Rossi Racks Up 100th GP Win

Valentino Rossi joins Agostini as the only rider to win 100 Gran Prix races. Assen has never been the same since they butchered the north end to make room for more grandstands, but it didn't seem to bother Vale on Saturday as he finished 5 seconds ahead of Lorenzo. After the first few laps, the rest of the pack weren't even in the same race, with Stoner finishing 23 seconds back in 3rd, followed by Colin Edwards another 6 seconds back in fourth. While Casey was at the front at one point, the other four Ducatis occupied four of the last five positions. Something is seriously pooched when only one guy can figure out a setup. BTW Edwards has apparently been offered a boatload of cash to ride for Aprilia in WSB next year. That will be interesting ... I suspect he'll see the podium more than a few times. This coming weekend, the MotoGP circus tackles the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca.

Spies Shows the Brits How It's Done

In a pair of races, not far from Sherwood forest, Ben Spies showed the Brits how to ride Donington's rolling circuit. You'd expect Shakey Byrne, Leon Haslam and Johnny Rea to lead the way, but in race one on Sunday, Ben lead Biaggi and Haga to the podium. Haslam and Byrne arrived next, then Nakano and Rea. A rather uninteresting race really. This was John Hopkin's debut return to the series, finishing a respectable 8th. Race two saw Haga crash hard on lap 5, fracturing his left shoulder blade in multiple places and breaking his right elbow. Biaggi also went down, but remounted and finished 21st with a broken foot. Spies pulled an AMA-style seven second gap on the pack and it was no contest. Haslam grabbed second, with Fabrizio third, then Byrne and another Brit Tom Sykes. Wildcard rider Leon Camier, current BSB championship leader, finished 6th with his BSB teamate James Ellison in 8th. Hopper was exhausted by his race one effort and wasn't able to start race two. What does this do to the standings? Haga's almost certain championship win is evaporating fast. Ben Spies is on a roll, climbing to within 14 points of the leader. With one round left before the WSB summer break, the crowd at Brno may very well see Ben Spies take the championship lead. I'd even bet a few shekels on it.

WSB Misano Results

In the country of San Marino, surrounded by Italy on all sides, just north of Valentino Rossi's hometown, sits the slightly odd, but certainly world-class, Misano race circuit. Saturday's Superpole qualifying saw first go to Jakub Smrz, followed by Jonathan Rae, Fabrizio then Spies. This turn of events was followed by a wet start on Sunday, with Shakey Byrne taking the early lead and holding until halfway through, when bikes started pitting for dry tyres. Shakey postponed the inevitable until 7 laps to go. He pitted, got off to a slowish start on dries and Spies, who had already been on dries for a couple of laps, passed him for the win. Final flag went Spies, Byrne and Fabrizio. If the track had stayed damp, Byrne would certainly have taken his first WSB win. Race 2 was more conventional, but Ben fried his clutch, dropping to 16th or 17th for the early part of the race. In spite of the crippling injury to the Yamaha, he managed to recover 9th position by race end. The first half of the race saw Haga take the lead, with Johnny Rae sandwiched between him and Ducati teammate Fabrizio. Rae's new suspension seemed to work for him as he passed Haga at mid-race. Fabrizio also passed Haga shortly afterwards, but these two then swapped back and forth until Fabrizio was able to pull away several laps later. Michel, once free of Haga, then caught and fought Rae for the lead right down to the wire. Rae owned the last few corners and captured his first WSB win. Fabrizio and Haga joined him on the podium. Smrz who won Superpole, just missed the podium, finishing 4th in both races. Byrne fininshed 6th in race 2. It will be interesting to see how the Brit riders Rae, Byrne, Sykes and Haslam do at the next race on home soil at Donington next week. Also riding Misano under the Union Jack was Anglo-American, AMA rider Jamie Hacking who finished 16th and 22nd yesterday. Hacking was born in The English Lancs village of Oswaldtwistle (pronounced 'Ozzle-twizzle', or 'Ozzie') and, like racing's other Anglo-American: Hopper, has always wanted to ride internationally under his home flag.

Ben Spies' SuperPole Record Terminated

He's been Smrz'd! Of all things, Ben Spies' record SuperPole run has been stopped at 7 by first-time pole-sitter Jakub Smrz ... does he call his father "Papa Smrz"? Not only that, Ben was also beaten by Johnny Rae and teammate Fabrizio was close behind in fourth. Then again, both Ben and Michel are still on the front row for tomorrow's WSB race at Misano, so no big deal really. Oh, and Shakey Byrne snagged 5th, ahead of Haga, with Checa and Kiyonari joining them on row two. Biaggi had mechanical problems, but still managed 9th. Track veteran Troy Corser will be starting the BMW from 15th on the fourth row. This giant go kart track is definately a little odd and may provide for an unusual podium. However, even though Spies and Fabrizio didn't grab the first two SuperPole spots, they're still likely to pull ahead over race distance to take the first two podium steps ... provided they stay out of the gravel. Third is seriously up for grabs, but Rae would be a good bet.

