Daily Update MotoGP

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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Casey Stoner said his second consecutive race-ending crash was caused by a lack of grip from his Ducati's front tyre.

Just as he had at Brno a fortnight ago, Stoner fell while leading from Valentino Rossi in today's race. With Rossi going on to take a comfortable win, Stoner is now 75 points adrift in the championship.

He had shown dominant form until the race, having topped all the practice sessions and taken his seventh successive pole position.

"It is very disappointing for the weekend to end like this after showing such a high level of performance in practice," said Stoner.

"Basically we took the decision to put one lap on the race tyre in warm-up this morning to get it scrubbed in: we've done it before and not had a problem but today I could feel from the first lap that the grip wasn't right.

"After a few laps it started to feel better and I was gaining confidence but it let go."

The Australian is confident that he can bounce back from this string of errors.

"It's a real shame but, anyway, we tried hard here and once again I think we've shown we are very fast, we have a great bike and tyres that work fantastically," Stoner said. "This gives me confidence for next year and I'm looking forward to it already."

His Misano weekend was complicated when he aggravated a previous wrist fracture before practice - a problem that he won't be able to fully resolve until after the championship is over.

"It's huge disappointment this problem came out but I'll have to wait until the end of the season for an operation," Stoner said
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hampionship leader Valentino Rossi delighted his home crowd by taking victory at Misano as reigning champion Casey Stoner crashed out once more from the race lead.

It was a perfect day for the Italian as he matched Giacomo Agostini's legendary record of 68 victories in the top class. His Fiat Yamaha team had also plenty to celebrate thanks to rookie Jorge Lorenzo finishing in second place.

Ducati Marlboro's Stoner, who also crashed from the lead in Brno, looked set to storm through the race after leading every session this weekend, making the perfect start from pole position and taking advantage of Dani Pedrosa's Repsol Honda slotting between himself and Rossi at the first corner.

Rossi managed to take second place back from the Spaniard on lap two, but by the beginning of the third lap the gap to Stoner was already three seconds.

That gap remained steady as the two exchanged fastest laps, but on lap eight the Australian crashed and allowed Rossi to take the a comfortable lead, as the Italian was already three seconds ahead of Lorenzo.

The works Yamaha riders carried on unchallenged for the rest of the race, while behind them Alice Ducati's Toni Elias overtook Pedrosa and went on to score his second consecutive podium of what had until recently been a difficult year for him.

Pedrosa finished the race in fourth place, ahead of the Rizla Suzukis of Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi, which sandwiched in between James Toseland's Tech 3 Yamaha.

JiR Honda's Andrea Dovizioso classified eighth, followed by the works Ducati of Marco Melandri and Colin Edwards's other customer Yamaha.

Randy de Puniet crashed his LCR Honda at the last corner of the first lap, while Alex de Angelis retired his Honda Gresini two laps later.

Pos Rider Bike Time
1. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (B) 44:41.884
2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha (M) + 3.163
3. Toni Elias Ducati (B) + 11.705
4. Dani Pedrosa Honda (M) + 17.470
5. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki (B) + 23.409
6. James Toseland Yamaha (M) + 26.208
7. Loris Capirossi Suzuki (B) + 26.824
8. Andrea Dovizioso Honda (M) + 27.591
9. Marco Melandri Ducati (B) + 33.169
10. Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) + 36.529
11. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati (B) + 42.081
12. Shinya Nakano Honda (B) + 43.808
13. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) + 54.874
14. John Hopkins Kawasaki (B) + 55.154
ref[AS]

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Ducati Marlboro's Casey Stoner clinched his seventh pole position on the trot in dominant fashion ahead of tomorrow's San Marino MotoGP at Misano.

Despite Stoner's gap of over half a second over Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, it was an exciting one-hour session, with the Australian - who is battling a recurring wrist injury - exchanging top spot several times with the two Fiat Yamahas.

In the end, the reigning champion set an outstanding 1:33.378 with just two minutes of the session to go, which pushed Lorenzo down to second after the Spaniard had just managed to beat Rossi's provisional pole position time.

