MOTOGP: De Angelis equals best MotoGP result

San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alex de Angelis was unsurprisingly over the moon with his fourth place in a difficult MotoGP race at the British Grand Prix on Sunday.
Alex de Angelis
“I am absolutely delighted. That was one of the most difficult races in my whole career because when you’re on a bike with so much power in those conditions, on a circuit like Donington, which everybody knows is particularly slippery, it’s tough! The hardest thing was finding a compromise between attacking for a good position and defending it by staying upright. I could see I had a good pace and I was closing the gap to the guys in front of me but the most important thing was to finish and get a good result. I think that shows how much I have matured because it is the kind of mistake I made last year. I hope that is a good sign for the future and I think it proves the way myself and my Chief Mechanic have kept working and kept trying to improve without losing faith.”

MOTOGP: Mixed fortunes for Fiat Yamaha duo

A mixed day for the factory Yamaha team at the British Grand Prix saw Valentino Rossi ride his luck - to pick up his M1 from a midrace crash to come home fifth - and extend his World Championship lead, whilst his title rival and team-mate Jorge Lorenzo spectacularly crashed out of the race lead.

Describing the slippery conditions and how he was able to remount and fight his way through the field to secure fifth place on the last lap as he overtook home rider James Toseland, having earlier led the race for several laps, Rossi said, “Once Jorge had crashed I was riding to win, as is always my style. In hindsight maybe I should have let Andrea Dovizioso pass me for a while but it was difficult to judge in such strange conditions.”

Rossi continued, “Riding in the rain with slick tyres is always a risk and it was quite slippery, the turns on the left were all wet which made the left side of the tyre cold and that’s why I crashed. After that we made a great recovery, I chose to remain with slick tyres despite the rain and the result was eleven points, which are like gold dust for us because we have extended the lead despite what happened here and we’re going on holiday with a good advantage over our rivals.”

For Lorenzo, meanwhile, his second DNF of the year was a bitter pill to swallow as he touched the white line in the last corner and went down on lap nine. He stated, “I got a good start and the first few laps went well, I was feeling quite comfortable in the lead. Unfortunately on the final corner of the ninth lap I made a small mistake, got my line wrong and touched the white line and there was nothing I could do; it was very slippery. I was okay and wanted to carry on but my bike was too badly damaged.”

“Of course I’m sad and disappointed but this is racing and these feelings don’t help, you just have to learn from a mistake like this and look forwards. Valentino was lucky that he could continue after his crash, but it wasn’t our day. I am going to enjoy the break now despite this and take the chance to do plenty of training so we can come back at full strength in Brno.”

MOTOGP: Dovizioso win “harder after Rossi crash

A maiden win for Andrea Dovizioso in the premier class could not have come at a better time for the Italian. Following three races without claiming World Championship points, a month in which speculation about his future has been debated and some tough times chasing a first podium as a Repsol Honda rider, the sophomore star gave an assured display when some of the more experienced names in MotoGP fell foul of the Donington Park conditions.

The first new MotoGP racewinner since last year’s Portuguese round (won by persistent 250cc rival Jorge Lorenzo) Dovizioso now has a huge weight lifted from his shoulders. However, whilst he may have looked confident when leading the British Grand Prix, things were still tough for ‘Dovi’ on Sunday afternoon.

“This race was very difficult. With these conditions the temperature of the tyres was too low, and the light rainfall for the whole race meant that it was probably the worst scenario for riding on this tyre. We couldn’t change the bikes either, so it was really difficult to manage,” said the Honda factory rider after an ecstatic celebration on the podium. He had led the race since lap nineteen, when reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi went in too hot on the Fogarty Esses, but the lack of a close rival actually made the final eleven laps harder for the eventual winner.

“Before Valentino crashed it was easy, because I just followed him; after that I needed to understand the track better,” he explained. “Wearing a light visor also meant that I couldn’t see clearly which lines were the driest.At the end Randy (De Puniet) and Colin (Edwards) were riding at 100% and catching me, which was difficult to manage. I think maybe for the last two laps I was pushing so hard that they couldn’t risk reaching me.”

And has the win changed Dovizioso’s goals for the year? Not exactly. Speaking pragmatically, he declared that “Today wasn’t a normal situation, so we still have to understand how we can use all the potential of the package. We still need to find some solutions.”

MOTOGP: Gibernau’s Team Folds, Tip Of The Iceberg?

The MotoGP grid has shrunk back to 17 machines with the sudden withdrawal of the Grupo Francisco Hernando Ducati team that has been running Spaniard Sete Gibernau on a satellite Ducati Desmosedici 800.

The team is owned by the controversial self-made multi-millionaire Francisco Hernando, better known in Spain as “el pocero.” (“The Sewer Digger” or “The Well Digger,” a nickname that comes from his humble beginnings.)

Gibernau, coming back at 36 after two years of inactivity, has been slowed from the beginning by old injuries, new injuries, and a general unfamiliarity with the current level of electronics. Sete, runner-up to Valentino Rossi in MotoGP in 2003 and 2004, won nine premier class races, one on a 500 Suzuki in 2001 and the other eight on the 990cc Honda RC211V.

