2008 British MotoGP highlights (WARNING SPOILER)

tye1138 · Jun 20, 2008

With the fastest times in both MotoGP sessions on Friday in Donington Park, Casey Stoner was undoubtedly the day´s standout performer in preparation for the bwin.com British Grand Prix.

The Ducati Marlboro rider completed a successful day of practice with a 1´28.253 lap that blitzed Colin Edwards´ 2007 pole position time, giving him a comfortable advantage of half a second over Repsol Honda´s Nicky Hayden. Stoner was the winner of last year´s race at the British circuit, and the chances of a repeat victory look promising for the rider currently fourth in the overall standings.

Hayden repaid Honda´s faith in letting him use the pneumatic valve engine for the RC212V, showing a swift pace and making him the fastest rider of the day for the Japanese factory. The 2006 World Champion had tested the engine last week in Catalunya, and has long championed the use of the motor to kickstart his 2008 campaign. During the afternoon session he also engaged in some light on-track conversation with rival Valentino Rossi, third fastest onboard the Fiat Yamaha M1.

2007 Donington poleman and podium finisher Edwards showed was fourth quickest with the satellite Yamaha machine, clocking a 1´28.969 lap whilst his young son slept peacefully in the Tech3 Yamaha garage. Donington Park is one of the Texan´s better tracks, a fact reflected in his race pace during the sessions.

Alex de Angelis was the highest placing satellite Honda rider in fifth, ahead of factory man Dani Pedrosa. The latter was using the standard spring valve version of the RC212V engine, having not had sufficient testing time in Catalunya owing to a crash. He also took a tumble on Friday afternoon, although with no obvious ill effects to his injured back. Pedrosa returned to the track later in the session.

Shinya Nakano, James Toseland, Chris Vermeulen and Randy de Puniet completed the fastest ten riders in the combined standings, With Toseland getting to grips with his home track onboard the second Tech 3 Yamaha machine.

Next Posting on Saturday, after qualifying.

rcrob · Jun 20, 2008

Nice to see Nicky second fastests, hopefully he can convert that into a good result, he certainly could use that at least for the sake of confidence.

tye1138 · Jun 21, 2008

Casey Stoner will start the bwin.com British Grand Prix from pole position, after an amazing qualifying performance.

As the rain continued to fall on Donington Park, Casey Stoner performed the MotoGP equivalent of walking on water in the Saturday afternoon qualifying session. The Ducati Marlboro rider was unstoppable in an amazing hour-long demonstration of 800cc riding en route to his second consecutive pole position of the year, continually lowering his times right up to the final moment.

Stoner eventually settled on a 1´38.232 lap as his ultimate offer, some six tenths of a second ahead of nearest rival Valentino Rossi. After dominating in the dry on Friday, the reigning World Champion has proved that he is ready for any eventuality when the lights go out on Sunday. Rossi, however, is the current series leader, and a rider who has also proved his worth at Donington Park in previous years.

Rizla Suzuki´s Chris Vermeulen makes his maiden appearance of the season on the front row at the bwin.com British Grand Prix, aiming for a repeat of his 2007 podium, his presence on the front line also marks the first time this year that Bridgestone have taken all three top spots for a MotoGP race.
Leading the Michelin charge –and making it four different manufacturers in the top four grid spots- Nicky Hayden continued his upturn in fortunes since receiving the pneumatic valve engine from Honda. The factory rider had been told that he could only use the motor on the condition of a top four placing, and the 2006 World Champion once again upheld his part of the bargain, albeit a full second slower than Stoner.

Last year´s poleman Colin Edwards was the fastest satellite rider onboard the Tech3 Yamaha M1, whilst JiR Team Scot´s Andrea Dovizioso joins him on row two. The third line features Anthony West –so impressive on his 800cc debut at Donington last year and riding for his future- and Rizla Suzuki replacement rider Ben Spies ahead of Dani Pedrosa, currently second in the World Championship.

Whilst West came close to a falling when tussling with Dovizioso, home rider James Toseland was the only rider to take a tumble when pushing for an improvement for his Donington race return. Toseland´s rock group `Crash!´ may have wowed the crowds at yesterday´s Riders for Health event, but on Saturday afternoon the ensemble´s moniker was anything but welcome; two falls at the end of the session frustrating the Englishman and leaving him sixteenth on the grid.

AZ_Scott · Jun 22, 2008

FWIW, you really should credit the author when you copy and paste these race reports...

Matt_P · Jun 22, 2008

Tye, how do you have time for a social life? Between being a successful author and racer you must really have your hands full.

lol just playin man, thanks for livening up the road racing forum.

tye1138 · Jun 22, 2008

Hey, if you wanna be successful at something, its good to do it full time! So no, I have zero social life... but I will succeed at my dream of being a racer.

tye1138 · Jun 22, 2008

We've seen it before, we're seeing it again. Casey Stoner rode a brilliant practice, qualifying and now finishes several seconds in front of the opposition during the race. Just like 2007, he seems to have his act together, he was dominant and very focused.

