finish line. Nicky Hayden bettered his best by finishing 9th this session - maybe he's finally getting a handle on that big red Duc.

Repsol Honda had a disastrous day starting with Dani Pedrosa crashing out on the third lap and finding themselves out of the points all together as Dovizioso followed suit several laps later. Bad luck for Repsol, but no injuries reported so we will be seeing them next week at Laguna.

All-in-all, it was a race for the books - not a head-to-head battle, but a smooth, effortless, landmark victory for Valentino Rossi - a man that has landed himself amongst the ranks of the legends and proven himself the best Grand Prix racer the world has ever seen.

1	V. Rossi	Yamaha
2	J. Lorenzo	Yamaha
3	C. Stoner	Ducati
4	C. Edwards	Yamaha
5	C. Vermeulen	Suzuki
6	J. Toseland	Yamaha
7	R. De Puniet	Honda
8	T. Elias	Honda
9	N. Hayden	Ducati
10	L. Capirossi	Suzuki
11	A. de Angelis	Honda
12	M. Melandri	Kawasaki
13	S. Gibernau	Ducati
14	N. Canepa	Ducati
15	Y. Takahashi	Honda
16	G. Talmacsi	Honda

Until next time....

Rubb'er Down

Kristen