Ducati

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The current Moto2 rider Karel Abraham, has announced on his personal website that he has signed a deal to ride a Ducati Desmosedici GP11 next season.

He will continue to ride under his current team banner Cardion AB Motoracing and the confirmation is expected to be given at a press conference before the Brno race.

The 20-year-old rider made his debut in the MotoGP series aboard a 125cc machine in 2005 before moving up to the 250cc series in 2007.

The Czech rider is currently running in fourteenth place in the Moto2 series with a best finish of fourth place at the Catalunya race.

The Silverstone Circuit

There is to be 18 races in the MotoGP championship series for 2010 which has released by the FIM, with the return of Silverstone for the British Grand Prix for the first time since the 1980’s.

It has also been stated that if any of the races fail to go ahead the new circuit in Aragon in Spain will host the event.

April 11 *        Qatar              Doha/Losail
April 25          Japan              Motegi
May 2             Spain              Jerez de la Frontera
May 23            France             Le Mans
June 6            Italy              Mugello
June 20           Great Britain      Silverstone
June 26 **        Netherlands        Assen
July 4            Catalunya          Catalunya
July 18           Germany            Sachsenring
July 25 ***       United States      Laguna Seca
August 15         Czech Rep.         Brno
August 29         Indianapolis       Indianapolis
September 5       San Marino         Misano
September 19      Hungary            Balatonring
October 10        Malaysia           Sepang
October 17        Australia          Phillip Island
October 31        Portugal           Estoril
November 7        Valencia           Ricardo Tormo - Valencia

*   Evening Race
**  Saturday
*** Only MotoGP class

Alex de Angelis - San Carlo Honda Gresini 2009

Alex de Angelis took the San Carlo Honda Gresini across the line to finish in eighth place at the Czech Republic Grand Prix despite doing battle with a butterfly!

The Honda rider had been running in ninth position for the majority of the race when five laps from the end a butterfly became trapped inside his helmet.  As the insect flapped around in front of his eyes he was passed by Mika Kallio and Marco Melandri, who later crashed out of the race when Kallio ran into the back of Melandri.

Alex said;

“I set a target of a top eight today so I am satisfied to achieve that but it could have been so much better. I was comfortable running with Edwards, Hayden and the others until I suddenly got a butterfly trapped in my helmet.

It was flapping around in front of my eyes and I couldn’t see a thing! When it finally settled down I was able to focus again but my chance had gone.”

Valentino Rossi 2009

Valentino Rossi claimed the victory for Fiat Yamaha at the Czech Republic MotoGP on Sunday for the second year in a row after his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo crashed out.

125cc

Nico Terol on the Jack & Jones bike took the win in the 125cc class ahead of the championship leader Julián Simon on the Bancaja Aspar yesterday.

In third place was the pole sitter Andrea Iannone on the Ongetta Team I.S.P.A. machine, finishing 8 seconds behind the race winner.

Britain’s Bradley Smith took the fourth position on the second Bancaja Aspar followed by Pol Espargaro on the Derbi Racing bike in fifth and Ajo Interwetten rider Sandro Cortese in sixth.

In seventh place was Stefan Bradl for the Viessmann Kiefer Racing team ahead of Marc Márquez on the Red Bull KTM, Sergio Gadea on the Bancaja Aspar and Joan Olivé on the Derbi Racing machine.

Here are the results;

