Pedrosa off to a flying start at Brno

The MotoGP bikes hit the track for the first practice session of round 11, with grey clouds overhead and cool temperatures welcoming the field into the second half of the season. Pedrosa took his Repsol Honda on a flying lap of 1.56’328, substantially faster than the rest of the field and the only rider under the 1.57” mark.

Fresh off the back of a victory at Laguna Seca Stoner, Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) was second in the field, though his lap of 1'57.294 was nearly a second behind the Spaniard. Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team), who topped the timesheets briefly with 30 minutes to go, was 1.080s behind Pedrosa and third fastest of the session. The Italian ended the session with a crash in turn 13 but was unhurt.

Last year’s race winner Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) posted his best time of 1'57.587, two tenths behind Simoncelli to put him fourth in the standings. Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso was fifth quickest as he took his factory RC212V around in a best time of 1'57.776. That placed the Italian 0.127s ahead of Ben Spies (Racing), who was sixth on his Yamaha Factory YZR-M1.

Wild card John Hopkins who is returning for a second race aboard the Rizla Suzuki set an impressive seventh fastest time, followed by the other Rizla Suzuki of Álvaro Bautista. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow and Colin Edwards werninth and tenth, respectively, with Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) three tenths outside the top ten times.

MotoGP rookie Karel Abraham (Cardion ab Motoracing) debuting as the first Czech rider to compete in the premier class at his a Grand Prix since 1989, was sixteenth in the standings.

source: MotoGP Official Website

Bautista seventh and on the pace in the Californian sun

Álvaro Bautista followed on from his strong performance last weekend in Germany to produce his best first day’s performance of the season so far at Laguna Seca today.

Bautista (P7, 1’23.056, 49 laps), was in constant touch with the top-six through the afternoon session, even though he couldn’t find the rear grip from his Rizla Suzuki that he wanted over the 3,610m American circuit. He worked hard with his crew to get the levels of adhesion that he is looking for to make the next step up and compete with the group in front of him. Bautista still believes there is more to come from him and his machine over the rest of the weekend and is in a confident mood as he heads towards tomorrow’s qualifying session.

Today’s afternoon practice was held in brilliant sunshine with cloudless skies covering the Laguna Seca Raceway. World Champion Jorge Lorenzo on a Yamaha was the fastest rider of the day, with last weekend’s winner Dani Pedrosa second and current championship leader Casey Stoner in third. Bautista is only a second from first place and will be looking to break into a 1’22 lap tomorrow, a feat which was only achieved by the top-six today.

Rizla Suzuki has a free practice session of 45-minutes tomorrow morning followed by an hour of qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s 32-lap race is the 10th of the season and the action gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (21.00hrs GMT).

Álvaro Bautista:

“This morning the track was very cold so we started with the softer tyres and from the beginning it felt like we didn’t have very much grip from the rear when entering a corner. The contact feeling wasn’t quite right so we worked on improving that and we also tried some different electronics settings for the spin control. In the second session the track temperatures had increased so we used the harder compound tyres, but we seemed to have the same problem as this morning with corner entry grip. This didn’t give me a good feeling and made me slower in the corner and on the exit than I wanted to be. We worked hard to try and resolve it but we didn’t quite manage it, so it gives us something to work towards tomorrow. My lap-times and rhythm were not too bad though and I was able to follow some fast guys quite easily, so this is a good sign. I hope that tomorrow we can improve on the rear grip and do some work on the gearbox, because we are not at our maximum here just yet. So we have a lot of work to do on Saturday, but at the moment I am very confident because my feeling is positive like it was last week in Germany.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:

“It’s been a very solid first day here at Laguna Seca for Álvaro and the Rizla Suzuki team. The performance at Sachsenring last weekend has helped his confidence and it’s clear that he has brought a slightly different tactic to Friday’s sessions to try and be as close to the lead group’s pace as he possibly can, as we head to qualifying on Saturday. We’re pretty close to the front guys everywhere except for the third section, but if we can find a decent step in lap-time there, and improve the overall rear grip, we should be in good shape for the rest of the weekend.”

