Recent Posts
September 25th 2006 10:54
The Japanese Grand Prix has been run and won in spectacular style with an all Italian Podium! Loris Capirossi, Valentino Rossi and Marco Melandri finished 1, 2 and 3 with the Montegi Circuit providing much sunshine and some fantastic racing.
The 3 Italians finished the race the same way they qualified!
Ducati’s Capirossi led the race fairly unchallenged from start to finish with Melandri moving into second early on but soon giving that spot up to a hard charging Rossi. Rossi seemed to try to put out a challenge to his fellow countryman Capirossi but as he closed his gap, Capirossi seemed to get wind of the situation and soon pulled out an uncatchable lead.
Aussie Casey Stoner put his Honda into 4th for a few laps and was putting on a show to be proud of before he was caught from behind and fell back to 8th before losing his front end and going down, unable to finish the race.
Sete Gibernau was comfortable in 4th with Kawasaki’s Shinya Nakano behind him and Nicky Hayden charging through the pack in 6th after the Kentucky Kid had a horrible start in 9th after a disappointing 7th place qualifying on the grid.
Shinya Nakano put in a challenge against Gibernau for 4th on the final lap but pushed it too far and washed out, lucky not to take Gibernau with him. This gave Hayden an easy passage up to 5th but still finishing 3 places behind Rossi and losing precious Championship points with 2 rounds left to go.
Hayden is now only 12 points clear of the Rossi in the Championship as the Motogp heads into Portugal for the penultimate round. Melandri sits in 3rd 15 points behind Rossi but only 4 points clear of Capirossi and 7 points ahead of Dani Pedrosa.
September 25th 2006 10:27
Philip Island was the venue for Round 14 of Motogp and the worlds best turned out to put on a show that will not be forgotten! At least it was dry. No, wait, it was wet. No, wait, it got dry again!
It started out a fine and slightly overcast Phillip island day. Tyres were picked out for a such an occasion, but then, while waiting to go out for the warm up – the heavens opened up – but only slightly. Should we put on wets or stick with our slicks? The new rule for tyres and wet weather meant that if it started to rain, the riders could come into the pits during the race and change bikes to ride out the race on the more suitable compound. Everyone stuck to their slicks but the pit crew had the spare with wets ready.
Shinya Nakano got a blinder of a start on his Kawasaki and pulled out a 5 second gap over the first 2 laps! Still in front by lap 6, the other riders all deciding to pit and switch to their wets, Nakano stayed out in the treacherous conditions for the extra lap, no doubt believing that this extra lap in front would give him an unstoppable gap. Not to be as after he pitted the next lap and rejoined the race in second behind Sete Gibernau. As the rain came down, Nakano slid back through the pack eventually finishing in 8th.
Australian Chris Vermuelen came charging from behind to slot nicely into second place and even put in a good bid for the lead. Not to be though with the Aussie ending the race with his best finish to date – Second behind Marco Melandri.
Melandri came flying through the pack and had the lead by lap 16 and eventually finished up winning by over 10 seconds.
Rossi came from a shocker of a start, back in 10th, to eventually take the last podium spot by the last lap. This was crucial to Rossi’s World Championship bid as he is still well behind on points form the Championship points leader, American Nicky Hayden.
Round 15 goes to Japan and with Rossi well and truly back in the running for the Championship, should make for some exciting racing!
September 14th 2006 13:05
The sport is alive and well when the athletes will take to the sporting field with an injury that would leave a normal person unable to walk let alone compete at an international level, but that is what 20 year old Dani Pedrosa did on the weekend at Sepang, Malaysia in round 13 of 2006 Motogp.
Pedrosa clipped a curb in Fridays practice and sustained a deep cut to his knee which required 4 stitches and two broken toes on his left foot. It was undecided if he would race on Sunday until the final minutes before the race when it was decided he would go ahead.
Starting at 5th on the grid, Pedrosa made a surprising start to the race, taking the lead by turn one! This was not to last too long though as Valentino Rossi ,who started on pole, and fellow Italian rider, Loris Capirossi came storming past to pull a huge gap on the rest of the field.
Capirossi took the early lead but soon surrendered it to Rossi before the two spent the remainder of the race dicing between themselves before the last lap showdown that saw Rossi came storming past to take the chequers.
Pedrosa crossed the line in third after a race that saw him hardly challenged for the last podium spot. US rider Nicky Hayden finished in 4th and has now greatly reduced his points lead over Pedrosa to 22 points and Rossi now 26 points.
Fifth place to Sete Gibernau on his comeback ride after a nasty collarbone injury and sixth to John Hopkins who had a horrible start and was eleventh after lap one.
The next round sees the Motogp boys heading to the gorgeous Phillip Island Circuit in Victoria, Australia.
