John Hopkins

The FB Corse team have announced that they have signed John Hopkins to ride for them in the 2010 debut season in MotoGP.

The team had admitted that they were interested in signing Hopkins back in the summer before it was rumoured that he would be going to the AMA series for 2010, but they have now confirmed that the deal has been done.

The team have also announced that they have signed Simone Gorztkyj for their Moto2 project, where he will ride as a wild-card at five of the championship rounds.

The official team announcement and presentation for the 2010 series is expected to take place in Milan on the 21st January.

Roberto Rolfo

Another new Moto2 team are to line-up on the grid for the 2010 season ‘Italtrans STR‘, with riders Roberto Rolfo and Robertino Pietri on board.

The new Italian team are in partnership with STR (Sprint Technology Racing), and is to be led by Luigi Pansera and Massimo Biagini.

Roberto Rolfo is no stranger to the superbike league having finished runner-up in the 2003 250cc World Championship and also in the MotoGP series.  The 29-year-old moved to the Superbike series in 2006 for the Caracchi Ducati team finishing the year in sixteenth overall.

In 2007, Rolfo moved to the Hanspree Ten Kate Honda team alongside James Toseland, finishing the season in eighth overall while his team-mate won the championship.  In 2008 he moved to the Althea Honda squad where he was axed for the 2009 season.

For the start of 2009, he joined the new team on the World Superbike grid with Stiggy Honda team, riding alongside Leon Haslam but was replaced after the Qatar round by John Hopkins.

Rolfo said;

“I am very happy to be back into the Motorcycle World Championship, and it’s even more satisfying to do it in Moto2. This was my objective and now I’m very motivated because I’m back in the game and I aim to secure results. I cannot wait to begin the tests. There will be a lot to do because motorbikes in this category will continually evolve. I’m not afraid of the challenge, I look forward to it.”

Robertino Pietri said;

“This is a great opportunity for me. I’d like to thank Massimo Biagini and the whole STR team, and my fellow countrymen Vito Ippolito and Carlos Lavado. I’m happy and excited by this opportunity and I’m confident that the team will succeed. I’ll be 100% ready to have a great season in the Motorcycle World Championship.”

Andrea Dovizioso - Repsol Honda - Donington Park 2009

Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso took the victory on Sunday, in the final meeting at the Donington Park circuit in the wet.

125CC

Julián Simón on the Bancaja Aspar Team 125cc bike, took his third win of the season at Donington Park in a restarted race due to adverse weather conditions.

The race had begun in relatively dry conditions after a wet warm-up session, but as the skies darkened and the rain began to fall the red flag was shown and the race stopped after 15 laps.

Pol Espargaro for the Derbi Racing team, had been leading the race with a gap of almost 4 seconds from second place man Nicolas Terol on the Jack & Jones Team machine and Marc Marquez on the Red Bull KTM Motorsport bike in third.

Despite Espargaro losing the lead just before the red flag was shown, the rules allowed him to retake his pole position as the rules dictate that the order of riders is from the previous full lap before the race is stopped.

As the riders once again lined-up on the grid they were  in for a 5 lap sprint on full wet tyres as the rain increased making conditions difficult.

Britain’s Bradley Smith on the second Bancaja Aspar Team bike, took the lead on the first lap, making his move around the outside at the exit of turn one but crashed out later in the lap while battling Marc Márquez.  Smith rejoined the race but finished way down the order in twentieth place.

Márquez then took the lead but on the penultimate lap, the Spaniard suffered the same fate and high-sided off his machine at the Foggy Esses.

Simon Corsi for the Fontana Racing team then took the lead until he was passed on the final lap by Simón as they headed into McLeans.

It was last years winner Scott Redding on the Blusens Aprilia that took the final step of the podium despite starting from twelfth on the grid.

