The race due to take place at the Motegi circuit has now been put back until October after it was deemed that the teams and riders would have great difficulty in transporting the equipment and the personnel to the circuit.

The GP has now been scheduled for the 3 October, before the Sepang Grand Prix in Malaysia and the Phillip Island round in Australia.

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

Pramac Ducati 2009

The Pramac Racing rider Niccolo Canepa will miss the final race of the season at Valencia in Spain this weekend as he is still recovering from the injuries he received at the Australian MotoGP.

The Italian rider crashed at turn 1 of the Friday practice session in Australia and suffered burns as he slid across the track, wearing away his leathers.  His arm was badly burnt and he underwent tests to see if he had also suffered nerve damage as the injury was down to the bone.  After being given the all clear he was then given a skin-graft operation but doctors have advised the rider that the arm still needs to be rested to prevent the injury from re-opening.

Having previously missed the Malaysian round due to the skin graft, Canepa was hoping to be back on board for the last race of the season but will now be replaced, once again, by Aleix Espargaro.

Canepa said;

“I am very sad as I will not be able to step on track this weekend at Valencia. I really cared about competing in this last Grand Prix of the season to end it with a good result. I want to thank the Pramac Racing Team, Paolo Campinoti and Ducati Corse for this fantastic experience I have lived.  Now I will have to think about getting back at the best physical conditions and go back on track whichever will be my next sport adventure.”

Casey Stoner

Casey Stoner won a very wet Sepang MotoGP race today for the Marlboro Ducati team while Valentino Rossi became the World Champion for the ninth time after finishing in third place.

125CC

The 2009 125CC World Champion Julian Simon took the victory today at the Malaysian  Grand Prix after an exciting battle with Britain’s Bradley Smith.

Simon moved into the lead on the second lap of the race and became to create a gap by lap 5 followed by his team-mate Smith. The two Bancaja Aspar riders were followed by Pol Espargaro but had created an advantage of 4-seconds by the half-way mark of the race.

Bradley Smith crashed out during the qualifying session on Saturday and suffered a broken fifth metatarsal in his right foot but soldiered on to take second at the Sepang circuit.  He managed to pass Simon on lap 13 but lost the lead when Smith made a mistake with only three laps of the race remaining.

Danny Webb on the Degraaf machine crashed out at the first hairpin with a highside, taking out the Viessmann Kiefer rider Stefan Bradl.  Marc Marquez suffered a mechanical problem on the Red Bull KTM forcing him to retire from the race while Efren Vazquez, Jonas Folgar and  Simone Corsi also crashed out during the race.

Here are the results;

250CC

Hiroshi Aoyama took the chequered flag for the 250cc MotoGP race after a fantastic battle with Marco Simoncelli and now leads the championship by 21 points.

Jules Cluzel led at the beginning of the race while Simoncelli fought his way through the front runners from eighth on the grid before crashing out on lap 10.

Simoncelli forced the Japanese rider off-line on lap 8 as he cut across the circuit in front of him pushing him onto the kerb.  Aoyama momentarily lost his second place to Cluzel but had regained the position before the end of the lap before attempting the same pass again on lap 11.  The two riders swapped positions again before Aoyama finally made the move stick on lap 13.

Aoyama had built up a one-second lead with five laps of the race remaining and finished the race with a 6.397 advantage as he crossed the finish line.

Simoncelli’s second place was threatened as they headed for the chequered flag by Hector Barbera, the two riders crossed the line side by side, ending with a photo finish which was given to Barbera who had set a faster lap earlier in the race, leaving Simoncelli to take the third step of the podium.

Mike di Meglio low-sided off his machine on lap 5 with Alvaro Bautista also losing his bike on the following lap.

Here are the results;

MotoGP

The Marlboro Ducati rider Casey Stoner took the victory at the Sepang circuit after dominating a rain-soaked race ahead of the Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa and Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi in third.  Rossi claimed the 2009 World Championship title for the ninth time despite only finishing the race in third position.

As the rain began to pour 25-minutes before the race was due to begin at the Malaysian track it caused a delayed start. Jorge Lorenzo was forced to start from the back of the grid after he failed to arrive on the grid on time after his Fiat Yamaha refused to start in the pit garage forcing the team to prepare his spare bike.

The race got underway despite the rain still falling with Pedrosa gaining the advantage of Rossi into turn one forcing the Italian to fall back to the middle of the riders.

Stoner passed Pedrosa to take the lead before the end of the opening lap with the second Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso sitting in third and within 4 laps Stoner had created a gap of six-seconds.

Rossi had moved into eighth place behind Lorenzo before the Spaniard passed Loris Capirossi followed by his team-mate Rossi, but Nicky Hayden on the second Ducati Marlboro proved a much harder rider to pass, taking Lorenzo five attempts before he finally made the move stick.

On lap 8, Rossi managed to get past his team-mate and by the halfway mark the track and started to show dry lines, as Rossi pulled away from Lorenzo.

Andrea Dovizioso crashed out on lap 14 allowing Rossi to claim the final step of the podium, and a position higher than he needed to claim the championship title.   Randy de Puniet suffered a huge high-side and fortunately walked away without injury.

Rossi celebrated his win with a special helmet and t-shirt stating ‘old hens make the best broth’ and including the number 9 and was also presented with a live hen donning it’s own celebration t-shirt by his fan club.

The final round of  2009 takes place at the Valencia circuit on November 6-8, with Stoner looking to take third in the championship behind Pedrosa.