Fabrizio and Spies Lead First Misano Qualifier

While Ben Spies lead today's WSB Misano Free Practice over Fabrizio by 1/10th of a second, Michel returned the favour and came out on top in the first Qualifier with two quick laps at the end of the session. There are 19 riders running within a second at this stage, so tomorrow's qualifier and Superpole sessions should result in faster times for the leaders. Misano is an odd track, with many riders like Biaggi and Fabrizio crashing over the years. In fact Fabrizio has only finished two of six career starts here. Haga has never won here, with only a 25% podium result in 18 races. Troy Corser is the most successful rider at Misano, but he's a half second off the pace, down in 10th, on the BMW. A couple of turns have been added to the billiard table flat layout, so maybe the racing will be a little better this year.

IOM Senior TT

On Friday, John McGuinness broke the IOM lap record on lap two, with a speed of 131.578mph, breaking the recent record set just the previous week during practice by Cameron Donald. Unfortunately he also broke his chain on lap four, allowing teamate Steve Plater through to take the 2009 Senior TT win with a fastest lap of 130.490mph. Plater took the overall IOM points total for the week, winning the Joey Dunlop Championship Trophy. Runners at the back of the pack were flagged to a stop on lap 5 when rain started on the west side of the circuit. Sadly, lap 5 also saw a fatal crash on the Mountain taking the life of veteran roadracer, 58 year old John Crellin.

Exactly as Expected But ...

The Catalunya MotoGP turned out exactly as expected, but in spite of that, it was the most exciting race of the season. Air temperature: 40C, track temperature: 52C ... all bikes running "extra-hard" compound on the right side of the rear tyre. Classic, textbook Rossi race as the Doctor followed Lorenzo with a good start from both. Rossi cruised behind Lorenzo for the first 3 or 4 laps, waiting while his fuel load dropped and tyres scrubbed in. He then passed Lorenzo to set the pace, pulling his teamate clear of the other riders ... not that he needed any help. The race then broke into multiple two man battles: Rossi-Lorenzo, Stoner-Dovizioso, Pedrosa-Capirossi. At mid-race, Rossi calmly slowed, allowing Lorenzo past. He then followed and harrassed Jorge, showing him his front tyre multiple times, but visibly holding back on passing. Crossing the line with three laps to go, Vale pulled the pin and the race was on. This will be remembered as one of the all time great front runner battles. The Fiat Yamaha crew were glued to the monitors, sh*tting bricks. It looked certain that the two riders were going to take each other out in a tangle of twisted metal, shattered carbon fibre and broken bones. Rossi topped it off with a classic last-corner diving pass to take the checkered flag, his 99th GP win, by a mere 0.095 seconds. Behind them, Casey managed to stay in front of Dovizioso and grab the last podium step, just 5/100ths of a second ahead. Next group about 20 seconds back of the leader were the trio of Capirossi, Pedrosa and Edwards ... Colin must be devastated that he missed a 6th place finish ... must've had a bad start. Toni Elias DNF'd when he lost the front on a fast lefthand corner, both bike and rider sliding smoothly across the tarmac, hitting home track gravel. All three podium finishers are now tied with 106 points each in the championship, with 11 rounds to go. Having Lorenzo added to the Rossi-Stoner mix has sure made this a great year for MotoGP racing.

Catalunya MotoGP Ready to Run

Today's second Catalunya MotoGP Free Practice saw Lorenzo filter to the top. He then snagged pole position in Qualifying Practice, followed an eye-blink later by Rossi, with Stoner rounding-out the first row about half a second back. Dovizioso has been holding his own in practice and leads the second row, joined by Barcelona local Toni Elias in fifth and, in sixth ... Colin Edwards ... what is it with him and sixth place? It's summer in Spain and that means it's smokin' hot, with track temperatures running near 50C! You can be sure the whole grid will be running on hard compond tyres, but even those will turn to greasy chewing gum by the last third of the race on Sunday. Tyre problems will probably slow down the main pack of riders mid-race as the leaders pull away. This is looking like a very close race between Lorenzo and Rossi, who hasn't won here since 2006, with Vale possibly having a slight edge when the tyres go off. Dovizioso is lined up to give Stoner a run for his money, but the long Catalunya straight could be Casey's ace in the hole. If Lorenzo and Rossi have a real battle at the front, it could allow a smooth, steady racer like Stoner to "play through". Definately a race to watch.