Here are the results;

CLASSIFIED:

Pos  Rider             Bike     Time
 1.  Julian Simon      Aprilia   9m12.301s
 2.  Simone Corsi      Aprilia  +   0.390s
 3.  Scott Redding     Aprilia  +   3.072s
 4.  Nicolas Terol     Aprilia  +   6.209s
 5.  Takaaki Nakagami  Aprilia  +   9.509s
 6.  Luis Salom        Aprilia  +  11.211s
 7.  Lorenzo Zanetti   Aprilia  +  11.572s
 8.  D.Agerter         Derbi    +  13.703s
 9.  Efren Vazquez     Derbi    +  14.101s
10.  Pol Espargaro     Derbi    +  15.422s
11.  Tomoyoshi Koyama  Loncin   +  17.905s
12.  Joan Olive        Derbi    +  25.625s
13.  Johann Zarco      Aprilia  +  26.793s
14.  Martin Glossop    Honda    +  27.916s
15.  Marc Marquez      KTM      +  28.631s
16.  Paul Jordan       Honda    +  28.999s
17.  Lukas Sembera     Aprilia  +  30.564s
18.  R.Krummenacher    Aprilia  +  34.468s
19.  Luca Marconi      Aprilia  +  38.709s
20.  Bradley Smith     Aprilia  +  38.938s
21.  Luca Vitali       Aprilia  +1m14.040s

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

     Rider             Bike       Laps
     Jasper Iwema      Honda         4
     Lorenzo Savadori  Aprilia       1
     Alexis Masbou     Loncin        1
     Michael Ranseder  Aprilia       1
     Sergio Gadea      Aprilia     DNS
     Sandro Cortese    Derbi       DNS
     Esteve Rabat      Aprilia     DNS
     Andrea Iannone    Aprilia     DNS
     Stefan Bradl      Aprilia     DNS
     Daniel Webb       Aprilia     DNS
     Jonas Folger      Aprilia     DNS
     Cameron Beaubier  KTM         DNS
     Karel Pesek       Derbi       DNS
     James Lodge       Honda       DNS
     Tim Hastings      Honda       DNS

FASTEST LAP: Simon, 1m48.632s on lap 5

250CC

It was the World Championship leader of the 2500cc series Hiroshi Aoyama on the Scot Racing team Honda that took the victory, in what had started as a wet race.

The majority of riders, including Aoyama, were on full wet tyres but by lap three a dry line had started to appear on the circuit.

Aoyama sped off into the distance, creating a gap of 6 seconds at the midway point as Alvaro Bautista on the Mapfre Aspar bike had moved up to second place by lap 7.

Mattia Pasini on the Team Toth Aprilia finished in third after holding back the late charge by the reigning World Champion Marco Simoncelli on the Metis Gilera.  Pasini had crashed out with only 11 laps remaining while battling with Alex Debon on the Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens, who also crashed later in the lap, however, both riders rejoined the track in their same position, having not been passed.

Here are the results;

CLASSIFIED:

Pos  Rider             Bike     Time
 1.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Honda    45m17.516s
 2.  Alvaro Bautista   Aprilia  +   5.723s
 3.  Mattia Pasini     Aprilia  +  36.161s
 4.  Marco Simoncelli  Gilera   +  36.776s
 5.  Mike Di Meglio    Aprilia  +  41.418s
 6.  Alex Debon        Aprilia  +  41.938s
 7.  Raffaele De Rosa  Honda    +  57.483s
 8.  Hector Barbera    Aprilia  +  59.975s
 9.  Thomas Luthi      Aprilia  +1m14.852s
10.  Hector Faubel     Honda    +1m16.927s
11.  Jules Cluzel      Aprilia  +1m21.356s
12.  Lukas Pesek       Aprilia  +1m21.665s
13.  R.Locatelli       Gilera   +1m29.576s
14.  Karel Abraham     Aprilia  + 1 Lap
15.  Shoya Tomizawa    Honda    + 1 Lap
16.  Alex Baldolini    Aprilia  + 1 Lap
17.  Imre Toth         Aprilia  + 1 Lap
18.  Luke Mossey       Aprilia  + 1 Lap
19.  Valentin Debise   Honda    + 2 Laps
20.  Axel Pons         Aprilia  + 2 Laps
21.  Aitor Rodriguez   Aprilia  + 2 Laps
22.  Bastien Chesaux   Honda    + 2 Laps
23.  Toby Markham      Aprilia  + 4 Laps 

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

     Rider             Bike     On lap
     R.Wilairot        Honda      18
     Ralf Waldmann     Aprilia     5
     Balazs Nemeth     Aprilia     0

FASTEST LAP: Baldolini, 1m34.963s on lap 22

MotoGP

It was the final British MotoGP meeting to take place at the Donington Park circuit and a first win for Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso in a dramatic race.

