The race got off to a bad start when Alvaro Bautista clipped Andrea Dovizioso’s back wheel on the first corner.  The collision also took out Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden and Randy De Puniet.  Fortunately, no one was injured.

The Valencia Grand Prix was Casey Stoner’s 10th victory of the season.

All riders paid tribute to the Italian Marco Simoncelli who was killed in the previous meeting, the Malaysian MotoGP.

Valencia MotoGP – The Circuito de la Comunitat Valenciana – Round 18

1 Casey Stoner (Aus) Honda 48mins 18.645secs
2 Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha 48:18.660
3 Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Honda 48:24.581

MotoGP 2011 Driver Championship Standings

1 Casey Stoner (Australia) Honda 350 points
2 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 260
3 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Honda 228
4 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 219
5 Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha 176
6 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Ducati 139
6 Marco Simoncelli (Italy) Honda 139
8 Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati 132
9 Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 109
10 Hiroshi Aoyama (Japan) Honda 98

Casey Stoner had a great race passing Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo to win in California at the weekend. He took the lead on lap 26 as he passed Lorenzo. The 2007 world champion held on his fifth win of the season with Lorenzo second and Pedrosa claiming third.

The 25-year-old currently leads the MotoGP Championship by 20 points from the current champion Jorge Lorenzo with eight races still to come.

The American Ben Spies could only manage fourth place in front of his home crowd with fellow Americans  Nicky Hayden & Colin Edwards finishing 7th & 8th respectively.  Valentino Rossi had a very close call as he almost lost control coming out of the last corner on the second lap, while Brtish rider Cal Crutchlow was unhurt after he crashed out of the race on lap four.

Other riders to retire included Alvaro Bautista who crashed before half way, and Gresini Honda rider Marco Simoncelli who slid off his bike, making it 4 retirements from 10 races this season

Casey Stoner told reporters after the race:

“I was making time up on the brakes but slowly the bike got better and better and when everyone was struggling with grip I made a move.

Stoner continued to say:

“With a few laps to go I put the hammer down and it is a great weekend to come through and win.”

United States MotoGP results:

1. Casey Stoner (Australia) Repsol Honda 43′52.145
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 43′57.779
3. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Repsol Honda 44′01.612
4. Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha 44′12.707
5. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Repsol Honda 44′13.030
6. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Ducati 44′22.496
7. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati 44′23.176
8. Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha 44′37.647
9. Hector Barbera (Spain) Aspar Ducati 44′43.694
10. Hiroshi Aoyama (Japan) Gresini Honda 45′00.995

MotoGP 2011 Championship:

1. Casey Stoner (Aus) Repsol Honda 193 points
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Spn) Yamaha 173
3. Andrea Dovizioso (It) Repsol Honda 143
4. Dani Pedrosa (Spn) Repsol Honda 110
5. Valentino Rossi (Ita) Ducati 108

The current championship leader, Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner finished in second place and extends his lead to 28 points at the top of the MotoGP 2011 Championship.

Repsol Honda Team’s Andrea Dovizioso took third place, while Yamaha Factory rider Jorge Lorenzo managed to claw his way back through the field to finish in fourth place, ahead of Ducati’s seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi.

British rider Cal Crutchlow was passed fit to race after fracturing his left collarbone in five places no less than two weeks ago in the qualifying for the British MotoGP at Silverstone.

With his Assen Dutch MotoGP victory, Ben Spies’ becomes the first former World Superbike rider to win a MotoGP race since Troy Bayliss in 2006.

Round 7: Dutch MotoGP
1 Ben Spies (US) Yamaha 41min 44.659 secs
2 Casey Stoner (Aus) Honda 41:52.356
3 Andrea Dovizioso (Ita) Honda 42:12.165
4. Valentino Rossi (Ita) Ducati 42:15.343
5. Nicky Hayden (US) Ducati 42:27.831
6. Jorge Lorenzo (Sp) Yamaha 42:29.195
7. Colin Edwards (US) Yamaha 42:52.771
8. Hiroshi Aoyama (Jpn) Honda 42:55.412
9. Marco Simoncelli (Ita) Honda 43:09.584
10. Toni Elias (Sp) Honda 43:10.875

After seven rounds, Ben Spies victory lifts him to joint sixth position with Ducati’s Nicky Hayden in the MotoGP 2011 Championship.

