Daily Update MotoGP

Laguna Seca Moto GP Result :
Pos Rider Bike Time/Gap
1. Dani Pedrosa Honda 44m01.580s
2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha + 0.344s
3. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha + 1.926s
4. Casey Stoner Ducati + 12.432s
5. Nicky Hayden Ducati + 21.663s
6. Toni Elias Gresini Honda + 22.041s
7. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha + 30.201s
8. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki + 32.857s
9. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda + 40.325s
10. Marco Melandri Hayate Kawasaki + 48.028s
11. Alex de Angelis Gresini Honda + 48.810s
12. Niccolo Canepa Pramac Ducati +1m18.531s

Retirements:

Andrea Dovizioso Honda 6 laps
Sete Gibernau Hernando Ducati 6 laps
Loris Capirossi Suzuki 3 laps
Gabor Talmacsi Scot Honda 3 laps
James Toseland Tech 3 Yamaha DSQ

Dani Pedrosa has taken his and Honda's first victory in more than a year with a commanding yet tight victory in the United States Grand Prix.

The Spaniard, who made a perfect start from fourth on the grid to take the lead before the first corner, opened a lead of over three seconds mid-way through the 32-lap race, but while slowing down towards the end he risked being overtaken by Valentino Rossi at the very last corner.

Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner, who suffered major crashes in yesterday's qualifying at Laguna Seca, both had fine performances today.

The Yamaha rider, who was not even sure he would be fit enough to take part in the race before this morning's warm-up, made a great recovery and almost managed to snatch second away from team-mate Rossi.

Stoner stayed with Rossi for the first twenty laps before suffering a dip in performance that in the end saw the Ducati man finish ten seconds away from Lorenzo at the chequered flag.

Behind Pedrosa immediately taking the lead at the start, Stoner got ahead of Rossi, with Toni Elias's Gresini Honda and Andrea Dovizioso's factory Honda following behind.

Lorenzo made a bad gateway from pole and was soon down in eighth place, with Americans Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati) also getting ahead of him. But by the end of the first lap Lorenzo was fifth, which became fourth on lap seven when Dovizioso crashed after losing grip at the front.

Positions soon settled, with all the excitement left for the end, when with five laps to go Lorenzo tried to overtake Rossi at the last corner but wobbled dangerously and barely managed to stay on the bike. The move resulted in him going wide and losing a second from the Italian.

Back then Pedrosa had 2.5s over the Yamaha duo, but that lead dropped to 1.5s at the beginning of the last lap, with the former 250cc champion further slowing down and allowing Rossi to catch him after the Corkscrew.

The reigning world champion tried all he could at the last corner, where he tried to outbrake Pedrosa from a long way behind, but it was just too far.

Stoner eventually fell 12s adrift of the leaders as he took fourth, ahead of his Ducati team-mate Hayden. The American enjoyed his best race of a difficult 2009 season as he fended off Elias to take fifth.

The race saw unusually high attrition. Gabor Talmacsi (Scot Honda) and Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) both retired on lap four, with the Hungarian crashing and the Italian having an off after which he went back to the pits and got off the bike. Sete Gibernau also crashed his Hernando Ducati on lap eight and retired on the spot.

James Toseland made a jump start from 15th on the grid and was penalised with a ride-through on lap five. But the Briton failed to comply with the penalty and on lap 11 was shown the black flag, after which he inexplicably did the ride-through on lap 12 and retired his Tech 3 Yamaha on the next lap.
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Dani Pedrosa beat his championship rivals to snatch pole position ahead of tomorrow's French MotoGP at Le Mans.
The Honda rider managed a superb effort right at the last second to sneak ahead of the three men who are currently in front of him in the points standings.
The Spaniard's time of 1m33.974s beat Jorge Lorenzo's (Yamaha) by the tiny margin of 0.005 seconds, followed by Casey Stoner's Ducati a further seven hundredths behind completing the front row.

Championship leader Valentino Rossi, on the second works Yamaha, was never a proper threat for pole, managing to lead the session only in the first quarter of an hour. Ultimately he had to settle for fourth, 0.132s behind Pedrosa.
Andrea Dovizioso managed a fifth spot on the grid with his Honda, followed by Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha), who led proceedings in the middle part of the session, and the Suzukis of Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi.
Marco Melandri will start the race from ninth position after the Italian lost the front of his Hayate Kawasaki at the half-hour mark, crashed and tumbled. His left hand was slightly hurt when it got caught under the handlebar, but he was able to resume riding after walking back to the pits.
Randy de Puniet completes the top ten despite a crash with his LCR Honda with only seven minutes of the session gone.