As the MotoGP riders lined-up on the grid ahead of their race, light rain began to fall causing a dilemma in tyre choices.  The majority of the bikes were on slicks with the exception of  Marlboro Ducati riders Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden, who had decided on full wets.

Valentino Rossi on the Fiat Yamaha led the pack into the first corner but was passed by team-mate Jorge Lorenzo as they headed to the Craner Curves.  San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Toni Elias, had moved up to third place from eighth on the grid and was on the tail of Rossi, passing him before chasing down Lorenzo.

Elias led until lap 3 when Dovizioso, who had come from fourth place at the end of lap one, took to the front of the field but was soon passed by a charging Lorenzo before he had completed the lap.

The Yamaha rider led second place man Dovizioso, followed by Rossi, Dani Pedrosa on the second Repsol Honda and Elias. A gap had appeared between the front runners and the second group headed by James Toseland, Randy de Puniet, Marco Melandri, Alex de Angelis, Loris Capirossi and Mika Kallio.

On lap 8, Elias, who had just passed Pedrosa for fourth place, touched the white line at the Schwantz curve and was thrown off the Honda.  Lorenzo was the next casualty who touched the treacherous white line going into the final turn leaving him unable to rejoin the race.

Rossi was then leading the race from Dovizioso, while third place man Pedrosa was 6 seconds behind the battling duo and going backwards.

After 11 laps in the lead, Rossi lost the rear of his Yamaha at the chicane as the rain persisted, handing the lead to Dovizioso, Rossi rejoined in eleventh place.

Many of the riders choose to return to the pits to change bikes with only 8 laps remaining with Dovizioso now having  a 10 second lead over second place man Randy de Puniet with only 7 laps left to run, but the LCR Honda man was on a mission and the gap began to close.  Colin Edwards on the Monster Tech3 Yamaha, came from nowhere and was soon battling de Puniet.  Edwards made a pass on de Puniet with only 3 laps remaining, however, de Puniet wasn’t happy settling for third and retook his position but only briefly as he was once again passed by Edwards at the very final turn.

Alex de Angelis took fourth place for the San Carlo Honda team followed by Rossi who had worked his way back into fifth place, and after snatching the place from James Toseland on the second Monster Tech3 Yamaha at the final corner.

Marco Melandri took seventh place for the Hayate Racing Team ahead of Niccolo Canepe on the Pramac Racing machine in eighth, Pedrosa in ninth and Mika Kallio on the second Pramac Racing Ducati in tenth.

The two Ducati Marlboro runners, Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden, remained at the back of the pack after taking the wrong tyre option at the start of the race.  They finished the race a lap down in fourteenth and fifteenth place respectively.

Here are the results;

Pos  Rider             Bike               Time/Gap
 1.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda            48m26.267s
 2.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha    +   1.360s
 3.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda        +   1.600s
 4.  Alex de Angelis   Gresini Honda    +   8.958s
 5.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha           +  21.622s
 6.  James Toseland    Tech 3 Yamaha    +  22.465s
 7.  Marco Melandri    Hayate Kawasaki  +  35.284s
 8.  Niccolo Canepa    Pramac Ducati    +  38.769s
 9.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda            +  42.112s
10.  Mika Kallio       Pramac Ducati    +  45.845s
11.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki           +  53.190s
12.  Gabor Talmacsi    Scot Honda       +1m12.315s
13.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki           +    1 lap
14.  Casey Stoner      Ducati           +    1 lap
15.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati           +    1 lap

Retirements:

     Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha           8 laps
     Toni Elias        Gresini Honda    7 laps

Dani Pedrosa - Donington Park 2008

As the 125cc set off for the practice session this morning, it was Esteve Rabat on the Blusens Aprilia that took the top spot, when after only 5 minutes fron the start of the session, the heavens opened sending bikes and riders rushing back to their pit garages.

