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

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.”

It was team mate Valentino Rossi who provided a lot of the thrills in the race, starting in sixth on the grid he was going backwards at the start of the race, slipping down to eleventh before mounting a comeback to win the race.

Casey Stoner had fallen off the track on the first lap, putting paid to his hopes of a third successive victory of the season, as Lorenzo and Dovizioso broke away from the pack to contest the lead.

Dovizioso appeared to have the measure of Lorenzo and squeezed past the Yamaha on lap nine, with Rossi by that time on a massive charge from way back closing in on the front two riders.

Rossi found a way past both Lorenzo and Dovizioso on the eleventh lap and while Dovizioso regained the lead from Rossi briefly on lap 16, it was Rossi who hung on for his first win since the opening day of the season.

Given Dovizioso’s race pace on the Honda, race fans were left wondering what might have been if Dani Pedrosa had not been injured in Japan and he and Lorenzo had been left to fight it out for the title.

That said, Jorge Lorenzo has hardly put a foot out of place this season and even before the injury to Rossi had built a commanding lead in the championship, his consistency finishing in the first two for the majority of the season makes him a worthy champion and there will surely be more titles to come from the young Spaniard.

Malaysian MotoGP result:

1 V Rossi (Ita) Fiat Yamaha 41:03.448
2 A Dovizioso (Ita) Repsol Honda 41:03.672
3 J Lorenzo (Sp) Fiat Yamaha 41:09.483
4 B Spies (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha 41:17.124
5 A Bautista (Spa) Rizla Suzuki 41:18.850
6 N Hayden (USA) Ducati 41:22.274
7 H Aoyama (Jpn) Interwetten Honda 41:23.666
8 M Simoncelli (Ita) Gresini Honda 41:27.022
9 M Melandri (Ita) Gresini Honda 41:27.412
10 R de Puniet (Fr) LCR Honda 41:35.298
11 H Barbera (Sp) Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati 41:42.027
12 M Kallio (Fin) Pramac Ducati 41:42.297

Moto2 race result:

1 R Rolfo (Ita) Suter 41:09.412
2 A de Angelis (SM) Motobi 41:09.452
3 A Iannone (Ita) Speed Up 41:15.327

125cc race result:

1 M Marquez (Sp) Derbi 40:29.035
2 P Espargaro (Sp) Derbi 40:31.376
3 N Terol (Sp) Aprilia 40:32.691

Casey Stoner 2010

Casey Stoner did everything right in the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi, getting off the line superbly from his third place on the grid and easing past Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso into the lead, where he finished for the second time in as many races.

Stoner had commented before the race that the Motegi track was not among his favourite circuits and he was not expecting too much from the race, but his performance in Japan was nothing short of amazing, finishing almost 4 seconds ahead of Dovizioso.

Given the performance of Dovizioso on the Honda, racing on their home track, you can’t help but wonder what might have been if Dani Pedrosa had not been injured in practise, considering his recent blistering performances.

It would only have added to what was to be one of the most exciting races of the season with the Yamaha riders Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo involved in perhaps the most thrilling scrap of all, fighting for third place.

With no love lost between the team mates, they swapped places several times during the final five laps pf the race with neither rider prepared to yield.

Repeatedly pushing each other and with both riders determined to out brake the other, they provided the most breathtaking riding witnessed for a very long time.

The pair touched bikes on more than one occasion as they fought side by side with two laps to go. Eventually it was Rossi who held the upper hand into the final straight to claim third place.

Champion in waiting Lorenzo was left without a podium place for the second consecutive race, although without Pedrosa in the frame he will only need to finish ninth or higher in Malaysia to claim his first World Moto GP title.

After the race Rossi said that he was determined to beat Lorenzo after the Spaniard had passed him earlier in the race but congratulated Lorenzo on ‘a great battle.’

Lorenzo meanwhile questioned the tactics of the Italian claiming that he did not think Rossi was ‘completely fair.’ Either way both can be congratulated for lighting up the final laps of the Japanese Grand Prix and lets hope for more of the same in the closing stages of the season.