Pos  Rider               Bike            Time
 1.  Nicolas Terol       Aprilia         40m57.378s
 2.  Julian Simon        Aprilia         +   0.168s
 3.  Andrea Iannone      Aprilia         +   8.719s
 4.  Bradley Smith       Aprilia         +  12.443s
 5.  Pol Espargaró       Derbi           +  16.006s
 6.  Sandro Cortese      Derbi           +  16.066s
 7.  Stefan Bradl        Aprilia         +  17.105s
 8.  Marc Márquez        KTM             +  17.202s
 9.  Sergio Gadea        Aprilia         +  17.223s
10.  Joan Olive          Derbi           +  17.244s
11.  Johann Zarco        Aprilia         +  17.618s
12.  Jonas Folger        Aprilia         +  21.977s
13.  Marcel Schrötter    Honda           +  34.487s
14.  Efrén Vazquez       Derbi           +  34.512s
15.  Scott Redding       Aprilia         +  41.558s
16.  Daniel Webb         Aprilia         +  43.098s
17.  Randy Krummenacher  Aprilia         +  43.121s
18.  Dominique Ägerter   Derbi           +  43.164s
19.  Takaaki Nakagami    Aprilia         +  43.453s
20.  Michael Ranseder    Aprilia         +  43.917s
21.  Tomoyoshi Koyama    Loncin          +  50.710s
22.  Luigi Morciano      Aprilia         +1m09.976s
23.  Alessandro Tonucci  Aprilia         +1m10.633s
24.  Alexis Masbou       Loncin          +1m35.007s
25.  Luca Vitali         Aprilia         +1m39.485s
26.  Luca Marconi        Aprilia         +1m39.739s
27.  Karel Pesek         Derbi           +1m40.019s
28.  Ivan Visak          Honda           +   1 laps
29.  Ladislav Chmelik    Honda           +   1 laps
30.  Lukáš Šembera       Aprilia         +   1 laps

Retirements                                 

     Simone Corsi        Aprilia            12 laps
     Lorenzo Savadori    Aprilia             8 laps
     Esteve Rabat        Aprilia             7 laps
     Luis Salom          Aprilia             5 laps
     Jasper Iwema        Honda               2 laps
     Lorenzo Zanetti     Aprilia             1 laps

250cc

Marco Simoncelli on the Metis Gilera claimed the victory in the Sunday 250cc class followed by Mattia Pasini on the Team Toth Aprilia and Mapfre Aspar Team rider Alvaro Bautista in third.

While it has now been confirmed that Alvaro Bautista will be moving up to the Rizla Suzuki MotoGP team from 2010, he will be left feeling a little embarrassed today after losing his bike while doing a wheelie across the line.

On the slowing-down lap, Bautista lifted his front wheel high in the air to perform an impressive wheelie for the crowd, unfortunately, he lost control and was thrown off the back of his bike and was left sitting in the middle of the track while his machine suffered considerable damage.

Hiroshi Aoyama for the Scot Racing team finished in fourth place followed by Roberto Locatelli on the second Metis Gilera and Raffaele de Rosa on the second Scot Racing bike.

In seventh place was Héctor Barbera on the Pepe World Team bike ahead of Jules Cluzel on the Matteoni Racing bike, Mike di Meglio for the Mapfre Aspar team and Héctor Faubel on the Honda SAG machine to complete the top ten riders.

Karel Abraham on the Cardion AB Motoracing bike crashed out on the first corner of his home race after making contact with Thomas Luthi on the Emmi – Caffe Latte bike.

Here are the results;

Pos Driver                  Bike               Time/Gap
 1. Marco Simoncelli        Gilera           41m06.490s
 2. Mattia Pasini           Aprilia             +0.684s
 3. Alvaro Bautista         Aprilia             +4.381s
 4. Hiroshi Aoyama          Honda               +8.746s
 5. Roberto Locatelli       Gilera              +9.721s
 6. Raffaele De Rosa        Honda              +10.870s
 7. Hector Barbera          Aprilia            +15.639s
 8. Jules Cluzel            Aprilia            +18.411s
 9. Mike di Meglio          Aprilia            +18.563s
10. Hector Faubel           Honda              +19.958s
11. Rutthapark Wilairot     Honda              +20.084s
12. Lukas Pesek             Aprilia            +30.632s
13. Shoya Tomizawa          Honda              +37.118s
14. Balazs Nemeth           Aprilia          +1m17.484s
15. Valentin Debise         Honda            +1m24.684s
16. Axel Pons               Aprilia          +1m25.132s
17. Imre Toth               Aprilia          +1m46.925s
18. Aitor Rodriguez         Aprilia          +1m52.465s
19. Vladimir Leonov         Aprilia          +1m59.794s

Retirements

    Bastien Chesaux         Honda               12 laps
    Alex Debon              Aprilia              9 laps
    Alex Baldolini          Aprilia              6 laps
    Toby Markham            Aprilia               1 lap
    Karel Abraham           Aprilia              0 laps
    Thomas Luthi            Aprilia              0 laps

MotoGP

Valentino Rossi and Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, were separated by only 1 second for the majority of the Brno round of the MotoGP, breaking away from the third place man Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda. On lap 16, Lorenzo passed Rossi to take the lead going into turn 3.  On the following lap, Rossi retook his position but as Lorenzo attempted his next move, he lost the front of his machine and slid off into the gravel and was out of the race.

