Daily Update MotoGP

Valentino Rossi was quickest in Friday practice for the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez.
Marco Melandri again impressed for Hayate Kawasaki by beating last year's Jerez winner Dani Pedrosa (Honda) to ninth.
Yamaha's world champion beat Loris Capirossi to the top spot by 0.364 seconds, with Casey Stoner 0.621s down on his title rival in third.
Stoner had briefly been fastest in the early moments of the session, before the Ducati rider was deposed by Rossi.

Yamaha then established a one-two-three sweep for much of the afternoon, with Rossi ahead of his factory squad team-mate and championship leader Jorge Lorenzo, and Tech 3's Colin Edwards moved up to third.
As the session neared its end, Stoner edged back up to second place, but he would loose this spot in the closing minutes as Capirossi buoyed Suzuki by grabbing second and ending the day as Rossi's closest challenger.
Lorenzo remained fourth, with Edwards falling to sixth at the end as Honda's Andrea Dovizioso improved.
LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet took a promising seventh, ahead of Chris Vermeulen on the second Suzuki.
Marco Melandri again impressed for Hayate Kawasaki by beating last year's Jerez winner Dani Pedrosa (Honda) to ninth.
It was another poor session for Stoner's team-mate Nicky Hayden. The former champion continued to struggle with the factory Ducati and was back in 17th place, 2.3s off the pace.
Pos Rider Bike Time Gap
1. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m39.647s
2. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1m40.011s + 0.364s
3. Casey Stoner Ducati 1m40.268s + 0.621s
4. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m40.441s + 0.794s
5. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m40.601s + 0.954s
6. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m40.703s + 1.056s
7. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda 1m40.866s + 1.219s
8. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1m41.063s + 1.416s
9. Marco Melandri Hayate Kawasaki 1m41.182s + 1.535s
10. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m41.208s + 1.561s
11. James Toseland Tech 3 Yamaha 1m41.461s + 1.814s
12. Sete Gibernau Hernando Ducati 1m41.531s + 1.884s
13. Alex de Angelis Gresini Honda 1m41.557s + 1.910s
14. Mika Kallio Pramac Ducati 1m41.584s + 1.937s
15. Toni Elias Gresini Honda 1m41.736s + 2.089s
16. Yuki Takahashi Scot Honda 1m41.898s + 2.251s
17. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m41.916s + 2.269s
18. Niccolo Canepa Pramac Ducati 1m42.063s + 2.416s
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Japanese Grand Prix winner Jorge Lorenzo says he can't wait to start his home grand prix at Jerez this weekend, secure in the knowledge that he can fight for victory.
The world championship leader scored back-to-back victories at Jerez in the 250 class but could only manage third at the track in the MotoGP race last year.
"It's nice to be at my track, in my country and to have fun at this race because it is very special for the Spanish riders," he said in Jerez on Thursday. "For me it is also special to have the chance to score a podium and I think we have this.

"We are working to try to improve our performance with the Bridgestones. This is already fine, because we had the victory in Japan, but I also think we are at a point where we can still improve."
Lorenzo admitted having tested on the Bridgestone the in pre-season had also given him a boost, as he continues his acclimatisation to the Japanese rubber.
"It is an advantage for the riders (new to Bridgestone) because to have the settings of the bike, having tested here, to know how to ride on these tyres on this circuit," he said. "It is a little advantage we didn't have in Japan.
"We hope to have the opportunity to ride every practice in the dry and we hope it will be fine. It is good to look up in the sky and see the sun, because we are getting used to clouds! It is nice to see this weather and we hope for more of the same."
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Valentino Rossi hopes he can raise his game at Jerez this weekend having not been quick enough to win either of the first two races of the 2009 MotoGP season.
The reigning champion finished second at both Losail and Motegi - having been unable to catch the dominant Casey Stoner in Qatar and then lost the lead to team-mate Jorge Lorenzo halfway through the Japanese Grand Prix.
Those defeats have frustrated Rossi, who does not think he can retain his title purely through consistency and is determined to resume winning.
"We've made a good start to the season with two podiums which shows we are consistent, but now we need to make the step up," he said.

