British MotoGP

It's that time of the year again, yep umbrella's, wellies and winter coats aka the glorious British Summertime!

Silverstone was the next stop off on the MotoGP calendar. It kicked up some blustery conditions on Friday practise's with it ulternating between rain and sun throughout the first half of the weekend, by the time race day came around it was dry conditions. 

Moto3:

Moto3 was the last race of the day at Silverstone, and it did not disappoint. Throughout the race there was an intense top 10 battle, swapping and changing the order so much that any of the riders could have finished on the podium.
Jack Miller and Alex Rins were early crashes, both sustaining hefty injuries and a few broken bones.
Towards the closing laps of the race it was Maverick Vinales who pulled out a lead from the rest of the pack however Louis Salom and Sandro Cortese weren't too far behind. In a nerve wracking last lap Cortese took 2nd from Salom though the Spanish rider put in a fierce lap, Salom pipped Cortese to the finish line and took 2nd position.Vinales crossed the line as the Moto3 winner at Silverstone, his third of the season and an important one at that, he's now taken back the lead from Sandro Cortese in the championship.
It was bitter sweet for the Brits in Moto3, Danny Webb, who was sporting a late great Barry Sheene replica helmet, had to retire in front of his home crowd. Though Brit Danny Kent had a good race battling closer to the front and finished the race in 6th place.

[Sorry for the quality, or lack of. 1st-Maverick Vinales, 2nd-Louis Salom, 3rd-Sandro Cortese]

Moto2:

With controversy off track still going on between Pol Espargaro's team and Marc Marquez's about the previous race in Spain (Pol's team is appealing against the decision to drop Marquez's time penalty) that was going to stop them both racing hard against each other yet again.
They say being at your home Grand Prix, in front of you home crowd, spurs you on to do well for the fans that have come out to support you and for yourself at a track you call you home track. Well, we saw a lot of it this weekend and Scott Redding (along with every other brit rider) put in a great effort. He battled with Marquez for the majority of the race for the battle for 2nd position and at some stages looking like he could go all the way to the win. Bradley Smith also got involved, however later on in the race started to drop off the pace.
There was no stopping Espargaro's fine form this season and he crossed the line on the top spot of the podium. Joining him was Redding who held off Marquez who finished in 3rd.

 [1st-Pol Espargaro, 2nd-Scott Redding, 3rd-Marc Marquez]

MotoGP:

With rain hampering the end of Saturday's qualifying session, MotoGP was  a bit like this year's Formula 1 championship - different pole sitters. Well, it was a first for Gresini rider Alvaro Bautista who bagged himself his first pole at the circuit, a little ray of sunshine to a team that deserves it after such a hard 7 and a half months, at a circuit that was also paying tribute to Marco Simoncelli (former Honda Gresini rider) *See end of post.

Cal Crutchlow was the talking point throughout the weekend, one of a hanfdul British riders but one with the most hope of a podium in the MotoGP class. Last year he was unable to participate in the race after breaking his collarbone previously. His one aim this year was to start the race at Silverstone in front of his home crowd... what does he go and do, crash in practise the day before and dislocate/ break his ankle. Spending the day in hospital unable to qualify, a race start was in doubt. After initially failing the medical tests at the circuit on Sunday morning as well as telling porky pies to the officials Crutchlow was determined to race and so he did, and can i say he did every Brit proud! True sportsmanship for his country. 

The race:
Ben Spies was the early leader in the MotoGP race, closely followed by the likes of casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, pole sitter Alvaro Bautista and Nicky Hayden.
It didn't last long before Casey Stoner was leading the race. After dropping back to 5th Jorge Lorenzo knew he couldn't let the Australian run away with it and soon found his rhythm. Nick Hayden soon started to lose the pace as well as lose places and leaving the door open to many a rider, Lorenzo took fully advantage, he soon passed Alvaro Bautista and was the front setting fast laps to reel Stoner back in.
Meanwhile Cal Crutchlow, who started from the back of the grid had a stormer of a race. It wasn't long before he'd overtaken all of the CRT riders and was battling in the top 10. The honey badger never gave up and ended up finishing the race in 6th!! Well done Cal, you made us all very proud!
After cutting down the gap, Lorenzo found his self in a tassle with Stoner, who he then overtook to take a clear lead. He went on to win the race, both Honda riders Stoner and Pedrosa joined him on the podium. Bautista narrowly missed out on the podium in the closing stages as he Pedrosa started to build a gap.
The top CRT was a familiar face of Aleix Espargaro, it's been a good year for the brothers!

