MotoGP heads Stateside for Round 11

The 2010 World Championship calls on Indianapolis where Jorge Lorenzo will aim to continue his rampant form as he edges ever closer to a first premier class title.

The 2010 season continues its march towards the decisive part of the season with round 11 of 18 taking place at Indianapolis this weekend, and all eyes will once more be on Jorge Lorenzo as the Fiat Yamaha rider aims to maintain his phenomenal form this season. Victory last time out at Brno made the Spaniard only the third premier class rider in history to have placed inside the top two in all ten opening races of a season, and few would bet against him extending his win count this season to eight at a track he was victorious on last season.

With a 77-point advantage over Dani Pedrosa in the standings the Repsol Honda man will be eager not only to halt his rival’s run, but also to make up for last year’s Indy outing. Pedrosa dominated the weekend and started from pole, but crashed early in the race and eventually placed tenth. Fresh from second place in the Czech Republic he will be targeting a third win of the season, which would be a first treble of premier class wins in one year for the 24 year-old.

Casey Stoner’s consistent podium finishing over the past five rounds has lifted the Ducati Team rider to third overall, and still in search of a first win of the season the Australian will also be looking to make up for last year’s absence from this race due to illness. He will also be expecting a front-end improvement on his Desmosedici after testing new forks at Brno. Just four points behind him in the standings is Andrea Dovizioso, and the Repsol Honda man will want a solid result after his first DNF of 2010 in the last round. The Italian has finished fifth and fourth in his two rides at Indy, and will expect to go one better in the battle for third with Stoner.

Reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi continues to go from strength to strength as he regains full fitness, and has winning form on the track from 2008. Two points off the Italian in the standings is his prospective team-mate for 2011, Ducati’s Nicky Hayden. The American – still in search of a first podium of the campaign – will be desperate for a strong home display and will hope the injured left hand he sustained in Brno does not hinder those aspirations.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rookie Ben Spies will have identical aims to compatriot Hayden on home soil, whilst Randy de Puniet’s incredible return to action at Brno just four weeks after a broken leg will take its next step as the LCR Honda rider attempts to regain the highest privateer honour. Italian Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and another proud American Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) complete the top ten as it stands.

Rookies Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini), Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) and Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) will all want positive first premier class runs at the circuit, whilst those with previous Indy experience in Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) and Pramac Racing pair Aleix Espargaró and Mika Kallio will look to pull on their knowledge in search of good results.

Having ridden at the Brno test for the first time in two months Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team) could make his return to action, but is waiting to make a decision. In the case the Japanese rookie does not Alex de Angelis will continue as his stand-in on the satellite RC212V.

Source: http://www.motogp.com/en/news/

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Big points haul for Spies and Edwards in Brno

A strong weekend concluded in fine style for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team in Brno with Ben Spies storming to a superb fourth position and Colin Edwards equalling his best result of the season.

Starting from the front row of the grid for the first time in his MotoGP career, Spies made a blistering start and led momentarily off the line before giving way to a typically fast starting Dani Pedrosa.

Spies swept by the Spaniard later on the first lap to engage in an exciting early battle with Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo. Despite launching a concerted effort to stay in contention at the front, Spies was unable to maintain his impressive early rhythm.

Battling a small front-end grip issue, the Texan tenaciously fought to keep Casey Stoner at bay until the Australian relegated Spies to fourth position on lap nine. Spies dug deep again to try and keep himself in contention for a second rostrum of the campaign but he was unable to keep close to Stoner, the reigning World Superbike champion settling for a comfortable fourth position that moved him to within 25 points of fourth place in the overall rankings. He was once again leading non-factory rider and second best Yamaha as Jorge Lorenzo triumphed in emphatic fashion again.

Colin Edwards also made a brilliant start from the third row and he was involved in one of the few battles unfolding in front of a bumper crowd of 148,120.

The experienced 36 year-old fought tirelessly to close in on compatriot Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi before he too encountered some small front-end grip issues.

He settled for a seventh place that moved him into the top ten in the overall rankings and today's 22-point haul – the second best of the season for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 squad - further consolidated the team's position in fourth place in the Team World Championship classification.