With the time expiring, Rossi was looking able to snatch pole back after setting the fastest time in the first sectors of his home track, but he ultimately dropped back and had to settle for second, 0.510 seconds behind his title rival.

With an impressive return to form, Lorenzo completes the front row, less than a tenth behind his championship-leading teammate.

Honda LCR's Randy de Puniet leads the second row of the grid, ahead of Toni Elias's Alice Ducati and Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa.

Chris Vermeulen put his Rizla Suzuki on the seventh spot, followed by Shinya Nakano's Honda Gresini and the two Tech 3 Yamahas of James Toseland and Colin Edwards.

Pos Rider Bike Time
1. Casey Stoner Ducati (B) 1:33.378
2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (B) 1:33.888 + 0.510
3. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha (M) 1:33.964 + 0.586
4. Randy de Puniet Honda (M) 1:34.236 + 0.858
5. Toni Elias Ducati (B) 1:34.322 + 0.944
6. Dani Pedrosa Honda (M) 1:34.398 + 1.020
7. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki (B) 1:34.461 + 1.083
8. Shinya Nakano Honda (B) 1:34.494 + 1.116
9. James Toseland Yamaha (M) 1:34.652 + 1.274
10. Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) 1:34.795 + 1.417
11. Loris Capirossi Suzuki (B) 1:34.926 + 1.548
12. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati (B) 1:34.961 + 1.583
13. Alex de Angelis Honda (B) 1:35.153 + 1.775
14. Andrea Dovizioso Honda (M) 1:35.381 + 2.003
15. Marco Melandri Ducati (B) 1:35.418 + 2.040
16. Nicky Hayden Honda (M) 1:35.584 + 2.206
17. John Hopkins Kawasaki (B) 1:35.980 + 2.602
18. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) 1:37.047 + 3.669
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MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner says it will be nearly impossible to retain his crown now that Valentino Rossi has such a big lead in the championship.

Stoner had fought back after a difficult start to the season, winning four consecutive races and finishing second to Rossi at the United States Grand Prix.

But the Ducati rider made a rare mistake in the last race in Brno and crashed, handing Rossi a 50-point lead with six races remaining.

Stoner reckons catching the Italian will be almost impossible.

"We have six races to go and these are the ones we have to look at now," Stoner told a news conference at Misano. "It has been a disappointing couple of races, mainly the last one.

"It's given Valentino a huge gap in the championship and it's just time for us to keep our heads down and try to do the best we can in these last races. We have nothing more to do other than this.

"I think chasing a championship down with this points gap is maybe possible with other riders, but with Valentino is nearly impossible."

He added: "We have to do the best job we can. We found some positive points in the Brno test. We have a little more confidence with the bike and hopefully we won't make a mistake like last week.

"But considering we've done 30 races with Ducati and this was my first crash in a race, so I think it's acceptable."

Despite the pessimism about his championship chances, Stoner is expecting to enjoy a strong race at Misano this weekend.

"Last year was a good race for us and we'll see what happens this year. But we seem to perform well here, so we'll just have to see."
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Valentino Rossi extended his points lead and ended Casey Stoner's run of three victories by winning a ferocious battle with the Australian at Laguna Seca.
The pair swapped the lead several times in the first part of the race, running absolutely together and producing the most exciting racing of the year so far.
Rossi never allowed Stoner to stay ahead for long, and their tussle was decided with just over eight laps to go, when Stoner ran wide avoiding Rossi at the final corner and fell in the gravel. Their advantage was so great, however, that the reigning champion was able to rejoin still in second.
Today's win increases the Fiat Yamaha rider's championship advantage over his Ducati Marlboro rival to 25 points, while Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa, who had to withdraw from the event, now lags 41 points behind the Italian.

