Breaking news: Ducati leave WSBK and Spies joins Yamaha
In a completely expected move, Tech 3 rider and 2009 WSBK champion, Ben Spies has signed for the factory Yamaha squad. The American will take over the bike of the departing Valentino Rossi, but it is not known yet who will be spannering for him. It is presumed that he will take his crew chief Tom Houseworth with him, so where Jeremy Burgess will be going is still up in the air.
As for Ducati, the added pressure of delivering a bike fit for the Doctor may have influenced their decision to leave WSBK. This is big news for followers of the series as the Italian marque has been an integral part of the series since it was initiated in 1988.
More news on these developments when I can get it.
Rossi steals the show again
Jorge Lorenzo won the US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca on Sunday, furthering his championship lead, however someone else got the limelight. Yes, Valentino Rossi stole the show by finishing third, overtaking Andrea Dovisioso in the final laps of the race. He took to the podium on crutches with his trademark big grin, however the race had taken a lot out of him. He admitted to the BBC's Matt Roberts, that he was suffering at the end and would need the next few weeks to recuperate.
Dani Pedrosa led from the start once again but slung his Honda into the scenery on lap 11 after coming under pressure from his countryman Lorenzo. Casey Stoner continued his good form by finishing second on the Ducati. Nicky Hayden won his duel with fellow American Ben Spies to finish fifth and as the top American.
However, ride of the day really should go to the 'Doctor', I mean it's not like he's riding for the money, as he must have enough in his savings account. I think it's that need to be the best and of course, the speed. I imagine the others rider are worried already...
Pedrosa beats Lorenzo to Sachsenring victory
Dani Pedrosa took victory at the Sachsenring on Sunday, beating championship leader Jorge Lorenzo into second place. Casey Stoner took third after just beating Valentino Rossi to the flag. The main feature of the race however, was the frightening crash involving the LCR Honda of Randy De Puniet, Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista and Pramac Ducati's Alex Espargo. De Puniet crashed and was still laying on the track injured, while the other two smashed into the Frenchman's Honda. The race was stopped and grid positions were decided on where the riders were when the red flag was shown.
Of the three riders involved, De Puniet was the most badly injured, suffering a broken leg. The LCR Honda rider was already injured having been involved in a practice accident the day before, hitting Ben Spies bike as they both skidded off on the oil dropped by Lorenzo's broken Yamaha. As a result of his accident, De Puniet will have to sit out the next round at Laguna Seca.
Once the race was restarted, Pedrosa shot into the lead with countryman Lorenzo behind him. The Yamaha rider would take the lead on lap 2 with the Honda rider making several attempts to regain the lead. When he did however, it was a lead he was not going to relinquish for the rest of the race. Further back, Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi had a battle royal for third place, with the two riders swapping places no fewer than eight times until the Ducati edged out Rossi and his Yamaha on the very last corner.
Andrea Dovisioso came home fifth with the Hair Bear himself, Marco Simoncelli, behind him in sixth.
Lorenzo continues his dominance in Spain
If Jorge Lorenzo doesn't win add this years MotoGP world championship to his two 250cc world championships, I will be very surprised indeed. The Spaniard took his third win in succession at the Catalunya circuit in Spain on Sunday, driving off into the distance thanks to a combination of his indisputable talent and the performance advantage of the factory Yamaha.
Dani Pedrosa continued Honda's string of good results with a well deserved second place. His team mate Andrea Dovisioso was less fortunate, crashing out whilst attempting to challenge Lorzeno. Casey Stoner continued in his attempts to rescue his so-far scratchy season with a well ridden third. The exciting Randy De Puniet finished another impressive race weekend in fourth on the LCR Honda.
Perhaps the most significant event of the whole weekend was the sickening crash suffered by stand in rider Carmelo Morales in the Moto2 race. Following the Kenny Moyes, the Spanish rider touched the American's back wheel and was thrown off on the main straight. The bouncing bike landed on him twice before vaulting over the fence. Fortunately, Morales survived what was a horrifying accident. If you haven't seen it, here it is and it's not for the faint hearted...
It was not the only piece of drama in the Moto2 race, as Alex Debon managed to trigger a multi-bike pile up at the first corner. The FTR rider tried to make up some places by going up the inside, but managed to take out a large part of the 41 strong field.
The race itself was won by Yuki Takahashi, with Thomas Luthi in second and Julian Simon in third. Andrea Iannone was penalised with a ride through penalty after overtaking Takahashi under a yellow flag. He eventually finished 13th.