Pos Rider Bike Time
1. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m33.974s
2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m33.979s + 0.005s
3. Casey Stoner Ducati 1m34.049s + 0.075s
4. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m34.106s + 0.132s
5. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m34.300s + 0.326s
6. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m34.330s + 0.356s
7. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1m34.676s + 0.702s
8. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1m34.839s + 0.865s
9. Marco Melandri Hayate Kawasaki 1m35.008s + 1.034s
10. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda 1m35.399s + 1.425s
11. Toni Elias Gresini Honda 1m35.431s + 1.457s
12. James Toseland Tech 3 Yamaha 1m35.524s + 1.550s
13. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m35.682s + 1.708s
14. Mika Kallio Pramac Ducati 1m35.741s + 1.767s
15. Yuki Takahashi Scot Honda 1m35.774s + 1.800s
16. Alex de Angelis Gresini Honda 1m35.785s + 1.811s
17. Niccolo Canepa Pramac Ducati 1m36.136s + 2.162s

ref[AS]


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Dani Pedrosa says the works Repsol Honda team made the wrong call on set-up in Friday's practice session at Motegi, and believes it will leave the team at a disadvantage on Sunday if the race is dry.
The Spaniard and team-mate Andrea Dovizioso were well off the pace throughout the 45-minute practice today. Dovizioso managed to salvage seventh place with a quicker lap on his final run, albeit 1.4 seconds slower than pace-setter Valentino Rossi, while Pedrosa finished 11th.
Rain is forecast for Saturday's practice and qualifying sessions, so Pedrosa fears today's could have been his only run in the dry before race day.

"The problem was that we made totally the wrong setting," Pedrosa said. "I couldn't make good laptimes, so it was a shame because tomorrow it will be raining.
"If the race is in dry conditions, I think today we make the wrong decision."
Pedrosa added that he is much more comfortable on his bike in Japan than he was in Qatar, as his recovery from a broken wrist continues.
"Today I felt a little bit better than in Qatar," he said. "Still in the beginning it's very difficult, but after some minutes I get a little bit more movement, so this is good. I have to sit better on the machine."
[AS]
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Casey Stoner completed a perfect extended weekend in Qatar by winning the delayed MotoGP season-opener in commanding fashion on Monday evening, taking his third consecutive victory at Losail.

The Ducati Marlboro rider, who also topped every session of the night event, beat reigning champion Valentino Rossi thanks to a perfect start from pole and a blistering pace that forced the Italian to give up the chase midway through the 22-lap race.

Behind Stoner's perfect start, Loris Capirossi made a fine getaway from fifth with his Rizla Suzuki to slot into second, ahead of the Fiat Yamahas of Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, with the two teammates exchanging position twice during the first lap.
In the space of two laps Stoner's lead over Capirossi was close to three seconds already, but by that time the Italian veteran was being caught by Rossi, who passed him on the third lap.
While Capirossi started dropping back, with Repsol Honda's Andrea Dovizioso and Lorenzo overtaking him before the former Ducati rider crashed on lap eight, Rossi began his chase of Stoner.
The gap between the two decreased to just under two seconds, before Rossi's pace started faltering on lap 11. By the end of the race Stoner had almost eight seconds on Rossi, who could however manage a sizeable lead on third-placed Lorenzo, who took the final podium place.

Colin Edwards classified his Tech-3 Yamaha in fourth place, ahead of Dovizioso in fifth and Alex de Angelis in sixth. The Gresini rider, however, is under investigation for banging his satellite Honda into Dani Pedrosa's factory entry while taking seventh place.
The Spaniard managed to keep the bike up straight despite the strong collision, just after he was overtaken by Chris Vermeulen's Suzuki for sixth place. Up until then, Pedrosa was having a strong race from 14th on the grid, despite still recovering from a wrist injury.
Vermeulen classified seventh, ahead of an impressive showing by Pramac Ducati rookie Mika Kallio and Toni Elias on the Honda Gresini. LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet completed the top ten.
Behind Pedrosa, who finished 11th, Nicky Hayden took 12th place in his debut race for Ducati Marlboro, with MotoGP returnee Sete Gibernau 13th with his Hernando Ducati.
Marco Melandri managed to salvage two points with his Hayate Kawasaki after he lost plenty of time in the gravel because of an off at the beginning of lap two.

