Re: MotoGP 2012

Blimey Jan that was an awful long time ago, even I was not around when he was first here, although it feels like it today.

Tomorrow's race should be quite good, with fellow team mate Casey Stoner still out with his injuries Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa just made pole position ahead of the Yamaha rider, Jorge Lorenzo by less than two hundredths of a second. Dani is only 13 points behind Jorge in the championship and this pole gives him a good shot at closing that gap. Our own Cal Crutchlow, will start third for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team.

The second row is made up of Honda riders, Stefan Bradl and Alvaro Bautista respectively with 'The Doctor', Ducati's Valentino Rossi completing the row in sixth.

Re: MotoGP 2012

This weekend marked the return of MotoGP after its three week lay-off. It was also the first time back at the Misano circuit since local lad Marco Simoncelli died after his crash in Sepang, Malaysia, last October.

The irrepressible Marco's hometown was Cattolica and is just a few miles down the road. All the riders paid tribute to him with a lap of the circuit on push bikes, it was nice to see such a tribute to a great rider. The Misano track has also been renamed as 'The Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli' in his honour.

With Casey Stoner still missing through injury Repsol Honda have drafted in Jonathan Rea, the Northern Ireland World Superbike rider for a couple of races. A daunting task for the lad, to switch disclipines is hard enough at the start of the season but to compete in your first MotoGP three quarters through must be mind numbing.

The race itself?, oh yes that, for the first time In a long time the start was shambolic.
Karel Abraham's Ducati forced a re-start which meant a lap lost, pole-sitter Dani Pedrosa then had an issue which forced him to start from the back of the grid.

When it did get going Pedrosa was taken out in short order by Barbera which effectively put an end to any racing proper and possibly the Championship. as Lorenzo hopped off into the lead and stayed there. The good 'Doctor' Valentino Rossi, was for once this term in attendance with Stefan Bradl close behind him.

A few crashes saw Abraham, Pasini and our own Crutchlow all vying for the artistic dismount merit prizes which incidentially the spectacular highsiding Abraham would have won today.

With 12 laps to go Bautista suddenly seemed to have got some inspiration from somewhere as he then carved his way into third spot although he was never going to catch Rossi or lorenzo. Dovizioso, was not done though and provided a fighting finish and only a photo finish could part the two with Bautista just edging it.
A rather poignant result for the San Carlo Honda Gresini team.

Winner: Jorge LORENZO Yamaha.
Second: Valentino Rossi Ducati
Third: Alvaro Bautista Repsol Honda

Jonathan Rea finished a credible 8th.

Championship standings.

1 Jorge Lorenzo. Yamaha 270 points
2 Dani Pedrosa. Honda 232 points
3 Casey Stoner. Honda 186 points
4 Andrea Dovizioso. Yamaha 163 points
5 Cal Crutchlow. Yamaha 122 points
6 Valentino Rossi. Ducati 120 points

Next Race is at Aragon, Spain, on the 30th September.
Hard to see Lorenzo losing the title now.

Re: MotoGP 2012

This weekend sees the 14th race in the championship and takes place at the Motorland Aragon, Alcaniz, Spain.

Qualifying for tomorrow's MotoGP looked to be difficult with several riders taking a tumble on a very cold track. The Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa crashed out early on in the hour but was able to get some decent laps in on his spare machine.

Jorge Lorenzo came good in the end with Dani Pedrosa second on the grid and our own Cal Crutchlow completing the front row. It had looked certain that Cal would secure pole right up to the very last minutes of the session.

Finally a bit of good fortune for Ben Spies as he made the second row in fourth place and the ever improving Stefan Bradl in fifth. Completing the second row is Andrea Dovizioso, Crutchlow's team-mate. Cal will no doubt be heartened to know that the Italian was almost seven tenths off his pace.

Jonathan Rea, the Casey Stoner stand-in pushed his improvement further to start in seventh place. He seems to be taming the factory Honda, just a shame it is probably his last outing for a while at least.

The 'Doctor', Valentino Rossi, starts in eighth, clearly lacking the pace of the last race but in fairness he stepped off the Ducati and took in the scenery during his slide on his backside whilst the machine took the agricultural route home. Glad to say that all riders seemed to have escaped injury and we should have a full grid for tomorrows race.