Buzzin MotoGP

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

Valentino Rossi will go in to this weekends Polini Malaysian Moto GP under absolutely no pressure, having secured the World Championship title at the Australian Grand Prix. The six time world champion is expected to be back to full fitness having suffered throughout the Australian race with neck muscle pain and a throbbing headache.

The Malaysian Sepang circuit is amongst Rossi’s favourite tracks and indeed he has won this round of the calendar on four previous occassions. But nothing can be taken for granted and with just two races of the season to go the top riders will be hopeful of gaining a place or two in the runners up positions for the title.

Casey Stoner will be looking to make sure of the runners up spot in the title contest, he will go into this race 36 points clear of his only rival Dani Pedrosa. Stoner who won in Australia, was also last years winner at the Sepang circuit and will probably start the race as favourite.

Dani Pedrosa will be keen to close the gap on Stoner, but will be careful as he is sure to come under attack from fourth place title contender and fellow spaniard, Jorge Lorenzo, who will be looking to trade places.

Whether Rossi’s young team mate Jorge Lorenzo can wrestle third place from Dani Pedrosa remains to be seen, both riders have suffered awful injuries throughout the season and are still finding their confidence levels back on the track. One thing for sure is that both of these riders have lit up the Moto GP calendar, both are thrilling to watch and will surely have their chance of becoming World Champion at some time soon.

It is almost certain that Lorenzo will be named Rookie Of The Year, the award won by Pedrosa last season.

It is a great time for Moto GP with the current crop of riders, including three former world champions and at least two pretenders to the throne. In fact the Australian Moto GP results showed the three former world champs Casey Stoner, Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden take the podium positions, quite a rarity it seems.

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

Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi took the victory yesterday at the Japanese Grand Prix and also claimed his sixth MotoGP World Championship title.

The Fiat Yamaha rider only needed a third place to regain the title for the first time since 2005 but took the lead from lap fourteen to finish 1.943 seconds ahead of Casey Stoner on the Ducati Marlboro.

Rossi was slow off the line and Stoner took the lead after shooting ahead of pole sitter and team-mate of Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo.

Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda followed Stoner in second with his team-mate Nicky Hayden slotting into third ahead of Lorenzo.

Rossi soon passed Lorenzo to claim third place and set about hunting down the front two riders.  He passed Pedrosa on lap ten before taking the lead four lap later.

Of course, Rossi could not leave the track without one of his awaited antics and did not let his fans down as he stopped at a desk set up on the track with a friend acting as a lawyer.  He produced a helmet with the number 8 as well as him and all the team wearing T-shirts with ‘Sorry for the delay’ written on in Italian.  His lawyer then had Rossi sign the helmet and it was given a stamp, the helmet was later signed by everyone in Rossi’s garage before going to the museum set up in Rossi’s home town.

Rossi dedicated his championship to the late Norick Abe who was killed in a road accident last year and who was a hero of Rossi’s.

Here are the results;

Pos  Rider             Bike            Time
 1.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)   43:09.599
 2.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)   +   1.943
 3.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     (B)   +   4.866
 4.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)   +   6.165
 5.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)   +  24.593
 6.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)   +  25.685
 7.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)   +  25.918
 8.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)   +  26.003
 9.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)   +  26.219
10.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  (B)   +  37.131
11.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)   +  37.574
12.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)   +  38.020
13.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)   +  39.768
14.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)   +  45.846
15.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)   +  55.748
16.  Toni Elias        Ducati    (B)   +  59.320
17.  Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)   +1:12.398

Retirements:

     Rider             Bike           Laps
     Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  16
     Kousuke Akiyoshi  Suzuki    (B)  0