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 took the chequered flag at his home circuit of the Australian Grand Prix while Jorge Lorenzo crashed-out on the first lap.

125CC

Julián Simon was crowned the 2009 champion on Sunday for the Bancaja Aspar team after winning the 125cc race on the final lap at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia.

Aprilia rider Simon was in eighth place at the end of the first lap while Cameron Beaubier on the Red Bull KTM, crashed out.  The front runners made-up of Bradley Smith, Simon, Sandro Cortese, Pol Espargaro, Simone Corsi and Nico Terol, were fighting each other for the podium places, but with four laps of the race remaining the Aspar team riders began to created a gap.

Simon needed to finish the race in front of both Smith and Terol to claim the title which he did on the very last lap at the MG corner.  The two Bancaja Aspar riders had swapped the front position during the race but Smith was forced wide on the final lap as Simon squeezed through up the inside to take the win.

British rider Bradley Smith took the second step of the podium with Sandro Cortese in third for the Ajo Interwetten team.  In fourth place was Derbi rider Pol Espargaro followed by Simone Corsi for Fontana Racing after an earlier coming together with Espargaro nearly saw the pair of them out of the race.

Jack & Jones team rider Nicolas Terol took sixth place ahead of Efren Vazquez on the second Derbi in seventh and Andrea Iannone on the Ongetta team I.S.P.A. machine.  Marc Marquez on the Red Bull KTM took ninth position followed by Sergio Gadea for the Bancaja Aspar team to complete the top ten riders.

Here are the results;

250CC

Marco Simoncelli took his sixth victory of the season in the 250cc series of the MotoGP after taking to the front early on in the race for the Metis Gilera team.

The race was red-flagged after Roberto Locatelli on his Metis Gilera crashed-out heavily on lap 18 at MG corner and was left sprawled across the track, leaving no option but to stop the race.  The results were decided on the standings at the end of the previous lap.  Locatelli was taken to the Clinica Mobile where it is believed he has received no serious injuries but is very badly bruised.

Pepe World team rider Hector Barbera claimed the second position followed by Raffaele de Rosa on the Scot Racing team bike in third.  Alvaro Bautista had been running in second place on the Mapfre Aspar machine but an early crash saw the Spanish rider rejoin the circuit and work his way back up the grid to tenth but he is now out of the championship contention.

Jules Cluzel finished in fourth place for the Matteoni Racing team despite crashing out on the same lap as Locatelli ahead of Mike di Meglio in fifth on the second Mapfre Aspar bike and Karel Abraham on the Cardion AB Motoracing machine in sixth.

Championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama finished in seventh place on the Scot Racing bike followed by Honda SAG rider Hector Faubel in eighth, Rattahpark Wilairot in ninth on the Thai Honda PTT SAG bike and Bautista in tenth.  Aoyama’s lead has now been reduced to just 12 points from Simoncelli.

Here are the results;

MotoGP

Marlboro Ducati rider Casey Stoner took the victory at his home circuit for the third consecutive year at Phillip Island ahead of Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi.

It was Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda that took the lead at the start of the race but was unable to hold-off pole sitter Stoner for long, and once past he dominated the Australian Grand Prix as he stayed ahead of a tailing Rossi.

Spanish rider and team-mate of Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, crashed out on lap 1 of the race after running into the back of Nicky Hayden on the second Marlboro Ducati.  While Hayden ran wide and off track he was able to return to the race and finished in fifteenth but Lorenzo was out as he cartwheeled through the gravel.

Pedrosa finished the race in third place for the Repsol Honda team, over 20-seconds behind Stoner followed by Honda rider Alex de Angelis in fourth.  Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards took fifth place ahead of second Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso in sixth.  In seventh place was Marco Melandri for the Hayate team followed by Randy de Puniet in eighth, Mika Kallio on the Pramac Racing bike in ninth and Toni Elias on the San Carlo Honda Gresini in tenth.

The Rizla Suzuki rider Loris Capirossi was demoted to twelfth place after being moved to the back of the grid due to an engine change.

Here are the results;

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.

Casey Stoner

Casey Stoner on the Ducati Marlboro took the victory at Philip Island on Sunday in front of his home crowd after dominating the race from the start.

Stoner hadn’t won a race since the Sachsenring and has since been plagued with injury problems.  He is suffering from an old injury that occurred five years ago and has said that if he doesn’t have further surgery it could be the end of his career despite the risk of the surgery itself.

Nicky Hayden on the Repsol Honda pressured Stoner for the first ten laps of the race until a gap began to emerge.

Hayden’s team-mate, Dani Pedrosa, crashed out at turn two on the first lap of the Australian Grand Prix and couldn’t return to the track.  Pedrosa had qualified in sixth position but after taking third off the line at the start of the race he ran wide as his tyres started to slide.

Hayden looked sure to be on the podium in second place until Valentino Rossi on the Fiat Yamaha who had started in twelfth position after his crash in qualifying started to claw his way to the front.

By lap four Rossi had moved up into fifth place and was in fourth by lap six before he started an ongoing battle with James Toseland on the Yamaha Tech 3.

The pair stuck together swapping the lead while behind another battle was going on with Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso and Shinya Nikano for fourth place.  On lap thirteen Rossi kept the lead and started to track down Hayden.

Here are the results;

Pos  Rider             Bike           Time
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  40:56.643
 2.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)  +   6.504
 3.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  +   7.205
 4.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)  +  11.500
 5.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)  +  11.914
 6.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)  +  12.243
 7.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  +  12.780
 8.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  +  25.920
 9.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)  +  26.037
10.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)  +  26.799
11.  Toni Elias        Ducati    (B)  +  27.027
12.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  +  47.808
13.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  (B)  +  48.333
14.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)  +  48.899
15.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  +  48.935
16.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)  +1:11.767

Retirements:

     Rider             Bike           Laps
     Dani Pedrosa      Honda     (B)    0
     Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)    0

Casey Stoner

The Marlboro Ducati rider Casey Stoner is on pole position for tomorrows Australian MotoGP at Philip Island while this years Champion Valentino Rossi is in twelfth place after crashing out during the session.

The Australian set a time of 1:28.665 creating a new track record followed by Jorge Lorenzo on the Fiat Yamaha in second place only a tenth-of-a-second behind Stoner.

Nicky Hayden on the Honda finished in third position ahead of Randy de Puniet and Tech 3 Yamaha rider James Toseland.

Spanish rider Dani Pedrosa will start in sixth on the Repsol Honda followed by Yamaha rider Colin Edwards and Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso.

Shinya Nikano on the Honda is in ninth ahead of the Honda of Alex de Angelis who rounds off the top ten qualifying riders.

Rossi crashed out at while exiting the Southern Loop with only fifteen minutes of the session remaining, he was unhurt and returned to the pits before rejoining the track.

Here are the results;

Pos  Rider             Bike           Time
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  1:28.665
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)  1:28.734  + 0.069
 3.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  1:28.756  + 0.091
 4.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)  1:28.808  + 0.143
 5.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)  1:29.031  + 0.366
 6.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     (B)  1:29.277  + 0.612
 7.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  1:29.513  + 0.848
 8.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  1:29.558  + 0.893
 9.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)  1:29.710  + 1.045
10.  Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)  1:29.925  + 1.260
11.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)  1:29.942  + 1.277
12.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)  1:30.014  + 1.349
13.  Toni Elias        Ducati    (B)  1:30.202  + 1.537
14.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)  1:30.297  + 1.632
15.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  1:30.545  + 1.880
16.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  (B)  1:31.157  + 2.492
17.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)  1:31.939  + 3.274
18.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  1:31.995  + 3.330