Pedrosa finished in second place ahead of the Gresini Honda rider Toni Elias in third after an exciting battle with the second Repsol Honda of Andrea Dovizioso until the final corner.

Loris Capirossi claimed fifth position for the Rizla Suzuki team followed by Nicky Hayden in sixth, his best position of the season so far for the Ducati Marlboro team, with Colin Edwards on the Tech 3 Yamaha in eighth.

The second Gresini Honda rider Alex de Angelis finished in eighth place ahead of James Toseland on the second Tech 3 Yamaha and Randy de Puniet on the LCR Honda completing the top ten.

Mika Kallio on his debut ride for the Marlboro Ducati rider Casey Stoner, rode into the back of Marco Melandri’s Hayate Kawasaki, ending both their races and the two were seen pushing and pointing as they picked theirselves up out of the gravel.

Here are the results;

Pos  Rider             Bike               Time/Gap
 1.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha           43m08.991s
 2.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda             + 11.766s
 3.  Toni Elias        Gresini Honda     + 20.756s
 4.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda             + 21.418s
 5.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki            + 21.538s
 6.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati            + 25.544s
 7.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha     + 25.676s
 8.  Alex de Angelis   Gresini Honda     + 34.109s
 9.  James Toseland    Tech 3 Yamaha     + 35.617s
10.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda         + 39.824s
11.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki            + 40.776s
12.  Niccolo Canepa    Pramac Ducati     + 50.661s
13.  Gabor Talmacsi    Scot Honda        + 59.188s

Retirements:

     Mika Kallio       Ducati           20 laps
     Marco Melandri    Hayate Kawasaki  20 laps
     Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha           17 laps
     Michel Fabrizio   Pramac Ducati    5 laps

Valentino Rossi

This weekend the MotoGP riders return to work in Brno for the Cardion AB Czech Republic Grand Prix after their mid-summer break for the remaining seven rounds of the MotoGP Championship.  On Monday the teams and riders also have a day of testing taking place.

The Brno press conference took place yesterday with Valentino Rossi, Mika Kallio, Andrea Dovizioso, Loris Capirossi and Gabor Talmacsi in attendance.

From this round of the championship, the new engine rule comes into play, giving the riders only five engines to compete the remaining rounds of the season.  Rossi said;

“It changes the way we will work on the bike a little bit. Now you have to plan more which bike you use during the practice and you have to take care of the engine, even after the race. It should save money so it is important. In Monday’s test we have some small details to check and we will try to take another step forward with the bike.”

Dovizioso confirmed that the Repsol Honda team will be testing a new swingarm throughout the weekend and onto the Monday test, if conditions allow.

Loris Capirossi announced that the team will be using a new engine on the Rizla Suzuki at this round and will be testing further new parts on Monday as well as a possible new chassis.

Mika Kallio, is the replacement rider for the Marlboro Ducati rider Casey Stoner, after it was announced that he would be out for the next three rounds while he recovered from his mystery illness.

Gabor Talmacsi will be in front of many of his home fans for the first time as a MotoGP rider and is hoping to give them a good result.

Randy de Puniet will on the LCR Honda, despite fracturing his ankle in a motorcross training programme the week after the UK round of the championship.

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.

While the credit crisis has affected all forms of proffessional sport, it seems that Motorsport in general and particular at the highest level is feeling the effects more than most. The flagship motor sports of Formula One and Moto GP have historically attracted vast sums of money in the form of television rights and sponsorship deals amongst other forms of revenue  to the sport, but in the space of a few months it is those two forms of racing that have been hardest hit by the crisis.

Obviously the more finance that is involved, means the more savings to be made. Fortunately all the teams involved are in the same boat and therefore all teams are in agreement  over running the respective sports on a smaller budget.

It must be particularly frustrating for Moto GP – struggling to fill its grid, while it’s rival World Superbike championship is attracting more teams and riders than ever. Whether the amended rules will help Moto GP or effect future Moto gp results, remains to be seen, but here are the crucial changes due for 2009.