Catalunya Near Barthhhhelona

It's only the first Free practice, but the MotoGP series leaders want everyone to know who's in charge. First practice finished Rossi, Lorenzo and Stoner. Rossi hasn't had a win for awhile so he's motivated, Lorenzo smells blood and Stoner is ... well ... Stoner. Catalunya is arguably in the top three circuits alongside Phillip Island and Mugello. Besides having a kilometer long straight and a bias for righthand corners, like Mugello, the rolling, hillside terrain provides lots of variety and elevation changes. Any of these three guys can take this one.

IOM 2009 Superbike TT Result

The rescheduled IOM Superbike TT ran the full 6 laps today. With Donald down and out, the veteran riders took the podium, with, as expected, McGuinness first (his 15th TT win), with a new record race lap of 130.442mph. Steve Plater crossed the line 18 seconds later with Guy Martin third. Valentino Rossi participated in the podium presentations and, with fellow Italian racing god Giacomo Agostini, lead thousands of spectator bikes on the parade lap.

So Much For Today's IOM

For starters, Aussie Cameron Donald, who set the track record on Thursday, missed a gear at Keppel Gate and crashed during yesterday's practice, injuring his shoulder and back. Nothing major but enough to take him out of the 2009 TT. Damn. Next up is the snotty Isle of Man weather. Rain and fog are common during race week, but todays rain and high wind was enough to postpone all today's classes and the Sunday forecast is bad enough that the SuperBike and Sidecar 1 races have now been moved to Monday. Monday's races are rescheduled for Tuesday. Valentino Rossi's guest appearance has also been moved to Monday.

Holy Smokin Gixxer!

A new Isle of Man track record was set during yesterday's evening practice session by Cameron Donald on the TAS Suzuki GSXR1000 ... 131.457mph (210.3kph) on a flying lap. That's an average over the whole course! These days, IOM records are usually broken by mere 100ths or 10ths, but Donald upped the bar by a good half second. To average that speed over the full course, he would have had to run the bulk of the circuit at 140mph+ (225kph+). He was clocked at 188mph (300.8kph) on the Sulby Straight. Can he repeat that performance during the race or will John McGuiness do the expected and take the checkered flag first? Could be an exciting race ... just hope nobody dies in the process. There's a Dunlop on the track again ... Michael Dunlop set the fastest SuperSport time in practice, with a lap average of 125.085mph on an R6 that's not a whole lot different than the one on the showroom floor. Racing starts tomorrow kicking off with the 6 lap SuperBike TT at noon local time and Sidecar TT 1 at 15:00. Racing continues on the full circuit on Monday, then Wednesday and finishes off on Friday at 13:00 with the Senior TT.

No WSB Surprise: Spies - Spies

After taking Superpole number 7, Ben Spies ran away with both WSB races on home soil at Miller in Utah. Can you say "9 second lead"? I knew you could. It's always interesting seeing how the Euro riders do on American tracks. In this case, race one saw Checa and Fabrizio follow Ben to the podium and race two saw Fabrizio grab second, followed by Brit Rae. With his big crash on Saturday, Haga did well to even ride, finishing ninth and eighth respectively. Biaggi managed 6th in race one and pulled off a 4th in the second race. Poor showing by Hopper's replacement rider Jake Zemke, 18th and 15th ... I was expecting much more from him on this track. Hopper obviously didn't make the Miller race but is expecting to get back on the bike for the next race, June 21st at Misano. Haga's big lead protected him in the standings. He still has a 53 point lead over Spies, with Fabrizio not too far behind with an 11 point gap. With seven rounds to go, making still 14 races, it's likely this is the order they'll finish in ... but anything could happen and either of these three could be the 2009 champion. My money's still on Haga ... for now ;-)

Not Quite the Storybook Race

Better late than never to comment on the Mugello results. For the second race in a row, a wet start and switch to dry bikes mixed up the favourites and put Dani Pedrosa on his butt ... again. Stoner managed to get the start, timing and tactics right and finished top of the heap. Lorenzo crashed on the warmup lap, but made the start and finished second (by a second) behind Casey. A disappointed Rossi ended his track winning streak, finishing another full second behind his teammate, taking the third step on the podium. Then it went Dovizioso, Capirossi and Edwards. Colin sure seems to like 6th place. Wet races are interesting and really add variety, but it's a bit of a shame, we couldn't have been treated to a warm dry race on such a spectacular track. No matter ... but what matters is that the championship points are "all shook up" again. Now we've got Stoner by 4 over Lorenzo, who's 5 over Rossi and Pedrosa has dropped well back.