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Round 13 of the 2012 MotoGP world championship brings the crew to the recently renamed Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in the Republic of Dan Marino. The track was renamed in honor of local MotoGP star and hair-farmer, Marco Simoncelli, who who lost his life as a result of injuries sustained during the opening laps of last year's Malaysian Grand Prix.
In other news...Homeboy Hayden is back after his Indy moonshot, Honda World Superbike's Johnny Rea is in for Stoner on a Repsol Honda, and Spies finally spilled the beans that he would be on a 'factory-supported' Pramac Ducati, for 2013.
Hurry up and wait...after scurrying around to get their trucks unloaded, pit boxes assembled, and bikes set up in time for Friday's first practice session, the rain fell mainly in San Marino. Only a handful of riders went out in either of the day's free practice sessions, and accomplished a whole lotta nothing. Everyone else just loafed around in the paddock doing what/whoever. Water scares them almost as much as being away from their iPhones and white sunglasses for any amount of time.
No time for cartoons, on Saturday, as the boys need to get their shit together and figure out what color of power bands work best around the MWCMS. The first session, on Saturday was wet-n-patchy, which had most of the riders going with the more conservative-colored power bands. Blue, purple, and olive green seemed to work the best as they tenderfooted around in the wet-to-drying conditions.
By the time Saturday afternoon's qualifying session rolled around, the track was dry, the sun was shining, and it was time to uncork the power of the preferred colors...fire engine red, neon orange, and bedazzled glitterchroma. With that rainbow party out of the way, we have Pedro on pole, JLo in second, and Calvin Crutchlow in third. The second row was Bradl, Bautista, and Rossi. The Ben Spies was the top Yank in eighth, and everyone else blah blah blah...so on and so forth,
So with the clusterfuck that was practice and qualifying out of the way, I was sure we can count on a hassle-free, smoothly-executed race, right? Negative Ghostrider. On the starting grid, daddy's boy Abraham managed to stall his Ducati just as the red lights were about to go out. The yellow flags came out, the red lights turned to blinky amber lamps, and about half the grid launched from their grid spots...somehow, no one got ass-packed.
Grid up, part deaux...the riders are waiting to do another warm up lap when Pedrosa's crew suddenly wheel his Honda off the grid and back behind pitwall. It turns out the well-oiled machine that is Pedrosa's crew managed to get his tire warmer caught in the brakes. They finally figured their shit out and send Pedro out on his sighting lap, from pit lane. Pedro barely makes the grid, having to draft the pace car just to get there. Since his bike had to be wheeled off the grid and into the pits, Polesitter Pedro is forced to start from last on the grid. Brutal.
Lights out....finally. JLo gets away with the holeshot, with Rossi (gasp!) in second, and Bradl barging his way into third. From last on the grid, Pedrosa gets up to twelfth, but that doesn't matter, because a few corners later, Hectic Hector Barbera mumbles something about Estoril 2006, and uses his Pramac Ducati to torpedo Pedro...sending the wee-Spaniard tumbleweeding into the gravel. No es bueno.
Up front, JLo's going away...guess who wins? Rossi and his shiny red shopping cart are looking solid and fast, as opposed to earlier this season (and all of 2011) when they looked more tentative than a senior citizen trying walk down a sidewalk after an icestorm. Behind Rossi was Bradl in a solid third, with the Tech 3-skateers, Crutchlow and Dovi, playing grab ass in fourth and fifth. Cancel that...Crutchlow just hit the deck. The Spies is now in fifth with Bautista closing fast, in sixth.
Bautista finally gets past Spies and quickly starts to reel in Dovi. Within a few laps, Bautista is on Dovi's ass (not in a gay way), and is looking threatening (not in a rapey way). Bradl's in front of the both of them, but is dropping fast. Bautista makes quick work of Dovi and proceeds to latch on to the rear of Bradl (OK...that one's questionable). At this point Bautista, Bradl, and Dovi are scrapping it out for the bottom position...err...step...on the podium. Bautista's looking comfortable as he tops this battle for the bottom spot on the podium. Dovi starts to push hard, and gets right on the tailpipe of Bautista, but Bautista pushes harder and finishes just .003 of a second before Dovi. Towel, please.
Rossi bags a solid second, and his first dry podium on a Ducati since the dawn of time. Is a win out of the question before he re-jumps ship to Yamaha?
JLo cruised home to a, pretty much, flawless 23rd win of the season. With Stoner gone at the end of the year, and JLo back with Yamaha, 2013 could be a bit of a snoozer. Then again, we have Moto2 nutcases Marq Marquez and Andrea Iannone moving up to the big boy class. They might hurt a few people's feelings...I hope.