Friday free practise = Afternoon only and restricted to 40mins for 125cc and 45mins for moto gp and 250cc

Saturday free practise = Morning and restricted as above

Saturday qualifying = 40mins 125cc and 45mins moto gp and 250cc

Sunday warm up = 20 mins each category

Further rule changes are:

From Czech Grand Prix a maximum of five engines can be used for the remaining eight races, with only daily maintenance of engines allowed.

Ceramic composite materials not permitted for brake discs or pads.

Launch control not permitted.

Electronically controlled suspension is not permitted.

Only two post race tests at Catalunya and Czech GP for development purposes using test riders only are permitted.

Marco Melandri

It has been announced that Marco Melandri, who is currently riding for Ducati, will be joining the Kawasaki team in 2009 after a miserable 2008 season.

However, the 2008 season still has six races left to run and the rider said in a report,

“I hope to get good results in the last six races of 2008, and after that I am moving to another team.  I will ride for Kawasaki next year, so it’s a big change for me.

Hopkins is a very good rider and maybe he needs a stronger teammate to be a bit more motivated.  Maybe I also need this kind of company to be motivated a little bit more, because I really want to work closely together with a teammate.  It will be a good experience and I am quite confident.

It would have been a nice option to back to Fausto (Gresini), I had a very good time with him and he has always helped me a lot.

This year we’ve been talking together, but for me, I’ve been looking at Kawasaki and they seem very good.  The engineers and people there give me a good feeling just to talk to them, so that’s what I want to do.”

Anthony West, achieved his career’s best finish at the recent Czech Republic Grand Prix with a fifth place on the Ninja ZX-RR after qualifying in sixth place on the grid.

Hopkins started the race well from the front row of the grid making his way up to third position but then struggled for rear grip finally finishing in eleventh place.

Casey Stoner

It was torrential rain for the qualifying session of the MotoGP today ahead of tomorrow’s Brno race, but that didn’t hinder Casey Stoner, who claimed six consecutive pole position of the season.

Valentino Rossi took second followed by John Hopkins on the Kawasaki who will take his first front row start this year.

Suzuki rider, Chris Vermeulen was fourth followed by Alex de Angelis in fifth and Anthony West in sixth position.

Randy de Puniet crashed again today but managed to claim seventh place ahead of Shinya Nakano.  Loris Capirossi starts from ninth despite his crash followed by Sylvain Guintoli in tenth.

The fastest times were set early in the session while the rain was still light but as time went on riders were commenting on the amount of standing rain on the saturated track.

The fastest Michelin runner was Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda in twelfth place.

Jorge Lorenzo failed to qualify today after getting the timing all wrong and catching the worst of the weather.  However, the race director has agreed to let him race at the back of the grid.

Both Yamaha Tech 3 riders, will also start at the back of the grid with Lorenzo, after Colin Edwards qualified in fifteenth place and James Toseland in sixteenth place.

The three back markers, are all on Michelin tyres and although they were not blaming Michelin, it was obvious that this was the main problem.

Here are the results;

Pos  Rider             Bike           Time
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  2:11.657
 2.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)  2:12.846  + 1.189
 3.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  (B)  2:12.959  + 1.302
 4.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  2:13.002  + 1.345
 5.  Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)  2:13.352  + 1.695
 6.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  2:14.064  + 2.407
 7.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)  2:14.535  + 2.878
 8.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)  2:14.718  + 3.061
 9.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)  2:14.805  + 3.148
10.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)  2:14.861  + 3.204
11.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)  2:15.880  + 4.223
12.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     (M)  2:16.032  + 4.375
13.  Toni Elias        Ducati    (B)  2:16.510  + 4.853
14.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  2:17.632  + 5.975
15.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  2:20.074  + 8.417
16.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)  2:23.303  + 11.646
17.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)  2:23.701  + 12.044

In the 250cc, Marco Simoncelli claimed his third pole position of the season on a track that started out wet at the beginning of the session but dried towards the end.

Simoncelli and Hector Barbera staged an exciting battle for their place at the front, with Simoncelli even runnihg off track and into the gravel before hitting the barrier, picking-up his machine and going even faster.

Alex Debon was the second fastest rider, followed by Hector Barbera in third and Mattia Pasini in fourth position.