Japan MotoGP results:

1. Casey Stoner (Australia) Ducati 43:12.266
2. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Honda 43:16.134
3. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 43:17.973
4. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 43:18.487
5. Colin Edwards (U.S.) Yamaha 43:39.358
6. Marco Simoncelli (Italy) Honda 43:42.287
7. Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Suzuki 43:44.092
8. Ben Spies (U.S.) Yamaha 43:47.838
9. Randy de Puniet (France) Honda 43:59.830
10. Hiroshi Aoyama (Japan) Honda 44:01.864
11. Marco Melandri (Italy) Honda 44:02.265
12. Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Ducati 44:02.969
13. Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati 44:03.688
14. Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Ducati 44:05.109
15. Mika Kallio (Finland) Ducati 44:26.934

Moto 2 race:

1. Toni Elias (Spain) Moriwaki 43:50.930
2. Julian Simon (Spain) Suter 43:51.245
3. Karel Abraham (Czech Republic) FTR 44:00.769
4. Alex de Angelis (San Marino) Motobi 44:01.108
5. Scott Redding (Britain) Suter 44:02.167

125cc race:

1. Marc Marquez (Spain) Derbi 39:46.937
2. Nicolas Terol (Spain) Aprilia 39:49.549
3. Bradley Smith (Britain) Aprilia 39:55.333
4. Pol Espargaro (Spain) Derbi 40:05.810
5. Alberto Moncayo (Spain) Aprilia 40:18.910

Casey Stoner - Ducati Marlboro 2010

The Ducati rider Casey Stoner took his first win of the season yesterday when he crossed the line at the Aragon MotoGP.

Starting from pole position, the Australian dominated the race from the off, finishing the race 5.148 seconds ahead of second placed man Dani Pedrosa.

Pedrosa dropped back to fifth place after getting shuffled out of the pack in the opening corner but had soon fought his way back to slot in behind Stoner.

The battle for the final step of the podium went down to the line between the second Ducati of Nicky Hayden and the current leader of the championship Jorge Lorenzo.  After several attempts, Hayden managed to make his move on the Yamaha rider stick finally passing him on the final lap to take his first podium finish this season.

The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Ben Spies crossed the line in fifth place after and exciting race for fifth place against the second Repsol Honda of Andrea Dovizioso.  The Honda rider unfortunately crashed out on the final lap after pushing for the place.

Valentino Rossi finished in sixth place on the second Fiat Yamaha ahead of Marco Simoncelli and Alvaro Bautista with Marco Melandri in ninth position followed by the Pramac Racing rider Alex Espargaro.

The LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet, was lucky to have escaped injury after spectacularly crashing out on lap 16 of the race.

The teams and riders of MotoGP assembled on the circuit on Sunday morning to pay their respect to Shoya Tomizawa who died two-weeks ago at the Misano circuit.  The popular Japanese riders bike was placed on the starting grid and it was announced that his number 48 would be retired from the Mot02 World Championship.

Here are the results;

1.  Casey Stoner  AUS Ducati Marlboro Team  42m 16.53s
2. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team 42m 21.678s
3. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team 42m 26.026s
4. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Fiat Yamaha Team 42m 26.11s
5. Ben Spies USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 42m 30.301s
6. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 42m 43.86s
7. Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 42m 45.041s
8. Alvaro Bautista ESP Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 42m 51.784s
9. Marco Melandri ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 42m 51.923s
10. Aleix Espargaro ESP Pramac Racing 42m 51.997s
11. Hector Barbera ESP Paginas Amarillas Aspar 42m 52.052s
12. Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 43m 1.89s
13. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Interwetten Honda MotoGP 43m 4.849s
14. Mika Kallio FIN Pramac Racing 43m 14.577s

DNF:
Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team
Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP

Shoya Tomizawa R.I.P.

The MotoGP riders and teams were in mourning today following the Moto2 race at Misano yesterday resulted in the death of the young Japanese rider Shoya Tomizawa.

The 19-year-old fell on lap 12 of the race while in fourth place and was hit by Alex de Angelis and Scott Redding who were unable to avoid the crashed rider.

The official statement from Dorna read;

“On Sunday 5th September during the Moto2 race at the Misano World Circuit, rider Shoya Tomizawa aged 19 suffered a serious crash and subsequent cranial, thoracic and abdominal trauma.

“Given the seriousness of his condition – especially for the thoracic and abdominal trauma – Tomizawa was immediately treated at the Misano World Circuit medical centre and put under artificial respiration.

“The rider was taken by ambulance to the Riccione hospital accompanied by two doctors – helicopter was not used in order to allow for the proper respiratory support to be administered. Despite various attempts to resuscitate him Shoya sadly succumbed to his injuries at 14.20.

“Everybody involved in MotoGP extends its deepest condolences to Shoya’s family and friends at this tragic loss.”