Valentino Rossi admitted that he decided to settle for a safe second place in Qatar after realising that Casey Stoner was uncatchable.
The Ducati rider made an early break while Rossi fought back up to second having lost out to Loris Capirossi and Jorge Lorenzo at the start. Although Rossi initially reduced Stoner's two-second lead, the Australian was able to pull away later on and ultimately won by nearly eight seconds.
"It's a shame. We lost too much on the first lap, while Stoner was very good," Rossi told Italia1 television.
"But after that I was making up the gap, and maybe I could have caught him, but after yesterday's rain the asphalt became a bit more aggressive, and I had some small problems with the front tyre, so at one point I had to decide whether I should crash or give up.
"So I thought a bit, and since we knew we were a bit on the limit, I gave up. Well done to Stoner, he was quick and he deserved the win. In any case we're second, we've demonstrated that we can go quick, so see you at Motegi."
Rossi reckoned he would have been in better shape to attack Stoner had the race gone ahead as planned on Sunday night.
"More than strategy, Stoner and I have a different way to approach the race, the way we do practice and the way we set up the bike," he said.
"Probably it would have been better had we raced last night because we were in better shape and we were closer. While after yesterday's rain the asphalt was a bit more aggressive, and this morning we already had some small problems with the tyres.
"Unfortunately I lost a bit too much time with Loris and Lorenzo, while Stoner went super quick from the start and built a big gap. But then we had five, six or seven laps when I enjoyed myself because I was going very quick and I was feeling well. I managed to get under two seconds and the race was still long then.
"However after that I started having a few problems too many, so I had to decide whether to crash or to finish second. I thought about that for half a lap and I decided it was better to finish second."
Rossi pointed out that Stoner was always likely to be tough to beat at Losail, having dominated at the circuit for the past three seasons.
"Stoner has always gone very quick here and he's won here for the last three years, so this is a track where he can give his maximum," he said.
"We are quick, we are fairly sorted, we can do better, so I'll see you in two weeks' time in Motegi. Last year I was very very quick there, so let's see if I can do it this year too."

Dani Pedrosa had one of the more eventful races of his premier class career in Qatar, and certainly earned his eventual five point haul from the opening round of the MotoGP World Championship season. Riding injured, the Spaniard very nearly saw his race ended in a collision with Alex de Angelis, and had some harsh words for the San Marino rider after coming home eleventh.
“He came straight into me, I was in front and he came into me to close me down. (He showed…) no respect, but life will return the favour to him,” seethed the Repsol Honda rider, who had been battling with De Angelis and Chris Vermeulen at the time of the incident. Vermeulen had passed him, but De Angelis’ attempted opportunism led to his touching the Repsol Honda rider and facing a meeting with the stewards following the race.
For Pedrosa –far from fully fit after leg and arm surgery- the collision severely affected his ability to take further positions and could have added another niggle to his list of injuries.
“After eight or nine laps at the front I started to have some vibration, and I don’t know why that was. Finally I started to lose a lot of grip, and when De Angelis touched me I began to have pain in my shoulder. It’s probably nothing, but I will get it checked out anyway.”
Pedrosa eventually held onto eleventh place from former teammate Nicky Hayden in a drag to the line.

Pos Rider Bike Time
1. Casey Stoner Ducati 42m53.984s
2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha + 7.771s
3. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha + 16.244s
4. Colin Edwards Yamaha + 24.410s
5. Andrea Dovizioso Honda + 27.263s
6. Alex de Angelis Honda + 29.883s
7. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki + 33.627s
8. Mika Kallio Ducati + 34.755s
9. Toni Elias Honda + 39.481s
10. Randy de Puniet Honda + 42.284s
11. Dani Pedrosa Honda + 48.526s
12. Nicky Hayden Ducati + 48.883s
13. Sete Gibernau Ducati + 52.215s
14. Marco Melandri Kawasaki + 56.379s
15. Yuki Takahashi Honda +1m00.286s
16. James Toseland Yamaha +1m14.978s
17. Niccolo Canepa Ducati +1m15.028s

