Among MotoGP’s two main characters so far this year on their books it's no shock to see the Fiat Yamaha staff placing 140 points ahead of the Teams’ World Championship standings.

Certainly last weekend’s ending visit to Donington Park for the British Grand Prix was the initial time that either Valentino Rossi or Jorge Lorenzo have placed on the stage this season, although the talented duo have stepped onto the rostrum side by side on seven occasions already.

Yamaha have a superior chance of replicating 2008’s triple crown of Rider, Team and Constructors’ World awards and with Rossi ahead 25 points clear of colleague Lorenzo at Donington, the Italian superstar has the edge over his Spanish team mate. For now the image is cosy for Yamaha Motor Racing Managing Director Lin Jarvis and the Fiat Yamaha team.

The existing Yamaha M1 has been the best bike on the MotoGP network this season in terms of overall competitiveness and the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 staff have used it well as the best performing satellite team in the championship overall in fourth place. Colin Edwards received the first season's stage in England for Herve Poncharal’s staff, as the American competitor repeatedly outperformed his British colleague James Toseland.

Second in the Teams’ World Championship ratings are Repsol Honda who have had an up and down year so far with both their competitors, Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso, each have been victorious once this year. Pedrosa began the year with an injury, however came back strong to eventually complete the staff’s long win drought by round eight at Laguna Seca on the every changing RC212V, but placed ninth at Donington.

The person taking over the headlines in the UK was Dovizioso, who came back from three consecutive DNFs to end in a brilliant first premier class victory. Honda will long for extra consistency from their two competitors as the year ends and they try to close the gap on Yamaha.

Ducati's challenge is to get Casey Stoner 100% strong and work for continued improvement from the Aussie’s fellow former World Champion and new colleague this season Nicky Hayden. Stoner’s two victories and five stage spots have ensured the Ducati Marlboro staff to third in the ranks and the Italian factory sitting third in the Constructors’ classification.

Rizla Suzuki’s efforts to come forward this year with Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen have disappointed, even though the introduction of a fresh and re-designed GSV-R prototype at the start of year. They place fifth in the Teams’ ranks and fourth in the Constructors’ championship, having seen Capirossi experience a duo of costly DNFs and Vermeulen so far unable to repeat either of his 2008 stage visits.

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Following an initial stage performance of the year for Colin Edwards, and another sixth placing for James Toseland at home (equalling his best prior 2009 result at Assen), the ever keen Herve Poncharal was in an extremely positive mindset when he reviewed on the Donington performances of his team.

“Colin deserves this result. He works hard and he has brought so much to Yamaha, to Bridgestone, to the team. He loves England, he loves Donington, it is always a track where he has done well. We are so happy to leave here with a second position,” explained the Frenchman following Edwards ride tremendously in tricky conditions.

Poncharal also claimed Toseland’s sure efforts in front of his home viewers, which arrived as a huge relief following last year’s disappointment and an annoying ’09 campaign. “I would like to say to James that he did a really hard race. He was fighting and I’m pleased for him too. It was good to see the whole crowd cheering him and it was a strong team result for us.”

Referencing the times ahead of his two competitors Poncharal also states, “Jorge Lorenzo is the big man at the moment and until he makes his decision on what he wants to do next year the negotiations throughout the paddock are on hold. At the moment we are happy with our two riders, we are a bit further than midseason but we don’t want to make any quick decision. We want to wait.

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Dealings between Dani Pedrosa and his colleagues are not always the closest in motor racing, with the dedicated Spaniard deeply concentrated on his own work. This was also the case with Nicky Hayden next to him in the Honda garb, and carries on with a wall still in place to divide him and Andrea Dovizioso this year.

Disappointed with a ninth placing in the British Grand Prix, Pedrosa saw a colleague win an event for the very first occassion in 3 seasons when Dovizioso passed the line at Donington Park, afterwards congratulating his Italian team mate’s performance.

”First I have to congratulate Andrea on his win because he rode a great race from beginning to end in very difficult conditions,” Pedrosa states following the race.

“For me, the result today is obviously disappointing and the team because I have been fast all weekend and I couldn’t keep that up during the race,” explains the competitor quickest in both Free Practice gatherings in the Midlands.

“At the beginning I was feeling good on the Bridgestone slicks and was able to judge my pace well according to the conditions. As the rain came however, I couldn’t maintain the temperature in the tyres and when this happens the grip really goes away and I wasn’t able to control the bike as I wanted. On the grid I was sure my tyre choice was correct, but with 10 laps to go I thought that maybe I should go into the pits and change to wets, but it wasn’t worth losing 20 seconds for the bike change because the lap times of the riders on the wet tyres were the same as the times on slicks.”

The Repsol Honda competitor had run a medium front wheel on the wet surface, keen to elude the rubber issues that concerned him in Sachsenring and with one focus on a benefit should the rain have increased. The risk did not pay off, however he continues to be excited for the rest of the year after some excellent results.