Once again, i can't say it enough of what a great race Crutchlow put in with his injury, and the crowd were right behind him cheering him on, i can imagine a lot of people were cheering at their tv's too, i know i was.

Rider of the race for sure.

[1st-Jorge Lorenzo, 2nd-Casey Stoner, 3rd-Dani Pedrosa]

*This weekend was the release of the official Marco Simoncelli foundation song by UK band The Rainband. Profits of the single go to the foundation set up by Simoncelli's family.
The single is called 'Rise Again' featuring retired MotoGP and Superbike rider James Toseland.
If you're from the UK head to this link http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/rise-again-feat.-james-toseland/id532532309 to download the single from Itunes, it's 79p and for a good cause!!

Next UP:
MotoGP will be back in a few weeks time in Assen, remember race day will be on Saturday.
F1 is back this weekend in Valencia.... let's how it's a lot more exciting than last year.

Estoril low down

It was a mixed weekend over in Portugal for the MotoGP weekend. Weather effected all three classes practise on Friday with little to no running for some riders, with improvements in weather conditions qualifying kicked up some nasty crashes and gobsmacking saves.
The MotoGP bikes in quali seemed to have a mind of their own, the save of the season has to go to Ivan Silva who, while holding on in an attempt to stay on the bike, hit the throttle and done a spectacular wheelie, saving the bike and going on his merry way (although he later had a unpleasant crash in warm up) however a few minutes later a nasty crash occurred between Randy De Puniet and Colin Edwards - Edwards was off the racing line on a slow lap while RDP was on a hot lap, just as he was sweeping past, the bike went down and collected Edwards. The weekend was over for Colin sustaining a broken collarbone. Both being rather beat up Randy was able to take part in the race.

Moto3:
It was a battle between Sandro Cortese (who started on pole for the second time this season) and Maverick Vinales, hot on their exhausts was the familiar name of Louis Salom but up in the battle for a podium spot were also Efron Vazquez (JHK T-shirt Laglisse) and Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Airasia-Sic-Ajo)
The first half of the race was the usual mix in order however with every lap the race hot up, a tight battle between Brit Danny Kent and Italian Romano Fenati saw them both duel for position till confidence got the better of both the riders and ended up running wide together losing several places, soon after Romano Fenati crashed out the race on Lap 9 along with Louis Rossi who had a strong start to the race.
The latter stage of the race was intense racing, tactical Cortese stayed close behind Vinales, both lapping similar times. When the chequered flag was near with a few laps to go the battle was on, swapping and changing position countless times making your mind boggle with who was leading who. The last half a lap was nail biting (seriously, i have no nails left) they came up against lapped riders, getting mixed up with them and eager to get his first Moto3 win Sandro Cortese pulled out some agressive (but not over-agressive or dangerous in my opinion) moves on Maverick Vinales to take the first step of the podium!
Vinales wasn't too happy after the race, his fiery Spanish side and lack of experience in these 'situations' got the better of him, his team having to assure him that Cortese was within his rights, while Sandro himself was full of smiles, a season he needs to make an impression on and that he is certainly doing!
Louis Salom joined them on the podium after a great fight with Zulfahmi Khairuddin who put his stamp on the race and was close to being the first Malaysian rider to grace the podium, i'm sure we'll be seing more of him in future races.
Although it proved an exciting race, promising Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira retired due to a mechanical failure after such promising practise and Qualifying, bad luck Miguel.