The Honda rider made history this year for being the first Moto2 Grand Prix winner at the Qatar followed by a pole position and podium for the following round.

Alex de Angelis managed to walk away from the carnage while Scott Redding received ten stitches to a laceration on is back.

R.I.P. Shoya Tomizawa

Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda 2010

The Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa crossed the line to take the victory at the Indianapolis MotoGP yesterday after qualifying in fifth place.

It was pole sitter Ben Spies on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 that led the pack into the first corner followed by the Marlboro Ducati of Nicky Hayden and the Repsol Honda of Andrea Dovizioso.  Pedrosa followed in fourth place ahead of the two Fiat Yamaha riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi.

By lap 2, Pedrosa had moved into second position, quickly passing his team-mate and Hayden as he began to chase down the leading man.

On lap 7, Pedrosa passed Spies to take the lead while Nicky Hayden was dropping back down the pack after his kneeslider became loose when he hit a drain cover, allowing Lorenzo and Rossi the chance to get past.

Lorenzo eventually managed to get past Dovizioso on lap 12 of the race although the Italian didn’t let him get away easily.  The Honda rider soon began to lose grip on his tyres following his impressive ride allowing Rossi to also get past, losing his chance of a podium finish.

Dani Pedrosa took the win ahead of Ben Spies in second and Jorge Lorenzo in third.  Rossi completed the race in fourth place followed by Andrea Dovizioso in fifth, Nicky Hayden in sixth, Marco Simoncelli in seventh, Alvaro Bautista in eighth, Aleix Espargaro in ninth and Hector Barbera in tenth.

Casey Stoner lost the front end of his Marlboro Ducati on lap 8 of the race while Colin Edwards was forced to retire on lap 17 after developing rear tyre problems.  Mika Kallio crashed out on lap 18 after hitting a bump on the track and was out of the race,  Marco Melandri was the only other rider who failed to finish the race.

Here are the results;

1.  Dani Pedrosa  ESP Repsol Honda Team  47m 31.615s
2. Ben Spies USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 47m 35.190s
3. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Fiat Yamaha Team 47m 38.427s
4. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 47m 44.248s
5. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team 47m 53.500s
6. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team 48m 6.753s
7. Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 48m 8.355s
8. Alvaro Bautista ESP Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 48m 8.440s
9. Aleix Espargaro ESP Pramac Racing 48m 16.52s
10. Hector Barbera ESP Paginas Amarillas Aspar 48m 22.983s
11. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 48m 27.001s
12. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Interwetten Honda MotoGP 48m 29.518s
13. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 48m 35.754s

DNF:
Mika Kallio FIN Pramac Racing
Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team
Marco Melandri ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini

Spies Chasing Lorenzo At Silverstone 2010

One of the MotoGP’s worst kept secrets is expected to be announced officially this weekend that Ben Spies is to be the replacement team rider for the departing Valentino Rossi at Yamaha.

Spies will ride alongside the 2010 championship leader Jorge Lorenzo, despite the Spaniard not yet having signed his contract for the 2011 season.

The team are also looking for another sponsor for next year as the current Fiat sponsors are likely to follow Rossi to the Ducati team.  According to reports the team have been in talks with Telefonica, the Spanish telecommunications company as well as their existing partner Petronas.

Valentino Rossi 2010

It will come as no surprise to many after weeks of speculation that Valentino Rossi will move to the Ducati team for the 2011 season.

Confirmation came following the Brno MotoGP on Sunday, won by Rossi’s current team-mate Jorge Lorenzo who took his seventh victory of the season for the Fiat Yamaha team.

The 31-year-old Italian has signed a two-year deal with Ducati following a seven-year relationship with the Yamaha team with which he won four MotoGP World Championships.

Rossi said;

I think that here in Yamaha my work is finished.  The situation within Yamaha has changed a lot since 2004.   Now the M1 is maybe the best bike in MotoGP, Yamaha have great riders, so it looks like they don’t need me any more.

I’m very curious and very motivated for this new challenge and I think it will be very interesting.  I think an Italian rider on an Italian bike will be great for all Italian fans. I think we’ll have a lot of fans cheering for us.”

Doubts have already been raised on whether Rossi will be given permission to test the Ducati at the end of the season in Valencia due to contractual agreements with the Yamaha team to which Rossi stated;

“If Yamaha say no I’ll be very upset and sad.  Only Honda have said no to me in the past and that relationship was very different to the one between me and Yamaha.   If I can’t do it then I don’t understand the relationship between me and Yamaha!”