Not a very exciting race, actually pretty boring. Stoner did the business, Rossi attempted to keep up and had some tire issues. Pedrosa was on fire and played with Rossi, to end up in 3rd after loosing his tires as well. Lorenzo was struggling, but ended up with a fantastic 6th position while Toseland, at his home track, crashed out on the first corner and wasn't able to race with the big kids. It was great to see Ben Spies in 8th position after qualifying, but sadly he was unable to keep in that position for long. Hayden showed his strength, but again as this year progresses, was pushed down list. With 10 races remaining in the calendar, Rossi's 45 point lead is not impressive. Stoner is in 3rd position and if he can keep his chin up and mind focused, he could close the gap on Rossi within the next few races.

Here is how the riders felt:

Casey Stoner – Race Winner
`It´s better for us here to win here because we know that now we can run better for the future again. The first races after Qatar were a disaster for us. We started fast right from the first session and have been competitive in both the wet and the dry. I have to thank the mechanics; they´ve been working hard to solve problems that we´ve been having, and I hope that this is something for future races, not just the two where we´ve tested.´

Valentino Rossi – Second Place
`I tried to stay with Casey at the beginning of the race, but it was not possible. I knew that Dani could come back at me, and when I saw his name on the board the battle started. On some corners we were not fast enough, and it was difficult like always. These 20 points are important for the championship, and I hope to have a better result in Assen.´

Dani Pedrosa – Third Place
`I am happy because the race was hard. I started from the back, got a good start and started to pass riders. I knew that Stoner and Rossi were going fast. Third is good but we have to improve. Anyway, I´m happy because the weekend itself was quite difficult.´

Rumor Patrol;

- Hayden's talking with Ducati once more.
- Marco Melandri has discussed leaving Ducati and nullifying his contract.
- There have been talks about bringing Sete back to Ducati, more on that soon.
- Rossi, for the first time ever, is very interested in what Ducati has to offer. IN an off-camera interview, he admitted his interest in joining Ducati and was concerned about power output, compared to his Yamaha.

All of those are rumors, but from my readings online, pretty good ones!

We could be in for a great 09 season if things go this way!

Next race in one weeks time!

wazhazhe · Jun 23, 2008

tye1138 said:
- Rossi, for the first time ever, is very interested in what Ducati has to offer. IN an off-camera interview, he admitted his interest in joining Ducati and was concerned about power output, compared to his Yamaha.

Rossi just signed a two year extension with Yamaha so unless we're talking about the 2011 season, Rossi's not going to be riding for Ducati.

ETA: First race in MotoGP, first time on the track, only one day of practice in the dry; I'd say Spies did a great job.

Bevel-Heaven · Jun 23, 2008

I am most impressed with Ben Spies who qualified 8th and finished what, 15th in his first MotoGP....... Good onya

rcrob · Jun 23, 2008

I'm not as easily impressed I guess. He finished 14th ahead of three other riders, two of which crashed out in front of him (although toseland only made it to the first corner). He did a lot better in qualifying than a lot of the regulars, including Pedrossa, but had the Q-session been dry I think he wouldn't have done as well. All in all not a bad outing for him, but for as dominant as he is in the AMA series, to finish nearly dead last kind of shows the difference in rider abilities in each respective series. Welcome to the deep end my friend! I expect he will do much better at the Laguna round where he has a lot of track knowledge.

On another note WTF is up with Melandri, I can't see him riding the second factory Duc next year, regardless of his contract. I imagine we may see Hayden on the factory bike and Melandri on the Alice Squad if he doesn't get released from his contract (which it sounds like he wants).

ZDM · Jun 23, 2008

To be honest I think that MotoGP has possibly the worst product in all. The field is small. as they circulate there's nobody on the track. You have about 4-5 teams that are competative.
The best MotoGP had to offer was years ago with the 2 stroke 500 GP bikes. Even the 990cc bikes were more entertaining. I'm not sure where MotoGP is going in the future. A few years ago it was WSBK on it's death bed, MotoGP has to be close...the racing is terrible!
The WSBK series is exciting to watch, they have more bikes entered, the bikes are more like the ones you can actually buy(except for the Desmosedici RR in MotoGP) and that makes it a more personal experence.
As far as AMA, well that's the bottom of the barrel right now! They should have brought in Ducati this year, not because I have one but because it just injects more variety in the series.