Retirements: Jasper Iwema (8 laps), Romano Fenati (9 laps), Louis Rossi (9 laps), Issac Vinales (10 laps), Danny Webb (15 laps), Adrian Martin (17 laps), Miguel Oliveira (20 laps)

[Sandro Cortese-1st, Maverick Vinales-2nd, Louis Salom-3rd]

Moto2:
There seems to never be a dull race in Moto2 and Estoril was no different.
Marc Marquez led the first lap but by the second it was Thomas Luthi who was in front, Marquez, Pol Espargaro and Johann Zarco all staying within over taking distance of each other. Luthi led for the majority of the race with the fight for podium going on, not far behind the top 4 were Scott Redding and Andrea Iannone pushing hard though once again Redding dropped off rapidly to the middle of the pack finishing in 11th. Iannone was on a charge but a mistake on Lap 11 saw him temporarily run his own race off-track, re-joining and eventually finishing in 5th.
Lap 17 was when any hope of a victory started to get less likely for Luthi as he wasn't able to pull a gap from Marquez and Espargaro who both over took the Swiss and they themselves pulled out a gap.
For the second race running the victory would either be Pol Espargaro's or Marc Marquez's. With quite a few chop and changes (after all this is Moto2 - nothing can be decided with only a few changes in lead) a fierce spat between both Spaniards and it was Pol who was first to slip, not literally but he ran wide at the chicane on the last lap and it was all over, 2nd place was the place he'd finish, giving the win to Marquez.
A hand-shake on the cool down lap (Maverick Vinales take note) Espargaro was gracious in defeat both riders enjoyed the rivalry and happy to be on podium. Once again joining them was Thomas Luthi.

Retirements: Mike de Meglio (6 laps), Simone Corsi (7 laps), Axel Pons (17 laps), Yuki Takahashi (21 laps)

[Marc Marquez-1st, Pol Espargaro-2nd, Thomas Luthi-3rd]

MotoGP:
MotoGP seems to be back to it's own familiar pattern (which i know some fans are finding... less interesting) With both Qatar and Jerez behind him it was Casey Stoner that has well and truly returned to his previous seasons form - winning by a mile.
What i'd like to type: 'it was a a close battle between front runner Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo both pinching the lead of each other throughout the race...'
What really happened: Casey Stoner had a terrific start and led the race from start to finish, pulling out a big enough gap from Lorenzo in which all Lorenzo could do was sniff the exhaust fumes from the Honda rider.
That was the story from the front of the pack and all though a very deserving race for Stoner and his pure skill to pull away from the pack for the whole race it does get a bit mundane doesn't it (but then all though i try to be as un-biased as possible on my blog i am a Lorenzo fan so this is very frustrating)
Further down it was Valentino Rossi, that i think i can safely say every MotoGP fan was happy for him, finding a bit of pace he was able to stay consistant and cross the line in 7th - the highest he's finished all season, feeling more at one with the bike i hope Ducati are on the right road but teammate Nicky Hayden had an appalling race finishing in 11th, apparently the bike was all out of sync, not handling like it should. As i've said before it's either or in the Ducati team it seems, fingers crossed that they'll soon have both riders up there on form.
Talking of form it was another disappointing race for Yamaha's Ben Spies, although he took 8th from race rival Stefan Bradl, who may i say is having a great rookie year for LCR Honda, Spies had a positive start up at the front however he himself admitting his over-confidence with finally feeling like he was in control, led him to make several errors during the first half of the race. Feeling the pressure that comes with lack of performance but finally being at one with his bike maybe we'll see him up there in Le Mans.
Having a corker of a season is the Tech 3 Yamaha's of Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow, both having a race between themselves and finishing 4th and 5th respectively.

Fastest CRT: Aleix Espargaro

Retirements: Karel Abraham (5 laps), James Ellison (10 laps), Yonny Hernandez (12 laps), Mattia Pasini (17 laps), Ivan Silva (17 laps)

[Casey Stoner-1sr, Jorge Lorenzo-2nd, Dani Pedrosa-3rd]

Next up:
Formula 1 is back this weekend in Spain for the start of the European races followed the week after by MotoGP at Le Mans for the French Grand Prix.