Ben Spies - 4th

“I got a good start and was staying right with Jorge and Dani for a few laps and had a comfortable pace. But after about lap seven I starting having problems with the front that I hadn't experienced all weekend. It's a shame because while I know I definitely didn't have anything to fight Jorge with because he is riding so well, maybe I could have stayed close to Dani. I'm not saying I'd have beaten him but I'd have been closer to put up a challenge. I had one second on Casey when I started having the problems but I had to slow my pace quite a bit and that was a bit frustrating because it meant he caught me quite quickly. I couldn't run his speed so when he passed me I didn't worry about trying to run with him. I'm not upset though because without that small problem I could have easily battled for the podium. I'd have loved the podium to give me a big lift before going home to Indianapolis, but I'm really happy with my recent performances and once again I was the top satellite team rider and I can't be unhappy with fourth place.”

Colin Edwards - 7th

“I gave it everything I had and I can't be disappointed with the way I rode. I thought it was going to be a good race because I'd been strong all weekend and really happy with the new front-end geometry setting that had helped the bike turn much better. And when I got a good start I felt confident that I could challenge for my first top six of the season. But in the race I didn't have the same feeling with the front tyre and I don't think I was the only one that had a small issue. When I tried to push a bit harder I had a moment and I lost contact with Valentino and Nicky in front of me. I took some risks to keep close to them but there was nothing I could do. Seventh is not a great result but it's better than where I have been finishing and hopefully we can make some more progress in Indianapolis and be closer to the front."

Source: http://www.motogp.com/en/news/

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MotoGP testing underway at Brno

The second and final day of in-season MotoGP testing is underway at Brno in the Czech Republic.

As of the end of the third hour, Brno race winner and MotoGP title leader Jorge Lorenzo is fastest with a lap of 1min 56.269sec (from 21 laps), which is three tenths under Dani Pedrosa's pole time from the race weekend.

Repsol Honda rider Pedrosa is second fastest to Lorenzo so far at the test, but a full 1.155sec slower.

Casey Stoner, third in the race for Ducati, is also third on the timesheets, 1.357sec behind Lorenzo.

Lorenzo's Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi, who announced a move to Ducati last night, is eighth.

Hiroshi Aoyama, missing from MotoGP since fracturing a vertebra at Silverstone, has completed 31 laps with a best of 1min 59.476sec.

That is slightly quicker than his replacement at Interwetten Honda, Alex de Angelis, managed in the race.

All MotoGP manufacturers have brought new parts to try at the test. 

Source: http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/

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Dani Pedrosa happy to be back on podium

Dani Pedrosa rode to a solid second place at the Cardion ab Grand Prix Czech Republic on Sunday from pole position, and while stating that the result was not the one he had hoped for he was pleased to be back on the podium.

The Repsol Honda rider produced a good response to his DNF at Laguna Seca in the previous round as he made a trademark rapid start from pole, and he duelled with race winner Jorge Lorenzo for the early part of the race, eventually finishing just over five seconds behind his rival.

“It’s good to be back on the podium after the crash at the last race at Laguna Seca so I’m happy about this,” said the 24 year-old after the race. “My start was good and I was in first place through the first corner but in the first left-hander I was a little bit too concerned about my tyre temperature and braked too early, which allowed Ben and Jorge to get past. When I was in second place behind Jorge again I was trying as hard as possible to stay close, which I could do for a few laps, but for some reason I wasn’t quite able to go as fast as yesterday and though I tried to adjust my riding to improve this Jorge was gradually able to open the gap.”

Maintaining second position in the Championship with the result Pedrosa is aiming to go one better at Indianapolis as he seeks to cut Lorenzo’s 77-point lead in the standings.

“Today wasn’t the best result for us, but still the podium is okay and we can build on this result. After the test tomorrow we go to Indianapolis and I was strong there last year - despite the mistake in the race - so I’m confident we can be competitive again at the next race,” he concluded.

Source: http://www.motogp.com/en/news/

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Jorge Lorenzo takes seventh victory at Brno

Jorge Lorenzo has extended his MotoGP title lead to 77 points, over three race wins, after claiming his seventh victory from ten starts in Sunday's Czech Republic Grand Prix at Brno.