Did Good:
1)Lorenzo / Yamaha Factory Racing
2)Rossi / Ducati Team
3)Bautista / San Carlo Honda Gresini
4)Dovizioso / Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5)Spies / Yamaha Factory Racing
6)Bradl / LCR Honda MotoGP
7)Hayden / Ducati Team
8)Rea / Stoner's Bike
9)De Puniet / Power Electronics Aspar
10)Pirro / San Carlo Honda Gresini
11)Edwards / NGM Forward Racing
12)Hernandez / COL Avintia Blusens
13)Ellison / Paul Bird Motorsport
14)Petrucci / Came Ioda Racing
15)Salom / Avintia Blusens
Did Not:
DNF)Espargaro / Power Electronics Aspar
DNF)Crutchlow / Monster Yamaha Tech 3
DNF)Pasini / Speed Master
DNF)Barbera / Pramac Racing
DNF)Pedrosa / Repsol Honda
DNF)Abraham / Cardion AB Motoracing
JLo has left the building with a grown up-sized 38 point lead over Pedro. Stoner and his jacked-up ankle are still in with a mathematical chance, but sit a hefty 84 points behind JLo, with five rounds to go. The next stop is September 30th (a.k.a. my birthday) at the Aragon circuit near Alcañiz, Spain. Send me gifts.
T...Out.
*Pictures from www.cycleworld.com, www.mcnews.com.au, and www.topsportracing.com
So...the 12th round of the MotoGP championship heads back over the pond to Brno for the Grand Prix České republiky (or something like that). Last week, at the Indianapolis Supermotorbrickway, little Dani Pedrosa bagged his second win of the year over JLo and everyone else. This time, at Brno, Stoner and Hayden are out, which puts Stoner further back in the championship points, and Hayden even furtherer back, in Kentucky. With Stoner out, could we see a possible 2012 podium debut from Spies, Crutchlow, or Bradl?
In other news...after being dicked around by Ducati with the promise of a factory ride in 2013, Crutchlow finally said 'fuck it', and re-signed with his current Tech 3 Yamaha team, for next year. With Dovizioso off to the Factory Ducati team, Crutchlow will be joined, next year, by fellow Brit and current Moto 2 midpack Ginger-kid, Bradley Smith. Smashing.
In other other news...in the latest episode of 'As The Ben Turns', we find young Mr. Spies struggling with some very pressing decisions regarding next season. Gresini Honda in MotoGP, A factory BMW in World Superbike, or pack it all in, and head back to Texas to flip burgers and race bicycles? Enquiring minds want to know, yo.
Qualifying...JLo's on pole. Calvin Crutchlow and Pedro round out the front row. The Ben heads up the second row, followed by Dovizioso and Rossi. German wunderkind, Stefan Bradl, puts his Rammstein-sponsored Honda at the top of the third row, with Bautista and daddy's boy Abraham (his pops owns the track), in tow.
On to the race...JLo gets a totally bitchin' start, and leads the posse in to turn 1, followed by Pedro and Crutchlow. Spies gets away in fourth, but gets taken by Rossi and Dovi in the next few corners. A few corners later, Spies throws out an arm-up S.O.S, pulls off the racing line, and drops back to thirteenth-ish....his 2012 'Black cats and broken mirrors' tour seems to be in full effect.
Meanwhile, back in Gotham City, Spanish super-chums JLo and Pedro continue on at the front, followed by Calvin, in a solid third. Rossi's looking decent in fifth, just behind Dovi, but can't seem to make any forward progress. The Ducati mechanics had planned on this, and figured if Rossi can't move forward, then they'll just have to keep everyone else behind. They did this by implementing a clever 'Spy vs. Spy' smoke screen tactic. Upon downshifting/braking, Rossi's Ducati would fart out a cloud of blue smoke to keep his followers at bay.
14 laps to go...Spies gets his shit together, starts picking off some of the midpack fellas, and cracks the top ten. Up front, JLo's still leading, but has been closed down by Pedro...we might have a race on our hands. Back in fifth, the smoke-shooter-outer thingy on Rossi's Ducati seems to have malfunctioned, which has allowed Bradl to close in and get all up his business. Bradl goes up the inside of Rossi who pays him back on the next corner. Bradl counter-counters on the next corner, and makes it stick, for fifth. Back in the pack, Spies rides under a ladder, loses the front and fires his Yamaha into the gravel. Par for the course.
Up front...Pedro shadow JLo, takes over at the front, and the announcers say something about doing 'donkey work'. JLo is not discouraged. He summons the powers of Donnie Wahlberg, and hangs tough behind Pedro. Things hold station, until the last lap, when JLo takes the wide line into the hairpin, turns it in, and barges Pedro out of the way courtesy of a rather generous helping of stuffing. Pedrosa ain't tryin' to hear that, and looks to get past JLo, on the brakes, a few corners later. JLo holds firm on the outside, but runs it wide, which allows Pedro to fire a shot across his bow, square off the corner, and take his third win of the season. Chocala!