Jerez low down

Jerez is a familiar circuit for the majority of the riders, especially the local Spaniards but with mixed conditions throughout the weekend it didn't run as smoothly, for others the rainy weather was a bonus.

Moto3
The mixed conditions hit Moto3 the hardest in so far as the amount of crashes with the rain getting the better of almost half the grid. It was the 16 year old Italian Romano Fenati that proved Qatar was not a fluke and that he really does have serious talent; Fenati led from the start, remaining calm and collected on the damp track. Turn 9 was the make or break for the riders with wet patches catching out a lot of them.

Once again there was an exciting battle for the last podium position between Luis Salom, who finished 2nd, Sandro Cortese, who finished 3rd and Alex Rins who missed out on a podium and finished 4th.
Title favourite Maverick Vinales only managed to finish 6th after a few major mistakes at the start which saw him drop down to 28th, his cousin Issac crashed out on lap 17, not the best day for the Vinales'. The race result means Fenati now leads the Moto3 championship, he has a 10 point advantage over spaniard Vinales.

Riders that crashed out of the race:
[Riders who didn't finish first lap]: Jack Miller, Danny Kent, Simone Grotzkyj - A suspected collarbone fracture for Miller and contusions for Kent.
Others: Adrian Martin (21 laps), Kenta Fujii (8 laps, wrist injury), Danny Webb (9 laps), Louis Rossi (14 laps), Issac Vinales (17 laps), Josep Rodriguez (19 laps), Miguel Oliveira (20 laps), Arthur Sissis (20 laps, contusions to chest and hands), Jakob Kornfeil (21 laps), Brad Binder (21 laps), Afren Vazquez (21 laps), Niklas Ajo (21 laps), Toni Finsterbusch (21 laps), Luigi Morciano (21 laps)

*Niklas Ajo will not be at Estoril after a dispute with a track official.

[1st-Romano Fenati, 2nd Louis Salom, 3rd Sandro Cortese]

Moto2
The weather caused ever more havoc during the Moto2 race; with a strong start by the front runners, the battle was on between Marc Marquez, Thomas Luthi, Scott Redding and Pol Espargaro, each taking the lead off of each countless times. Mika Kallio was also in the hunt early on but with the weather changing he made a diversion (he would have rather avoided) through the gravel dropping him back, he finished in 7th just ahead of Claudio Corti.

Scott Redding was one to watch from the start, he found himself racing for a podium spot after he qualified 12th on the grid. The Brit's chances of a win only lasted 4 laps but a podium was definitely in sight with a battle for 3rd, Swiss rider Thomas Luthi pipped him to it.
A cool track but heated riders, Pol Espargaro fought tooth and nail to hold off Marquez as the rain started falling, both knew the race could be red flagged.

With rain pouring down in Jerez the race was inevitably stopped, however not without confusion as on the lap the flagged was raised, Marquez was in the lead for half the lap, as well as crossing the line under the flag but ruled are rules and it went back to the previous fully completed lap where the last times and places had been recorded which meant Pol Espargaro won his first Moto2 race - even though he didn't know it at the time! Congrats Pol!
All but four of the Moto2 riders stayed on two wheels, Elena Rosell was the first to go out crashing on Lap 4, Marco Colandrea (6 laps), Mike di Meglio (8 laps) and Max Neukirchner (12 laps) were the other three.

[1st-Pol Espargaro, 2nd-Marc Marquez, 3rd-Thomas Luthi]

MotoGP
By the time the MotoGP race rolled around (i know i'm going on about the weather but it was an important factor) the rain had passed and the track was rapidly drying, with tyre wear being the main issue during the race.