Retirements:
Rider Bike Laps
Loris Capirossi Suzuki 7
ref [AS]

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Dani Pedrosa will ride at this weekend's Qatar MotoGP race after weeks of doubt over his injured left knee and wrist.
The Honda rider re-injured the knee in a crash while testing at the Qatar circuit on March 2nd and hasn't ridden a bike since, thus missing out on the MotoGP Official test at Jerez ten days ago.
His wrist and knee were originally hurt when he crashed out of the lead of the German GP last July.
Repsol Honda says that Pedrosa is determined to take part in the race on Sunday, being "cautiously confident that he will have sufficient flexibility and strength in his left leg to compete in Sunday's 22-lap race."
"First, I've got to say I'm really happy to be going to Qatar for this race," said the Spaniard. "It's clearly been quite a difficult winter for me and not the preparation for the season that we would have chosen.

"But my recovery from the surgery in March has been good - probably a little better than we expected - and that means I have the chance to make the first race, which is great.
"Obviously I haven't been able to do the usual level of physical training while I've been injured, and we've missed out on some testing time, so we have some catching up to do.
"But I know my team hasn't been standing still while I've been away and I'm really looking forward to getting back on the bike and riding for the maximum result possible for my situation."
Pedrosa finished third in the race last year, the first ever grand prix held under floodlights.
ref[AS]

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Dani Pedrosa's manager Alberto Puig has launched a scathing attack on the Spaniard's Repsol Honda teammate Nicky Hayden.
The relationship between the pair has been strained since Pedrosa collided with Hayden at Estoril in 2006 in an incident that looked set to destroy the American's title hopes until Valentino Rossi's crash in the Valencia finale allowed Hayden to claim the crown after all.

When a wall was erected down the centre of the Honda garage at Indianapolis following Pedrosa's controversial mid-season switch to Bridgestone tyres, Hayden hinted that it would make little difference because there had been no exchange between the two riders' crews anyway.

But in an outspoken interview with the official MotoGP website, Puig has accused Hayden of relying on Pedrosa's set-ups and of harbouring jealousy towards the Spaniard.

"All I can say is that Hayden may be bothered because now he can't access information and telemetry data from Dani's bike," Puig told motogp.com.

"With this information he was able to improve his riding, as he had all of Dani's references and now he can't use that any longer. He was simply copying as he never knew how to set-up a bike.

"A professional rider can't be complaining because he can't get access to the other rider's data, because finding what works best is his job, not the other rider's.

"Everybody knows that a racing team doesn't work like a football team. It involves two riders, but each is working for himself and the factory will support the rider who has the best chance. Because when it comes to winning, only one rider wins. It has always been like this and it always will be like this - anybody who says the opposite is just lying to look good."

Puig claimed that Hayden had never been an equal rival to Pedrosa.

"Honestly, and without trying to offend anyone, there was never a rivalry in the garage," he said.
"Nicky won the title when Dani was in his first MotoGP season, and since then there was no rivalry because he (Hayden) didn't get the results. On his own, Dani gained experience in this class and Nicky was always behind him, so Nicky has never been a serious rival."
Hayden will leave the Honda team for Ducati at the end of the season, with Andrea Dovizioso taking the place.
The Italian has already intimated that he expects a difficult relationship with Pedrosa and Puig, who said Pedrosa will regard Dovizioso as just another rival.
"He has shown loyalty to the factory, and now he gets a perfect move for him," said Puig of Dovizioso.
"As for how it will affect us? It really won't change much and won't affect our way of working. He will be another rival on the track."
ref [AS]
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Five-time 500cc champion Mick Doohan has supported Honda's decision to switch Dani Pedrosa from Michelin to Bridgestone tyres for the rest of 2008.
The news that Pedrosa would make a mid-season change of tyre brand stunned the MotoGP paddock, especially given Honda's long relationship with Michelin.
But Doohan - who spent his whole top level career with Honda - said he understood the move given the team's current situation.
"I think that's the way it should be," Doohan said. "He's their main hope and I think that's maybe what Honda need to do."
He praised Pedrosa for providing the impetus behind the change.
"They need some direction as at the moment they don't seem to have any direction," he said.
"At least someone's leading the show and trying to produce some results; that's got to be a positive in my mind.

