The provisional calendar for the 2009 MotoGP has been revealed with China being dropped and replaced by a new race in Hungary.

The Chinese Grand Prix which holds the MotoGP event at the Shanghai International Circuit, has been removed after only running the race for four years.

The calendar remains with eighteen races, starting again at the Losail circuit in Qatar, which featured the first night race.

Next year’s calendar will not start until April, unlike this year when it began in March.  The Japanese round will now be featured in April as the second round instead of September, and the Portugal race will be in October instead of April.

Donington Park will continue with it’s round for the British MotoGP, although it is thought there maybe some problems as the track will be under construction in readiness for the Formula One British Grand Prix, which is to be held at the circuit in 2010.

Here is the provisional calendar;

April 12th – Qatar, Losail (Evening Race)

April 16th – Japan, Motegi

May 3rd – Spain, Jerez

May 17th – France, Le Mans

May 31st – Italy, Mugello

June 14th – Catalunya, Catalunya

June 27th – Netherlands, Assen (Saturday Race)

July 5th – United States, Laguna Seca (MotoGP Class only)

July 19th – Germany, Sachsenring

July 26th – Great Britain, Donington Park

August 16th – Czech Republic, Brno

August 30th – Indianapolis, Indianapolis

September 13th – San Marino, Misano

September 20th – Hungary, Balaton

October 4th – Portugal, Estoril

October 18th – Australia, Phillip Island

October 25th, Malaysia, Sepang

November 8th – Valencia, Ricardo Tormo Valencia

The circuit has been holding the MotoGP race since 2005 but due to poor crowd attendance, poor promotion and a lack of commercial interest it is likely to be replaced by a new circuit in Hungary.

Valentino Rossi was reported to be disappointed with the decision to scrap the Chinese race after only four years and said “I like the track and I won there on Sunday, so for sure I hope that we come back next year.”

Casey Stoner, who won the Shanghai race in 2007 said “I’ve had victories at this circuit, so it’s got some good memories for me. We’ll see if it is on the calendar next year but if it’s not it’s disappointing to see it go.”

After the race and speaking from a wheelchair, Lorenzo said “It was almost a victory.  With the pain after the crash I feel horrible and I thought we could not race so for sure to qualify and then race doing the most overtaking in my life is a good experience.”

The Spanish rider, who actually turned 21, on Sunday, has had further tests in Barcelona and it appears that he has fractured his right ankle as well as his left, which also has ligament damage.

Lorenzo will now have to have both ankles immobilised for some time, but should not need surgery.  He will undergo further tests on Monday, when a recover period can be assessed.

The next race for the Moto GP Championship will take place in France on May 18th.

Rossi on the Fiat Yamaha, hadn’t won a race since last year at Portugal but took the lead in China from lap five and held off Pedrosa, who was right on his tail until the last few laps.

Dani Pedrosa finished in second place for the Repsol Honda team and said “It was a hard race, every lap was faster and faster.  In the end I just slowed down because I saw that I couldn’t get Valentino, and just decided to keep the engine alive and finish second.  I’m very happy to take second here.”

Third place man and reigning World Champion, Casey Stoner, was on pole position for the start of the Chinese Grand Prix but had a lonely race as the front two men pulled ahead.  The Marlboro Ducati man said “The sighting lap let us know it was going to be dry, although we were advised to go for a softer compound.  The team worked hard as always, but we have room to improve and I’m not entirely satisfied with this result.”

James Toseland finished in twelfth position for Tech3 Yamaha and said “Tough day, tough weekend.  Again the conditions were difficult but I got an OK start.  We chose one of the softer tyres because of the cooler temperatures but I think in the end it was a little bit too soft.  It’s frustrating.  I’m looking forward to Le Mans – a French track with a French team.  The qualifying tyres were great but I found life difficult with the race tyres.”

John Hopkins on the Kawasaki was racing in his 100th Moto GP yesterday and was hoping to make it a good one, unfortunately he finished in fourteenth place the same position he had been in on the grid.  Hopkins had been fast in practice on Friday but in the qualifying session on Saturday, he crashed with Alex de Angelis and was left with a painful wound after catching his knee of his own foot peg.

Chris Vermeulen on the Rizla Suzuki had a disastrous race and said “Obviously I’m not very happy with today’s result, in fact that’s probably an understatement!  I had a problem right from the start and the chain kept slipping making the bike really difficult to ride.  I felt like my pace was quicker than the four guys in front of me, but every time I tried to pass them the chain would just slip and I’d lose my momentum.  Then towards the end of lap six the chain come off and I had to go into the pits and that was the race over.”