Ducati once again were the talking point but on a more positive note this time, Nicky Hayden had a corker of a start to his race, after qualifying on the front row that is where he stayed for the first quarter of the race fending off the Tech 3 Yamaha's of Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso.
While Hayden was holding his place, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo where off in a fight of their own, a familiar sight of them breaking away from the pack. Dani Pedrosa wasn't too far away either.
Stefan Bradl held his own amongst the 'big dawg's' of Valentino Rossi and Alvaro Bautista, the rookie finished in 7th in a Gresini, Ducati sandwich however not Vale but Nicky. Hayden soon wore his tyre's out, with a fair few laps still to run he dropped back down the field to 8th, in front of his teammate. Worrying for the team (i promise i'll hop off the Ducati Bandwagon soon) that while Hayden was immersing himself at the front Rossi was still fighting down in 10th against a rider who is also have a bad start to his season, Ben Spies.
The same thing happened over at Yamaha, Lorenzo fighting for the win and Spies fighting for a point (which he didn't get and finished 11th) Hopefully we'll see them all back up the top sometime soon.

Cal Crutchlow put in another very impressive rider over the weekend, if he had a few more laps and his tyre's weren't dropping off i'm sure he would have taken 3rd off Pedrosa, fingers crossed for the weekend Cal (me bias? of course he's a Brit!)
Lorenzo just missed out on the win with his tyre's degrading rapidly on the last few laps handing the win to Stoner. It was first's for riders in all three classes as Stoner had never won at Jerez before so well done to him. He did suffer from slight arm pump again which is never a good thing, will he get it in Estoril at the weekend...

It was a good weekend for the Espargaro brother's as Pol's big bro Aleix was the fastest CRT (Aleix finished the race in 12th behind Spies) so another well done to him! I bet celebrations went on in their household!
One big disappointment for Randy de Puniet as the frenchman retired on the last lap after what looked like a bike with no fuel left, not a way you want to end so close to the finish line. Other retirements were James Ellison on Lap 24 (gearbox) Michele Pirro, 18 laps and Yonny Hernandez who stalled on the grid, started from the pit lane then came back in to the pit lane on the first lap.

[1st-Casey Stoner, 2nd-Jorge Lorenzo, 3rd- Dani Pedrosa]

Next Race: Estoril 4, 5, 6th May.

Also this week will be the Mugello Formula 1 test.

Emotional farewell

I'll start by saying what i am about to write will do today's and indeed this weekends MotoGP only a fraction of justice, and it might be a little lengthy.

Everyone entered the Valencia paddock this weekend with a heavy heart, a hole in the family. Marco Simoncelli had a big personality, a feisty riding style but most of all he touched everyone in the MotoGP community. Whether you support a particular rider or not MotoGP riders deserve respect, it's dangerous, they push the limits, they risk their lives but as most of the riders said 'we wouldn't live without it'. 

If there was one thing Super Sic would have wanted it would be to continue racing and that's exactly what they did. 

The Honda Gresini team set up Marco's box with his bike and helmet one last time.

In tribute to Sic, his father Paolo Simoncelli suggested earlier in the week that instead of a minutes silence that there should be a minutes noise of revving engines as that's what Marco would have liked. 

After warm up's had finished 125's, Moto2 and the MotoGP bikes took a tribute lap around the circuit all following the 58 bike which good friend and '93 champion Kevin Schwantz was riding. 

Kevin Schwatz lining up after the tribute lap.

Following the lap the MotoGP bikes lined up behind Marco Simoncelli's bike along with the 125's and Moto2's staying on their bikes behind. The MotoGP riders all lined up facing the 58 with two minutes of firecrackers being let off.

A beautiful moment for everyone involved and if you missed it you can watch it on motogp.com

125's

In the last ever 125 race it was the only title decider race of the day which was resolved early on when Johann Zarco of France crashed out the race in tricky, drizzly conditions on Lap 3, handing the 125 title over to rival Nico Terol.

Terol took the race fairly easy from there until gaining places with a battle between fellow Spaniards Marverick Vinales and Hector Faubel. 

The young rookie Vinales scored his fourth win of his debut season with Terol in second and Faubel in 3rd.

Congratulations Nico Terol!