Patriots1 · Jun 23, 2008

I would certainly agree with many of the things ZDM said above, especially about the WSBK being exciting because the bikes are similar to the bikes we can buy. But I also really enjoy watching the moto gp. Maybe its because I just got into it about a year ago so its still pretty new to me. I must say I was quite excited thoughout today's race and it was nice to see Casey win a race again. Hopefully he can keep it up and gradually chip away at Rossi and Pedrosa's lead.

racetrackboy · Jun 23, 2008

Honk honk!

dirkdiggler13 · Jun 23, 2008

Am I the only one that thoroughly enjoyed watching arrogant Spies sucking everyone else's exhaust fumes?

rcrob · Jun 23, 2008

I don't have as much disdain for Spies, but I did enjoy measuring Mladin by proxy. Since Spies is the only guy finishing ahead of Mladin on most days and he finished 14th out of 17 riders one can only assume Mladin would have fared no better.

DemmBonZ · Jun 23, 2008

I went to Road America for the last round of the AMA a couple weeks ago. Spies crashed during qualifying and cut his neck open. Put a band aid on it and got back on his backup bike and got the pole...not bad.
Diggler these are for you. (at least the bloody ones are)
1)Schwantz inspects the damage. 2)So do some other crew members 3)Spies wipes off some blood. 4)So does Mommy. 5)A little more blood that she missed. 6)Back on with the helmet to get one more lap of qualifying on the backup bike. 7)All bandaged up and on pole...pretty impressive. 8)A pissed off Mladin in 2nd place...seconds after cussing so the whole paddock could hear him and whipping his helmet on the table, trying to catch it before it hit the ground and missing...very comical.
I have pictures of the crashed bike too if anyone is interested.

dirkdiggler13 · Jun 24, 2008

DemmBonZ said:
Diggler these are for you. (at least the bloody ones are)
1)Schwantz inspects the damage. 2)So do some other crew members 3)Spies wipes off some blood. 4)So does Mommy. 5)A little more blood that she missed. 6)Back on with the helmet to get one more lap of qualifying on the backup bike. 7)All bandaged up and on pole...pretty impressive. 8)A pissed off Mladin in 2nd place...seconds after cussing so the whole paddock could hear him and whipping his helmet on the table, trying to catch it before it hit the ground and missing...very comical.
I have pictures of the crashed bike too if anyone is interested.

That's awesome! It's hard to beat a picture of a bloody Spies (unless it was Pedrosa or Lorenzo), but I'd like to take a look at his mangled bike too. I think I'll make a nice t-shirt of "bloody" Ben to wear at the Indy GP. Maybe I'll even ask him to sign it.

Is there a bigger momma's boy in all of professional road racing? Dude you're a grown man now, leave your mom at home.

Ducatibob749S · Jun 23, 2008

I have to agree with Grendal. Riding at Donnignton is sketchy in the dry, add wet and never having seen the place, and I think he put together a decent result. It definitely shows the bike advantage the Suzuki boys have in AMA, but a decent result none the less.

tye1138 · Jun 23, 2008

What did Toseland say about going from WSB to GP? Something about everything being almost the same, besides the braking. He said, you can go so much faster on the GP bikes, you have to learn how to brake so much later and harder, its deceiving. This is probably one of the reasons Spies did well in qualifying in the wet, ya can't go fast. When it comes to "real" GP speed, thats a completely different story. I expected Spies in the back of the pack and thats where he was. I personally feel Spies needs a season in WSB to learn the tracks, work with almost stock bikes, to get use to things. Then he can migrate into GP, once he has the track experience.

I'm still shocked Hodgeson isn't doing better. It must be the tracks and setup... he is a far better rider then Spies and has proven it.

Fess · Jun 23, 2008

Anyone know why Pedrosa & Rossi are dangling their left feet in the air before they enter a left turn? I'm seeing more often now.

ian · Jun 23, 2008

FINALLY, a good weekend >>>>>>>

wazhazhe · Jun 24, 2008

A couple of photos:

tye1138 · Jun 24, 2008

It would be kool to strap Spies on a stock gsxr, Stoner on a stock 1098, Rossi on a stock R1... etc and do a "CHARITY" race at a US track. See what happens then... could be an interesting result.

dynamix67 · Jun 24, 2008

Now that's thinking TYE! I always wonderd what lap tines Rossi could do on a Superstock spec 1000 or 600 at track that I race on such as Summit Point ,VIR, Jennings GP, Nelson Ledges.....
He would probably balk at the invitation hehe! For example at Summit last year Tray Batey broke the track record..1:13.4 (don't quote me on that)..can Rossi with some time do a high 1:10..??? Interesting to think about.

tye1138 · Jun 26, 2008

LOL

That video of Rossi on the scooter is way too british for me. It seems that wheelies in the UK are a daily experience.

2008 British MotoGP highlights (WARNING SPOILER)

Attachments

Attachments

Top Contributors this Month

Recommended Communities