Here are the results;

Pos  Rider             Bike     Time
 1.  Marco Simoncelli  Gilera   2:10.723
 2.  Alex Debon        Aprilia  2:11.489  + 0.766
 3.  Hector Barbera    Aprilia  2:11.578  + 0.855
 4.  Mattia Pasini     Aprilia  2:12.168  + 1.445
 5.  Thomas Luthi      Aprilia  2:12.762  + 2.039
 6.  Julian Simon      KTM      2:13.074  + 2.351
 7.  Mika Kallio       KTM      2:13.698  + 2.975
 8.  Yuki Takahashi    Honda    2:13.944  + 3.221
 9.  Lukas Pesek       Aprilia  2:13.970  + 3.247
10.  Alvaro Bautista   Aprilia  2:14.577  + 3.854
11.  Alex Baldolini    Aprilia  2:14.664  + 3.941
12.  Eugene Laverty    Aprilia  2:14.918  + 4.195
13.  Fabrizio Lai      Gilera   2:15.103  + 4.380
14.  Hector Faubel     Aprilia  2:15.416  + 4.693
15.  Karel Abraham     Aprilia  2:15.659  + 4.936
16.  Hiroshi Aoyama    KTM      2:15.785  + 5.062
17.  R.Locatelli       Gilera   2:15.836  + 5.113
18.  Aleix Espargaro   Aprilia  2:16.552  + 5.829
19.  Federico Sandi    Aprilia  2:17.550  + 6.827
20.  R.Wilairot        Honda    2:18.009  + 7.286
21.  Toni Wirsing      Honda    2:18.764  + 8.041
22.  DT Pradita        Yamaha   2:19.018  + 8.295
23.  Russell Gomez     Aprilia  2:21.402  + 10.679
24.  Manuel Poggiali   Gilera   2:34.770  + 24.047

In the 125cc second qualifying session, on a dark, cold and wet track, Gabor Talmacsi will start from pole position tomorrow.

Nicolas Terol was in second place followed by Andre Iannone in third and Britain’s Bradley Smith in fourth to complete the front row of the grid.

The current Championship leader, Mike de Meglio will start from fifth ahead of Sergio Cortese, Pol Esparago and Simone Corsi.

Casey Stoner

Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner were swapping places for the fastest time in this mornings free practice session ahead of the Brno MotoGP on Sunday.

Rossi was riding with a modified YZR-M1engine, featuring improved acceleration, and took the top spot on his final lap, 0.129 seconds faster than Stoner on the Marlboro Ducati in the morning session.

In the afternoon free practice, however, Stoner hit back and set the fastest time of the day ahead of Rossi by 0.179 seconds, despite Stoner suffering some sort of illness for the past few days.

John Hopkins on the Kawasaki Racing machine finished in eighth place, despite crashing out in both of the sessions, fortunately unhurt.

Hopkins has been out of action since his huge crash in the qualifying session for the Assen round of the Championship in June, where he suffered multiple leg injuries.

He was on track today on the modified Yamaha, also featuring the new YZR-M1 engine but seemed to struggle for grip on his Michelin tyres.

Hopkins team-mate, James Toseland, didn’t have such a good day after crashing out with thirteen minutes of the session still remaining.  He stated that the engine was a great improvement but he too struggled for grip with the Michelin tyres.

Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda is back at work this weekend but things didn’t run smoothly for the young Spaniard as he finished down in sixteenth place.

Another rider suffering the same problem with the Michelin tyres having no grip, plus the fact he is still riding in pain after his recent injuries to his wrist and fingers.

Jorge Lorenzo, yet again struggling with the Michelin, finished in eleventh place today.  He was seen hobbling around the pits on crutches after the injuries he suffered last month at Leguna Seca.

In the 250cc qualifying session, Hector Barbera on the Team Toth Aprilia took the provisional pole position today on a damp track, seeing him crash on his in lap at the same spot as Toseland.

Mika Kallio took the second spot followed by Marco Simoncelli, Alex Debon and Hiroshi Aoyama.

In the 125cc session, the current champion, Gabor Talmacsi took the provisional pole position followed by Nicolas Terrol, Andrea Iannone and Britain’s Bradley Smith in fourth.

Rain brought a stop to the session with twenty minutes still remaining, however, the riders will soon back on track as the rain lightened.