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

Going into this weekend’s race Stoner has won 23 MotoGP races in his time in the sport, with Rainey managing 24 wins during his career.

The most successful Australian rider by some distance is Mick Doohan who achieved 54 race wins during his fantastic career, a record only surpassed by Giacomo Agostini (68) and Valentino Rossi with a staggering career total of 79 wins in the premier class.

While Stoner is in fantastic form he believes that new World Champion Jorge Lorenzo will be the man to beat on Sunday in Portugal. The Australian rider said “I was fast there last year but Jorge was a little faster. He is very strong at this circuit and I think we can expect him to be so again next Sunday.”

Jorge Lorenzo – Assen TT 2009

Jorge Lorenzo took the victory in the Portuguese Grand Prix of Estoril yesterday for the Fiat Yamaha team followed in second place by the returning Marlboro Ducati rider Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda in third.

The Spanish rider has now slashed his team-mates lead from 30 to just 18 points after claiming his fourth win of the season.

It was Pedrosa that took to the front of the pack as the race got underway but by the end of lap 1, Lorenzo took the number one slot and stayed there until the end of the race to take the chequered flag.

Stoner had moved back to fifth spot as the riders went into turn one but was soon past the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards, before chasing down Rossi and finally slotting into third place.  On the following lap, the Marlboro Ducati rider made his move on his fellow Spaniard Pedrosa, and was into second place behind Lorenzo.

By mid-race point, Lorenzo had managed to build-up a lead of 2.3 seconds over the Australian, followed by Pedrosa and Rossi an unbelievable 7.7 seconds behind his team-mate.

Rossi finally took his Fiat Yamaha across the line in fourth place, 23.428 seconds after Lorenzo having suffered with  no grip on his rear wheel.  Rossi had been off the pace all weekend with his Yamaha and thinks the problem may also have been to do with the set-up of his machine.

Colin Edwards finished in fifth with Toni Elias on the San Carlo Honda Gresini followed in sixth as he battled the challenging Andrea Dovizioso on the second Repsol Honda.  Nicky Hayden took eighth on the second Ducati Marlboro bike followed by James Toseland on the second Monster Yamaha Tech 3 and Chris Vermeulen on the Rizla Suzuki in tenth.

The Pramac Ducati rider Mika Kallio, who was on his return to the series, crashed out early in the race at the long final turn.  Loris Capirossi suffered engine problems on his Rizla Suzuki and was forced to retire from the race along with Alex de Angelis on the second San Carlo Honda Gresini who also suffered a mechanical problem.

Lorenzo celebrated his race with a mock moonwalk as he placed his flag in the Estoril gravel pit.  The Fiat Yamaha team were sporting a special silver/white livery on their machines to promote the Fiat Punto this weekend and Lorenzo had a specially designed crash helmet in the style of an astronaut.

Here are the results;

250CC

The  reigning 250cc World Champion Marco Simoncelli took the win in the 250cc category yesterday for the fifth time this season for the Metis Gilera team.

It was Hiroshi Aoyama on the Scot Racing bike that took to the front as the race got underway but before the end of the lap he was going backward and had moved down to eighth place by lap 3, while Alvaro Bautista led the pack on the Mapfre Aspar bike.

On lap 4, Bautista was dramatically thrown from his bike after an apparent engine seizure as he was under braking heading into turn 6.

Simoncelli was followed by Hector Barbera on the Pepe World Team bike and Mike di Meglio on the Mapfre Aspar machine, with only 1 second between them until mid-race when Simoncelli began to widen the gap.

The Italian rider finished the race 5.317 seconds ahead of the photo-finish battle for second place, given to di Meglio with Barbera in third.  Barbera was initially given the place but after a review of the finish it was given to the Frenchman instead.

Aoyama finished the race in fourth place ahead of the Matteoni Racing rider Jules Cluzel in fifth and Ratthapark Wilairot on the Thai Honda PTT SAG machine in sixth.  In seventh place was Thomas Luthi on the Emmi-Caffe Latte bike followed by Mattia Pasini for Team Toth Aprilia, Alex Debon on the Aeroopuerto-Castello-Blusens in ninth and Karel Abraham on the Cardion AB Motoracing machine in tenth.

Here are the results;

125CC

The Derbi Racing Team rider Pol Espargaro, took the victory at the Estoril circuit yesterday after championship leader Julian Simon crashed out.

Bradley Smith on the Bancaja Aspar bike was leading the race when he ran wide heading into turn six, forcing him to the outside of the track as other riders went through.  Nicholas Terol on the Jack & Jones machine clipped the back of the British riders machine and was sent flying across the circuit but rejoined at the back of the pack before retiring.

Simon had increased the gap to almost 5 seconds at the front of the pack when he made his error under braking on lap 16, leaving Smith, Sandro Cortese and Espargaro to fight for the lead.

On the final lap of the race, it was Espargaro who led followed by Smith and Cortese.  Cortese snatched second place from Smith into turn one leaving the British rider to take the third and final step on the podium.

Stefan Bradl finished in fourth place for Viesmann Kiefer Racing ahead of Joan Olive for the Derbi Racing team, Sergio Gadea on the Fontana Racing machine and Esteve Rabat on the Blusens Aprilia in seventh.  Dominique Aegerter finished in eighth for the Ajo Interwetten team followed by Johann Zarco on the WTR San Marino Team bike in ninth and Randy Krummenacher on the Degraaf Grand Prix Aprilia in tenth.

The Red Bull KTM Motorsport rider Marc Marquez crashed out early on in the race along with previous championship leader, Ongetta Team I.S.P.A. rider Andrea Iannone.

Here are the results:

Casey Stoner – Ducati Marlboro 2009

The Ducati Marlboro rider Casey Stoner is set to make his return to the MotoGP championship at Estoril in Portugal this weekend.

While recuperating over the past two-months, Casey has undergone a series of examinations and special tests with the results confirming that there was no abnormalities of cardiovascular, respiratory or neurological origins.  The tests also failed to find any kind of virus or infection.

The medical report of Stoner did reveal low blood pressure and a lack of sodium, which the doctors believe were the main causes of his physical problems.  It was also agreed that the after-effects of injuries and surgery over the past few years were the cause of his physical weakness and exhaustion.

The doctors confirmed that it was essential for the Australian to take time out of the championship in order to avoid aggravating his condition.

Last week, Stoner underwent his final medical examination before leaving Australia, with the doctors confirming that the rider is still not completely recovered despite him being in a better physical condition and with his weight back up to 60kg.

Although not in the peak of condition, Stoner will be back on track at Estoril under a new sodium-rich diet, to ride alongside his team-mate Nicky Hayden again.

Stoner said;

“I’m definitely looking forward to the race weekend. Having three races off is the biggest period away from racing in my life. It was very difficult to accept the advice of the doctors to stop racing. In the past I have raced even when injured, like in the last few races of the 2008 season when my wrist was broken, but this time it was really not possible and of course I felt very sorry for the team. Now I’m looking forward to getting back together with the team and everyone and I hope I’ll be able to be more competitive than I was in the past, but we will have to wait and see. The doctors have put me on some salt tablets to increase my sodium levels but we will have to see if it helps. We will understand more during the weekend. Of course it’s going to be difficult: at first we won’t know if it will work because I’ve been off the bike so long that in any case my muscles will take some time to get race fit again. But, as I said, I’m looking forward to getting back and to starting work on the bike, looking towards the future.”

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.