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

Dani Pedrosa 2010

Following the last MotoGP round at Laguna Seca, the Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa spent a couple of days at the Honda Racing school of Indonesia as a guest instructor.

As well as passing on his personal riding advice to the chosen lucky students the Spaniard also put in some demonstration laps on a 110cc Honda Blade.

Hundreds of fans of the rider attended the event along with the 16 special students to see Pedrosa ride around the Sentul Karting circuit, surprising the Honda rider with their knowledge of the sport.

Dani said;

“It was great fun riding the 110cc Blade.  Obviously, it has very low horsepower compared to my RC212V, but I think that it’s great for the children to start understanding how to ride a motorbike, get to grips with the gears and the riding style needed.  The best advice I can give them is to follow their instinct from the heart and to have fun on the bike. They have an opportunity in life, so they must remember that and give it their all. When I started, I was also very small, but full of passion. I would never have imagined that I would race in the World Championship, but I was very lucky to be part of a project – like them now –, so they must go on dreaming and work hard to make their dreams come true. I was really surprised by how many people in Indonesia watch MotoGP. They are very passionate and know everything about the championship. It’s a beautiful country, the people are very friendly and everyone has told me that I must come back and visit Bali. Now, I’ll go home, visit my family and have fun with my friends, after so many races in such a short time. And then, my team and I will have to get ready for the second half of the season and to win races”.

Jorge Lorenzo – Fiat Yamaha 2010

The Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo took victory again yesterday at the Red Bull US MotoGP as race leader Dani Pedrosa crashed out.

It was the Repsol Honda of Dani Pedrosa that took to the front as the lights went out at Laguna Seca from his fourth spot on the grid.  As the Spaniard made a brave pass around the outside, Casey Stoner slotted in behind followed by Lorenzo in third.

On lap 6, Stoner lost his second place after making a mistake and running wide letting Lorenzo through and hot on the tail of his fellow countryman.

On lap 12 of the 32 lap race, Pedrosa low-sided off of his Honda and was out of the race handing the lead to Lorenzo who edged away from a struggling Stoner.

In third place was a very impressive Valentino Rossi, making it onto the podium just seven weeks after his accident at Mugello in which he suffered a broken leg.  Rossi managed to catch and overtake the second Repsol Honda of Andrea Dovizioso who was still challenging for that third place at the final corner.

Nicky Hayden crossed the line in fifth place followed by Ben Spies in sixth.  Spies got off to a fantastic start and was in fourth place in the opening laps of the race but by lap 3 had dropped back to seventh place.  The Monster Tech3 Yamaha rider then worked his way back through the field, passing Hayden on lap 21 and setting Rossi in his sights before once again dropping back down the order on lap 25.

Colin Edwards finished in seventh place ahead of Marco Melandri in eighth, Mika Kallio in ninth and Loris Capirossi rounding off the top ten riders of the day.

Hector Barbera appeared to suffer a technical problem with his Aspar Ducati and failed to finish the race along with Alvaro Bautista, Marco Simoncelli and Aleix Espargaro who all crashed out.

Here are the results;

1.  Jorge Lorenzo  ESP Fiat Yamaha Team  43m 54.873s
2. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 43m 58.39s
3. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 44m 8.293s
4. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team 44m 9.061s
5. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team 44m 9.474s
6. Ben Spies USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 44m 13.91s
7. Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 44m 35.594s
8. Marco Melandri ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 44m 42.092s
9. Mika Kallio FIN Pramac Racing 44m 47.686s
10. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 44m 47.687s
11. Roger Lee Hayden USA LCR Honda MotoGP 45m 8.962s
12. Alex de Angelis RSM Interwetten Honda MotoGP 45m 9.539s

DNF:
Aleix Espargaro ESP Pramac Racing
Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini
Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team 998m 0s
Hector Barbera ESP Paginas Amarillas Aspar
Alvaro Bautista ESP Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

Roger Lee Hayden – WSB Kawasaki – Assen 2010

Roger Lee Hayden will be making his MotoGP debut this weekend at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix as a replacement rider for the injured Randy de Puniet.