"They've lost too many key players. First of all Nicky (Hayden), although he's a great rider, he didn't have a lot of depth of experience when he joined the team so through no fault of his own he inherited a team that was departing, so it's not a really good position to be in. And then Dani came in from a 250 so he's also in the same thing.
"The team, although they're a bunch of really nice guys but I don't think there's any leaders amongst them and I think that Pedrosa got to basically be as strong as he possibly can and then drive the team the way it needs to be driven.
"The rider generally is the key component of the team. If the rider can't make a decision for then nobody else is going to be able to make a decision for him."
He believes the decision reflects positively on Honda.
"I think it's a good sign really," Doohan continued. "At least Honda have decided they need to get some good results. They need to get some podiums and they need to get back up the front.
"At the end of the day they are a racing team as much as Honda is a business, it's also HRC as the Honda Racing Corporation. They are there to win races; at the end of the day they got to win races.
"It's a shame that Michelin right at this point in time aren't particularly good. They have such a depth of experience behind them that it must only be a minor problem that's stopping them producing a tyre that's capable of them competing on the same level as the other manufacturer, but for some reason they haven't got it together, but saying that if your handlebars aren't at the same level then you've got to get them right."
Doohan thinks Pedrosa will need time to acclimatise to the Bridgestones, but believes Honda's decision to give Bridgestone runner Shinya Nakano and Gresini Racing a 2008 specification bike earlier in the summer will ease the transition.
"You're going to have to adjust the bike to work with the tyres because the construction is completely different than what they are with the Michelins," he said.
"I'm sure that with Nakano's team being on Bridgestone they've probably got a little bit of understanding of how they work, but I'd be amazed if he's up the front next weekend. It would be great if he was, but you need a bit of testing before the team can get their head around the tyres."
The Australian legend thinks the tyre change will revive Pedrosa's 2009 title prospects.
"He was a strong favourite for this year so you'd hope he was a strong favourite for next year," said Doohan.
"He was going good up until Germany up until that problem, but then those problems have compounded since then with tyre issues at Laguna so whether Michelin have fallen off or Bridgestone have made it two completely different playing fields... But saying that (Jorge) Lorenzo finished second on Michelins at Misano so they're obviously not completely out of the picture.
"I guess if his mind's not into what he's riding then he's not going to do what he's got to do so hopefully it'll put his mind to rest and on the Bridgestones he'll hopefully get some results, get some confidence going into next year and hopefully put Honda back on top."
ref[AS]
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A crash suffered whilst leading the Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland could have left Dani Pedrosa with a broken finger and fractured ankle.
Whilst some of his MotoGP World Championship rivals will be making a direct journey to Laguna Seca for next weekend´s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, Dani Pedrosa will be making a brief stopover in Barcelona to undergo examination on a suspected broken index finger and ankle injury.
The Repsol Honda rider was leading the Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland when he crashed out of the race, taking a big impact as he was flung from his RC212V. The fall dealt a double blow to the Spaniard, who not only conceded the lead in the World Championship but also could be affected by the latest in a string of injuries.
Pedrosa was examined in the Clinica Mobile immediately after the crash, with MotoGP Medical Director Dr. Claudio Macchiagodena giving an initial diagnosis of a fractured left digit. Further examination at the Clinica Dexeus in Pedrosa´s home city will reveal the full extent of the damage caused by the Sunday afternoon spill, the cause of which he was at a loss to explain.
`It was a little strange. I had only just touched the brake and I crashed. It was a real pity because I´d got a great start and was going well. I had a good feeling. The front felt perfect, the rear was sliding just a little, but the general feeling was good considering the track conditions. It is a real pity, ´ said the rider himself.
Finger fractures are notoriously fickle for riders, as their effects can vary wildly depending on the exact location of the break and how this corresponds to the demands of gripping and operating levers. With this in mind, Pedrosa´s participation in the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix could be in doubt.
Exclusive footage of the crash is available on motogp.com.

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Dani Pedrosa dominated the motorcycling Grand Prix of Catalunya in front of his Barcelona home crowd to reduce the gap in the championship to Valentino Rossi.
The Repsol Honda rider, thanks to this second victory of the season, now lies seven points behind the Fiat Yamaha rival, who finished second in today's race.
Starting from second on the grid behind Ducati Marlboro's Casey Stoner, Pedrosa made a perfect getaway to lead at the first corner and never looked back. Within five laps he was over three seconds ahead of everyone else, a gap which opened to almost eight seconds with around two thirds of the race through.