Rossi, who had never won at the California track before, edged ahead of Stoner for the lead on the first lap at the entry of the circuit's legendary Corkscrew.
At the start of lap four Stoner overtook Rossi on front straight, but the latter took it back on the second corner. Stoner got ahead again just before the Corkscrew, but Rossi would have none of it, and grabbed the lead back by putting both wheels in the gravel at the inside of the famous corner and just managing to stay on the bike.
Meanwhile, their lead over the rest of the pack started increasing by about one second every lap. The two exchanged the lead again on lap five, 13, 14, and 24, just before Stoner fell at the last corner of the lap.
Stoner lost almost 14 seconds to Rossi with that fall, but at the beginning of that lap the lead was more than 22 seconds over third-placed Chris Vermeulen.
JiR Honda's Andrea Dovizioso, who ended up fourth eight seconds behind the Rizla Suzuki, beat the factory Honda of Nicky Hayden and the LCR Honda of Randy de Puniet.
Toni Elias got his best result of the year by finishing seventh with his Alice Ducati. The Spaniard finished just ahead of Suzuki's wild card Ben Spies and Tech 3 Yamaha's James Toseland.
American Jamie Hacking, standing in for injured John Hopkins at Kawasaki, ended his MotoGP debut at 37 years of age in eleventh place, soundly beating Anthony West who finished 17th and last with the same machinery.
Marco Melandri had an encouraging early part of the race with his factory Ducati that saw him getting up to ninth place, before having a long run through the gravel that dropped him dead last on lap 10. The Italian eventually classified 16th.
Rossi's teammate Jorge Lorenzo had a major high-side on the first lap right after passing Dovizioso for fifth, with the Spaniard flying high and crashing hard on the asphalt.
The MotoGP rookie was reportedly left with two fractures in his foot that should not require surgery.
Pos Rider Bike Time
1. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (B) 44:04.311
2. Casey Stoner Ducati (B) + 13.001
3. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki (B) + 26.609
4. Andrea Dovizioso Honda (M) + 34.901
5. Nicky Hayden Honda (M) + 35.663
6. Randy de Puniet Honda (M) + 37.668
7. Toni Elias Ducati (B) + 41.629
8. Ben Spies Suzuki (B) + 41.927
9. James Toseland Yamaha (M) + 43.019
10. Shinya Nakano Honda (B) + 44.391
11. Jamie Hacking Kawasaki (B) + 46.258
12. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati (B) + 55.273
13. Alex de Angelis Honda (B) + 55.521
14. Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) +1:02.380
15. Loris Capirossi Suzuki (B) +1:08.207
16. Marco Melandri Ducati (B) +1:10.962
17. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) + 1 lap
Retirements:
Rider Bike Laps
Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha (M) 0
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Valentino Rossi´s best efforts in Laguna Seca were not enough to deny Casey Stoner a fifth consecutive pole position, although the Italian will start the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix from the front row.

At times the performances of MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner have left his rivals with little option but to laugh so as not to cry, with a recent run of three victories and five pole positions on the bounce showing the Australian´s quality for all to see. A rider more used to dishing out the punishment than receiving it, Valentino Rossi was tasked with seeing the funny side of his nemesis´ dominance in qualifying for the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix.
`To stop Stoner, you´d have to shoot him,´ said Rossi when asked by Spanish television channel TVE as to how he could beat the Ducati Marlboro man in Sunday´s race.
Rossi did, however place on the front row for the Laguna Seca showdown, having identified a top grid position as a must in the run-up to this weekend´s race. His pace may have been consistent mid-1´22 laps rather than the daunting mid-1´21´s recorded by Stoner, but he remained confident of at the very least a positive result to take him into the summer break as the World Championship leader.
`Second is a good position to start from tomorrow. We have had one or two small problems that perhaps it will be possible to fix when we do a few small modifications. Our race pace isn´t so bad,´ noted the Fiat Yamaha rider.
Whilst Rossi would probably not be permitted by the FIM to take weaponry onto the grid, he did have another tongue-in-cheek scheme up his sleeve in order to be the quickest on the draw on Sunday; when questioned in the immediate live international press feed as to whether he had a plan for victory over Stoner, the five-time MotoGP World Champion quickly replied:
`Yes. Start 30 seconds earlier than him.´
ref[motogp.com]
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