Daily Update MotoGP

Yamaha's racing department boss Masao Furusawa says the Japanese squad will renew Valentino Rossi's contract this year.
"Yes, because Valentino will be a winner for at least another couple of seasons," Furusawa told Gazzetta dello Sport when asked if they were renewing Rossi's deal.
He added: "Valentino can ride a Yamaha for as long as he wants to, while he manages to stay at the front."
The Italian rider's contract expires at the end of this year, but the he has made it clear he will be happy to stay at Yamaha now that he has a competitive bike.
Rossi has won the last two races to take the championship lead for the first time since the start of last year, where the seven-time champion finished in third place.
Furusawa said Rossi's frustrating season was down to Yamaha not giving him a good enough bike.
"It was Yamaha at fault, not Rossi's," he added. "The credit for our improvements must go to our technicians, who have found what we needed in a fair way, through calculating data.
"They've worked both on the track, and by getting up to date in the research facilities and on technical documentation.
"The M1 that will repeat last Sunday's triumphs is the result of this huge technical and organizational effort. We've taken some of Ducati's power, but not all, and rideability from Honda. And we're already working towards 2009."
Yamaha scored a 1-2-3 at last weekend's French Grand Prix, with Rossi leading Jorge Lorenzo and Colin Edwards.
Furusawa praised the Italian rider, whom he believes will take the title this year.
"That was a good result, well done to Lorenzo and Edwards," Furusawa said. "But most of all I love Valentino, at this moment more than Jorge, I'm sorry to say. Because what counted most at Le Mans was that Rossi was on the top step of the podium.
"He has demonstrated to be the strongest rider at the moment. Rossi will win his eighth title. Lorenzo and Pedrosa will be able to beat him in some races but in the end he will win."
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Valentino Rossi took a dominating victory in the French MotoGP leading a Yamaha 1-2-3, with the still-recovering Jorge Lorenzo finishing second and Colin Edwards in third.
This is the Italian's 90th Grand Prix victory, slotting him in second on the all-time winners list, tied with Spaniard Angel Nieto.

Rossi and 61-year-old Nieto celebrated this historic victory with the former stopping on his parade lap, and the latter, who wore overalls saying 'Bravo Valentino 90', jumping on Rossi's M1 bike and taking them both back to the pits, with Rossi waving a flag saying '90+90'.

Rossi, who now tops the championship table, took the lead with his Fiat Yamaha on lap seven of the 28-lap race from Ducati Marlboro's Casey Stoner and never relinquished it, opening a gap as wide as ten seconds over man-of-the-day Lorenzo.
The Spanish rookie, who dropped down to tenth at the start from fifth on the grid, began to really make an impression in the race on lap nine, when in a single lap he overtook John Hopkins's Kawasaki, Loris Capirossi's Suzuki and Nicky Hayden's Repsol Honda to slot into sixth.
The works Yamaha rider then made up a gap to Chris Vermeulen's Suzuki to overtake him for fifth place on lap 15, five laps before passing Edwards in fourth place and challenging Stoner for third.
When Lorenzo made a move on the Australian on the Le Mans front straight, the reigning champion's Ducati suffered a mechanical problem that dropped him down the order on lap 21. On the same lap the Spaniard overtook arch-rival and compatriot Dani Pedrosa's Repsol Honda for second place.
After his injury in China Lorenzo had to walk to the podium on crutches and sat on a chair during the celebrations.
Today's race was affected by the weather, with rain drops prompting the stewards to show the white flag on lap 16, thus allowing the riders to switch to bikes fitted with wet-weather tyres.
The rain increased for a couple of laps, with Rossi notably slowing down, but in the end only two riders switched bikes.
These were the two works Ducatis, with Stoner taking advantage of this rule to rejoin the track after his mechanical gremlins, and Melandri taking a gamble after his engine switched off at the start forcing him to be push-started by a mechanic.
In the end the two teammates finished the race in a disappointing 15th and 16th position for the Italian and the Australian respectively.
Three seconds behind Tech 3 Yamaha's Edwards came Pedrosa in fourth, followed a further eleven seconds back by Vermeulen, with JiR Team Scot Honda's Andrea Dovizioso in close pursuit.
Capirossi finished in seventh place, ahead of Hayden in eighth and the two customer Hondas of Randy de Puniet (LCR) and Shinya Nakano (Gresini).
Hopkins retired from seventh place on lap 17 after losing his Suzuki's chain, which almost went in the way of Dovizioso who was following.
Tech 3 Yamaha's James Toseland crashed out of the race from ninth place on lap 3.
Pos Rider Bike Time
1. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (B) 44:30.799
2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha (M) + 4.997
3. Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) + 6.805
4. Dani Pedrosa Honda (M) + 10.157
5. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki (B) + 21.762
6. Andrea Dovizioso Honda (M) + 22.395
7. Loris Capirossi Suzuki (B) + 27.806
8. Nicky Hayden Honda (M) + 27.995
9. Randy de Puniet Honda (M) + 29.344
10. Shinya Nakano Honda (B) + 30.822
11. Toni Elias Ducati (B) + 35.154
12. Alex de Angelis Honda (B) + 36.216
13. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati (B) + 52.038
14. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) +1:29.307
15. Marco Melandri Ducati (B) + 1 lap
16. Casey Stoner Ducati (B) + 2 laps