The track was still a bit damp for the start of the race, but was drying quickly,  after a water-logged race for the 125cc riders, earlier in the day.

Jorge Lorenzo, who was riding with a fractured left ankle and a badly bruised right leg, stalled the bike at the start of the warm-up lap, but with a little help managed to get going to take his fourth place on the grid.

At the start, Casey Stoner led into the first corner but, pole position man Colin Edwards, reclaimed the lead in front of Stoner and Rossi.

On lap two, it was four riders abreast practically, until Edwards, Stoner and Rossi all ran wide and Dani Pedrosa snatched the lead.  Rossi was hunting down Pedrosa while setting the fastest lap.  Rossi took the lead back on lap six.

Colin Edwards made a mistake on lap seven and ended up rejoining in seventh place.  Chris Vermeulen went out on lap eight after a clutch problem.

Marco Melandri looked impressive after overtaking Andrea Dovizioso for fifth place and Nicky Hayden on the next lap to take fourth and then on to chase down his teammate, Stoner.

It was the first time on this track for British rider James Toseland, who struggled to keep pace with the faster riders.

Halfway through the twenty-two lap race, Toseland loses another place to Shinya Nakano and Nicky Hayden goes back to seventh position.

By lap fifteen a great battle took place for fourth position between, Melandri, Lorenzo, Dovizioso, Hayden and Edwards.  By the next lap, Lorenzo takes that fourth place for himself as he passes Melandri.

Hayden takes Dovizioso on lap nineteen to regain sixth  position.  At the front, Pedrosa started to struggle with grip and Rossi increased his lead to go on and take his first win of the year, a great race.

Here are the results;

Pos Rider                Bike        Tyre           Gap
 1. Valentino Rossi      Yamaha      (B)      44:08.061
 2. Daniel Pedrosa       Honda       (M)         +3.890
 3. Casey Stoner         Ducati      (B)        +15.928
 4. Jorge Lorenzo        Yamaha      (M)        +22.494
 5. Marco Melandri       Ducati      (B)        +26.957
 6. Nicky Hayden         Honda       (M)        +28.369
 7. Colin Edwards        Yamaha      (M)        +29.780
 8. Toni Elías           Ducati      (B)        +30.225
 9. Loris Capirossi      Suzuki      (B)        +31.440
10. Shinya Nakano        Honda       (B)        +35.969
11. Andrea Dovizioso     Honda       (M)        +36.246
12. James Toseland       Yamaha      (M)        +43.191
13. Randy de Puniet      Honda       (M)        +43.442
14. John Hopkins         Kawasaki    (B)        +45.855
15. Sylvain Guintoli     Ducati      (B)        +46.330
16. Alex de Angelis      Honda       (B)        +50.593
17. Anthony West         Kawasaki    (B)      +1:05.593

Not classified

    Rider                Bike        Tyres         Gap
    Chris Vermeulen      Suzuki      (B)

 
250cc 

The first lap saw three riders go down on the damp but drying track.  Karel Abraham, Alex Baldolini and Eugene Laverty were all victims of the damp conditions.

Alex Simoncelli took the lead on lap two but had it snatched away from him on lap three by Alvaro Bautista.

Lukas Pesek is out of the race by lap four with a broken-down bike and Laverty has rejoined the race and is already in sixteenth position.

Lap five saw contact between Julian Simon, Alex Debon and Thomas Luthi and then on lap ten, the race leader  Bautista, goes down as he drop his bike and slides across the track. He makes it back on track but has lost too much time to score points.

Mika Kallio was back in the lead ahead of Hector Barbera.  By lap twelve Hiroshi Aoyama is up to second place ahead of Simoncelli in third with Barbera now in fifth behind Takahashi.

Kallio took the win with Aoyama in second but sadly, Takahashi had a mechanical problem on the final lap allowing Mattia Pasini to take the final step on the podium.