Moto2

After suffering a high impact crash last time out in Sepang, Marc Marquez was deemed unfit to race after suffering double vision, and unless short of a miracle wasn't going to race. 

Inevitably this meant that the Moto2 crown was handed over to Stefan Bradl which he won during qualifying when Marquez was officially unable to put in a fast lap to qualify for the race. 

With unpredictable and wet conditions the qualifying was wrapped up in the first 15 minutes or so and Stefan Bradl began celebrating with his team and congratulating Marc Marquez and his team on a great championship battle, although we would have all loved to have seen the last battle. 

Qualifying on pole was Michele Pirro and second was Gresini team mate Yuki Takahashi - a fitting tribute for the team in memory of Marco.

The race started under doubtful conditions with patches of rain making a lot of riders crash out, including  most of the brits. 

Those who went down including freshly crowned champion Stefan Bradl, shorty after Yuki Takahashi also crashed out, a sight nobody wanted to see, he's ok but under observation in Hospital. 

Meanwhile at the front Pirro lead his Gresini bike to his first victory, followed by Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing) and Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP) 

Not the usual's we see on the podium but a deserved win for Pirro and the team, for Marco. 

The Moto2 Gresini bike with "Race You Life" tribute to Marco.

 Pirro pointing to Marco in the sky - this one's for you.

The Moto2 new World Champion on the podium with his own tribute to Super Sic. 

MotoGP

A very tough weekend for all the riders, Jorge Lorenzo (who did attend the race) and Colin Edwards (resting at home in Texas after the Sepang crash where he was heavily injured) were unable to race.

The race started with a Turn 1 crash where Bautista went down and 'skittled' Randy De Puniet, Nick Hayden and Valentino Rossi and himself into the gravel trap. 

A disappointing result for Rossi who was a close friend to Simoncelli and i imagine would have loved to tribute him by pushing for his first podium of the season. 

It wasn't to be and Casey Stoner rode of into the distance leaving Dovi, Pedrosa and Spies to battle it out for 2nd. 

Battling right through till the last laps when rain started and Pedrosa backed right off, Stoner going wide, leaving Spies to bring back top spot. It looked like he was going to cross the line in first when Stoner (running in 2nd) gained speed and good a good exit on to the finish straight and took first from Spies with half a wheels length between them. 

Behind Spies was Dovizioso and on the last lap rookie of the year Cal Crutchlow took 4th from Pedrosa, the best result for the Brit all season. 

How close it was between Ben Spies and Casey Stoner.

The rookie battle - Karel Abraham and Cal Crutchlow 

 The podium - Ben Spies, Casey Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso

This weekend was the last MotoGP weekend for Honda Gresini rider Hiroshi Aoyama  and MotoGP legend Loris Capirossi

 Good luck in World Superbikes Hiro, it ended on the hardest weekend for MotoGP and the Honda Gresini team but everyone wishes you well in you next bike adventure!

And a very happy retirement for Loris! Grazie for the memories, 22 seasons of MotoGP and i'm not sure it's going to be quite the same without you on the grid, you're a legend on an off the track. Spend time with your family and enjoy but don't forget to pop back to say hi!!

Finally a final farewell to Marco Simoncelli, i hope you enjoyed this weekend after all it was all about you, we'll miss you so so much and you will never be forgotten.

Ride in Paradise Super Sic #58

Ciao Marco

What went on in Motegi...

[Japan in photo's]

With all MotoGP riders and the majority of the crew, Japan weekend went ahead. They done a brilliant job fixing up the track in time after the devastating Earthquake and Tsunami that hit earlier in the year, despite the country still recovering the Japanese were all smiles for the Grand Prix and they were in for a treat.

In 125's, after almost clenching his first win at Misano but missing out to Nicolas Terol, Johann Zarco won his first Grand Prix! Congratulations Johann!!

Moto2 kicked up another exciting race, Stefan Bradl had a disappointing qualifying, unable to turn it around in the race  for a podium, Marc Marquez took full advantage and is now 1 point ahead of Bradl in the Championship hunt, with a few more races to go this may go down to the wire, each deserving but there can only be one champ!