Retirements:

Rider Bike Laps
John Hopkins Kawasaki (B) 16
James Toseland Yamaha (M) 2

ref[AS]
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Dani Pedrosa snatched pole position from Colin Edwards at Le Mans, ahead of tomorrow's French MotoGP.
The Repsol Honda rider set his fastest lap of 1:32.647 in the last minute of the session, after his Tech 3 Yamaha rival, who was 0.127 seconds slower, had held the top spot for the previous 20 minutes.

This is Pedrosa's first pole position of the year, and by beating Edwards he ended the stranglehold Michelin-shod Yamahas had on qualifying this season, with the American and Fiat Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo having taken every previous pole this year.
The front row was completed by reigning champion Casey Stoner, who qualified his Ducati Marlboro in third with a time 0.347 slower than Pedrosa, but showed impressive race pace when on non-qualifying tyres.

The two Fiat Yamahas of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo qualified in fourth and fifth position respectively.
Lorenzo, who is still recovering from the injuries sustained in an accident sustained in China two weeks ago, went through a gravel trap at high speed midway through the session.
He luckily just managed to stay on the bike as it hopped back on the track, after suffering no consequences in crashes in both yesterday's and this morning's free practice sessions.
The Spanish rookie also made a wrong turn towards the end of the session and went down a road used by the sportscar 24-hour race, forcing him to step off the bike to turn it around.
Nicky Hayden qualified his Repsol Honda in sixth place, ahead of James Toseland's Tech 3 Yamaha in seventh and Chris Vermeulen's Rizla Suzuki in eighth.
Kawasaki's John Hopkins will start the race from ninth, with JiR Team Scot Honda's Andrea Dovizioso completing the top ten.
Marco Melandri in the second works Ducati qualified in a lowly 17th place, over two seconds behind his teammate Stoner
Pos Rider Bike Time
1. Dani Pedrosa Honda (M) 1:32.647
2. Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) 1:32.774 + 0.127
3. Casey Stoner Ducati (B) 1:32.994 + 0.347
4. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (B) 1:33.157 + 0.510
5. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha (M) 1:33.269 + 0.622
6. Nicky Hayden Honda (M) 1:33.286 + 0.639
7. James Toseland Yamaha (M) 1:33.396 + 0.749
8. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki (B) 1:33.400 + 0.793
9. John Hopkins Kawasaki (B) 1:33.628 + 0.981
10. Andrea Dovizioso Honda (M) 1:33.689 + 1.042
11. Loris Capirossi Suzuki (B) 1:33.707 + 1.060
12. Randy de Puniet Honda (M) 1:33.723 + 1.076
13. Shinya Nakano Honda (B) 1:34.077 + 1.430
14. Toni Elias Ducati (B) 1:34.561 + 1.914
15. Alex de Angelis Honda (B) 1:34.670 + 2.023
16. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati (B) 1:34.747 + 2.100
17. Marco Melandri Ducati (B) 1:35.082 + 2.434
18. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) 1:35.349 + 2.702
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After a testing start to 2008, Marco Melandri believes he is edging closer to the light at the end of the tunnel after taking fifth place in China.
Fifth place in Shanghai came as a welcome change for Marco Melandri, his best result since a difficult switch to the Ducati Marlboro team at the end of last year. Of all the tracks on the 2008 calendar, Le Mans undoubtedly features high up on the list of those at which the former World Championship runner-up would be favoured to build on such an upturn in fortunes.