Further back, Crutchlow rails out of the final corner, Nick Harris and Gavin Emmett blow their loads, and Crutchlow takes his maiden MotoGP podium...and the first MotoGP podium by a Brit since 1886. Cracking.
Result:
1) Pedrosa / Repsol Honda
2) Lorenzo / Factory Yamaha
3) Crutchlow / Tech 3 Yamaha
4) Dovizioso / Same as Crutchlow
5) Bradl / Rammstein Honda
6) Baustista / Gresini Honda
7) Rossi / Factory Ducati
8) De Puniet / Power Electronics Aspar
9) Abraham / Cardion AB Ducati
10) Espargaro / Power Electronics Aspar
11) Elias / Pramac Ducati
12) Hernandez / BQR
13) Edwards / NGM Forward Racing
14) Pirro / Gresini Honda
15) Ellison / Paul Bird Racing
16) Pasini / Speed Master
17) Petrucci / Ioda Racing Project
DNF) Silva / BQR
DNF) Spies / Factory Yamaha
DNS) Stoner / Repsol Honda
Alrighty then...Jlo leaves Brno with a smaller'd points lead over Pedro. Stoner still has a mathematical shot at the 2012 title, but is likely to be out of the next two rounds due to his injured ankle. Current Castrol Honda World Superbike rider/wrecking ball, Johnny Rea, has been drafted in to fill Stoner's shoes (get it?), if needed.
Next stop is in two weeks at the awesomely-renamed Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in San Marino. The word on the worldwide interwebs is that Homeboy Hayden will be back in action. Get there.
T...out.
*Pics from mcnews.com.au and some random Google searches.
Is this thing on? Round eleven of the 2012 MotoGP champeenship comes to you from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway...known as the 'Brickyard' to racing fans, and as a really shitty track to most of the MotoGP riders. Indianapolis is the second and final stop on the MotoGP tour de force de America de 2012.
Last time out, the MotoGP tdfdAde2012 set up shop at Laguna Seca. It was the usual suspects on the podium; Stoner, JLo, and Pedrosa. Stoner took the lead, and the win, by completely blowing JLo's doors off (no amount of woodscrews could have prevented it) with a 160mph around-the-outside pass into turn one. It was pretty fucking impressive.
Before the race, birthday boy Hayden announced he had signed on for another year on the factory Ducati. Apparently, Hayden was offered a two-year deal, but insisted on just a one-year deal...I'm assuming he did this to give himself an 'out' in case the Ducati continues to handle like a shiny red shopping cart. Smart move, homeboy. Ducati also sent one of their executive types to Laguna Seca with a giant sack of Audi cash in hopes of persuading Valentino Rossi to also re-sign with Ducati. Rossi has made no secret that he thinks the bike is shit and that he had been exploring other options. One idea was for Rossi to run a factory-supported Honda in a one man satellite team. Honda, however, is still butthurt about what Rossi wrote about them in his autobiography, so they want nothing to do with him. During the race, Rossi lost the front end at 120mph, and fired his Ducati into the gravel at the top of the corkscrew. He then went down to tell the Ducati executive 'Thanks, but no fucking way'. A few days later, he signed up to take Ben Spies' seat on the Factory Yamaha, along side JLo for 2013 and 2014.
Ben Spies also got in on the 'big announcement' action by telling the top brass at Yamaha to go fuck themselves, and that he was leaving the factory team (and MotoGP, altogether) at the end of the season...word on the street is that Spies will return to the World Superbike series to ride a Factory BMW along side soon-to-be fellow MotoGP refugee, Marco Melandri. Later, during the race, the swingarm on Spies' Yamaha mysteriously collapsed, putting Spies on the ground at the bottom of the corkscrew. Things that make you go hmmmm....
Anyway....blah blah blah. Enough about Laguna Seca. Fast forward to Indianapolis
As the MotoGP tdfdAd2012 touched down in Indy, JLo held a 19 point lead over Pedrosa, with Stoner a further 18 points back in third. All three have won at Indy, before, so it's game on. Since he lives just across the creek in Kentucky, this was Homeboy Hayden's home race, and he was looking to put his shiny red shopping cart up towards the frontish end of the grid. Hayden's teammate, Rossi, having just announced his departure for Yamaha, was looking to poop around and phone-in a solid mid-pack result. Spies was just looking to finish a race. AMA superdudes Aaron Yates and Steve Rapp were in the house as wildcard CRT (Google it) entries for the American teams GP Tech and Attack Performance, respectively. Colin Edwards was also there, and he was looking to 'accidentally' drop f-bombs while being interviewed by the media.