Having ridden the perfect 25-lap race, Pedrosa administered his advantage towards the end to cross the line less than three seconds before Rossi, who however had his hands full in defending his position from Stoner.

Rossi, coming from three consecutive victories this season, made a great recovery from his lowly ninth slot on the grid. He didn't have the best of starts, however, as he didn't really gain any positions.

By the end of the first lap the seven-time champion was only eight, but started to make up positions on lap three when he overtook Tech 3 Yamaha's James Toseland for seventh, after which he took sixth from Nicky Hayden's factory Honda on lap five, and fifth from Randy de Puniet's LCR Honda two laps later.

Next up the road was Colin Edwards's Tech 3 Yamaha, which Rossi overtook for fourth place on lap eight. On that same lap he caught up with Stoner and with a hard-fighting Andrea Dovizioso, whose JiR Honda managed to take second from the Australian thanks to a mistake by the latter.

On lap nine Stoner managed to take the position back from the Italian rookie, but Rossi was unstoppable and overtook them both before the end of the same lap.

While Dovizioso struggled to keep up the pace with the two riders ahead of him, Stoner would not let Rossi run away from him, and in fact overtook the Italian on lap 17 when Rossi did not seem to try to defend the position.

At the beginning of the penultimate lap Rossi outbraked Stoner on the straight and opened a bit of a gap that the Australian was unable to bridge, finishing the race half a second behind the Italian.

Dovizioso, who started the race from seventh on the grid, ended up in an impressive fourth position, over seven seconds behind Stoner but five seconds ahead of Edwards and ten over Toseland.

Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen finished in seventh, while Hayden, who started from the front row, could do no better than eighth, over 20 seconds behind teammate Pedrosa.

On lap 11 Suzuki's Loris Capirossi and Honda Gresini's Alex de Angelis crashed out while fighting for tenth place, leaving the veteran rider with a fracture in his right hand. On the following lap de Puniet also retired from sixth position after a crash.

Alice Ducati's Toni Elias was black flagged on lap nine after ignoring a ride-through penalty for having jumped the start.

Pos Rider Bike Time
1. Dani Pedrosa Honda (M) 43:02.175
2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (B) + 2.806
3. Casey Stoner Ducati (B) + 3.343
4. Andrea Dovizioso Honda (M) + 10.893
5. Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) + 16.426
6. James Toseland Yamaha (M) + 21.482
7. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki (B) + 21.548
8. Nicky Hayden Honda (M) + 22.280
9. Shinya Nakano Honda (B) + 22.375
10. John Hopkins Kawasaki (B) + 46.835
11. Marco Melandri Ducati (B) + 57.991
12. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) + 59.168
13. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati (B) +1:00.779

Retirements:

Rider Bike Laps
Randy de Puniet Honda (M) 11
Alex de Angelis Honda (B) 10
Loris Capirossi Suzuki (B) 10
Toni Elias Ducati (B) 7
ref[AS]


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Dani Pedrosa was once again the fastest rider on track on Friday afternoon in Barcelona.
The fastest rider in the opening practice session, Dani Pedrosa made it a clean sweep from the two Friday MotoGP runs at the Circuit de Catalunya by further improving his times in the afternoon. The Spaniard began the preparations for his home race with a 1´43.017 lap of the tricky Barcelona track, which caught out half of the 18-rider field in one form or another.
Pedrosa was among the participants to take a fall, crashing his standard engine-powered Repsol Honda RC212V with just over ten minutes to go in the second session, immediately after clocking the fastest time of the day. He was unhurt in the crash.
Second fastest in the combined standings was Loris Capirossi, continuing his upturn in form onboard the Rizla Suzuki GSV-R. He trailed Pedrosa by just 0.006, with the top four covered by less than a tenth of a second. Capirossi ran off track twice in the afternoon run.