Apparently Hernando, whose construction companies are incurring serious
losses due to the financial crisis, made no attempt to find a team sponsor because he wanted to be free to withdraw at any time.

Gibernau claimed to be surprised by the news, but it was known before the U.S. Grand Prix that the team was for sale. With no serious buyers stepping forward, Hernando announced on Sunday, July 12th, that the team will stop racing immediately. This news came just a week before the German Grand Prix.

Gibernau took part in six MotoGP races and missed two after breaking a collarbone at the French GP at Le Mans. He is currently 17th in the points standings and his best result was an eleventh place at Jerez de la Frontera.

There has been no reaction from Dorna, the series promoters, other than to publish the news on the official championship website.

MOTOGP: Lorenzo: I Could Have Won Laguna

The MotoGP race from Sachsenring, Germany will air at 6:00pm ET on Sunday, July 19. The 250 race will air at 2:00pm that same day.

Winning and beating fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa was the only thing on Jorge Lorenzo's mind at Laguna Seca last week. And it will be when Lorenzo fronts up for this week's German GP at the Sachsenring on Sunday.

But it was victory in the U.S. Grand Prix that Lorenzo feels slipped from his grasp at Laguna. And Lorenzo says it was race winner Pedrosa, and not his Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi, who was the main focus of his
late-race surge that
ultimately failed.

Even with the pain of shoulder and ankle injuries from his acrobatic crash in qualifying, Lorenzo was convinced that, with eight laps to go, he had the speed to win.

"I didn't want only to finish in front of Valentino, I wanted to catch Dani," Lorenzo said.

It looked impossible. He was 4.2 seconds behind and Pedrosa's Honda was cruising out in front, having controlled the pace from the start. The focus was on another contest with Rossi, this time for second place. Lorenzo was just one second behind his teammate but closing fast.

MOTOGP: Stoner Mystery Deepens

The MotoGP race from Sachsenring, Germany will air at 6:00pm ET on Sunday, July 19. The 250 race will air at 2:00pm that same day.

Earlier this week ten minutes of tennis was too much for Casey Stoner. Little wonder the fast but increasingly frustrated Ducati rider holds little hope of a repeat win Sunday's German Grand Prix over 30 laps of the Sachsenring. That's about 42 minutes of racing in good weather.

"In the dry I don't think I can win but if it's wet maybe I'll have a chance to stay there until the end and fight," Stoner said as faces another uncertain weekend of physical fitness.

After a series of rigorous but inconclusive tests in California last week
the mystery has deepened on the debilitating illness that is slowing
Stoner, once close to untouchable on the red Ducati.

At the Sachsenring Stoner has contradicted the information in the Ducati team press release issued in advance of this race, which said he was suffering from mild anemia and slight gastritis.

He says that mild anemia is not the reason for problems and that the tests undertaken at Dr Ting's clinic in America following the U.S. Grand Prix have proved inconclusive.

"It is not anemia, the tests didn't show anything." Stoner said. "I did every test possible. All the blood tests came back perfect. I had the pipe down my throat, in my stomach and scans, a glucose test, everything. If one of the blood tests had shown something then I would done another test but they didn't show anything."

MOTOGP: Hayden Friendly Fire

The MotoGP race from Sachsenring, Germany will air at 6:00pm ET on Sunday, July 19. The 250 race will air at 2:00pm that same day.

For a moment it looked like WrestleMania but in reality it was Nicky Hayden body-slamming fellow Ducati rider Niccolo Canepa during qualifying for the German Grand Prix at a rain-soaked Sachsenring.

Without doubt it was one of the weirdest crashes in MotoGP, a case of friendly fire from Hayden who endured a chaotic session.

But the upside was hugely positive: a lucky escape from serious injury for both riders with Hayden also scoring his best grid position of his first season with Ducati.

Hayden took Canepa out in wild crash at Turn 7, a fourth gear downhill left-hander, that also claimed six other riders in qualifying.

Hayden was lucky that Canepa, stunned by the surprise strike from a high-flying former GP champ, cushioned Hayden's fall, which clearly saved the Kentucky Kid from injury.

MOTOGP: Rossi: ‘I Have To Continue Like This’

The British GP will air on SPEED on Sunday, July 26 at 6:00pm ET.

As he fronted up at Donington for the second MotoGP race in a week Valentino Rossi described his 75th MotoGP race win as one of the most intense of his career.

That was last Sunday in Germany and Rossi says he must continue that trend if he is to prevail in a championship that is being fought, as he says, at a furious pace.


Going into the British GP this Sunday Rossi has now won four out of nine
races, in a 17-race season, but holds only a slender 14-point lead over Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo.

"I have to continue like this if I want to win the championship," Rossi said. "I have won almost 50% of the races and I'm happy for that and also because the Yamaha is a very strong package. But I only have 14 points advantage on Jorge and also Casey Stoner is close."

Stoner has won two races and is still battling an energy-sapping illness. He is third in the points, 28 behind.