MotoGP 2011 Championship
1   Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda Team) 136
2   Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) 108
3   Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda Team) 99
4   Valentino Rossi (Ducati Marlboro Team) 81
5   Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro Team) 71
6   Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) 61
=   Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) 61
8   Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) 51
9   Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) 46
10 Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) 39

Stoner started in pole position on the grid after being the fastest rider in all qualifying sessions, setting a new Silverstone lap record in the process.  Apart from an intentional slow pull away and first couple of laps while he accustomed himself to the treacherous spray and judged the track for potential hazards, he lead the race, finishing with an amazing 15 second lead over Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso.

Race contenders Marco Simocelli, Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies lost control of their bikes, while Valentino Rossi, who started in 13th position could only finish 6th as he continues his struggle to tame his Ducati.

Casey Stoner is the first Honda rider to win three consecutive MotoGP races since Valentino Rossi in 2003.  That victory was Stoner’s fourth of the season in his 150th GP start.  He now leads the 2011 MotoGP as the teams and their riders head to the Dutch TT on Saturday 25th June at the Amsterdam Assein Circuit for Round 7 of this season’s championship.

The only British rider, Cal Crutchlow missed the chance the impress in front of a packed crowd of over 78,000 when he crashed out in qualifying on Saturday and broke his collarbone.

British MotoGP Result:

1 Casey Stoner (Australia) Honda 47:53.459
2 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Honda 48:08.618
3 Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 48:14.939
4 Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati 48:20.443
5 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Suzuki 48:29.028
6 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Ducati 48:57.985

MotoGP 2011 Championship:

1 Casey Stoner (Australia) Honda 116.0 points
2 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 98.0
3 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Honda 83.0
4 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Ducati 68.0
5 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 61.0
6 Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati 60.0
7 Hiroshi Aoyama (Japan) Honda 43.0
8 Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 37.0
9 Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha 36.0
10 Karel Abraham (Czech) Ducati 33.0

In a race that only twelve riders would complete, motorcycle fans were treated to an afternoon of thrills along with plenty of spills through the course of the race at the wonderful Jerez circuit in Southern Spain.

Casey Stoner led the race from the start followed closely by Jorge Lorenzo and Marco Simoncelli and it was the Italian who appeared to be the surprise package of the afternoon when he breezed past both Lorenzo and Stoner early in the race, opening a gap between himself and the championship rivals.

Valentino Rossi was another Italian finding the wet conditions working in his favour aboard the Ducati and he quickly moved up the field passing Lorenzo and closing in on Stoner.

On lap eight Rossi attempted to pass Stoner into turn one, but he lost the front end of the Ducati, taking out Stoner’s Repsol Honda which slid into the gravel trap on top of the Ducati.

While the accident ended Stoner’s race, Rossi was able to get back aboard his bike and complete the rest of the race, finishing in fifth position.

Meanwhile Simoncelli continued to impress from the front for a few laps before losing the front end of his bike going into turn one allowing Lorenzo to take the lead.

Following an uncharacteristic slow start from the line Dani Pedrosa had by now found some pace to move up to second place, but he too was being threatened by Ben Spies. The Yamaha rider eventually passing Pedrosa only to lose his bike several corners on.

By now Lorenzo had built up a significant advantage over the field and Pedrosa looked certain to complete a Spanish one-two on home soil.  Colin Edwards who had moved up to third following the loss of Spies became a victim of the track himself late on riding into the gravel and allowing Nicky Hayden to pass and take the final podium position.

Another fantastic MotoGP race in which reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo claimed his first wet weather win while the weather also played it’s part in levelling the playing field amongst this years Championship hopefuls.

2011 MotoGP World Championship Round 2- Jerez Results:

1 25 1 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 141.0 50′49.046
2 20 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 140.1 +19.339
3 16 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 139.7 +29.085
4 13 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 139.6 +29.551
5 11 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team Ducati 138.2 +1′02.227
6 10 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP Ducati 137.9 +1′08.440
7 9 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 137.7 +1′14.120
8 8 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 137.4 +1′19.110
9 7 24 Toni ELIAS SPA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 136.4 +1′42.906
10 6 21 John HOPKINS USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 136.2 +1′48.395
11 5 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 136.0 +1′51.876
12 4 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 133.6 1 Lap

Predictably it was Dani Pedrosa who shot into the lead from the start of the race, making the early running before being passed by fellow countryman Lorenzo. A tasty battle between the pair ensued which drew in Stoner and the three riders jostled for supremacy in the first half of this Grand Prix.