As for the 125cc race, it was the same as the last race with Marc Marquez winning, the camera focussing constantly on his old man and our Bradley finishing again in fourth. Zzzzzzz
Lorenzo continues MotoGP dominance in Holland
Spain's Jorge Lorenzo took another win at the Dutch TT on Saturday, further cementing his championship lead. It was his first premier class victory at Assen, having previously won once in the 125's and twice in the 250 class, finishing three seconds ahead of Honda's Dani Pedrosa. I imagine there are few riders in the paddock who would like to get their hands on that number 46 Yamaha, currently sitting unused on the other side of the garage!
Andrea Iannone took his second successive victory in Moto2 class, ahead of championship leader Tony Elias and Thomas Luthi. Second place was probably a relief for Elias, who had struggled with several problems in the last few rounds, only finishing 10th at Sliverstone last time out.
Mark Marquez also continued a run of dominance in his class, taking the 125cc Dutch TT win. The Spaniard opened up a two second advantage and did not relinquish it. Nicolas Terol and Pol Espargo finished second and third respectively. Our own Bradley Smith finished fourth and here's to hoping that the Oxfordshire lad gets another Grand Prix win this year.
Apart from my longing for the circuit van Drenthe to reinstate it's old layout, I really wish that the television producer would stop following Marquez's father around the Assen pit's. They've done it for the last two races as well and it's getting annoying. Anyone would have thought he was the 'star', for crying out loud...
What a corker!
The British Motorcycle Grand Prix returned to Silverstone on Sunday for the first time in 24 years. The layout may have changed but it was still extremely fast. As far as the racing went, all three classes provided us with possibly the best wheel-to-wheel action we've seen all season.
125cc
In the 125's, Britain's Bradley Smith finished a hard fought third behind Mark Marquez and Pol Espargaró. The race was a constant blur of positions as Derbi's and Aprilia's bashed fairings for position. The top five swapped positions time after time, until Marquez and Espargaró pulled away. This left Smith, his team mate Nicol Terol and Efrén Vázquez to fight it out. With four laps to go, Vasquez ran wide and Smith took rostrum position. On the last lap, Espargaró went off and gave Marquez an easy last sprint to the flag.
Moto2
The Moto2 race was a real fairing-bashing, heads-down affair as the 600's jousted for position on Silverstone's long straights. It was another closely-fought affair which saw Britain's Scott Redding just edged out of a rostrum position by current 125cc World Champ Julian Simon, as France's Jules Cluzel took his first Grand Prix win ahead of Thomas Luthi. Championship leader Tony Elias had a problem stricken weekend and managed a tenth place, despite making up five places in the last lap.
MotoGP
Well, Jorge Lorenzo ran away with the race, but everyone else fought tooth and nail for position. Casey Stoner had an awful start, dropping to practically last at Copse corner, but managed to drag his Ducati up through the field to finish 6th. Factory Honda rider Andrea Dovisioso took second, while WSBK champion Ben Spies took Ducati's Nicky Hayden at Abbey on the last lap to claim third.
Unfortunately, none of the winners were driven around the track on top of a van or a converted Austin Montego.
British Motorcycle Grand Prix Preview
The continental circus returns to Silverstone for the first time in 24 years this weekend. The circuit is different but it promises to be a real high speed challenge for the riders. Since Assen was emasculated in 2006, there hasn't been an out and out high speed track on the calendar, but now Silverstone is ready to take up the mantle. The revised layout is a chicane-less affair with many long straights and very fast corners, punctuated by a few tricky slow ones. I sat at Copse for the car Grand Prix last year and was blown away by the speeds that Hamilton, Webber et al were achieving. The thought of Lorenzo, Hayden, Pedrosa and Stoner taking that same corner is very exciting indeed.
My only regret is the absence of Valentino Rossi, who is currently sat on a sofa somewhere in Italy with his leg in plaster. However, while he recovers, it looks like we will have an exciting tussle between Lorenzo, Dovisioso, Pedrosa, Stoner and Hayden. If Tech 3's Colin Edwards and Ben Spies get in there too, then the more the merrier.
I'm just off to reserve my seat on the sofa. Move over, Dad!
Round-up 16/06/2010
Well, lots of big races have taken place and I've had no time to do any updating of this blog, so here is a quick update instead!
F1
Book your flights to Abu Dhabi, people! This F1 season looks like it may be worth going to to yet another boring track in the desert, just to see Webber, Hamilton, Button, Alonso and Vettel fighting for the title.
Lewis Hamilton won again at Montreal on Sunday after an exciting race where tyre wear came massively to the fore. Red Bull struggled with Bridgestone's soft compound tyre, forcing their drivers to pit and lose position. In fact, team boss Christian Horner remarked that the soft option was 'made of cheese'. Michael Schumacher did himself no favours by cutting up former team mate Felipe Massa, and generally driving in a manner that the seven time world champion is not known for.