Positive first day for Bautista in Germany

Bautista recorded a quickest time of 1’23.261 from his 46 laps around the 3,671m German circuit, to put him in ninth place in the overall standings and just over one second off the provisional pole position. Bautista tried both compounds of Bridgestone race tyres to find the compound best suited to his Suzuki GSV-R. He is sure that if conditions improve, he will be able to reduce his lap-times significantly and move up the leader-board as he prepares for Sunday’s race.

Álvaro Bautista:

“Today has been a good day, because finally the rain didn’t make an appearance! This morning it was quite difficult because the track was cold and grip was at a minimum. I took it careful and just got the feel of the bike because I didn’t want to crash like some of the other guys did. This afternoon we tried different combinations of tyres to get the best mix for the bike. I started with a used set of soft ones from this morning’s session and then changed to harder ones on the front and rear. These didn’t give me such a good feeling and I swapped the front for a soft and this was better. The rear worked well, but I still had some sliding from the left side and found it difficult to get a good line through the corners. I felt I had a good rhythm throughout the whole practice and I think that I can certainly improve quite a bit tomorrow, especially if the conditions are better as this will give us more grip from the rear and we will have a good opportunity to move forward.”

Rizla Suzuki press release

Simoncelli tops chaotic first practice

The MotoGP riders hit the track for the first practice of the weekend under cool (track 16ºC) conditions with wind that seemed to have been a factor in the five crashes, four of them in the fast turn 11 at the top of the hill, that marked the first half of FP1.

Simoncelli dominated much of the session despite the difficult conditions, setting a fastest lap time of 1'22.823, a second behind the lap record held by Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda). 0.181s behind the Italian was Stoner, who was the first rider in the field to crash, but returned unfazed to put in a time of 1'23.004.

Lorenzo, who completed 24 laps, the most of the field, was third in the timings, following the Australian by 0.042s, and ahead of Ducati rider Hayden by 0.159s. Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso followed in fifth, with Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) riding strong to set a sixth fastest time of 1'23.416.

Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) built on the good form he showed in Mugello, placing seventh with a time of 1'23.433, beating out Randy De Puniet (Pramac Racing), Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) and Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3).

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), who had started session with good pace before crashing in turn 11, managed eleventh after reentering the session, ahead of Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) in 12th with a time of 1'23.989. Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) had an early runoff in turn 8, finishing in 13th position with a time of 1'24.162.

Valentino Rossi fell victim to the same corner 11, tumbling in the gravel, though walking away from the crash. The Italian was taken to the Medical Center to be checked out and was found to have no serious injuries, though the lost track time placed him 14th in the standings, while Toni Elías (LCR Honda) only completed a total of seven laps after crashing twice, first in turn 11 and then in turn 1, to place sixteenth.

source: MotoGP Official Website

Stoner Fastest On 1st Free Practice At Qatar

Casey Stoner took his best time on 1st free practice at Qatar MotoGP 1'55.752, 0.610 in front of his teammate Dani Pedrosa. A surprise came from Hector Barbera from Aspar Mapfire. Barbera took 3rd place, 0.669 behind Casey Stoner. 2010 MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo only on 7th place, or one place behind his new teammate Ben Spies. 

Good progress came from Valentino Rossi with his Ducati on 5th place. Valentino Rossi took 1'23.493, behind Marco Simoncelli, the other Italian rider, on the 4th place. 

Here the full result of 1st practice MotoGP Losail, Qatar

1. Casey Stoner, Honda, 1'55.752

2. Dani Pedrosa, Honda, 1'56.362

3. Hector Barbera, Aspar Ducati, 1'56.421

4. Marco Simoncelli, Gresini Honda, 1'56.441

5. Valentino Rossi, Ducati, 1'56.479

6. Ben Spies, Yamaha, 1'56.493

7. Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha, 1'56.586

8. Andrea Dovizioso, Honda, 1'56.592

9. Randy de Puniet, Pramac Ducati, 1'56.790

10. Colin Edwards, Tech 3 Yamaha, 1'56.879

11. Nicky Hayden, Ducati, 1'56.910

12. Hiroshi Aoyama, Gresini Honda, 1'56.987

13. Loris Capirossi, Pramac Ducati, 1'57.366

14. Cal Crutchlow, Tech 3 Yamaha, 1'57.429

15. Karel Abraham, Cardion Ducati, 1'57.821

16. Alvaro Bautista, Suzuki, 1'58.528

17. Toni Elias, LCR Honda, 1'59.087

GP GENERALI DE LA COMUNITAT VALENCIANA MotoGP Free Practice Nr. 1 Classification 2010