Around the midway point Stoner gradually pulled out a lead on his rivals as he sensed a possible victory with Pedrosa struggling to maintain the pace  despite battling bravely with Lorenzo for second position.

In a race where the first six riders were always in with a shout for the podium places, the third Honda factory rider, Dovizioso was in another brilliant battle with Marco Simoncelli throughout the race for fourth position.

Meanwhile Lorenzo’s new team mate at Yamaha, Ben Spies was caught up in the pack following an early exit from Randy de Puniet who high sided his bike, and found himself battling against Rossi on the Ducati for sixth place.

Having lined himself up for a couple of moves on the multiple world champion to no avail, Spies eventually launched past Rossi to claim the place for himself, with a spectacular overtake.

It was fantastic to get the season up and running and the signs are that we should be in for yet another season of exciting motorctycle racing. The Honda’s will take some beating but Lorenzo has already proved that the task is not impossible.

Other tracks will favour different manufacturers, but right now Stoner has thrown down the gauntlet to his rivals and it is down to them to respond.

Qatar MotoGP result:

1 C Stoner (Aus) Honda 42:38.569
2 J Lorenzo (Sp) Yamaha @ 3.440
3 D Pedrosa (Sp) Honda @ 5.051
4 A Dovizioso (It) Honda @ 5.942
5 M Simoncelli (It) Ducati @ 7.358
6 B Spies (US) Yamaha @ 10.468
7 V Rossi (It) Ducati @ 16.431
8 C Edwards (US) Yamaha @ 26.293
9 N Hayden (US) Ducati @ 27.416
10 H Aoyama (Jpn) Honda @ 28.920
11 C Crutchlow (GB) Yamaha @ 34.539
12 H Barbera (Sp) Ducati @ 34.829
13 K Abraham (Cz) Ducati @ 37.957

Germany’s Bradl was the runaway winner in the 600cc Moto2 class, leaving Iannone and Luthi fighting each other for the runners up spot throughout the race. Iannone eventually grabbed second place, crossing the line less than a second ahead of Luthi and over 4 seconds behind Bradl.

Bradley Smith was best of the Brit’s, earning himself a ninth place finish on his first outing in the class, while Scott Redding finished the day in 31st place.

Moto2 race result:

1 S Bradl (Ger) Kalex 40:38.549
2 A Iannone (Ita) Suter @ 4.330
3 T Luthi (Swi) Suter@ 5.137
Other riders:
9 B Smith (GB) Tech3 @ 18.910
31 S Redding (GB) Marc VDS @ 1:23.743

125cc race result:

1 N Terol (Sp) Aprilia 38:28.687
2 S Cortese (Ger) Aprilia @ 7.710
3 S Gadea (Sp) Aprilia @ 9.147

Can Valentino Rossi tame the Ducati as he did with Yamaha back in 2004 and be in with a chance of claiming his eighth MotoGP title? There are plenty of championship contenders, including World Champions past and present who will be trying their best to prevent that happening, all with a fantastic opportunity of their own to claim this years title.

If testing is anything to go by, the Honda appears to be the machine on the pace, boding well for Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, but expect the gap to close when the racing actually gets underway.

Yamaha remains the bike to beat and with Ben Spies joining current World Champion Jorge Lorenzo, only a fool would write them off this season.

There are eight British riders involved across the three classes in 2011, Cal Crutchlow makes the step up from World Superbike to mix it with the big boys aboard the Yamaha of the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team.

In the Moto2 line up, fans will be expecting a bit more this season from Scott Redding who started to stamp his authority on the class towards the end of last season, he is joined in Moto2 by the nearly man of 125cc, Bradley Smith and Scottish rider Kev Coghlan.

In the 125c Championship, three-time British Superbike champion Niall Mackenzie’s son Taylor will join Danny Webb, Danny Kent and Harry Stafford.

As always British Eurosport will be providing full coverage of the event, starting on Thursday with the practise sessions from all three classes.