Starting third on the grid, the Fiat Yamaha rider took the lead from title rival Dani Pedrosa at turn three of the opening lap, with the Repsol Honda rider also losing second position to Ben Spies.

Pedrosa re-passed the MotoGP rookie into the same corner next time around, and soon rode up to Lorenzo's rear wheel. Pedrosa then shadowed Lorenzo until just before the halfway stage of the 22 laps, when Lorenzo began to break away.

The #99 extended his advantage over Pedrosa during the second half of the race to win by a comfortable 5.494sec. Lorenzo then celebrated on hole seven of the Brno golf course.

Spies lost third place to Ducati's Casey Stoner on lap nine, while Valentino Rossi - who will finally announce that he is joining Ducati next season, later today - was strangely off-form throughout the race.

The reigning seven time MotoGP champion dropped from fifth to eighth through the opening turns and simply never made an impression on the race.

Rossi took seventh from Colin Edwards on lap four, which became sixth place when Andrea Dovizioso spun off his Repsol Honda - after running off line, while fourth - later in the same lap.

The Doctor's final pass was on Nicky Hayden, riding with a hand injury, for fifth place on lap six and he crossed the line 17sec from victory and 4sec behind Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Spies, who will replace Rossi at the factory team next season.

Hayden had dropped almost nine seconds back from Rossi by the end of the race, with fellow American Edwards 6sec behind the Ducati rider and the same margin ahead of San Carlo Honda Gresini's Marco Melandri.

The only action at the end of the race was the fight for eighth, with Marco Simoncelli being passed not only by team-mate Melandri, but also Aspar Ducati's Hector Barbera and LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet (riding less than a month after breaking his leg).

Simoncelli also looked set to lose out to Alvaro Bautista, when the injured Suzuki rookie overtook him late in the last lap - only to fall at the final turn.

Team-mate Loris Capirossi had crashed earlier in the race, while Pramac's Mika Kallio fell from ninth on lap eight.

A post race test session will be held at Brno on Monday.

Czech Grand Prix:

1. Lorenzo

2. Pedrosa

3. Stoner

4. Spies

5. Rossi

6. Hayden

7. Edwards

8. Melandri

9. Barbera

10. de Puniet

11. Simoncelli

12. Espargaro

13. de Angelis 

Source: http://www.crash.net/motogp/race+report/

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Andrea Dovizioso tops Brno warm up

The Repsol Honda rider led the 20-minute Sunday morning session, which was met by a rain shower towards the end.

Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) set the fastest lap time in the warm up session for the Cardion ab Grand Prix Czech Republic on Sunday morning, in a session which was overcast by the weather conditions. The Italian’s effort of 2’10.135 was 1.682s faster than that of any other rider, as the session started on a track which appeared to be drying out and was then marked by a rain shower at its conclusion.

Pole holder Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) and Casey Stoner (Ducati Team) were second and third fastest respectively with an identical lap time, whilst Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) was fourth. Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) and Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) completed the top six.

Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), who will start from second position on the grid, was 15th with Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) one place behind the American at just over six seconds off Dovizioso’s pace.

Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) was back on track after missing yesterday’s qualifying due to a fall in the second practice session. The Spanish rookie will start the race from 17th position on the grid. Alex de Angelis (Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team), Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) all had minor run offs with no consequences.

The MotoGP race is scheduled to get underway at 2pm local time.

Source: http://www.motogp.com/en/news/

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Alvaro Bautista taken for medical checks

MotoGP rookie Alvaro Bautista has been taken to the Brno medical centre on a stretcher after an accident halfway through the Saturday morning practice session.

Bautista - who fractured his collarbone on a motocross bike earlier this year, forcing him to miss a race - was 15th fastest at the time of his accident.

The Rizla Suzuki rider was able to wave as he was carried through the doors of the medical centre.

The track was cool and misty this morning and had previously caught out Randy de Puniet, who is returning to action just one month after breaking his leg.

The LCR Honda rider was fortunately able to limp away from the accident without assistance. 

Source: http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/

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