Melandri finished second last year in a flag-to-flag race in France, after a win in 2006. In addition, he counts a further three podiums to his name from the lower cylinder categories and an affinity for the historic Bugatti venue. Although previous results have little bearing when confronted with a completely different machine with which to make a mark, the Italian is relishing a return to Le Mans.

`Le Mans is a track with a lot of heavy braking and it cannot be underestimated because it is quite technical, with slow turns followed by some really fast ones. Even so I think I can do well there because I won in 2006 with the 990cc bike and last year I made the podium with the 800cc,´ explains the rejuvenated 25 year-old.

`Personally I have always liked the track so hopefully I can get another good result. We have shown that we're able to come through a difficult situation and we've made real progress so I just can't wait to get back on track now. I feel optimistic and I hope we can confirm our progress on a very different kind of circuit to Shanghai.´
ref[motogp.com

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Valentino Rossi broke his winless 'drought' with victory over Dani Pedrosa in the Chinese round of the MotoGP world championship at Shanghai.
Rossi, whose last victory was eight rounds ago at Portugal last year, battled in the lead group in the opening laps, taking second position from Colin Edwards as he chased leader Dani Pedrosa.
Pedrosa and Rossi pulled away from the rest of the field, being led by Casey Stoner, before Rossi took the lead from Pedrosa on lap 5. Rossi and Pedrosa ran in tandem as they continued to pull away, Pedrosa able to keep up with Rossi but unable to make a pass.
On lap 17 and 18 Rossi set consecutive fastest laps, and this proved too much for Pedrosa who began to slowly fall away over the closing laps as Rossi took a comfortable victory.
Casey Stoner had a lonely race in third place on his Ducati, over 15 seconds behind Rossi at the chequered flag, a surprising result after showing competitive pace throughout the weekend.
Jorge Lorenzo's remarkable weekend continued, taking fourth place after dropping down the order at the start of the race, having to fight his way back past the other riders during the race while continuing to ride injured.
After a terrible start to the season, fifth for Marco Melandri must almost feel like a win, having run as high as fourth in the second half of the race before being passed by Lorenzo.
He was under pressure at the finish however, just holding off Nicky Hayden who had an up and down race, Colin Edwards who made two mistakes at the hairpin, Toni Elias and Loris Capirossi.
Pos Rider Bike Tyre Gap
1. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (B) 44:08.061
2. Daniel Pedrosa Honda (M) +3.890
3. Casey Stoner Ducati (B) +15.928
4. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha (M) +22.494
5. Marco Melandri Ducati (B) +26.957
6. Nicky Hayden Honda (M) +28.369
7. Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) +29.780
8. Toni Elías Ducati (B) +30.225
9. Loris Capirossi Suzuki (B) +31.440
10. Shinya Nakano Honda (B) +35.969
11. Andrea Dovizioso Honda (M) +36.246
12. James Toseland Yamaha (M) +43.191
13. Randy de Puniet Honda (M) +43.442
14. John Hopkins Kawasaki (B) +45.855
15. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati (B) +46.330
16. Alex de Angelis Honda (B) +50.593
17. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) +1:05.593