As it has a habit of doing, qualifying came and went with Pedrosa ending the session at the top of the charts in pole position. JLo started in second, and Dovizioso rounded out the front row, in third. What about Stoner, you ask? Stoner, along with Spies and Hayden, got bored with the usual qualifying rigamaroll, and held an impromptu highside contest at turn 14. Stoner drew the short straw and went first. Stoner was flicked off the bike in the fast section of the corner as it opens onto a short straight. I don't know what was more impressive, the speed of the crash or Stoner's hang time. Stoner was carted off to a local hospital and diagnosed w/torn ligaments in his right foot and questionable for the race, the next day. Despite missing the rest of the qualifying session, Stoner's fastest time from earlier in the session was good enough for a 6th place spot on the grid.
Next up was Spies. Spies chose the slower part of the corner to display his skills. The lack of speed resulted in a fairly garden-variety highside, with (thankfully) no serious injuries. Spies hobbled back to the pits, jumped on his spare bike, rejoined the session, and qualified in a decent 4th position. High five! The final contestant was Homeboy Hayden. Like Stoner, Hayden chose to use the faster portion of the corner to showcase his technique, and he didn't disappoint. As the rear of Hayden's bike came around, he was tossed on to the tank, and briefly surfed on top of the bike 'Teen Wolf' style, before being launched into space. When he finally hit the deck, he was KO'd, and did that creepy limp/body flopping/tumbling thing in to the gravel. He was carted off to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a jacked-up right hand and declared unfit for the race. Gutted.
So, yeah....all that shit happened, and then everyone scurried back to their motorhomes and hotel rooms to do whatever people do in their motorhomes and hotel rooms.
Race day...finally. Fresh off his strong showing in the turn 14 highside contest, Spies managed to set the fastest time in the morning warm up, and even bettered his qualifying time from the previous day. Time to go racing. The riders grid 'em up, the lights go out, and it's time to rock. Pedro gets the hole shot into turn 1, but Spies goes around the outside to line up a an inside move into the next corner(for those keeping track, that'd be turn 2)to take the lead.
Behind Spies and Pedro, it was Dovi, JLo, and Stoner duking it out for the last spot on the podium. Spies looked comfy, up front, and seemed to easily fend off Pedro's pass attempts. The only problem is that Pedro weighs about as much as a sparrow's fart, and was able to get past Spies along the long front straight, but that didn't matter, as Spies would kill Pedro on the brakes, and take over the lead in to turn 1. This went on for a few laps, until Spies' motor shit the bed, while heading down the front straight...the shit never ends. With Yamaha already on Mama Spies' shit list from the last few mechanical DNFs, I'm assuming the wrath she unleashed on the crew, back in the pits, was nothing short of phenomenal.
With Spies out, Pedrosa was able to scamper off to his second win of the season. Game. Set. Match. JLo continued to roll around in 2nd. He was occasionally able to close the gap on Pedro, but having chosen a softer tire, he drifted back to lonely 2nd place finish, but still retained his lead in the points.
Stoner and his crocked ankle occasionally challenged Dovi for the final podium position, but settled for a safe 4th place finish. Dovi's 3rd place finish was his 5th podium of the season, and the most by any Yamaha Tech 3 rider in one season. Not too shabby for a dude with a girl's first name. Dovi looks to be off to Ducati, next year, to take Rossi's seat. Melandri, Rossi, and now Dovizioso...are all Italian MotoGP riders genetically predisposed to career suicide?
So that's about that. JLo's point lead was reduced, but not too much. Spies is probably wanted by the Indiana state police on several assault charges, and, as I hypothesized, Rossi tooled around to a solid mid-pack (7th) finish. It should be mentioned that the American CRT Wildcard entries, Yates and Rapp, finished the race in 16th and 15th...seriously impressive considering they had very little time to test the bikes.
The next stop for the MotoGP tour de force is next weekend at Brno in Czechland. I'm sure JLo, Stoner, and Pedro will continue their game of musical chairs for the top spot on the podium. Hayden has been ruled out of the race due to an injured hand, which means Rossi will be the sole Factory Ducati rider...I hope his phone bill is paid. Between now and Brno, Spies' crew will be hard at work planning his next mechanical failure. Smart money says they'll go with sugar in the gas tank, or the old banana in the tailpipe trick.
Result:
1) Pedrosa / Repsol Honda
2) Lorenzo / Factory Yamaha
3) Dovizioso / Tech 3 Yamaha
4) Stoner / Repsol Honda
5) Bautista / Gresini Honda
6) Bradl / LCR Honda
7) Rossi / Factory Ducati
8) Abraham / Cardion AB Ducati
9) Hernandez / Avintia Blusens
10) Espargaro / Power Electronics Aspar
11) Elias / Pramac Ducati
12) Silva / Avintia Blusens
13) Edwards / NGM Forward Racing
14) Rapp / Attack Performance
15) Ellison / Paul Bird Motorsport
16) Yates / GP Tech
DNF) Crutchlow / Tech 3 Yamaha
DNF) De Puniet / Power Electronics Aspar
DNF) Spies / Factory Yamaha
DNF) Pirro / Gresini Honda
DNF) Pasini / Speed Master
DNF) Petrucci / Came Ioda Racing
DNS) Hayden / Factory Ducati
T...out
Guten Tag from the Sausagering, where the MotoGP boys will unleash a fleet of 800cc Panzers in hopes of victory in the Motherland. Last time out, at Catalunya, Jorge Lorenzo pretty much blew everyone's doors off enroute to his fifth win of the season and an even more biggerer championship points lead. Will Lorenzo's Blitzkreig continue, or will another rider step up and send Lorenzo to hide in his secret bunker?