MotoGP saw Valentino Rossi out on the first lap, in a Yamaha sandwich he collided with Ben Spies (a racing incident) and although Rossi had to reitre with [at the time] no suspected injuries the Texan Terror Ben Spies was able to rejoin, after a rocky weekend suffering with severe food poisoning Spies finished the race in 6th.

[Valentino Rossi going down - he has a fractured little finger but should be fit for Australia]

Casey Stoner fell back on Lap 5 after being late on the brakes and taking an excursion through the gravel trap but later made his way up to 3rd - he was unable to catch Jorge Lorenzo for 2nd.

THREE riders got penalised for jump starts, Andrea Dovizioso, Marco Simoncelli and Cal Crutchlow were all given drive through's.

Alvaro Bautista had a cracking start to the race, climbing to third before Stoner over took however Bautista later lost control after the tunnel and crashed the Suzuki.

[Proberly thinking "What happened there?"]

Other retirements from the race were Hector Barbera (who's suffered a broken collarbone and  has had an operation in Barcelona), Toni Elias, Damian Cudlin- who was a replacement for Loris Capirossi who has a broken collarbone. Along with Rossi and Bautista.

With Stoner able to take the title at his home race in a weeks time, he has to win the race, he needs to claim 10 more points than Lorenzo to become a double world Champion after winning his first in 2007.

[Dani Pedrosa after crossing the line] 

[Podium: Jorge Lorenzo (2nd) Dani Pedrosa (1st) and Casey Stoner (3rd)]

Next up Philip Island, Australia!

Powers out in Aragon.

In the middle of nowhere in the country that is referred to as “sunny Spain” but really wasn’t all that sunny, the MotoGP paddock were at their next stop on the calendar - Motorland, Aragon.

In the 125’s Nico Terol won the race by 7 seconds from Johann Zarco who raced Hector Faubel for the majority of the laps, in bid to both be higher on the podium however on the last corner Faubel crashed out in an attempt to pass Zarco and gave Marverick Vinales 3^rd place on the podium.

Briton Danny Kent had a strong race at his first Aragon Grand Prix, he finished up 7^th, slip streaming along the start/finish straight he moved up from 9^th to 5^th but lost out on the last lap to Sandro Cortese.

Moto2 was another belter of a race. Spaniard and reigning 125 champ, Marc Marquez started from pole and carried out what he started into the race. Stefan bradl and Scott Redding challenged for the lead early on, meanwhile Andrea Lannone battled through the field from 10^th along with Simon Corsi and Alex de Angelis all up at the front, this saw a five-way battle for the lead.

Responding to his competitors, Marquez broke out from the pack on Lap 13 taking the lead and winning in Aragon.

On Lap 16 Bradl feel back and finished in 8^th after what appeared to be a mechanical problem. Lannone finished in 2^nd and joining in on podium celebrations was Corsi.

Another MotoGP, another Stoner victory, his dominance on the Repsol Honda is still evident, even if they changed the livery to what looked like a kid had scribbled on it in a off orange colour (it’s what we’ve all been thinking!)

From Lap 2 Stoner remained top dog, or should I say top kangaroo? He left the rest of the pack behind to take his eighth victory in the last 14 races!

Ben Spies on the factory Yamaha was off to a strong start taking an early lead into Turn 1, in front of Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa however by lap two the Honda’s had better speed and demoted him to 3^rd, he finished the race in 5^th. The Yamaha struggled with tyre wear Spies later said “[by the] sixth of seventh lap the tyre just made a huge drop and just kept going down.”

His teammate Jorge Lorenzo finished in 3^rd, after a slow start he crept up to 3^rd on the grid and held off Marco Simoncelli who finished in 4^th.

The race had thrills and spill’s, Andrea Dovizioso crashed the newly designed Honda on the first lap along with Karel Abraham who had a nasty crash on Lap 1, causing Randy De Puniet to run wide of the track to avoid him, RDP managed to rejoin safely and finished 12^th.