After 20 minutes, the teams ventured back onto the track but it remained waterlogged for the remainder of the session and the time set by Rabat earlier held the top spot.

Many of the riders barely had time to test into today’s free practice session and will be praying for better weather conditions for qualifying tomorrow.

The MotoGP session started in full wet conditions today following on from the 125cc class, however, by midway of the session, the sun came out rapidly drying the track while the riders remained on wet tyres.

It was Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda that snatched the top spot in the Friday free practice session on his final flying lap at the Donington British MotoGP today.

Casey Stoner on the Marlboro Ducati, looked safe at the top slot until Pedrosa’s flying lap left him down in second place after running for only 16 laps of the circuit.

Third fastest was championship leader Valentino Rossi on the Fiat Yamaha ahead of the second Repsol Honda ridden by Andrea Dovisioso and Rossi’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo in fifth.

Marco Melandri on the Hayate Racing Team bike, was in sixth followed by an impressive Mika Kallio on the Pramac Racing Ducati in seventh and hoping for better luck this weekend.

Colin Edwards on the Monster Tech3 Yahamah, Toni Elias on the San Carlo Honda Gresini and Nicky Hayden on the second Marlboro Ducati, finished in eighth, ninth and tenth respectively.

James Toseland on the second Monster Tech3 Yamaha, finished the day in twelfth position after running out of fuel towards the end of the session and walking back to the pits.

The 250cc riders had a dry track for their free practice session with Alex Debon on the Aeropuerto Castello Blusens Aprilia, setting the fastest time of the day.

The World Championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama on the Scot Racing Team Honda, finished in second place with the Spanish rider Alvaro Bautista on the Mapfre Aspar Team bike in third.  Baustista claimed his spot on his spare bike after crashing out of the session midway through.

Marco Simoncelli on the Metis Gilera was in fourth followed by Lukas Pesek on the Auto Kelly machine in fifth and Mike De Meglio on the second Mapfre Aspar Team bike in sixth.

Thomas Luthi on the Caffe Latte was in seventh, Hector Barbera on the Pepe World Team bike in eighth, Karel Abraham on the Cardion AB Motoracing bike in ninth and Mattia Pasini on the Team Toth Aprilia in tenth.

There was a special rider on track today in the 250cc class, Ralf Waldmann aboard the Viessmann Kiefer Aprilia, at the age of 43.  Waldmann came runner-up twice in the 250cc World Championships of 1996 and 1997, and twice it was Biaggi that beat him.  Walmann finished in eighteenth place out of twenty-eight riders in today’s session.

Jorge Lorenzo

Spanish rider Jorge Lorenzo claimed his first victory of the season on Sunday as he took the Fiat Yamaha across the line at the Japanese MotoGP ahead of his team-mate Valentino Rossi.

125cc

Andrea Iannone claimed his second win of the 2009 season for the Ongetta Team I.S.P.A. on Sunday on a rapidly drying track.

Many of the 125cc riders opted for full wet tyres to start the Twin Ring Motegi circuit giving them the advantage as the race began.

Britain’s Danny Webb led the pack from the second lap on the Degraaf Aprilia but as the track began to dry out he started to lose grip on his wet tyres.  With only 8 laps of the race left to run, Julian Simon on the Bancaja Aspar Team machine passed Webb, and the race was on for the riders on slick tyres as those riding on full wets began to drop off.

Iannone, who had qualified on pole position, was on the tail of Pol Espargaro on the Derbi Racing bike before closing in on Simon.

Simon finished in second place followed by Espargaro in third, Sandro Cortese on the Ajo Interwetten in fourth, Stefan Bradl on the Viesmann Kiefer Racing bike in fifth and Jonas Folger for the Ongetta team in sixth.

Bancaja Aspar Team rider Bradley Smith had a disappointing race finishing in tenth place after a near high-side as the race neared the end, causing him to smash the screen on his bike and suffer and injury to his face.