Le Mans 24 Hours
Going against predictions, Audi beat Peugeot to take the famous 24 hour endurance race. Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller took the chequered flag after a days worth of racing, that saw the two main Peugeot entries fall by the wayside with mechanical woes. The German manufacturer's cars completed a 1-2-3 of the podium with Britain's Allan McNish finishing in the third place car.
Isle of Man TT
Ian Hutchinson took a record breaking five wins in one week at the Isle of Man TT, culminating in a rain shortened Senior TT. Hutchinson took the lead from the start and kept it as other fancied riders such as last years winner John McGuinness and Connor Cummings failed to finish.
I never fail to be stunned by this event, I'll be writing an article on this event soon. So keep this site bookmarked!
Lorenzo takes Le Mans win
Here's a quick summary of the weekend French Motorcycle Grand Prix, held at Le Mans:
800cc
Jorge Lorenzo won the French Grand Prix in Le Mans yesterday in dominant style from Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso. Rossi led the race until lap 10, when Lorenzo out braked him and never relinquished his lead from then on in. Casey Stoner continued to dent his championship chances even further, by sliding out at La Chappelle after setting the fastest lap. Stoner's team mate Nicky Hayden continued to score points, finishing a fine fourth, mercilessly picking off Dani Pedrosa in the final laps.
600cc
Toni Elias took his second Grand Prix win of the year after fighting through from seventh place on the grid. Elias made a great start and initially led the way, until Alex Debón took over in front. However, the leader was then penalised for a jumped start and was required to take a ride-through penalty, leaving the door open for Toni Elias to re-take control of the race. Julian Simon finished second and Simone Corsi took the final podium position for third.
125cc
Pol Espargaro also took his second win of the season, fending off Aspar rider Nico Terol who led the race for the first 16 laps. Esparago rode tactically, saving his tyres before making his move. Mark Marquez finished in third with Bradley Smith in fourth.
MotoGP: French Grand Prix Preview
Every year, your cynical and slightly sleep-deprived author has a brain fade and sees the listing for the French Grand Prix and thinks that it will be held over the full 8 mile La Sarthe track. The thought of Rossi, Lorenzo, Stoner et al slipstreaming down the Mulsanne straight is pretty exciting, to say the least. However, the race is always held on the short 'Bugatti' circuit, a mixture of short straights and hairpins. Not quite as exciting, I'm sure you'll agree.
Anyway, onto this weekends race. The silly season has started for the MotoGP class with the Spanish and Italian press spreading rumours around concerning where the big hitters will be heading to next year. In the Moto2 class, several teams have changed chassis in the search for greater competitiveness. Only the 125's appear to have any kind of early-season stability that you would expect across the whole paddock this early in the year.
A quick sum-up of each class (in old school cc):
125cc
Aspar rider Nico Terol is leading the pack so far this season, while his team mate, 'our Bradley' Smith, finds himself plagued with mechanical problems. Terol's nearest rival, Pol Espargo, is currently placed in second and will be buoyed up by his win in Jerez. Esteve Rabat is third, ahead of Bradley Smith and should be in the hunt on Sunday.
600cc (Moto2)
Despite being sceptical at the beginning of the season, I feel that the new Moto2 class has provided some excellent racing over the last two races and Sunday should be no different. Shoya Tomizawa is leading the standings after two rounds, with Tony Elias just seven points behind. Elias won the last round at Jerez and will be looking to build a championship challenge this weekend.
The Aspar team has moved over to a Suter chassis for Julian Simon and Mike Di Meglio to use. Whether any other teams will follow suit, only time will tell.
800cc (MotoGP)
Both factory Yamaha riders have been carrying injuries this season, yet they've battled through to take a win apiece so far. How fully Valentino Rossi has recovered from his motocross accident, we have yet to see. However, the Italian is only a few points adrift of leader Lorenzo in the championship, so I wouldn't count him out yet.
All the design and financial investments that Ducati have made in order to make their bikes ridable by someone other than Casey Stoner, seems to have paid off. Nicky Hayden finished ahead of his team mate in Jerez, and the American looked very confident with the bike. It will be interesting to see whether he keeps up the pace this weekend.
Although on good form in Spain, Dani Pedrosa and Honda appear more taken with events off track than on it. The rumours of Stoner moving over to Honda cannot be helping one concentrate on the job in hand.
UPDATE: I've just been on the MotoGP site and Rossi is quickest. It appears that the Doctor has thrown down the gauntlet.