MotoGP: Italian Grand Prix Preview
Fancy a foursome? I know I do. In case you think that you've stumbled upon an 'adult entertainment' site and the wife (or husband) is looking over your shoulder, fear not. I am merely referring to the current exciting four-way battle for the MotoGP crown. Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner and Dani 'Smiler' Pedrosa are all in the running and the rest of the season looks to be very promising indeed.
This week's round at Mugello is very much Rossi home territory, being both a local boy and multiple winner of the event, he will be very keen to win here once more. Lorenzo should be in better shape this weekend and should push Rossi harder. Stoner will probably just be hoping that there is no repeat of his last race, where he dropped down the order. The current champ needs a good points tally over the next race or two to stay in the running. Pedrosa holds joint second with Lorenzo in the championship and could take the lead if he does well this weekend.
In other news...
North West 500: I watched it for the first time the other day and was stunned. It was basically a motorcycling event from the 60's/70's!! Open roads, fast corners, aggressive racing, what more could you want? I must also mention the sad death of Robert Dunlop, who was thrown off his bike after it seized on him. My condolences to his family.
Max Mosley: Max is out to give his enemies a good spanking (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist), by accusing several racing clubs of trying to spread discord in advance of the forthcoming Extraordinary General Meeting of the FIA. This meeting will decide if he gets the chop by a vote of confidence.
I'm interested to see what will actually happen and I think the vote will come down to whether you feel leather and physical punishment has a place in motorsport or not. Most motorcyclists will go with the former, I imagine, but it's not up to them. Personally, I believe it doesn't matter as long as he does his job properly. Your private life is your private life and seeing that no-one apart from Max was getting hurt, it's no-one elses business. Most of the people who are up in arms about this incident probably have a fair few skeletons in their closet, but have yet to be found out...
I feel an 'In appreciation of' coming on (No, it won't be Mosley). Watch this space.
Record equalling Rossi leads a Yamaha 1-2-3
Valentino Rossi equalled Angel Nieto's record of 90 Grand Prix wins yesterday, when he took the chequered flag for the French Grand Prix at Le Mans. Rossi took first place from Casey Stoner on the seventh lap of the 28 lap race and eventually pulled out a ten second lead. Jorge Lorenzo put a great performance in to finish second, considering his injuries, and Colin Edwards finished off the Yamaha trio by taking third place.
Lorenzo dropped to tenth after starting from fifth on the grid, however he took three riders in one lap to make it up to sixth place on lap nine. He bridged the gap to fifth when he took Chris Vermeulen, then passed Edwards for fourth. Third place man Stoner suffered a mechanical failure that dropped him down the order on lap 21, promoting Lorenzo who then overtook Pedrosa for second.
The race was hit by rain and was put under white flag conditions on lap 16 for only the second time since it's introduction. However, only two riders (Melandri and Stoner) stopped to change bikes. This did not help them as they finished 15th and 16th respectively.
On the slowing down lap, Rossi was driven around the track on his bike by Angel Nieto. Nice touch.