In other news...Germany marks Valentino Rossi's return to action after using his broken leg as an excuse to take a 4-race holiday. Coming into Germany, Rossi sat about 100 points behind Lorenzo in the points. With 7 of the 18 rounds in the books, could Rossi overhaul Lorenzo for the title before heading off to Ducati in 2011? It wouldn't surprise me.
Qualifying came and went, and Lorenzo helped himself to his 4th pole position of the year...but not before conveniently exploding his motor along the front straight and coating the hard-braking zone into turn 1 with a glistening layer of Yamalube. Lorenzo's Oil Can Harry tactic had the closely-following Ben Spies on his ass and into the gravel followed by DePuniet.
As far as the rest of the starting grid...K.C. Stoner and Dani Pedrosa rounded out the front row. Rossi managed a decent 5th on the grid. Colin Edwards 12th, Spies 13th, and Nicky Hayden back in 15th...not exactly a star-spangled qualifying session.
Grid 'em up and roll 'em out...Pedro gets his usual holeshot into turn 1 followed by Lorenzo and some dude named Barbara on a private Duck. Dovi and Stoner dispatch Barbara to take over 3rd and 4th, while Lorenzo takes Pedro for the lead...all in the same 2 corners. Bitchin'. Hayden made a good start up to 8th from 15th on the grid.
Things pretty much held station until 24(of 30)laps to go, when Colin Edwards chucked his Yamaha into the gravel...he was expendable. Then, with 21 to go, a huge turd dropped in the punchbowl...DePuniet highsided his Honda into one of the tight left-handers, Espargaro motocrossed over DePuniet's leg, and Bautista pretty much motocrossed over everything/body. The race was red-flagged as DePuniet's flaming bike was extinguished while he was carted off to the hospital with a destroyed leg.
MotoGp Deutschland Part Deux...a new 21 lap race. The sausage dropped and, once again, Pedro hits the front. Kallio hit the deck as Hayden barged his way up to 5th. Pedro and Lorenzo went back and forth at the front with Pedro finally hitting the front and gapping Lorenzo for the win. Lorenzo played it cool and hauled home 20 valuable championship points in 2nd.
While this was going on, Rossi blew past Dovi on the brakes to take 4th. At the front, it was still Pedro, Lorenzo, and Stoner...with Rossi closing. By now, Rossi was on Stoner's ass and looking to crutch himself on to the podium. Rossi went past Stoner, on the brakes, to briefly take 3rd. On the following lap, Stoner put a rather stout block-pass move on Rossi to take back 3rd. Rossi got back into 3rd only to have Stoner stuff him on the last corner of the last lap to secure 3rd. Oi!
Result:
1 Dani Pedrosa/Repsol Honda
2 Jorge Lorenzo/Fiat Yamaha
3 Casey Stoner/Marlboro Ducati
4 Valentino Rossi/Fiat Yamaha
5 Andrea Dovizioso/Repsol Honda
6 Marco Simoncelli/San Carlo Gresini Honda
7 Nicky Hayden/Marlboro Ducati
8 Ben Spies/Tech 3 Yamaha
9 Hector Barbera/Aspar Ducati
10 Marco Melandri/San Carlo Gresini Honda
11 Loris Capirossi/Rizla Suzuki
12 Alex De Angelis/Interwetten Honda
Das Gravel Boot:
Aleix Espargaro/Pramac Ducati
Randy DePuniet/LCR Honda
Alvaro Bautista/Rizla Suzuki
Colin Edwards/Tech 3 Yamaha
Mika Kallio/Pramac Ducati
Top 10 Championship Points after Germany
1 Lorenzo/185
2 Pedrosa/138
3 Dovizioso/102
4 Stoner/83
5 Hayden/78
6 Rossi/74
7 DePuniet/69
8 Spies/67
9 Simoncelli/49
10 Melandri/45
Alright folks...crack open a Bud heavy, deep-fry a Twinkie, and shave your favorite 'driver's' number in your back hair as MotoGP heads stateside, this weekend, at Laguna Seca. Rossi's won here, but Lorenzo has not. Also...welcome Roger Lee Hayden back to the clubhouse as he fills in for the injured Randy DePuniet on the LCR Honda. 'The Rog' last rode a MotoGP bike in 2007 as a wildcard at Laguna Seca and finished a decent 10th (on a Kawasaki, no less) ahead of both Colin Edwards and big bro Nicky. Porkchop!