Here are the results;

Bradley Smith

The British MotoGP 125cc rider Bradley Smith beat his Bancaja Aspar team-mate Julián Simon and fellow riders Sandro Cortese, Raffaele de Rosa and Efren Vazquez, in a karting event at Sepang today.

Other participants in the challenge were Alex Creville, the 500cc World champion, and MotoGP riders Dani Pedrosa, Alex de Angelis, Mika Kallio and Marco Melandri.

Another event took place ahead of this weekends Malaysian Grand Prix when other riders took a trip to the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary.

Riders Loris Capirossi, Hiroshi Aoyama, Héctor Barbera and Nico Terol, rode, fed and interacted with the elephants, although Terol was the only rider brave enough to help with their bath time routine.

Meanwhile the San Carlo Honda Gresini team stopped off in Bangkok this week to take part in the Asian Castrol Mechanic Contest, where only Thai mechanics can enter.

Competitors are given a practical test where Honda scooters have been given to them and they must solve the problem to get the machine running.  The first mechanic to fix the problem wins a cash prize of $1000 and also wins the opportunity the weekend alongside the San Carlo Honda Gresini team in the pit garage.

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.

Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi on the Fiat Yamaha took his ninth win of the season yesterday in the 40 degree Malaysian heat at the Sepang circuit.

Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda took the lead at the start of the race but by lap two Rossi was on his tail and claimed his place at the front on lap eleven.

There was an exciting battle going on for third position between Andrea Dovizioso for the JiR Scot Team, Nicky Hayden on the second Repsol Honda, Casey Stoner on the Marlboro Ducati and Shinya Nikano on the San Carlo Honda.

Stoner was struggling to stay with the pace and on lap sixteen he was passed by Nikano and by lap eighteen, Hayden had passed Dovizioso, who immediately took it back.  The pair did the routine one more time until Dovizioso made it stick to claim his first MotoGP podium in third place.

Hayden finished in fourth place ahead of Nikano and Stoner.  Loris Capirossi on the Rizla Suzuki finished in seventh place followed by Colin Edwards on the Yamaha Tech 3 in eighth place.

James Toseland the Yamaha Tech 3 rider had a coming together with Anthony West on the Kawasaki at the hairpin on lap one, moving him down into sixteenth position, he fought to regain some places but he crashed out on lap three and his race was over.

Jorge Lorenzo on the second Fiat Yamaha retired from the race after coming off his machine on lap twelve at the first corner.  He was uninjured but after returning to the track he went into the pits and his race was over.

Here are the results;

Pos  Rider             Bike          Time
 1.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha   (B)  43:06.007
 2.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda    (B)  +   4.008
 3.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda    (M)  +   8.536
 4.  Nicky Hayden      Honda    (M)  +   8.858
 5.  Shinya Nakano     Honda    (B)  +  10.583
 6.  Casey Stoner      Ducati   (B)  +  13.640
 7.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki   (B)  +  15.936
 8.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha   (M)  +  18.802
 9.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki   (B)  +  23.174
10.  Randy de Puniet   Honda    (M)  +  25.516
11.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki (B)  +  27.609
12.  Anthony West      Kawasaki (B)  +  41.399
13.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati   (B)  +  45.617
14.  Alex de Angelis   Honda    (B)  +  49.003
15.  Toni Elias        Ducati   (B)  +  59.139
16.  Marco Melandri    Ducati   (B)  +1:03.328
17.  Nobuatsu Aoki     Suzuki   (B)  +1:48.363

Not classified:

     Rider             Bike          Laps
     Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha   (M)  12
     James Toseland    Yamaha   (M)   2

Dani Pedrosa

Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda claimed pole position for tomorrows Malaysian Grand Prix on a drying track holding off the World Champion, Valentino Rossi on the Fiat Yamaha.

He took his place at the front after a flying lap started with only ten seconds of the session left to run and beating Rossi’s time by four-tenths of a second.

Jorge Lorenzo on the second Fiat Yamaha qualified in third place followed by Nicky Hayden on the second Repsol Honda and Colin Edwards on the Yamaha Tech 3.

Andrea Dovizioso for the JiR Scot team will start from sixth place ahead of Casey Stoner on the Marlboro Ducati and Loris Capirossi on the Rizla Suzuki.

Randy de Puniet on the LCR Honda finished in ninth place followed by John Hopkins on the Kawasaki to complete the top ten riders.

Here are the results;

Pos  Rider             Bike           Time
 1.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     (B)  2:01.548
 2.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)  2:01.957  + 0.409
 3.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)  2:02.171  + 0.623
 4.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  2:02.192  + 0.644
 5.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  2:02.245  + 0.697
 6.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  2:02.836  + 1.288
 7.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  2:02.953  + 1.405
 8.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)  2:03.078  + 1.530
 9.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)  2:03.110  + 1.562
10.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  (B)  2:03.184  + 1.636
11.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  2:03.271  + 1.723
12.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)  2:03.282  + 1.734
13.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  2:02.392  + 1.844
14.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)  2:03.835  + 2.287
15.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)  2:04.001  + 2.453
16.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)  2:04.378  + 2.830
17.  Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)  2:04.679  + 3.131
18.  Nobuatsu Aoki     Suzuki    (B)  2:04.835  + 3.287
19.  Toni Elias        Ducati    (B)  2:05.120  + 3.572