"Motegi was a good race but we had one or two problems, which we need to fix."
He is optimistic that Jerez can be the scene of his breakthrough, especially as he has won five of the last eight MotoGP races held at the track.
"We have a lot of data from Jerez because we tested there twice in the winter so I hope that this will help us to find a good setting straight away," said Rossi.
"As a rule we are very strong at the track and it is always great fun riding there."
His team-mate Lorenzo heads to his home race full of confidence and leading the championship following his Motegi victory.
"My motivation is high because I am arriving as the world championship leader in my own home. I can't ask for more," said Lorenzo.
"I had a very good feeling in Japan, and I enjoyed riding the bike in every corner. I have to be careful however because I am still learning all the time how to ride with the new Bridgestone tyres."
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Nicky Hayden said he had no warning that Yuki Takahashi was even approaching when the Japanese rookie ran into him on the first lap at Motegi.
Both riders were taken out of the race in the collision, which saw Takahashi's Scot Honda hit the back of Hayden's factory Ducati.
"That was exactly what we didn't need," said Hayden. "I got a decent start and I think I was up a couple of positions but just going down into the hairpin, which is a slow hard-braking corner, I was on my line and Takahashi just took me down.

"There was no warning - I didn't even hear anything! I don't want to say much about that, I don't want to look like a cry-baby but, you know, it was the first lap..."
Takahashi apologised for the incident, but could not offer an explanation.
"I was in a group of drivers, more or less all of us at the same speed, then the collision under braking," he said. "I'm really sorry. Out at the very beginning of the race - what a pity. Not only for the race itself, but especially because I need laps to learn and improve."
The crash came just a fortnight after Hayden's ferocious high-side in Qatar qualifying, but the American escaped injury - and remained optimistic about his progress with the hard-to-master Ducati GP9.
"Luckily I feel okay," he said. "I actually landed in the same place on my back as the crash in Qatar and my leathers and helmet have got exactly the same marks.
"It's a shame because this weekend I honestly felt we were making some progress. I felt we had better communication going on and we worked more comfortably from the first day.
"I know we were never looking at a great result but I felt I could have been competitive today. Anyway, we have to move forward and to look to the next race."
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Casey Stoner said an early brake issue cost him a chance to fight for victory at Motegi today.
The pre-race championship leader, who had been dominant in Qatar a fortnight ago, fell back from second to seventh on the opening lap and could only recover to fourth.
He felt the lack of practice mileage - due to both this year's cuts and the rain that affected Saturday's running and forced qualifying to be cancelled - had ultimately meant Ducati was unprepared for the race.

"We have had the same issues as everybody else, I suppose, in that we haven't had time to set the bike up but all in all I think we were capable of at least matching the lap times of the front guys - we just lost too much time at the start," said Stoner.
"On the warm-up lap I felt I a lot of chatter from the front brakes, they weren't smooth and I wasn't confident over the first five or six laps. I really didn't know what to do, I wasn't able to brake where I wanted to and I wasn't confident.
"Maybe I could have gone faster but I don't know how safe that would have been. Anyway, I lost a lot of positions at the beginning of the race and I spent too much time battling to get past."
Once up to fifth, Stoner was able to match the times of the Yamahas and Hondas ahead, but could not close until the final laps, when he took fourth from Andrea Dovizioso.
"When I got closer to the front it was a bit too late, unfortunately," said Stoner.
"I tried to stay as consistent as I could and when I got closer to Andrea I rode a bit harder because I saw it was possible to pass him."
He is now three points behind new championship leader Jorge Lorenzo - and pointed out that he had lost more ground last year when he had a disastrous second round at Jerez.
"We didn't lose that many points and this is a much better start to the season than last year, so we can definitely feel positive going into the next one," said the Australian.
Ducati team boss Livio Suppo agreed that Stoner had done well to minimise the damage from this race.
"It has been a strange weekend and the weather definitely hasn't helped but it has been the same for everybody," he said.
"Casey produced a great performance, showing once again his ability to ride around problems and bringing home some important points."
[AS]
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Fiat Yamaha’s Spanish star Jorge Lorenzo took a superb win at the Polini Grand Prix of Japan on Sunday, but despite taking the standings lead after two races so far this year he still believes some of his rivals are stronger than him.
The former double 250cc World Champion stated during his preparations for his second MotoGP campaign over the winter that his target is a top three standings finish at the end of 2009 and his still playing up the strengths of some more establish premier class stars, after his Qatar podium and his brilliant Motegi performance.