It didn’t end there with Loris Capirossi having a nightmare end of season, colliding with Toni Elias on Lap 15, dislocating his right shoulder in the fall - we hope to see him in Motegi!

Valentino Rossi who started from the pit lane finished in 10^th behind Cal Crutchlow while Rossi’s teammate had a scrap for 7^th, piping Hector Barbera on the last lap. 

Repsol Honda's Aragon livery... Hmm.

[MotoGP Podium - Dani Pedrosa, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo]

Next up is the fly away races, we head off to Motegi, Japan first where all the riders will be racing and a plus, Yamaha will be running their red and white livery! 

One year, one year since the MotoGP world lost an incredibly talented young rider. 
At Misano last year in the Moto2 race Shoya Tomizawa lost his life after a horrific crash that will stay with everyone in the moto world forever. It was a sad day for his family, friends, the MotoGP Paddock and fans. 


Shoya was such a loveable character, he had a cheeky, upbeat personality, he constantly had the biggest smile on his face, was respected by everyone and was a massively talented rider, a star of the future. 
He made history as the first ever Moto2 winner at Qatar last year where he stormed to the victory and made his mark on the Moto2 world. His year was on the up with several top 6 finishes and pole positions until the fatal crash at San Marino. 


For me, the race yesterday was hard to watch, it didn't feel right and i couldn't help but think of Shoya for most of it. 
I miss seeing him line up on the grid, waving to the camera with his infectious smile and positive attitude that he always portrayed. 
I miss supporting #48 


Shoya, On the track and beyond, we will always follow your line ♥

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R.I.P Shoya Tomizawa, you'll never be forgotten #48.

Misano low down

The San Marino Grand Prix is a track, which brings up a lot of emotions. This weekend saw the return of Wayne Rainey after his career ending crash in 1993 and of course the remembrance of young Japanese star Shoya Tomizawa who lost his life after a horrific crash during Moto2 last year.

The 125’s saw a battle between Johann Zarco and Nicolas Terol to the end, where Zarco made a massive mistake of looking back as he was crossing the finish line, I don’t know what was running through his head at the time but maybe next time he’ll wait till he crosses the line…

0.022s gap between the two, still no idea what Zarco was doing.

Moto2 was another exciting race; the championship is a close dual with both Stefan Bradl and Marc Marquez in the running to becoming the 2011 Moto2 champion.

The start of the race saw Brit Scott Redding take an early lead after a strong weekend for him and the team, he later slipped back to 5^th behind fellow Briton Bradley Smith paving the way for a Marquez to take the win in Misano while Stefan Bradl finished in 2^nd.

[Moto2 podium]

With the black clouds rolling in and a few spits of rain the MotoGP got underway, all bikes opted for slick tyres.

Lorenzo made his intentions clear and took the lead from Stoner at the first corner, Pedrosa stayed in touch with Stoner through out the race and it was a battle based on which position the trio would be on the podium. Meanwhile another trio where all fighting for fourth, Andrea Dovizioso, Marco Simoncelli and Ben Spies fought till the end.

Six laps to go and Dani Pedrosa took 2^nd from Stoner, making it a Spanish 1-2 with Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo finishing 1^st closing in on the championship, 35 points adrift from Stoner.

Simoncelli put in a major last lap, intense, exciting racing from the Italian who is having a good run of races currently, he took 4^th with Repsol Honda’s Dovizioso in 5^th and Spies in 6^th.

Another reasonable performance from Valentino Rossi as he managed 7^th - not quite the podium feeling of last year but a good effort considering. Meanwhile his teammate Nicky Hayden had a consecutive retirement after crashing out of the San Marino Grand Prix

A disappointing end to Loris Capirossi’ last Italian GP as he retired due to mechanical problem.

The #46 Rossi supporters out in force at Misano...

Not forgetting the Ducati lovers...

And the podium...

Next up - Motorland, Aragon!