Buzzin MotoGP

This weekend the Moto GP teams are in Spain for the Grand Prix of Catalunya and Dani Pedrosa set the fastest time in the practice today on the Repsol Honda at his home track.

It was a practice session full of incidents after heavy rain on Thursday had left the track slippery seeing many riders coming off their bikes, and even Pedrosa was caught out in the final minutes.

Pedrosa had already set his fastest lap when on turn five he hit a bump in the track and lost the front end. He was able to rejoin the session and continued without any obvious injuries.

Jorge Lorenzo, on the other hand was not so lucky, as he crashed out at thirteenth turn and landed heavily bruising his leg and hurting a finger. He was taken to hospital for precautionary measures as he also banged his head, but is expected to be fine for qualifying tomorrow.

Randy de Puniet crashed twice today but was lucky not to have been hurt in either of the incidents.

Loris Capirossi was the second fastest man on the track for the Rizla Suzuki team ahead of Valentino Rossi on the Fiat Yamaha.

Rossi will be wearing special leathers this weekend featuring the full Italian football kit including pink legs and arms, in support of the Euro 2008 which starts tomorrow.

Casey Stoner was knocked down to fourth place on the Ducati by Rossi and all the top four riders were all within a tenth-of-a-second of each other.

John Hopkins was another casualty today after he too crashed spectacularly on the Kawasaki only moments after Lorenzo went off, but apart from a few cuts and bruises he wasn’t badly hurt.

Alex de Angelis was an impressive fifth today continuing his form from Mugello on the San Carlo Honda followed by Chris Vermeulen on the second Rizla Suzuki.

Shinya Nakano was in seventh on the second San Carlo Honda ahead of James Toseland on the Tech3 Yamaha with Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards completing the top ten riders.

Here are the times;

Pos Rider                Bike          Time         Gap
 1. Dani Pedrosa         Honda         1:43.017
 2. Loris Capirossi      Suzuki        1:43.023  +0.006
 3. Valentino Rossi      Yamaha        1:43.090  +0.073
 4. Casey Stoner         Ducati        1:43.099  +0.082
 5. Alex de Angelis      Honda         1:43.233  +0.216
 6. Chris Vermeulen      Suzuki        1:43.368  +0.351
 7. Shinya Nakano        Honda         1:43.442  +0.425
 8. James Toseland       Yamaha        1:43.479  +0.462
 9. Nicky Hayden         Honda         1:43.614  +0.597
10. Colin Edwards        Yamaha        1:43.668  +0.651
11. Andrea Dovizioso     Honda         1:43.707  +0.690
12. Randy de Puniet      Honda         1:43.742  +0.725
13. Jorge Lorenzo        Yamaha        1:44.001  +0.984
14. John Hopkins         Kawasaki      1:44.043  +1.026
15. Toni Elias           Ducati        1:44.610  +1.593
16. Sylvain Guintoli     Ducati        1:44.678  +1.661
17. Marco Melandri       Ducati        1:44.706  +1.689
18. Anthony West         Kawasaki      1:44.865  +1.848

250cc

Alvaro Bautista was the fastest man on the track today in the 250’s after his disappointing finish at the last round of the Moto GP.

Marco Simoncelli, the winner of the last race was in second place followed by Hector Barbera in third and Mattia Pasini in fourth.

Hiroshi Aoyama finished in fifth place with Alex Debon in sixth and Mika Kallio in sixth.

Here are the results;