Last time out, at Assen, Whore-hey Lorenzo took advantage of another Rossi-free race to completely gut the rest of the field, rack up his fifth win of the season, and extend his championship points lead to 47 points. Even though he backed his pace way down on the last lap, he still managed to cross the line roughly 6 seconds in front of 2nd place Pedrosa. Game over...flawless victory.
So then...here we are at Lorenzo's home race at Catalunya. With Rossi back home hibernating in a Hyperbaric chamber and Lorenzo on the tail-end of a 3-win streak, it's pretty fucking obvious what's going to happen at Catalunya...and it did. Lorenzo helped himself to pole position as well as being quickest in all practice sessions. Not satisfied with that, Lorenzo went on to win a Chorizo eating contest in the Fiat Yamaha hospitality area and planted a little Lorenzoland toothpick/flag in the leftovers.
Sunday, July 4th at 2 p.m CST (Central Spanish Time)...the little red lights go away and Little Dani gets the wholeshot, but forgot to brake and ran wide which let pretty much everyone and their mama past. This put 'guess who' in the lead followed by Stoner and Dovizioso. On the Yankee tip, Spies dropped back to 5th from an 8th place start and Hayden sat back in 10th just behind Pedro.
By the end of the 1st lap, DePuniet has done a reverse full retreat and tagged on to the back of the front three...a.k.a. 4th place. Two corners later, Dovi leg-dangled his way past Stoner to take 2nd. At the begininng of the next lap, Dovi went one better and took Lorenzo for the lead into turn 1.
While this was going on, Pedro got his shit together, and was making his way towards the front o' the pack. Meanwhile, back up front, King Lorenzo was getting tired rolling around in a lowly 2nd place, and put a ridiculous pass on Dovi through the left/right Wurth chicane to take over his God-gifted spot at the top of charts. With the front three tripping over each in the battle for the lead, Pedro made his way up to 4th and looked to be closing in on the fisticuffs up front. Things settled down up fron (i.e.; got boring) until Stoner out-broke his damn self, from 3rd, and ran way off track...this put Stoner back in 5th behind Pedro and Depuniet. Stoner quickly kicked DePuniet to the curb and closed up on Pedro for 3rd.
9 laps to go, and Dovi beaches his Honda R-series211V at turn 8. This gifts Lorenzo the win, but Pedro and Stoner are still back yonder scrapping over 2nd and 3rd. ans Stoner and Pedro beat the shit out of each other for 2nd place. Pedro, somehow, came out on top of this scrap to bring it home in 2nd followed by Stoner in...um...3rd
.
Once again, Lorenzo waltzed home for the win and extended his championship lead to 52 points over Pedrosa. Dovi remounted and finished somewhere between 13th and 15th. Word on the street is that Stoner is re-jumping ship back to Honda for 2011. The other word on the street is that Rossi will take Stoner's spot to partner Hayden (and make 15 million Euros...whatever that is) on next year's on the factory Ducati team. Bellisimo! With Rossi out in 2011 at Yamaha, that would make way for Spies to move up from the Yamaha Tech 3 team to partner Lorenzo on the 2nd Fiat Yamaha factory machine. Makes sense to me.
Result
1) Jorge Lorenzo/Fiat Yamaha
2) Dani Pedrosa/Repsol Honda
3) Casey Stoner/Marlboro Ducati
4) Randy DePuniet/LCR Honda
5) Alvaro Bautista/Rizla Suzuki
6) Ben Spies/Tech 3 Yamaha
7) Loris Capirossi/Rizla Suzuki
8) Nicky Hayden/Marlboro Ducati
9) Marco Melandri/San Carlo Gresini Honda
10) Hector Barbera/Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati
11) Colin Edwards/Tech 3 Yamaha
12) Mika Kallio/Pramac Racing Ducati
13) Kousuke Akiyoshi/Interwetten Honda
14) Andrea Dovizioso/Repsol Honda
15) Wataru Yoshikawa/Fiat Yamaha
Grupo de Crasho
Marco Simoncelli/San Carlo Gresini Honda
Aleix Espargaro/Pramac Racing Ducati
Championship points after round 7 of 18.
1)Lorenzo-165
2)Pedrosa-113
3)Dovizioso-91
4)Hayden-69
5)DePuniet-69
6)Stoner-67
7)Rossi-61
8)Spies-59
9)Melandri-39
10)Simoncelli-39
So that's that...the next time out, the boys will goose-step into the Motherland for the German MotoGP at der Sachsenring. Rossi is planning his post-leg snap return in Germany after a successful 24 lap shakedown of his gimp leg on a World Superbike spec R1 at Misano, earlier this week. Hopefully he doesn't do the Doohan.
T...out.