Scott Redding ended his race for the Blusens Aprilia with no points after retiring with an engine problem.  The rider complained of the throttle sticking causing the bike to continue revving under braking.

The Haojue Team was unable to take part in Sunday’s race after both their machines developed a technical problem, leaving Matthew Hoyle and Michael Ranseder watching from the sidelines.

Here are the results;

1 25 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Ongetta Team I.S.P.A. APRILIA 42′23.716 135.892
2 20 60 Julian SIMON SPA Bancaja Aspar Team 125cc APRILIA 42′25.062 135.820 1.346
3 16 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Derbi Racing Team DERBI 42′28.755 135.623 5.039
4 13 17 Stefan BRADL GER Viessmann Kiefer Racing APRILIA 42′30.620 135.524 6.904
5 11 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Red Bull KTM Motosport KTM 42′36.777 135.198 13.061
6 10 11 Sandro CORTESE GER Ajo Interwetten DERBI 42′38.557 135.104 14.841
7 9 6 Joan OLIVE SPA Derbi Racing Team DERBI 42′40.136 135.020 16.420
8 8 94 Jonas FOLGER GER Ongetta Team I.S.P.A. APRILIA 42′40.199 135.017 16.483
9 7 77 Dominique AEGERTER SWI Ajo Interwetten DERBI 42′51.216 134.439 27.500
10 6 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Bancaja Aspar Team 125cc APRILIA 42′54.075 134.289 30.359
11 5 99 Danny WEBB GBR Degraaf Grand Prix APRILIA 43′01.263 133.915 37.547
12 4 71 Tomoyoshi KOYAMA JPN Loncin Racing LONCIN 43′07.572 133.589 43.856
13 3 12 Esteve RABAT SPA Blusens Aprilia APRILIA 43′23.605 132.766 59.889
14 2 8 Lorenzo ZANETTI ITA Ongetta Team I.S.P.A. APRILIA 43′23.857 132.753 1′00.141
15 1 24 Simone CORSI ITA Jack & Jones Team APRILIA 43′26.317 132.628 1′02.601
16 16 Cameron BEAUBIER USA Red Bull KTM Motosport KTM 43′26.325 132.628 1′02.609
17 18 Nicolas TEROL SPA Jack & Jones Team APRILIA 43′33.583 132.259 1′09.867
18 35 Randy KRUMMENACHE SWI Degraaf Grand Prix APRILIA 43′33.599 132.259 1′09.883
19 33 Sergio GADEA SPA Bancaja Aspar Team 125cc APRILIA 43′38.765 131.998 1′15.049
20 73 Takaaki NAKAGAMI JPN Ongetta Team I.S.P.A. APRILIA 43′43.574 131.756 1′19.858
21 5 Alexis MASBOU FRA Loncin Racing LONCIN 44′07.129 130.583 1′43.413
22 7 Efren VAZQUEZ SPA Derbi Racing Team DERBI 44′16.626 130.116 1′52.910
23 69 Lukas SEMBERA CZE Matteoni Racing APRILIA 44′30.840 129.424 2′07.124
24 58 Yuuichi YANAGISAWA JPN 18 Grage Racing HONDA 44′31.118 129.410 2′07.402
25 87 Luca MARCONI ITA CBC Corse APRILIA 42′36.873 128.433 1 lap
26 10 Luca VITALI ITA CBC Corse APRILIA 42′36.927 128.430 1 lap
27 55 Hiroomi IWATA JPN Dydo Miu Racing HONDA 42′51.571 127.699 1 lap
28 59 Satoru KAMADA JPN Endurance & Osl HONDA 44′14.382 123.715 1 lap
29 57 Yuki OOGANE JPN Endurance & Okegawajuku HONDA 43′23.194 119.508 2 laps
Not Classified
56 Yuma YAHAGI JPN Okegawajuku & Endurance HONDA 25′49.120 122.727 9 laps
14 Johann ZARCO FRA WTR San Marino Team APRILIA 22′27.306 128.282 10 laps
45 Scott REDDING GBR Blusens Aprilia APRILIA 13′40.407 126.402 14 laps
32 Lorenzo SAVADORI ITA Fontana Racing APRILIA 4′37.688 124.482 18 laps

250cc

Alvaro Bautista on the Mapfre Aspar machine took the win in the 250cc class followed by Japanese rider Hiroshi Aoyama on the Scot Racing machine.