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Tech 3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards has taken pole position for Sunday's Chinese MotoGP round at Shanghai with a late flying lap to beat Valentino Rossi's best effort.
The American had taken provisional pole around the 40 minute mark of the hour-long session, but was soon demoted by Ducati's Casey Stoner. Stoner lowered his best again in the final ten minutes before it was almost immediately beaten by Valentino Rossi.
Rossi went faster again after the chequered flag, but as the session was ending Edwards took four tenths off Rossi's earlier mark to take pole position with a 1:58.139. His former teammate Valentino Rossi will start alongside him on the front row, along with 2007 champion Casey Stoner who was unable to improve on his final lap.
Heading the second row of the grid is the remarkable Jorge Lorenzo, almost unable to walk when not on his bike, yet able to achieve impressive feats while on it, just over half a second slower than Edwards.
Fifth fastest was Dani Pedrosa, fast on his Repsol Honda early in qualifying but unable to find that little bit extra at the end, just edging out a strong performance by Loris Capirossi on his Rizla Suzuki.
James Toseland looked set for a top-five start with just a couple of minutes remaining, but the final flurry pushed him down to seventh, just ahead of Chris Vermeulen and Randy de Puniet.
Like teammate Pedrosa, Nicky Hayden looked set for a better result than his tenth-fastest time, two places ahead of Marco Melandri on the second factory Ducati.
Shinya Nakano's efforts in practice showed more promise than his eventual qualifying position of 13th, one place better than John Hopkins who had set the second-fastest time just after the 30 minute mark of the session.
Pos Rider Bike Tyre Time Gap
1. Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) 1:58.139
2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (B) 1:58.494 +0.355
3. Casey Stoner Ducati (B) 1:58.591 +0.452
4. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha (M) 1:58.711 +0.572
5. Daniel Pedrosa Honda (M) 1:58.855 +0.716
6. Loris Capirossi Suzuki (B) 1:58.941 +0.802
7. James Toseland Yamaha (M) 1:59.254 +1.115
8. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki (B) 1:59.325 +1.186
9. Randy de Puniet Honda (M) 1:59.357 +1.218
10. Nicky Hayden Honda (M) 1:59.507 +1.368
11. Andrea Dovizioso Honda (M) 1:59.559 +1.420
12. Marco Melandri Ducati (B) 1:59.678 +1.539
13. Shinya Nakano Honda (B) 1:59.716 +1.577
14. John Hopkins Kawasaki (B) 1:59.740 +1.601
15. Toni Elias Ducati (B) 1:59.933 +1.794
16. Alex de Angelis Honda (B) 2:00.316 +2.177
17. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati (B) 2:00.760 +2.621
18. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) 2:00.838 +2.699
ref[AS]

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May 1st, 2005. The heavens open in Shanghai, and the first ever MotoGP race in China is a wet affair. At the height of his form, Valentino Rossi shows his mastery of the 990cc Yamaha M1 to take a memorable victory from wildcard Olivier Jacque and continue his leadership of the MotoGP World Championship.
Jump forward three years, and things look very different for the Italian star. Rossi is now on his longest winless streak in the premier class since his maiden victory in 2000, and has seen rookie teammate Jorge Lorenzo outshine him thus far in the present season. The five-time MotoGP World Champion is, however, still a potent force as proved by his first Bridgestone-assisted podiums in Jerez and Estoril, and the Fiat Yamaha package is assumed by many to be favourable to the odds of victory in Shanghai.
One of those predicting a Rossi resurgence is the rider himself, who came close to taking the win last year in a jaw dropping battle with Casey Stoner. Another Bridgestone rider, John Hopkins, completed the rostrum.
`Last year in China we weren´t quite able to win, but this year our bike is working very well and, together with our tyre package, I think we should be fighting for the victory,´ proclaims Rossi. `The race in 2007 was very exciting I think, a long battle with Stoner; this year I hope for a similar battle with my rivals but with a different outcome!´

The 29 year-old´s decision to switch from Michelin rubber to his current associates brought him in for some flack, and the jury is still out over the success of the change as the French manufacturer post some impressive results in early 2008. Rossi, who experienced a freak front tyre problem in the 2006 Chinese visit, is hopeful that the critics can be silenced this weekend.
`After Estoril we had a test and the primary focus was tyre testing with Bridgestone, working on material for Shanghai. We found some good things and I hope that we´ll be starting in good shape. We´ve had three races together now and I think the last two podiums, especially in Estoril which isn´t such a good track for Bridgestone, have shown that we´re making good progress in our relationship,´ continues Rossi.
`I hope that Shanghai is going to be the place where it finally all comes together. We´re not in such a bad place in the championship and there is a very long way to go, but our rivals are very strong so we can't afford to make mistakes and we need to try to take as many points as possible from now on.
ref [motogp.com]
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