*Pics from superbikeplanet.com and motogp.com
So, here it is, the British MotoGP round at the new and improved Silverstone. Up to this year, the British MotoGP has been held at Iron Maiden's old stomping grounds, Donington Park. The last time Silverstone hosted MotoGP was in the mid-80's, or a time most of the MotoGP riders refer to as the 'womb years'
.
Champion leader, Lorenzo, helped himself to pole position. DePuniet (who did a trackday with the Silverstone locals a week or so before the race...cheater) sat in 2nd, followed by Pedrosa in 3rd. The second row consisted of one-part Dovizioso, one-part Hayden, and one-part Stoner. Spies sat 7th and Edwards sat somewhere between Spies and last on the grid...again.
Moving right along...Lights out, and everyone (except Stoner) piled in to turn 1. Except Stoner, you ask? It seems Stoner left his carbon fiber-handled parking brake on and slow-balled into the first corner in last place from a 6th place start...Oops. Meanwhile, Lorenzo hits the front followed by Pedro. Pedro made a few half-assed attempts at getting into the lead before Lorenzo kicked him to the curb, gapped the field, and scurried off to win another race by a country Kilometer. JLo's victory celebration was some sort of Spanish-to-English- then-back-to-Spanish Google-Translated version of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It worked, I guess.
Meanwhile, back in the pack...things were getting kind of hectic in the fight for the first and second loser spots on the box. Track day cheater, De Puniet, was looking quick in 3rd and soon put his Bunny Bike past Pedro and up into the provisional first loser spot. Dovizioso now sat quietly in 3rd and quickly closed down the track day cheater. While this was-a-happenin', Pedro was dropping off the pace and soon fucked up and got taken by Hayden for 4th. Pedro continued to drop off and soon had Marco Simoncelli 'piling pressure on his rear'. A few laps later, Pedro finally got a little sore and let Simoncelli through into 5th. Ben Pies then started to apply his own Texas-style pressure on Pedro and went up the inside of him in one of the tight sections (of the track). Later in that lap, Spies tee'd up Simoncelli and went past him on the brakes into turn 1. Dovi finally closed down De Puniet and went past him on the front straight to take 2nd.
10 to go, and Hayden managed to close down the front group and looked to be in the hunt for his first podium of 2010. De Puniet roasted the tires on the Bunny Bike, and both Hayden and Spies went past him to take over 3rd and 4th, respectively. 6 to go, and Capirossi followed Melandri's first lap example, and put on his own scratch-and-dent sale in turn 1...'For sale: lightly scuffed aquamarine-colored front fender. Fits 2008-2010 Suzuki GSVR's. Serious buyers only.'
The American Inquisition...3 to go, and Hayden was sitting in 3rd with Spies closing him down. Hayden split his time between chasing Dovi for 2nd and holding off Spies...it was good to see Hayden back to his 'sideways' shenanigans. Last lap, and Dovi sat in a fairly safe 2nd which left Hayden and Spies in a cage match for the final podium spot. At the end of the back straight, Spies looked to be going past Hayden on the inside/brakes, but Hayden squashed that move, and re-outbraked Spies around the outside to maintain 3rd. Spies then lined up Hayden for another move, but Hayden saved Spies the effort by running wide and letting him through, easy-boat style. Spies the rode the shit out of the last half o' lap in super-defensive mode, and just held off Hayden for his debut MotoGP podium. Golf claps, all around for the Texan.
Result:
1) Lorenzo/Fiat Yamaha
2) Dovizioso/Repsol Honda
3) Spies/Monster Tech 3 Yamaha
4) Hayden/Marlboro Ducati
5) Stoner/Marlboro Ducati
6) De Puniet/Playboy LCR Honda
7) Simoncelli/San Carlo Gresini Honda
8) Pedrosa/Repsol Honda
9) Edwards/Monster Tech 3 Yamaha
10)Espagaro/Pramac Ducati
11)Barbera/Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati
12)Bautista/Rizla Suzuki
13)Kallio/Pramac Ducati
No Result:
Capirossi/Rizla Suzuki
Melandri/San Carlo Gresini Honda
Top 10 Points After Round 5
1) Lorenzo/115
2) Dovizioso/78
3) Pedrosa/73
4) Rossi/61
5) Hayden/52
6) De Puniet/46
7) Spies/36
8) Stoner/35
9) Melandri/32
10)Simoncelli/32
So, with Rossi out for a few more months, the title is pretty much Lorenzo's to lose. The big to-do will be who will take 2nd and 3rd at the end of the season.
The next round is this weekend at Assen, a track at which Hayden has won and podiumed over the years. Spies is also familiar with Assen from his time in World Superbike, last year...meaning he won't have to spend the first practice session fucking around trying to figure out which way the track goes and whatnot. Methinks Hayden and/or Spies will be on the box this time around...care to wager? Don't forget, the race is on SATURDAY on SpeedTV @ 8:30am CST. I guess I'll have to DVR my cartoons.
