John Hopkins

This weekend the MotoGP teams and riders head for Misano for the San Marino Grand Prix.

Nicky Hayden will be returning to his Repsol Honda after missing the last round at Brno when he suffered a cracked heal while participating in the X Games on the 1st August.

At the moment, he is still on crutches and said that he is hoping to have something moulded to put inside his boot to enable him to race.

Loris Capirossi on the Rizla Suzuki will be hoping for a podium finish this weekend as he celebrates his record breaking achievement for the most Grand Prix appearances on Sunday.  His team-mate, Chris Vermeulen, is also hoping for a podium finish after coming second in 2007.

Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda is hoping his luck will change this coming weekend after scoring only one point in his last three outings.  In last year’s race, Pedrosa was knocked off his bike on the first corner.

John Hopkins on the Kawasaki, returned to racing at the last round in Brno where he qualified on the front row after missing the previous three races due to injuries.

Hopkins said,

“I really enjoy the Misano circuit, I managed to get on the podium there last year so it’s certainly a track I like.  I’ve spent the last week in Miami resting and training just to give the injuries that I am still carrying the best possible time to recuperate, so I’m feeling stronger and ready to achieve the results we are more than capable of.”

His team-mate Anthony West, scored his career’s best position at Brno after finishing in sixth place and making him more determined to get to the front of the grid.

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.

Leguna Seca

After a four-week break, the team and riders headed to the Czech Republic for this weekend’s round in Brno where Casey Stoner has apparently apologised to Valentino Rossi for the remarks he made after the last round of the Championship at Leguna Seca.

Rossi now has a 25-point lead on Stoner, despite Stoner winning the previous three races, but this morning during the pre-event press conference, the pair shook hands.

Stoner blasted the riding of Rossi at the US round leading too much criticism for the Ducati rider, however, Stoner admitted that on reflection he had overreacted.

The two riders will no doubt go head to head again at Brno for round 12 although it has not always been the best race for Rossi.

Rossi said,

“I had a bad race here last year but some good results here in the past.  It is a track that I like and where I won my first Grand Prix in 1996.  I am very curious to try it out on Bridgestone tyres and to understand the grip and the potential of the new surface.”

The surface at the Brno circuit has recently been resurfaced so it will be a contest between Bridgestone and Michelin to see who has produced the best compound.

In the past two years, it has been Bridgestone-shod riders that have been at the front, setting the fastest laps, pole-positions and victories, however, with a new surface to contend with it means that both tyre manufacturers have had only the two days of testing back in June to make their decisions.

Bridgestone said that although the test riders struggled for grip, the new smooth surface meant that they could still ride at the same speeds,

Michelin are expecting the new surface to be hard on their front tyre but less so on their rear with the times being even quicker.

It should be an interesting race, with Rossi and Stoner both striving for those important points in a Championship which still has seven races to go.  Tyre decision is going to be a major factor for the teams and riders at this weekends race.

Nicky Hayden

Nicky Hayden, is likely to miss out on this weekend’s Czech Republic Moto GP, after injuring his foot at the recent X Games event in Los Angeles.

Hayden landed badly whilst performing a jump in a Supermoto event, and injured the heel of his right foot, which he has been advised to rest until the San Marino GP at the end of the month.

Hayden said,

“I certainly feel bad about it for my team and I apologise.  I had their permission to do the Supermoto thing.  I just wanted to do some riding during the break, have some fun, and I thought that maybe It’d give me a little spark for the rest of the season, but it backfired on me.”

It is the second race in concession that the Honda team have been unable to produce a full line-up, after Dani Pedrosa withdrew from the US Grand Prix when his injuries made it too uncomfortable for him to ride.

Pedrosa, is hoping to rejoin the action at the Czech Republic after resting and rehabilitating his finger and wrist injuries.

Pedrosa is now 41 points behind the championship leader, Valentino Rossi, but he is determined to get back to the top.

Pedrosa said,

“I hope I can have a good race at Brno to start the second part of the championship in the best possible way. It’s the kind of circuit that demands a gentle, fine riding style, you don’t need to be aggressive when taking the corners.  It has just been resurfaced, so we will have to wait and see what the grip is like.  The atmosphere is always great with a big enthusiastic crowd on race day. “

Donington Park

The British round of the MotoGP at Donington Park for 2009, will take place a month earlier than it did this year on the 24/25/26 July.

Donington Park’s Chief Executive, Simon Gillett said,

“It’s a prime time of year to hold Britain’s premier motorcycle race in the UK, and we are delighted to be able to have the date announced so far in advance, that the record crowd that attended this year’s event can plan their arrangements accordingly.

We will continue to provide the best possible programme of entertainment for the event, on and off the track.”

Donington Park’s current contract to stage the race runs until 2009 but they are currently in negotiations for the continuation into the next decade.

Nicky Hayden

Nicky Hayden made a guest appearance this weekend, riding a Honda as part of the Supermoto event in the 14th X Games in Los Angeles.

As Hayden went back in time to his dirt-track days, he was competing against twenty-two other riders.  In the Friday practice session, the American came in fifteenth.

Hayden decided to take no further part in the weekends games because of the risk of injury and withdrew himself and his Troy Lee Honda from the event.

The MotoGP teams and riders will be at the Czech Republic for the next round of the Championship on the August 12.

Jorge Lorenzo the Fiat Yamaha rider has admitted to having a fear of riding now and he is desperate to regain the confidence he had at the beginning of the season.

He has said that he is not the same rider he was at the start of 2008, and that he is struggling to ride at the limit following his succession of crashes and injuries.

He said in an interview,

“Circumstances have changed.  Unfortunately I’ve had too many consecutive crashes and these have caused me to be afraid of the bike, I’m not the same person I was at the beginning of the season.

At this competitive level, if you are a bit afraid of the bike and lose just a little bit of confidence, then you are finished.  Normally I’m not afraid of crashing and getting injured but now I’m in crisis and I working to getting rid of this fear”.

Sete Gibernau completed a three day test yesterday on the Ducati Desmosedici at the Mugello circuit, a day ahead of schedule.

Gibernau said,

“I wish to thank Ducati again for the chance to ride the MotoGP bike once more.  We will see together whether and how there will be the chance to continue our cooperation.”

Gibernau admitted previously to “several offers on the table”

This weekend is the Rizla Suzuki Racing day at Assen with the riders Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen putting in two lots of five laps each of the circuit in front of their fans.

The Rizla Racing day is supported by Suzuki and is held every August at the Assen TT circuit, which not only features the MotoGP bikes but also Karts, super-cars as well as other motorcycles, plus a round of the ATS Formel-3-cup.

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