Bautista had started from the front row of the grid and battled with his team-mate Mike di Meglio and then Gabor Talmacsi on the Balaton Racing 250cc machine to stay at the front before Di Meglio crashed out.

The Scot Racing rider Aoyama was his next target and Bautista tailed him for ten tough laps before finally passing the Japanese rider with six laps remaining.

Bautista took the win followed by Aoyama and Mattai Pasini of the Team Toth Aprilia, who had a huge crash in Friday’s practice, to complete the podium.

Talmacsi finished in fourth place ahead of Alex Debon on the Aeropuerto-Costello Blusen machine and wild-card rider Shuhei Aoyama, the younger brother of Hiroshi, on the Harc-Pro Honda.

Marco Simoncelli on the Metis Gilera had qualified in pole position finished down in seventh place after suffering a front puncture during the race and had to return to the pits for a new tyre.

Here are the results,

1 25 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Mapfre Aspar Team APRILIA 44′06.488 150.207
2 20 4 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Scot Racing Team 250cc HONDA 44′12.377 149.874 5.889
3 16 75 Mattia PASINI ITA Team Toth Aprilia APRILIA 44′28.320 148.978 21.832
4 13 28 Gabor TALMACSI HUN Balatonring Team APRILIA 44′32.394 148.751 25.906
5 11 6 Alex DEBON SPA Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens APRILIA 44′37.273 148.480 30.785
6 10 73 Shuhei AOYAMA JPN Harc-Pro HONDA 44′40.276 148.314 33.788
7 9 52 Lukas PESEK CZE Auto Kelly – CP APRILIA 44′43.460 148.138 36.972
8 8 12 Thomas LUTHI SWI Emmi – Caffe Latte APRILIA 44′47.506 147.915 41.018
9 7 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing APRILIA 44′48.137 147.880 41.649
10 6 48 Shoya TOMIZAWA JPN CIP Moto – GP250 HONDA 44′59.351 147.266 52.863
11 5 40 Hector BARBERA SPA Pepe World Team APRILIA 45′07.376 146.829 1′00.888
12 4 35 Raffaele DE ROSA ITA Scot Racing Team 250cc HONDA 45′12.835 146.534 1′06.347
13 3 10 Imre TOTH HUN Team Toth Aprilia APRILIA 45′59.637 144.048 1′53.149
14 2 59 Kazuki WATANABE JPN Bardral Racing with SJ-R YAMAHA 44′08.992 143.541 1 lap
15 1 56 Vladimir LEONOV RUS Viessmann Kiefer Racing APRILIA 44′36.925 142.043 1 lap
16 8 Bastien CHESAUX SWI Racing Team Germany HONDA 44′41.786 141.785 1 lap
17 58 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA Metis Gilera GILERA 44′59.056 140.878 1 lap
18 77 Aitor RODRIGUEZ SPA Milar – Juegos Lucky APRILIA 45′22.675 139.656 1 lap
Not Classified
14 Ratthapark WILAIROT THA Thai Honda PTT SAG HONDA 35′00.695 148.096 5 laps
25 Alex BALDOLINI ITA WTR San Marino Team APRILIA 33′15.734 147.224 6 laps
55 Hector FAUBEL SPA Valencia CF – Honda SAG HONDA 11′47.466 146.581 17 laps
63 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Mapfre Aspar Team 250cc APRILIA 9′46.700 147.295 18 laps
7 Axel PONS SPA Pepe World Team APRILIA 6′12.705 139.120 20 laps
16 Jules CLUZEL FRA Matteoni Racing APRILIA 4′05.545 140.777 21 laps
15 Roberto LOCATELLI ITA Metis Gilera GILERA 4′05.665 140.708 21 laps

MotoGP

The qualifying session for the MotoGP on the Saturday had to be cancelled as heavy rain in the early afternoon led to a waterlogged circuit.  The grid positions for all three of the races were then decided on the Free practice positions.