Here are the results;

Pos  Rider              Bike           Time
 1.  Mika Kallio        KTM            48:12.217
 2.  Hiroshi Aoyama     KTM            +   3.238
 3.  Mattia Pasini      Aprilia        +  13.811
 4.  Marco Simoncelli   Gilera         +  18.474
 5.  Alex Debon         Aprilia        +  21.066
 6.  Hector Barbera     Aprilia        +  25.158
 7.  Yuki Takahashi     Honda          +  29.990
 8.  R. Wilairot        Honda          +  39.871
 9.  Aleix Espargaro    Aprilia        +  48.344
10.  Hector Faubel      Aprilia        +  55.470
11.  R. Locatelli       Gilera         +  55.832
12.  Alvaro Bautista    Aprilia        +1:00.442
13.  Eugene Laverty     Aprilia        +1:00.732
14.  Fabrizio Lai       Gilera         +1:36.975
15.  D.T. Pradita       Yamaha         +1:37.080
16.  Imre Toth          Aprilia        +1:45.018
17.  Russell Gomez      Aprilia        +2:13.718

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

     Rider              Bike      On lap
     Alex Baldolini     Aprilia     14
     Julian Simon       KTM          5
     Thomas Luthi       Aprilia      5
     Karel Abraham      Aprilia      4
     Lukas Pesek        Aprilia      2
     Manuel Poggiali    Gilera       0 

FASTEST LAP: Kallio, 2:15.834 on lap 19

125cc 

It was a very wet track for the 125cc race with Bradly Smith on pole position today.  Smith loses the first place position at the beginning of the race as he is passed by Andrea Iannone and then another to Gabor Talmacsi while Sergio Gadea is at the back of the pack after a mistake.

On lap six, the championship leader, Simone Corsi goes down but recovers only making it as far as the pits.  On the next lap Bradley Smith goes down and is inconsolable at the disappointment of another race with no points.

Iannone and Talmacsi pulled away at the front followed by Espargaro and Di Meglio.  Michael Ranseder who was running in sixth place is the next man down but rejoins the race.

Another British rider, Danny Webb goes down while in eighth place, and at the back of the pack, two more riders come off their bikes and slide into the gravel.

Lap sixteen and the final British rider, Scott Redding goes down and appears to be holding his wrist as he’s helped away.

With only two laps left to go, Di Meglio takes Gabor Talmacsi for second place.  Iannone wins the race.

Here are the results;

Pos  Rider              Bike           Time
 1.  Andrea Iannone     Aprilia        46:02.275
 2.  Mike Di Meglio     Derbi          +   3.355
 3.  Gabor Talmacsi     Aprilia        +   3.451
 4.  Pol Espargaro      Derbi          +  14.028
 5.  Stefan Bradl       Aprilia        +  23.853
 6.  Joan Olive         Derbi          +  31.962
 7.  Michael Ranseder   Aprilia        +  33.758
 8.  Nicolas Terol      Aprilia        +  34.696
 9.  Raffaele De Rosa   KTM            +  34.838
10.  Efren Vazquez      Aprilia        +  41.011
11.  Esteve Rabat       KTM            +  41.139
12.  Marc Marquez       KTM            +  43.677
13.  Tomoyoshi Koyama   KTM            +  53.489
14.  Steve Bonsey       Aprilia        +  54.462
15.  Pere Tutusaus      Aprilia        +  58.706
16.  Sandro Cortese     Aprilia        +  59.454
17.  D. Agerter         Derbi          +1:10.704
18.  Louis Rossi        Honda          +1:47.918
19.  H. van den Berg    Aprilia        +1:50.406

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

     Rider              Bike      On lap
     R. Krummenacher    KTM         16
     Scott Redding      Aprilia     15
     Lorenzo Zanetti    KTM         11
     Daniel Webb        Aprilia     10
     Robert Muresan     Aprilia      9
     Alexis Masbou      Loncin       9
     Robin Lasser       Aprilia      7
     R. Lacalendola     Aprilia      7
     Bradley Smith      Aprilia      6
     Simone Corsi       Aprilia      5
     Takaaki Nakagami   Aprilia      4
     Sergio Gadea       Aprilia      1 

FASTEST LAP: Ranseder, 2:23.432 on lap 19

Casey Stoner took third place on the grid and amazingly, Jorge Lorenzo took fourth place despite a fractured left ankle and another near accident.

Lorenzo was out for an hour long session this morning ahead of the qualifying session, and the doctor who examined him said that his biggest challenge was not the fracture but managing the pain in his right leg which is very badly bruised after yesterdays accident.

The doctor said “The big problem I think is the right ankle, where there isn’t a fracture.  He has a little fracture in the left ankle, and I think we can overcome this problem because the riders are used to riding with physical injuries like this one.”