Rossi took out this race last year and is sure to be among the favourites to take out the win.
The superbike circus went to Assen and the heavens opened up! There were thrills and spills galore as rider after rider ran off into the kitty litter. Bayliss, Corser, Haga, Kagayama, Barros, Xaus – just some of the names that succumbed to the wet conditions.
Race 1 saw an unlikely winner in Kawasaki’s Chris Walker. But as the rain came down, Walker proved he could keep the machine on the track and bring home the win. This was Kawasaki’s first win in superbikes for 6 years! Walker finished the first lap in 25th place and worked his way up to take the win over Andrew Pitt by nearly 5 seconds.
Haga had a 20second lead when he visited the kitty litter at lap 13 and Young Aussie Josh Brookes made it up to 5th place at one stage before he too went down in lap 16.
[ Click here to read more ]
Aussie world domination seems eminent! At least in the motocross scene anyways. Kawasaki pilot Daniel Reardon has confirmed he will ride the final round of the AMA motocross championships at Glen Helen, California, USA on September 10. He is joining fellow Aussie Jake Moss who is racing a White Brothers YZ250F. Both these guys will be heading back to Oz straight after the race to compete at the Supercross Masters at the Sydney Superdome the following weekend.
Reardon has just been confirmed to represent Australia at the MX des Nations and the Glen Helen race will undoubtedly give him a good insight into how his speed rates against the worlds best and let him know what his strengths and weaknesses are. Currently leading the Australian Supercross Pro Open class, this opportunity is definitely happening at the right time in his racing career
[ Click here to read more ]
Who else was impressed to see Pedrosa step up and have a go at Rossi at Brno on the weekend? The little Spaniard came from behind to battle with Rossi, and for a couple of corners looked like he could’ve been a threat but it wasn’t to be as Rossi put on some moves and chopped him up good and pulled away for a second place finish. Second place finish? Rossi? After he started on pole? That’s right – Capirossi led start to finish and posted the fastest lap times and finished 5 seconds ahead of Rossi and at one stage had a lead of almost 8 seconds!
Aussie Rocket Casey Stoner finished a credible 6th – 15 seconds behind the race winner. He too had a tustle with Pedrosa early in the race, but wasn’t able to hold the pace for the entire race. Vermuelen got into 12th and added some more points to his cache. Good to see a couple of our boys up there slicing and dicing. Stoner will be the man to watch in 2007 though. Flashes of raw speed and flawless technique shine through every so often, just needs some regularity and endurance and watch out
[ Click here to read more ]
Boys will be boys. And Men will be boys too. Or so it would seem if you have caught a whiff of the latest sensation sweeping the motorcycle world. Pocketbike racing. Small replicas of road racing machines ridden by grown men around go cart circuits. Don’t be fooled by the size of the bikes, they go fast and they make lost of noise. What else could you ask for from a motorsport?
thanks to viperperformance.com.au
[ Click here to read more ]
Mx Des Nations time again (or as its now know - Motocross of Nations). And the Aussie team has been named. And then changed. First it was Chad Reed, Michael Byrne and Brett Metcalfe. Then Reed pulled out with injury and now Byrne has Visa problems???? Craig Anderson was asked to jump in but declined due to his thumb injury. Finally, Daniel Reardon and Cheyne Boyd were asked and had no hesitations accepting. To be held in Winchester, England, on September 23-24 and I’m sure the boys will do us proud.
Team USA appears to be a daunting challenger though with Ricky Carmichael, James Stewart and teen sensation Ryan Villopotto representing. Team USA has got to easily be favoured to take the win while the rest of the positions are anyones for the taking really
[ Click here to read more ]
Who else was impressed to see Pedrosa step up and have a go at Rossi at Brno on the weekend? The little Spaniard came from behind to battle with Rossi, and for a couple of corners looked like he could’ve been a threat but it wasn’t to be as Rossi put on some moves and chopped him up good and pulled away for a second place finish. Second place finish? Rossi? After he started on pole? That’s right – Capirossi led start to finish and posted the fastest lap times and finished 5 seconds ahead of Rossi and at one stage had a lead of almost 8 seconds!
Aussie Rocket Casey Stoner finished a credible 6th – 15 seconds behind the race winner. He too had a tustle with Pedrosa early in the race, but wasn’t able to hold the pace for the entire race. Vermuelen got into 12th and added some more points to his cache. Good to see a couple of our boys up there slicing and dicing. Stoner will be the man to watch in 2007 though. Flashes of raw speed and flawless technique shine through every so often, just needs some regularity and endurance and watch out
[ Click here to read more ]
|
|
|
Add Comments
Comments (1)
Read More
Comment by Joey
on help this idiot
BRNO MOTOGP 2006
i want to keep my motonewsonline page and add my brno blog to that page.