Enjoy hearing Toby Moody and Julian Ryder get over excited as the season kicks off  at the following times:

Thursday 17 March
1650-1750 LIVE MotoGP practice on British Eurosport 2
1750-1850 LIVE 125cc practice on British Eurosport 2
1850-1935 LIVE Moto2 practice on British Eurosport 2

Friday 18 March
1555-1655 LIVE 125cc practice on British Eurosport 2
1655-1755 LIVE Moto2 practice on British Eurosport 2
1755-1845 LIVE MotoGP practice on British Eurosport 2

Saturday 19 March
1455-1555 LIVE 125cc qualifying on British Eurosport 2
1555-1655 LIVE Moto2 qualifying on British Eurosport 2
1655-1800 LIVE MotoGP qualifying on British Eurosport 2

Sunday 20 March
1545-1715 LIVE 125cc race on British Eurosport 2
1715-1825 LIVE Moto2 race on British Eurosport 2
1825-1925 Classic Race: Welkom GP (2004) on British Eurosport 2
2000-2130 MotoGP race on British Eurosport 2

Spies Chasing Lorenzo At Silverstone 2010

Current MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo believes that the atmosphere in the Yamaha garage will be much better than last year following the departure of Valentino Rossi to Ducati and the arrival of Ben Spies as his team mate for this coming season.

While holding the utmost respect for former team mate seven time world champion Valentino Rossi, there was no love lost between the two riders during their two seasons riding together for Yamaha.

The pair enjoyed a reasonable relationship when Lorenzo arrived from the 250cc class, looking up to Rossi as one of his heroes, but things soon turned bitter as Lorenzo became a serious threat to Rossi and were helped along by the Spaniard’s immature behaviour.

Regardless of whatever circumstances you might like to throw up, Lorenzo won the MotoGP championship last year by being the most consistent and best rider on the circuit and the young Spaniard is a better person for it.

He has grown up an awful lot during the last year or two and he says he is more relaxed going into the 2011 season, not just because he is world champion but because he is older and wiser and has more experience.

“Every year I try to be more relaxed, and with a championship on your record you see things a bit differently” says Lorenzo.

Of his new partner Ben Spies, Lorenzo said; “I think Ben is going to fight for the championship. He is very fast and has already shown he can fight to the front of the pack and was the best satellite rider last year. Ben’s serious on the track like me but we have no problems and I don’t think we will in the future either. It’s good to have a good relationship, not just for us but to help Yamaha to develop the bike.”

Meanwhile Ben Spies says that he feels under less pressure with the Yamaha factory team than he did last season

“Last year I needed to prove something which I did. Now I’m on the factory team I feel I worked hard last year to get there and deserve it. Now I need to keep giving 100%, I’ve got a great crew behind me and am riding for a great manufacturer. We should have a great bike this year and I’ve got a world champion team-mate so I’ve got the best of the best. This is the last step, MotoGP on a factory bike, the only thing left to do in a rider’s career is win a MotoGP race and win a MotoGP championship and that’s not impossible.”

Lorenzo had somehow managed to regain control of his bike early in the race following a coming together with Marco Simoncelli, that looked as though the Yamaha rider was certain to crash out, but he hung on to his machine against all odds to eventually mount his challenge for the lead.

At that point Casey Stoner looked comfortable for another win on the Ducati, but Lorenzo eventually caught and passed the Australian on lap 22 and pulled out a lead of almost five seconds at the chequered flag. Team mate Rossi finished his last race for the Fiat Yamaha team with third place on the podium.

Dani Pedrosa showed short bursts of the form he had been in before his injury, during a constant battle with team mate Dovizioso, Simoncelli and Ben Spies for fourth place.

It was rookie of the year Spies who passed them all to claim fourth place in the race, Pedrosa settling for seventh in the race, but second in the championship some 138 points adrift of fellow Spaniard Lorenzo.

And so with the season drawing to a thrilling finale attention will immediately be switched to the testing programme at Valencia where Rossi and Stoner will be in the lime light with their respective testing of the Ducati and Honda bikes .

Ben Spies and Cal Crutchlow will also be testing for their new teams in what will undoubtedly be a much talked about session this week.

Valencia MotoGP result:

1 J Lorenzo (Sp) Yamaha 46:44.622
2 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 46:49.198
3 V Rossi (Ita) Yamaha 46:53.620
4 B Spies (USA) Yamaha 47:02.265
5 A Dovizioso (Ita) Honda 47:03.782
6 M Simoncelli (Ita) Honda 47:05.296
7 D Pedrosa (Sp) Honda 47:11.419
8 H Barbera (Sp) Ducati 47:13.910
9 A Bautista (Sp) Rizla Suzuki 47:14.073
10 R de Puniet (Fra) Honda 47:14.482
11 A Espargaro (Sp) Ducati 47:16.383
12 C Edwards (US) Tech 3 Yamaha 47:18.226
13 M Melandri (It) San Carlo Honda Gresini 47:21.244
14 H Aoyama (Jpn) Interwetten Honda 47:23.590
15 C Checa (Sp) Pramac Racing 47:40.791

Britain’s Bradley Smith ended his 125 career with a fantastic win in Valencia and now heads off to pastures new in Moto2 next season.

