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! 

Loris Capirossi

In Thursday's press conference at Misano a teary eyed Loris Capirossi announced his retirement from MotoGP at the end of the season...

[In action - FP1 Misano] 

He''s a popular face around the paddock and received a standing ovation at the press conference, we hope he enjoys the end of the season and particularly his last Italian Grand Prix. Good luck!

Indy...

I haven't had the time to do an Indianapolis low down from last weekend so seeing as the MotoGP circus has moved on to Misano i thought i'd do a slightly different Indy low down... in picture form!


Indianapolis aka The Brickyard with home boys, Nicky Hayden, Colin Edwards and Ben Spies. The chances of an American on the podium was looking up for Ben Spies keeping up a quick pace in practise and a strong qualifying however got off to a tough start getting caught up in the mid field, narrowly missing crashing out on Lap 1... we wouldn't want to see this beauty of a bike in the gravel! Everyone agree that Yamaha should keep the red and white livery, yes?!

In all honesty the Indy GP wasn't action packed, with mechanical failures popping up Rossi landed himself at the back of the grid... somewhere where we are slowly (and i mean snail pace, not really accepting that it's happening slowly) getting used to seeing him at the back of the field struggling with his Ducati.

His teammate Nicky Hayden didn't manage to finish the race, maybe it was the wedding helmet? Maybe not but either or he had to retire due to a mechanical failure.

It was a familiar sight when Casey Stoner crossed the line and won the Indy Grand Prix, like he has done so for the majority of the races this year.

The Aussie is well on his way to becoming World Champion!
Hector Barbera was so close but so far from finishing the GP, maybe he thought he was in a stunt movie for a minute?! Sorry Barbera but that doesn't count as finishing the race...

Dani Pedrosa finished in second and to round of the podium Ben Spies finished in 3rd, his first podium since his win in Assen!

[www.motorsport.com]

Onwards and upwards and across to Italy for Misano! 

Brno, Czech Republic - low down.

I'll start of by saying, this weekend the MotoGP world remembered Shoya Tomizawa who took his last pole at Brno last year and finished in 11th, his last finish at a Moto2 race. We miss you Shoya!! A young talent and an all round lovely guy who will always be remembered, Misano will be a hard weekend.

With varying weather conditions throughout the weekend, race day was the highest temperatures, with limited knowledge of what setup to use the 125’s were first out in the blazing sunshine.

With Nicolas Terol, the 125cc championship leader, having to retire because of mechanical problems, Sandro Cortese was able to take his first Grand Prix win, followed on the podium by Johann Zarco and Alberto Moncayo.

It wasn’t a strong day for the British riders as Danny Kent went out in the 125’s,Bradley Smith crashing and retiring out of the Moto2 class and Cal Crutchlow later crashing out in MotoGP.

Moto2 was another cracking race with the top four battling out to the chequered flag.

Stefan bradl led comfortably for the first half of the race but his race soon came under threat by Andrea Lannone, Marc Marquez and Alex de Angelis, all battling at the front.

Just as you thought one was in the lead, it changed and the order kept shuffling around till the last lap (a little confusing amongst the excitement of uncertainty of who would finish where)

On the last lap the battle for the win at Brno was between Lannone and Marquez who fought till the last corner when the Italian, Lannone took the win, the Moto2 podium was completed with Marquez in 2^nd and Bradl finishing in 3^rd.

With the lower classes completed it was time for MotoGP to get underway at Brno circuit, all riders opted for the extra-harder compound front and soft rear tyre except Jorge Lorenzo and Alvaro Bautista who both took a gamble and went for the softer front option.

Dani Pedrosa looked strong all weekend and with a solid pole position he was unable to keep in front when off the line and Lorenzo swiftly passed him with the rest of the ‘aliens’ not far behind.

Just seconds after taking back the lead from Lorenzo, who slipped back behind Stoner, Pedrosa lost the front end and subsequently crashed his Honda (he is okay, luckily) meanwhile in the middle of the field Valentino Rossi -who’s been struggling all year with his Ducati bike- managed to take 7^th from his team mate Nicky Hayden.

Stoner ran away in first ahead of Lorenzo and Dovizioso with a 2.5 second gap while home rider Karol Abraham, who’s weekend had been far from perfect, crashed out, to rejoin the race to then later retire with a mechanical failure, a disappointing weekend for him and then team however the crowd still had plenty of action to enjoy.

Lorenzo’s tyre choice gave him no favours and after having a few wobbly moments, Marco Simoncelli overtook the current world champion for 3^rd (yes, cleanly and stayed upright). Honda’s powered the front followed by the Yamaha boy’s n 4^th and 5^th with Rossi holding on to 6^th after having been pressured by Bautista who then crashed out.

Stoner went on to take his sixth win of the season, increasing his lead even further in the championship. Dovizioso came in 2^nd and it was a long time coming but Simoncelli finally got to step foot on the podium and enjoy the celebrations.

The best of the rest saw Lorenzo finish in 4^th along side his team mate Ben Spies, who despite having a trapped nerve causing trouble in his arm and neck came in a triumphant 5^th seeing as he was unsure as to whether he’d complete the full race distance. Rossi took 6^th a massive boost for the team who finally seem to be going forward rather than hanging around at the back of the field, somewhere we are not used to seeing Valentino Rossi, with his team mate Hayden finishing in 7th.

 [MotoGP Brno, Czech Republic podium - Casey stoner (1st) Adrea Dovizioso (2nd) Marco Simoncelli and his hair (3rd)]

With a test day taking place at Brno tomorrow with the new 2012 bikes,  MotoGP will be back in the USA in two weeks time.

Next up, Indianapolis, Indiana, aka the brickyard.