Lorenzo was seen being helped of his bike when he come into the pits as he could not manage to dismount by himself.

Dani Pedrosa claimed fifth position followed by Loris Capirossi in sixth and James Toseland in Seventh.  Toseland said “It’s  a really difficult track out here, especially because in the middle of corners you have to get your speed really right to get the second part really good.”

Chris Vermeulen was in eighth place ahead of Randy de Puniet and Nicky Hayden.  Hayden crashed coming into the back straight but fortunately was uninjured and got back on his bike and back to the pits.

Here are the results;

1. Colin Edwards USA Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 1min 58.139 secs

2. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (B) 1min 58.494 secs

3. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1min 58.591 secs

4. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) 1min 58.591 secs

5. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1min 58.855 secs

6. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1min 58.941 secs

7. James Toseland GBR Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 1min 59.254 secs

8. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1min 59.325 secs

9. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP (M) 1min 59.357 secs

10. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1min 59.507 secs

11. Andrea Dovizioso ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP (M) 1min 59.559 secs

12. Marco Milandri ITA Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1min 59.678 secs

13. Shinya Nikano JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 1min 59.716 secs

14. John Hopkins USA Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 1min 59.740 secs

15. Toni Elias SPA Alice Team (B) 1min 59.933 secs

16. Alex de Angelis RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 2min 0.316 secs

17. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alice Team (B) 2min 0.760 secs

18. Anthony West AUS Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 2min 0.838 secs

Fastest practice time:

Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha (B) 1min 59.690secs (FP3)

 250cc

Alvaro Bautista claimed pole for the second time in the 250cc category, followed by his fellow Spaniard Hector Barbera.

Mika Kallio took third spot after coming off his bike in the remaining few seconds of the session, ahead of Julian Simon who took the final slot on the front row of the grid.

Here are the results;

1. Bautista (Aprilia)

2. Barbera (Aprilia) +0.435secs

3. Kallio (KTM) +0.520secs

4. Simon (KTM) +0.769secs

5. Simoncelli (Gilera) +0.842secs

6. Luthi (Aprilia) +0.971secs

7. Pasini (Aprilia) +1.237secs

8. Poggiali (Gilera) +1.310secs

9. Locatelli (Gilera) +1.334secs

10. Takahashi (Honda) +1.363secs

19. Laverty (Aprilia) +2.783secs

125cc 

Bradley Smith is on pole position again for the third time after holding back Nicholas Terol by 0.028 seconds today.

Mike di Meglio was in third, only half a second behind Terol,  followed by the reigning World Champion Gabor Talmacsi in fourth place.

Here are the results;

1. Smith (Aprilia)

2. Terol (Aprilia) +0.028secs

3. di Meglio (Derbi) +0.541secs

4. Talmacsi (Aprilia) +0.648secs

5. Iannone (Aprilia) +0.783secs

6. Olive (Derbi) +0.785secs

7. Espargaro (Derbi) +0.809secs

8. Bradl (Aprilia) +0.820secs

9. Gadea (Aprilia) +0.898secs

10. Webb (Aprilia) +0.971secs

Lorenzo, who took his first win of his Moto GP career in the last race at Portugal, had surgery the next day to correct the carpal tunnel syndrome he was suffering with.  He has since missed the post race testing as he’s been recovering.

He said “Each day I am feeling better after my operation.  I feel great and I think the recovery is going very well, without problems.  I am going to China in perfect shape.  The victory in Portugal was like a big present that I had never expected, but in a way it wasn’t a perfect victory because I couldn’t enjoy it so much.  The pain in my arms changed the celebration but I believe the most important thing is to make sure I am fit for the future.  Lorenzo is now leading the Championship after only three races on his first season in Moto GP.

Lorenzo’s teammate, Valentino Rossi is happier about his performance in the last two races and said “After Estoril we had a test and the primary focus was tyre testing with Bridgestone, working on material for Shanghai.  We found some good things and I hope that we’ll be starting in good shape.  We’ve had three races together now and I think the last two podiums, especially in Estoril which isn’t such a good track for Bridgestone, have shown that we’re making good progress in our relationship and I hope that Shanghai is going to be the place where it finally all comes together.  We’re not in such a bad place in the championship and there is a very long way to go, but our rivals are very strong so we can’t afford to make mistakes and we need to try and take as many points as possible from now on.”