“I am the leader in the championship but I still think that (Casey) Stoner, Valentino (Rossi) and (Dani) Pedrosa are stronger than us,” Lorenzo told motogp.com after the Twin Ring race. “They are more experienced with the Bridgestone tyres but we are still learning about them and improving.”
“Today I had a great opportunity to win,” continued the man from Mallorca, “I knew that with a hard rear tyre I had good pace, so I saw the chance and I attacked.”
Moving back to his native Spain for the first of a series of European races as the top man in MotoGP Lorenzo anticipated the huge support he will receive next week at round three saying, “Jerez is unbelievable -as we all know. All the people there have warm hearts and they are very passionate about the Spanish riders. I think if there is one track where you should take a risk to win it is there.”
[motogp.com]
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Jorge Lorenzo took the second win of his MotoGP career at Motegi, beating his Yamaha team leader Valentino Rossi to victory as the manufacturer took a home one-two.
Dani Pedrosa showed that his pre-season injuries have been overcome by taking third place for Honda, ahead of Qatar winner Casey Stoner's Ducati.

Rossi surged into a clear lead at the start as Stoner was swallowed up by the pack, falling to seventh.
It initially looked as if Rossi would saunter off to a comfortable victory, but within a few laps Lorenzo had passed the fast-starting Hondas and started creeping up behind Yamaha's number one, who seemed to be struggling for race pace.
Lorenzo hounded Rossi for several laps before slicing into the lead on lap nine. The two Yamahas then pulled away from the Hondas in unison for a while, before Rossi fell further off the pace - allowing Lorenzo to get away and Pedrosa to start pushing hard for second.
The Spaniard twice dived past Rossi only to lose the place again on the exit of the corner, but appeared to have made the move stick at Turn 11 with eight laps to go.
Rossi would not give up though, and a lap later he repassed Pedrosa with a similar move and set back off in pursuit of Lorenzo, who was able to maintain a sufficient advantage and clinch his first win since Portugal last year, moving into an early points lead in the process.
Having got back up to fifth within the first half-dozen laps, Stoner seemed unable to close on the lead pack. But in the closing stages he was able to reel in Andrea Dovizioso and take fourth from the Honda rider with two laps to go.
Marco Melandri took an excellent sixth on the Hayate Kawasaki, winning a mid-race battle with Loris Capirossi, as Suzuki disappointed in race trim again.
After the practice crash that left him at the back of the grid, Mika Kallio further enhanced his reputation with a charge through the field to eighth on the Pramac Ducati, ahead of Tech 3 Yamaha's James Toseland.
With so little pre-race mileage, it was unsurprising that several riders struggled to make their tyre or set-up choices work in the hot and dry conditions - in particular top five starters Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) and Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha), who both went into freefall in the race before regaining a little ground in the final stages.
The sole home rider in the field - Scot Honda's rookie Yuki Takahashi - did not even complete a lap before ploughing into the back of Ducati's Nicky Hayden and taking both out of the race.
Toni Elias (Gresini Honda) and Sete Gibernau (Hernando Ducati) also had falls, with Elias continuing at the tail of the field but Gibernau retiring in the pits afterwards.

Pos Rider Bike Time
1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 43m47.238s
2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha + 1.304s
3. Dani Pedrosa Honda + 3.763s
4. Casey Stoner Ducati + 5.691s
5. Andrea Dovizioso Honda + 9.207s
6. Marco Melandri Hayate Kawasaki + 30.555s
7. Loris Capirossi Suzuki + 32.756s
8. Mika Kallio Pramac Ducati + 39.416s
9. James Toseland Tech 3 Yamaha + 43.106s
10. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki + 43.245s
11. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda + 44.834s
12. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha + 46.540s
13. Alex de Angelis Gresini Honda + 53.525s
14. Niccolo Canepa Pramac Ducati +1m21.804s
15. Toni Elias Gresini Honda + 1 lap

Retirements:

Rider Bike Laps
Sete Gibernau Hernando Ducati 13
Nicky Hayden Ducati 0
Yuki Takahashi Scot Honda 0
[AS]
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