The 27-year-old brother of Nicky will be in front of his home crowd as he joins the LCR Honda team and is hoping to prove his worth on a track he knows well.

Despite never having ridden the bike before and only ever riding a GP bike once when he entered as a wildcard rider at the Laguna circuit back in 2007, finishing in tenth place,  Hayden is hoping to make a good impression to enable him to get a ride for next season either in the MotoGP, Moto2 or the World Superbike series.

Roger Lee had to get permission to take the ride this weekend from the American Honda team after agreeing to race for them as a wildcard rider in the Moto2 race at Indianapolis five weeks after the MotoGP Grand Prix but they agreed happily.

Rossi's Fiat Yamaha 2010

The Fiat Yamaha MotoGP team are replacing the injured Valentino Rossi with their test rider Wataru Yoshikawa at the Catalunya Grand Prix on July 4th.

The Japanese rider is a two-times Superbike champion is expected to ride the YZR-M1 for at least the next 3 races while Rossi is out of action.

Team Managing Director Lin Jarvis said in an interview;

“Finally, after a great deal of consideration, we have selected Wataru Yoshikawa, our Japanese YZR-M1 test rider, to join us as our substitute rider. We provisionally plan for three races (Catalunya, Sachsenring and Laguna Seca) but we will adjust the plan accordingly when we know more about Valentino’s expected date of return.”

The 41-year-old has only competed in the series on one previous occasion when he raced as a wild-card back in 2002, at Motegi where he finished in twelfth position.

Casey Stoner

It has now been confirmed that the Ducati Marlboro rider Casey Stoner, is to miss the next three rounds of the MotoGP championship and is to be replaced by Mika Kallio.

Stoner has spent the majority of the season suffering from a strength-sapping type of virus, although the actual cause is still undiagnosed.

The symptoms first become evident in June at the Barcelona round of the championship, when the Australian, who finished in third place appeared exhausted, which continued for the previous rounds.

Stoner underwent several medical tests after the Laguna Seca round and was diagnosed with slight gastritis and mild anaemia, although he wasn’t convinced that this was the problem.  Stoner then returned to Australia after the British GP for further examinations but there is still no firm diagnosis.

Stoner will not return to the MotoGP championship until Estoril on the 4th October and said;

“After five extremely difficult races due to my health, I returned to Australia to visit the sports doctors who have looked after me for many years. We have taken the difficult decision not to contest the next three rounds of the championship, to allow my body time to recover from the recent stress.

The doctors believe that during the Barcelona race I was suffering from a virus, and, that I subsequently pushed my body too hard, leading to problems that have caused my fatigue since then. The doctors are continuing with many tests to try to understand these problems and make sure it does not happen again.

I have spoken with Ducati and thank them for their understanding at this time. I feel very sorry for the factory, my team, my sponsors and the fans and I am also disappointed because the bike in the last races has been very competitive. I will be doing everything possible to come back at full strength for Portugal.”

The MotoGP cost cutting goes a bit further than expected!

The provisional MotoGP Calendar has now been released by the FIM for the MotoGP World Championship of 2010, and hopefully all teams and riders will be on the grid as the economic crisis continues.

Date – Grand Prix – Circuit:
11 April – Qatar* – Losail
25 April – Japan – Motegi
2 May – Spain – Jerez
16 May – France – Le Mans
30 May – Italy – Mugello
6 June - Great Britain – Silverstone
26 June – Netherlands** – Assen
4 July – Catalunya – Catalunya
18 July - Germany – Sachsenring
25 July - United States*** – Laguna Seca
15 August – Czech Republic – Brno
29 August – Indianapolis – Indianapolis
12 September - San Marino & Riviera di Rimini – Misano
19 September - Hungary – Balatonring
10 October – Malaysia – Sepang
17 October – Australia - Phillip Island
31 October – Portugal – Estoril
7 November Valencia Ricardo Tormo-Valencia

* Evening Race
** Saturday Race
*** Only MotoGP class

In the event that one of the circuits is not able to comply with the requirements to hold the scheduled Grand Prix, the Motorland Aragon Circuit would host a reserve “event” on the same day.