Pos Rider                 Bike       Time         Gap
 1. Alvaro Bautista       Aprilia    1:46.547
 2. Marco Simoncelli      Gilera     1:46.755  +0.208
 3. Hector Barbera        Aprilia    1:46.764  +0.217
 4. Mattia Pasini         Aprilia    1:46.784  +0.237
 5. Hiroshi Aoyama        KTM        1:46.856  +0.309
 6. Alex Debon            Aprilia    1:46.922  +0.375
 7. Mika Kallio           KTM        1:47.220  +0.673
 8. Yuki Takahashi        Honda      1:47.292  +0.745
 9. Hector Faubel         Aprilia    1:47.346  +0.799
10. Aleix Espargaro       Aprilia    1:47.422  +0.875
11. Ratthapark Wilairot   Honda      1:47.510  +0.963
12. Roberto Locatelli     Gilera     1:47.584  +1.037
13. Julian Simon          KTM        1:47.631  +1.084
14. Lukas Pesek           Aprilia    1:47.666  +1.119
15. Thomas Luthi          Aprilia    1:47.700  +1.153
16. Manuel Poggiali       Gilera     1:47.874  +1.327
17. Fabrizio Lai          Gilera     1:48.100  +1.553
18. Karel Abraham         Aprilia    1:48.568  +2.021
19. Alex Baldolini        Aprilia    1:49.272  +2.725
20. Eugene Laverty        Aprilia    1:49.392  +2.845
21. Russell Gomez         Aprilia    1:49.618  +3.071
22. Imre Toth             Aprilia    1:49.981  +3.434
23. Doni Tata Pradita     Yamaha     1:50.450  +3.903
24. Daniel Arcas          Honda      1:50.845  +4.298

125cc

Pol Espargaro has taken the provisional pole position today on the Belson Derbi ahead of the world championship leader Mike di Meglio.

Gabor Talmacsi, the current World Champion was in third place followed by Sergio Gadea his Aspar Aprilia team-mate to complete the front row of the grid.

Simon Corsi, who is on equal points with di Meglio, was way down the field in thirteenth place while Esteve Rabat was carried off the track after he crashed heavily on the KTM.

Here are the results;

Pos Rider                  Bike           Time         Gap
 1. Pol Espargaro          Derbi          1:51.103
 2. Mike Di Meglio         Derbi          1:51.311  +0.208
 3. Gabor Talmacsi         Aprilia        1:51.436  +0.333
 4. Sergio Gadea           Aprilia        1:51.442  +0.339
 5. Raffaele De Rosa       KTM            1:51.721  +0.618
 6. Steve Bonsey           Aprilia        1:51.932  +0.829
 7. Dominique Agerter      Derbi          1:51.976  +0.873
 8. Bradley Smith          Aprilia        1:51.988  +0.885
 9. Sandro Cortese         Aprilia        1:52.111  +1.008
10. Scott Redding          Aprilia        1:52.227  +1.124
11. Stefan Bradl           Aprilia        1:52.232  +1.129
12. Daniel Webb            Aprilia        1:52.254  +1.151
13. Simone Corsi           Aprilia        1:52.370  +1.267
14. Pablo Nieto            KTM            1:52.416  +1.313
15. Joan Olive             Derbi          1:52.434  +1.331
16. Nicolas Terol          Aprilia        1:52.516  +1.413
17. Esteve Rabat           KTM            1:52.752  +1.649
18. Tomoyoshi Koyama       KTM            1:52.895  +1.792
19. Michael Ranseder       Aprilia        1:53.102  +1.999
20. Efren Vazquez          Aprilia        1:53.109  +2.006
21. Pere Tutusaus          Aprilia        1:53.190  +2.087
22. Andrea Iannone         Aprilia        1:53.213  +2.110
23. Takaaki Nakagami       Aprilia        1:53.394  +2.291
24. Alexis Masbou          Loncin         1:53.420  +2.317
25. Marc Marquez           KTM            1:53.777  +2.674
26. Lorenzo Zanetti        KTM            1:53.958  +2.855
27. Robin Lasser           Aprilia        1:54.008  +2.905
28. Stefano Bianco         Aprilia        1:54.028  +2.925
29. Hugo van den Berg      Aprilia        1:54.127  +3.024
30. Randy Krummenacher     KTM            1:54.216  +3.113
31. Ruben Lacalendola      Aprilia        1:54.458  +3.355
32. Ricard Cardus          Derbi          1:54.505  +3.402
33. Axel Pons              Aprilia        1:54.760  +3.657
34. Robert Muresan         Aprilia        1:54.987  +3.884
35. Jules Cluzel           Loncin         1:55.138  +4.035
36. Louis Rossi            Honda          1:55.165  +4.062
37. Daniel Saez            Aprilia        1:55.491  +4.388
38. Jordi Dalmau           Honda          1:55.655  +4.552
39. Ivan Maestro           Aprilia        1:56.465  +5.362