Valentino Rossi was given pole position alongside Casey Stoner on the Ducati Marlboro and Jorge Lorenzo on the second Fiat Yamaha.

Rossi was in the lead by the first corner followed by the Rizla Suzuki of Chris Vermeulen as Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda went around the outside of Stoner to take third.

Lorenzo and Pedrosa were now battling for second place as Rossi struggled to put a gap between himself and his team-mate.  Both riders caught up with Rossi with 17 laps of the race still to run with Andrea Dovizioso on the second Repsol Honda close behind the trio.

Lorenzo tried to sneak past Rossi on the next lap before finally making it stick later on the same lap.  Stoner had meanwhile battled his way back to fifth place as Rossi and Pedrosa continued their own battle for second place.

Pedrosa and Rossi swapped places and paint at times in an impressive ride from both riders but Rossi finally took the second postion and held on to it.

James Toseland on the second Monster Tech3 Yamaha finished the race in ninth position and was pleased with the progress he had made.  Toseland battled with Vermeulen on the final lap of the race but managed to hold him back and keep the ninth place he’d fought for.

Nicky Hayden on the second Ducati Marlboro was taken out of the race on the fist lap by Yuki Takahasi on the Scot Racing team bike.  Hayden got a good start off the line and managed to gain a couple of places before the incident at turn 4, fortunately he suffered no serious injuries.

A disappointing weekend for the San Carlo Gresini Honda team as Alex de Angelis finished in thirteenth place and team-mate Toni Elias completed the race in fifteenth after dropping his bike after only a few laps as he went onto the dirty part of the track losing grip.

Here are the results;

1 25 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 43′47.238 157.886
2 20 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 43′48.542 157.808 1.304
3 16 3 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 43′51.001 157.661 3.763
4 13 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team DUCATI 43′52.929 157.545 5.691
5 11 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 43′56.445 157.335 9.207
6 10 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA Hayate Racing Team KAWASAKI 44′17.793 156.071 30.555
7 9 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 44′19.994 155.942 32.756
8 8 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Pramac Racing DUCATI 44′26.654 155.553 39.416
9 7 52 James TOSELAND GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 44′30.344 155.338 43.106
10 6 7 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 44′30.483 155.330 43.245
11 5 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP HONDA 44′32.072 155.237 44.834
12 4 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 44′33.778 155.138 46.540
13 3 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini HONDA 44′40.763 154.734 53.525
14 2 88 Niccolo CANEPA ITA Pramac Racing DUCATI 45′09.042 153.119 1′21.804
15 1 24 Toni ELIAS SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini HONDA 44′25.681 149.126 1 lap
Not Classified
59 Sete GIBERNAU SPA Grupo Francisco Hernando DUCATI 41′40.115 117.523 7 laps

Kawasaki ZX-RR 2008

Marco Melandri has decided to ride for the Hayate Kawasaki MotoGP team in 2009 after finally having confidence in the factory ZX-RR.

Melandri originally refused to commit to the Hayate team until the bike was on pace with his rival riders, however, he now feels that the problem is mainly due to a rear traction problem which can be fixed and is pleased with improvements on other issues.

Melandri said;

“… we have just one problem.  The front end is good, the engine is a lot better than I had expected power-wise, but especially with the power curve during the initial phase of opening the throttle.

We have absolutely no traction (at the rear end).  It’s a problem that emerged in Jaque’s first test in Australia.  They’ve made a modification, but it doesn’t solve the problem.

We’ll get some new material at Jerez and I hope that will solve the situation.  Also because I think that beyond that, the racing department in Japan will only do revisions more or less and that’s already a good thing because only they can put their hands on that engine.

Let’s start off the season and we’ll see.  I want to solve our problem, then the midfield runners aren’t far off.”

Melandri was to ride alongside John Hopkins for the Kawasaki Team for the 2009 season until it was announced that they were suspending their factory supported MotoGP activities due to the economic crisis in January of this year.

Melandri is aware that it is better to be on the grid at the start of the 2009 season that sitting out for a year and added,

“I’m a rider with a suitcase, and to stand still for one year would be really bad.”