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time	Gap 1st/Prev.
1	27	Casey STONER	AUS	Ducati Team	Ducati	308.1	1'32.897
2	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	306.6	1'33.455	0.558 / 0.558
3	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	308	1'33.500	0.603 / 0.045
4	58	Marco SIMONCELLI	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	300.4	1'33.631	0.734 / 0.131
5	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	302	1'33.714	0.817 / 0.083
6	69	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	Ducati	306.1	1'33.757	0.860 / 0.043
7	40	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Paginas Amarillas Aspar	Ducati	311.1	1'33.857	0.960 / 0.100
8	14	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	302.9	1'33.899	1.002 / 0.042
9	11	Ben SPIES	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	304.5	1'33.929	1.032 / 0.030
10	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	301.5	1'34.029	1.132 / 0.100
11	5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	302	1'34.053	1.156 / 0.024
12	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	310.3	1'34.123	1.226 / 0.070
13	33	Marco MELANDRI	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	307.3	1'34.160	1.263 / 0.037
14	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	307.2	1'34.506	1.609 / 0.346
15	65	Loris CAPIROSSI	ITA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	300.8	1'34.864	1.967 / 0.358
16	7	Hiroshi AOYAMA	JPN	Interwetten Honda MotoGP	Honda	308.8	1'34.904	2.007 / 0.040
17	71	Carlos CHECA	SPA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	302.3	1'35.172	2.275 / 0.268
		Fastest Lap:	Lap: 14	Casey STONER	1'32.897	155.2 Km/h
		Circuit Record Lap:	2008	Casey STONER	1'32.582	155.7 Km/h
		Best Lap:	2006	Valentino ROSSI	1'31.002	158.4 Km/h

IVECO AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX MotoGP Free Practice Nr. 1 Classification 2010

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time	Gap 1st/Prev.
1	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	296.7	1'41.146
2	27	Casey STONER	AUS	Ducati Team	Ducati	304.8	1'41.480	0.334 / 0.334
3	69	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	Ducati	296.4	1'41.631	0.485 / 0.151
4	58	Marco SIMONCELLI	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	290.8	1'41.881	0.735 / 0.250
5	33	Marco MELANDRI	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	297.1	1'41.982	0.836 / 0.101
6	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	304.5	1'42.271	1.125 / 0.289
7	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	296.6	1'42.626	1.480 / 0.355
8	5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	288.1	1'43.013	1.867 / 0.387
9	14	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	294.4	1'43.476	2.330 / 0.463
10	65	Loris CAPIROSSI	ITA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	289.8	1'43.984	2.838 / 0.508
11	36	Mika KALLIO	FIN	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	293.6	1'44.179	3.033 / 0.195
12	7	Hiroshi AOYAMA	JPN	Interwetten Honda MotoGP	Honda	297.5	1'44.704	3.558 / 0.525
13	40	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Paginas Amarillas Aspar	Ducati	290.7	1'45.695	4.549 / 0.991
14	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	277.8	1'46.160	5.014 / 0.465
15	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	271.9	1'48.127	6.981 / 1.967
	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	265.4	1'51.210	10.064 / 3.083
	11	Ben SPIES	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	249.8	1'58.613	17.467 / 7.403
		Fastest Lap:	Lap: 12	Jorge LORENZO	1'41.146	158.3 Km/h
		Circuit Record Lap:	2008	Nicky HAYDEN	1'30.059	177.8 Km/h
		Best Lap:	2008	Casey STONER	1'28.665	180.6 Km/h

SHELL ADVANCE MALAYSIAN MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX MotoGP Free Practice Nr. 1 Classification 2010