The remainder of the aforementioned top four were Fiat Yamaha´s Valentino Rossi and Ducati Marlboro´s Casey Stoner, after an eventful day for both riders. Rossi attracted attention for his special `Azzurri´ themed livery and leathers, whilst Stoner had early problems with the track that led to his crashing and running-off in the morning.
Alex de Angelis maintained his Mugello momentum with the fifth fastest time, ahead of Rizla Suzuki man Chris Vermeulen and his own San Carlo Honda Gresini teammate Shinya Nakano.
Learning the Catalunya circuit, James Toseland was eighth fastest, whilst the top ten was completed by American duo Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards.
The biggest crash of the afternoon befell Jorge Lorenzo, local rider and World Championship contender. He hit the ground from a highside at a lower altitude than that of his Shanghai spill, but his momentum made for a bumpy journey through the gravel trap. The Fiat Yamaha man was taken to the Clinica Mobile and took no further part in the afternoon session, with the latest news on his condition indicating a fractured right ring finger and an ankle contusion.
Another rider stopping early was John Hopkins, who completed just a handful of laps before a highside on his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR, whilst Randy de Puniet had his second crash of the day in the afternoon outing.
ref[motogp.com]
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Nicky Hayden says he has been impressed by the new Indianapolis layout after riding around the track for the first time on Monday.
The circuit, which will host its first MotoGP race in September, has a new configuration, different to the one used for Formula One since 2000.
The bikes will also go in the opposite direction.
"When I saw the track map, I looked at the map and some pictures on the Internet, but I didn't realize how quick the front straightaway is," said Hayden, who inaugurated that track on an vintage Indian bike.
"Definitely it's going to be a long straight there, going to need some ponies. My initial impression was great.
"I didn't really see any concerns. You know, Turn 1 is a little bit probably, I would say, the sketchiest place, but the rest looked like more than enough run-off. The first bit, the track is brand new, so it's really slippery. But in the back where the Formula One was going, the surface felt quite a lot of grip.
"I'll be excited to get the GP bike out there, and you can feel a lot more on that bike than a street bike, so we'll see."
He added: "I imagined it being big, but I didn't imagine the whole Speedway and just the grandstands and just the golf course, everything being so huge, you know. I mean, definitely was even for me.

"I've been to speedways and been to a lot of tracks, but just the size of this place is enormous and got to go around the course in a car and, you know, was excited to be here and be a part of it."
The American also rode a Honda CBR1000 production bike around the 2.620-mile circuit and was impressed by how fast the track is.
The Repsol Honda rider reckons the MotoGP bikes will reach 200 mph when they race there.
"It's fast," said Hayden. "You know, that's definitely coming down in there quite so fast is just the one where your eyes open up the biggest and the walls are a little bit close, so I would say mainly just from the speed. You know, that's going to be, I would say, a big overtaking place.
"And the slipstream will be really important in this race, especially 125 and 250, but I would say there will be a lot of overtaking going into Turn 1. So it will be important to get off the last corner well. That's quite maybe the most technical little corner on the track. So, yeah.
"I'm not exactly sure what the speed was today. I don't know, maybe 150, 160. But, you know, our GP bikes will be doing 200 miles an hour down in there. So, yeah, we'll be moving pretty quick. I would say the last corner will be maybe the slowest corner, and then the front straightaway obviously will be the quickest. Also the Turn 5 will be a quick corner. It's fast.
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The Repsol Honda rider, who started from second on the grid, took the lead right at the start and immediately opened a gap over the rest of the field.

When the gap got up to three seconds, Pedrosa was curiously shown a pit-board on lap 12 saying his advantage was only 1.1 seconds. While the gap rose to up to four and a half seconds two thirds of the way through the race, Pedrosa ultimately won by 2.8 seconds over Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi.

Pos Rider Bike Time
1. Daniel Pedrosa Honda (M) 45:35.121
2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (B) + 2.883
3. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha (M) + 4.339
4. Nicky Hayden Honda (M) + 10.142
5. Loris Capirossi Suzuki (B) + 27.524
6. James Toseland Yamaha (M) + 27.808
7. John Hopkins Kawasaki (B) + 28.296
8. Andrea Dovizioso Honda (M) + 28.449
9. Shinya Nakano Honda (B) + 32.569
10. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki (B) + 35.091
11. Casey Stoner Ducati (B) + 42.223
12. Marco Melandri Ducati (B) + 44.498
13. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) + 45.807
14. Alex de Angelis Honda (B) + 45.871
15. Toni Elias Ducati (B) +1:09.558
16. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati (B) +1:14.442

Retirements:

Rider Bike Laps
Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) 6
Randy de Puniet Honda (M) 0
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