Casey Stoner – Marlboro Ducati 2009

This weekend the teams and riders of MotoGP are at the Sachsenring circuit for the Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland.

Casey Stoner on the Marlboro Ducati, set the fastest time of the day in the afternoon session of the Friday free practice session.  The heavens opened midway through the 125cc practice session but by the time the MotoGP riders arrived the track was drying.

Spanish rider Dani Pedrosa, on the Repsol Honda, took second place in the closing stages of the session pushing the Fiat Yamaha of Valentino Rossi down to third.

The LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet, took fourth place followed by Alex de Angelis on the San Carlo Honda Gresini and Colin Edwards on the Monster Tech3 Yamaha in sixth.

Toni Elias on the second San Carlo Honda, finished seventh ahead of the second Ducati Marlboro of Nicky Hayden in eighth, second Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso in ninth and Marco Melandri on the Hayate Racing team bike in tenth.

Jorge Lorenzo on the second Fiat Yamaha, could only manage eleventh place, admitting that he is not 100% fit and finding the circuit difficult after suffering a separated shoulder and fractured foot at the U.S. Round of the Championship, however, he was only 0.717seconds slower than Stoner.

Loris Capirossi on the Rizla Suzuki, ended the day in twelfth position while his team-mate Chris Vermeulen, suffered a big crash, landing badly on the same side that he had injured at Laguna Seca.  He is badly bruised and admitted to not being in the best of conditions but feels he will be fine for qualifying tomorrow.

Casey Stoner

The Marlboro Ducati rider Casey Stoner, has been suffering a mystery illness for most of the season and after undergoing a batch of tests has final been diagnosed as having mild anemia and a slight gastritis.

At the last round of the MotoGP Championship at Laguna Seca, Stoner took fourth place despite not feeling 100% and after crashing out during the qualifying session.

The crash left the Australian battered and bruised, which could be a concern for this weeks race at the German GP.  Stoner said;

“I still don’t feel like I am 100% but the biggest problem now is that my ribs are very painful after the crash in qualifying in the U.S. It will be probably another hard weekend in Germany, but as always, we will do our best to stay as much as possible close to the lead of the Championship.”

Jorge Lorenzo

Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo, should have been thrilled by starting the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix on pole position for the fourth time, however, as soon as he had set the fastest lap in qualifying he suffered a huge high-side.

Lorenzo had already been off his bike earlier in the session but was straight back on his feet, desperately trying to get back to the pits for the spare.

The Spaniard, rejoined the track and with three minutes of the session remaining, he lost traction on his rear tyre at the same fast right-hander and was thrown high into the air before landing heavily on his right shoulder and then into the gravel.

Paramedics rushed to the Yamaha rider, but after several attempts he appeared not to be able to put any pressure on his right leg.  He was taken by ambulance to the circuit’s Clinica Mobile where he was diagnosed with a partially dislocated shoulder and a fractured bone in his right foot.  Lorenzo then went onto finish third in the race.

It’s usually about this time in the season when all the rumours start flying about who’s going where, and of course, the name at the top of the board at the moment is Lorenzo.

Lorenzo has already said that his first choice would be Yamaha, as it has the best bike and he is competitive, but he also pointed out that his decision will have nothing to do with the future of Rossi.

Valentino Rossi is contracted with the team until 2010 and it was rumoured that he would then retire from the sport.  It was then suggested that Lorenzo was being lined-up to be the next leader but the Spaniard has stated that his decision will have nothing to do with when or if Rossi retires.

After the American round, the whisper was that Lorenzo and his management team had been in talks with Honda. The boss of Yamaha Maseo Furusawa, has said that he was aware of the rumours and would love for Lorenzo to stay with Yamaha but that he would not be drawn into a bidding war.

Lorenzo has not denied that talks had taken place but said that there had been no offers and nothing has been signed, and added that he and his manager are open to offers.