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time	Gap 1st/Prev.
1	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	304.8	2'02.724
2	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	308.8	2'02.833	0.109 / 0.109
3	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	306.7	2'02.898	0.174 / 0.065
4	27	Casey STONER	AUS	Ducati Team	Ducati	308	2'03.160	0.436 / 0.262
5	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	307.3	2'03.338	0.614 / 0.178
6	5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	303.9	2'03.393	0.669 / 0.055
7	33	Marco MELANDRI	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	309.7	2'03.438	0.714 / 0.045
8	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	303	2'03.471	0.747 / 0.033
9	11	Ben SPIES	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	304.6	2'03.477	0.753 / 0.006
10	14	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	305.9	2'03.539	0.815 / 0.062
11	58	Marco SIMONCELLI	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	302.9	2'03.680	0.956 / 0.141
12	65	Loris CAPIROSSI	ITA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	304.9	2'03.717	0.993 / 0.037
13	40	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Paginas Amarillas Aspar	Ducati	310	2'03.760	1.036 / 0.043
14	7	Hiroshi AOYAMA	JPN	Interwetten Honda MotoGP	Honda	305.3	2'03.769	1.045 / 0.009
15	69	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	Ducati	307.3	2'03.947	1.223 / 0.178
16	36	Mika KALLIO	FIN	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	307.9	2'04.023	1.299 / 0.076
		Fastest Lap:	Lap: 17	Valentino ROSSI	2'02.724	162.7 Km/h
		Circuit Record Lap:	2007	Casey STONER	2'02.108	163.6 Km/h
		Best Lap:	2009	Valentino ROSSI	2'00.518	165.7 Km/h

GRAND PRIX OF JAPAN MotoGP Free Practice Nr. 1 Classification 2010

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time	Gap 1st/Prev.
1	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	291.6	1'48.174
2	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	291.1	1'48.387	0.213 / 0.213
3	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	288.9	1'48.474	0.300 / 0.087
4	27	Casey STONER	AUS	Ducati Team	Ducati	289.1	1'48.481	0.307 / 0.007
5	11	Ben SPIES	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	286.2	1'49.302	1.128 / 0.821
6	7	Hiroshi AOYAMA	JPN	Interwetten Honda MotoGP	Honda	279.9	1'49.357	1.183 / 0.055
7	5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	288.9	1'49.377	1.203 / 0.020
8	40	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Paginas Amarillas Aspar	Ducati	285.3	1'49.544	1.370 / 0.167
9	65	Loris CAPIROSSI	ITA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	286.8	1'49.568	1.394 / 0.024
10	58	Marco SIMONCELLI	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	282.6	1'49.581	1.407 / 0.013
11	33	Marco MELANDRI	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	289.9	1'49.620	1.446 / 0.039
12	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	285.2	1'49.644	1.470 / 0.024
13	69	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	Ducati	291.5	1'49.882	1.708 / 0.238
14	14	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	283.3	1'49.957	1.783 / 0.075
15	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	273.5	1'50.158	1.984 / 0.201
16	36	Mika KALLIO	FIN	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	289.2	1'51.105	2.931 / 0.947
	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	256.2	2'00.131	11.957 / 9.026
		Fastest Lap:	Lap: 27	Valentino ROSSI	1'48.174	159.8 Km/h
		Circuit Record Lap:	2008	Casey STONER	1'47.091	161.4 Km/h
		Best Lap:	2008	Jorge LORENZO	1'45.543	163.8 Km/h

Pedrosa Crash On FP1 Motegi

Dani Pedrosa was crashed when FP1 MotoGP at Motegi just running on 6 minutes. This Spaniard is the only one rider who can beat Jorge Lorenzo as the leader. Now we'll wait for Pedrosa, he will back for this weekend race or not. According to the circuit official, Dani Pedrosa is suspected injury on his collarbone. Pedrosa was lost control under braking and limped from the bike. He was carried away from track on a stretcher. 

If Pedrosa cannot race again for Motegi and rest of this season race, Lorenzo will get his 1st title on MotoGP. Lorenzo now is 56 points ahead Dani Pedrosa after he miss his 1st podium on this season last 2 weeks at Aragon.