Spain’s Marc Marquez finished fourth in the race, enough to secure him the world title, and a clean-sweep of titles in all three categories for Spain.

125cc race result:

1 B Smith (GB) Aprilia 40min 25.648sec
2 P Espargaro (Sp) Aprilia @ 2.786
3 N Terol (Sp) Aprilia @ 3.149
4 M Marquez (Sp) Derbi@ 8.326

Moto2 race result:

1 K Abraham (Cze) FTR 43:49.499
2 A Iannone (It) Speed Up 43:50.021
3 J Simon (Sp) Suter 43:50.082

Because of the dreadful weather over the weekend qualifying for the race had to be cancelled and Lorenzo lined up in pole position courtesy of having set the fastest time in practise, where he was surprisingly joined by Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi on the front row.

It was Hayden who took the advantage as the race got underway sneaking ahead of Lorenzo into the first corner and holding his own briefly before the Spaniard took over the lead, relinquishing his place to Rossi on lap four following a mighty charge from the Italian.

Casey Stoner’s race ended early again as he crashed out on lap five while in third place and despite a strong challenge from team mate Nicky Hayden early on, the Ducati rider drifted back as the race progressed, playing his part in a thrilling battle for the final podium place as the Fiat Yamaha’s pulled clear of the rest of the field.

Rossi looked in great shape having muscled past Lorenzo through the chicane and started putting some space between himself and Lorenzo who appeared to have already conceded the win.

Meanwhile fans were treated to some excellent thrills and spills between the chasing pack of Hayden, Dovizioso, Simoncelli, De Puniet, Edwards and Pedrosa all swapping places time and again in a thrilling side show to the main event out front.

Surprisingly Lorenzo clawed his way back up to Rossi and took the opportunity to pass the Italian on lap 17 with a top out braking manoeuvre that Rossi could do nothing about.

Even more surprising was the fact that Lorenzo made the move stick, consistently putting in faster times than his team mate and opening up a comfortable gap to which even Rossi could not reply.

By the end of the race Lorenzo had pulled out a lead of 8.629 seconds on Rossi, the biggest MotoGP victory margin of the year. Third place went to the ever improving Dovizioso who appears to have come into his own since the recent injury to Honda team mate Dani Pedrosa who completed his comeback with an eighth place.

Dovizioso just shaded third from his fellow countryman Simoncelli, another rider who seems to be getting to grips with the premier class after an indifferent start to the season.

Ducati’s Nicky Hayden claimed fifth from De Puniet and Edwards, all who finished within a whisker of one another.

Ben Spies did not take part in the race at Estoril after crashing his bike on the warm up lap and dislocating his right ankle. The American rider is determined to be back in contention for the final race of the season at Valencia next week.

Portugal MotoGP Results;

1. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 46mins 17.962secs
2. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 46:26.591
3. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Honda 46:44.437
4. Marco Simoncelli (Italy) Honda 46:44.496
5. Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Ducati 46:45.116
6. Randy de Puniet (France) Honda 46:46.259
7. Colin Edwards (U.S.) Yamaha 46:48.071
8. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 47:02.909
9. Marco Melandri (Italy) Honda 47:31.611
10. Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati 47:35.683
11. Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Suzuki 47:35.870
12. Hiroshi Aoyama (Japan) Honda 47:50.987
13. Loris Capirossi (Italy) Suzuki 47:57.714

DNF Carlos Checa (Spain) Ducati 13 Laps
Casey Stoner (Australia) Ducati 4 Laps

Moto2

1. Stefan Bradl (GER) Suter 46min 59.723sec
2. Alex Baldolini (ITA) ICP at 0.068sec
3. Alex De Angelis (RSM) Motobi 2.830
4. Scott Redding (GBR) Suter 2.842
5. Kenan Sufuoglu (TUR) Suter 2.947

125cc
1. Marc Marquez (Spain) Derbi 16mins 27.878secs
2. Nicolas Terol (Spain) Aprilia 16:28.028
3. Bradley Smith (Britain) Aprilia 16:28.090