T...out
*Photos from superbikeplanet.com, motogp.com, and mcnews.com.au
Last time out, at Le Mans, Jorge Lorenzo smoked Valentino Rossi and took the race win by over 5 seconds. In the process, Lorenzo also shot to the top of the charts in the championship points standings.
This brings us to round 4 at Moo-Jello. With this being Rossi's home race, the Yellow shirts were out en masse to witness their golden boy avenge his Frenchtastic ass-kicking. So...how would the race unfold? What epic scenario would play out as Rossi snatches back a race win and the championship points lead? Take my handy-dandy prerace quiz. No notes and no cheating, please.
Q. At Mugello, Rossi will...?
A) Get the holeshot, clear off, and win by 12 seconds.
B) Endure a race-long battle with Lorenzo and punt him into the gravel on the final corner to take the win.
C) Take himself and Lorenzo in the first turn.
D) Highside in practice, break his leg, and miss the race altogether.
E) Cook his tires in the opening laps trying to keep up with Pedrosa and drift back to an eventual 6th place finish.
F) Skip the race to go test a Ferrari F1 car.
G) Get a ride-through penalty for a jumpstart, rejoin the race, and bag a respectable 4th.
And the answer is...
'D'...During practice, Rossi tossed himself over the bars and into space. When he returned to Earth, he broke his lower right leg (shin bone) on impact. The break was so severe that the bone tore through the skin, and Rossi was choppered to a local hospital for surgery. Mugello would be the first race Rossi has missed in his entire GP career, and it looks like he'll be out for the rest of the year. Hundreds of Rossi fans were found dead under the bleachers hanging by Yellow '46' t-shirts fashioned into nooses. Get well soon (Rossi, not the fans).
Enough about that. Repsol Honda's Dani Ponderosa starts from from pole, followed by Lorenzo and Stoner. Nicky Hayden heads up the second row in 4th followed by Colin Edwards in an oh-so-familiar 5th. Spies in 7th...not too shabby for his first time at this track.
On to the racing...The lights go out and Pedrosa leads into the first corner followed closely by Lorenzo. Spies got a good start up to 4th from 7th. Stoner and Hayden sat back in 5th and 6th. At the end of the first lap it's Pedro, Lorenzo, and Dovizioso. Lap 2 and Pedro sets the fastest lap, gaps the field, and scampers off for the win. Enough about him.
With Pedro making a B-line to the kiddie pool, the battle for the last two podium spots is on like Donkey Kong, with Lorenzo and Dovi beating the shit out of each other at every braking zone. While this was going on, Homeboy Hayden got bored with the race and decided to set sail on the U.S.S. Gravelboat....man overboard. What about former MotoGP champ Stoner? He's pooping around in 5th place...pretty much phoning it in until he jumps ship to Repsol Honda in 2011. Two naval references in one paragraph, thank you very much.
Lorenzo finally shakes off Dovi and sets sail (it never ends) for Pedro at the front. With Pedro's gap a bridge too far, Lorenzo will have to settle for second, and Dovi a comfortable third.
With the laps winding down, an epic battle for fourth continues between DePuniet, Melandri, Stoner, and Spies. All four are looking rather quick, but Stoner now remembers that he hasn't signed an actual contract with Honda for 2011 and decides it would be a good idea to win this battle just in case...don't quit your job before you've found a new one. Stoner made his way through this group and bagged a decent fourth. Spies hung on the back to grab seventh at his first time at Mugello.
Up front, Pedro cruises home for the win followed by Lorenzo and Dovizio. Even with Pedro's win, Lorenzo increased his lead in the championship points standings. The points look like this after 4 rounds...1)Lorenzo 2)Pedrosa 3)Rossi 4)Dovizioso 5)Hayden 6) DePuniet 7) Melandri 8) Simoncelli 9) Stoner 10) Spies.
Smooth Sailing:
1 Pedrosa/Repsol Honda
2 Lorenzo/Fiat Yamaha
3 Dovzioso/Repsol Honda
4 Stoner/Ducati Marlboro
5 Melandri/San Carlo Honda Gresini
6 De Puniet/LCR Honda
7 Spies Tech/3 Yamaha
8 Espargaro/Pramac Racing Ducati
9 Simoncelli/San Carlo Honda Gresini
10 Capirossi/Rizla Suzuki
11 Aoyama/Interwetten Honda MotoGP
12 Barbera/Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati
13 Edwards/II Tech 3 Yamaha
14 Bautista/Rizla Suzuki
Man Overboard:
Hayden/Ducati Marlboro
Kallio/Pramac Racing Ducati
Next time out it's Silverstone...who will be on Rossi's bike?
'A cowboy is to the prairie as a sailor is to the sea'
T...out