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For the sole time prior to last year’s French Grand Prix, Ducati’s satellite competitors both achieved the factory lineup at Donington Park on Sunday. Niccolò Canepa and Mika Kallio made different choices to Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden when it approached tyre choice for the ‘wet’ run, racing polished wheels and adding the pair to the top ten alongside for the first time this year.

Canepa was the highest placing Ducati competitor in the difficult race, riding his Pramac Racing Desmosedici GP9 to a career high of eighth place. It was his toughest event to date in the elite class.

“At one point it was difficult just to stay upright, and I didn’t have the advantage that the other riders had in terms of experience. You need to have a lot of patience and sensitivity with the bike in these conditions,”  he says, though colleague Kallio was less than impressed with a tenth placing.

“I’m not very happy, because I expected more from this race,” explains the Finn, who arrived into the pits to swap bikes in a move he later regretted.

“I was fighting for sixth before heavier rain came down, but as soon as I switched machines it became less intense and I couldn’t do times like my first one on slick tyres.”

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The tale of Aleix Espargaró has turned unexpectedly over the last couple of weeks. The youthful Spaniard has transformed from unemployed to a luxurious place, splitting rides in the CEV Buckler with a replacement showing in the Balatonring 250cc group.

“This is, as Ángel Nieto said to me, a move from unemployment to double duty. I had no ride for this year, but I carried on training in order to take advantage of any opportunity. Dani Devahive called me about his Moto2 project, in which there was a lot of belief, and at the same time the 250cc chance came up,” states Aleix.

Espargaró’s employment with the Promoracing Project will be extremely vigourous this season, as in Albacete there is the news of testing a fresh prototype. Aleix explains that “the team ahve been in England working on a new chassis to house the Honda CBR 600 RR engine. Although we don’t think that the bike will change too much, it will be important to start working with 2010 World Championship configuration.”

In some way, Espargaró’s homecoming to the CEV Buckler has been little extra’: “I have had the opportunity to meet up again with people that I like a lot, and with whom I would otherwise be unable to maintain contact. I also like the professional attitude of the CEV Buckler.”

Competing with the very different 250cc and Moto2 bikes has not been a smooth transition. “Going from a two-stroke to a four-stroke is relatively easy, the bike is bigger and easier to ride. However, coming back to 250cc was more difficult, as the riding style has to be perfect if you want to go fast.”

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Hiroshi Aoyama is in front in the 250cc class whilst arriving in Great Britain, ten points in the lead of Spanish rival Álvaro Bautista. The class will see a fresh Donington Park winner on Sunday afternoon, as no-one currently on the grid has taken victory here in quarter-litre competition. As the title is in the balance, such a win would be a massive boost to either contendor.

Aoyama and Bautista have some room to breathe sitting at the top of the standings, following them there are some dark horses threatening. Héctor Barberá is only eighteen points away from Bautista.

Confirmed position in the upper class lineup next year is Marco Simoncelli, he is re-mounting his title defence in the 250cc class. The Metis Gilera competitor was victorious in the last round at Sachsenring in Germany, he needs thirty-two points to catch the leader Aoyama.

There will be a selection of wild cards in home representation in Great Britain, lead by half-regular participant Toby Markham. The local rider has only two points from five forms in 2009.

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Just one premature twist of the hand caused the low point of Randy de Puniet’s season so far. The Frenchman was unable to complete the first lap of the Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland as he was hurled his LCR Honda RC212V, bringing a smash-free and points scoring half season, to an finale.

De Puniet had gone thirteen rounds without a crash before his fall in Germany. His last Sunday tumble was at last year’s race in Misano, where coincidentally he also returned to the garage before the completion of lap one.

“I am very disappointed, because I had a good start and was in third position behind Pedrosa,” stated the Honda rider, who had qualified six even though both his bikes were damaged in practice.

“After that I made a mistake in the first right corner because I opened the throttle too early, suffering a big highside. I feel lucky as I escaped unhurt from the crash, but this is bad for me and the team -especially for the championship,” he says.

De Puniet is sitting tenth in the World Championship, with five points apart from Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen, in the vie for eighth.

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Andrea Dovizioso took a hat trick at Sachsenring with a third DNF in a row.

Different from prior rounds, the Repsol Honda competitor did not have a lot to state in his race retirement.

“We needed a strong result here and at the start of the race I was able to ride at a really good pace,” says Dovizioso.

“I made a quick start from the fourth row and got past six riders on the first lap - then I was able to get past (Jorge) Lorenzo for fourth on the third lap. On that lap I did a 1m 22.7s but then, during the fourth lap, the front folded at turn eight and I ran wide.”

“Within a few laps after this the performance from the front had dropped dramatically. It meant I couldn’t lean the bike or brake as normal so it was very difficult to control the bike. From then on my target was to finish the race but with five laps to go I had an electrical issue with the machine and I had to pull in.

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An additional second placing for Jorge Lorenzo at round nine of the 2009 World Championship reserved the Spanish rider in the title race in his second leader class term, though he had to remain optimistic having missed out by only 0.099s to fellow colleague Valentino Rossi.

One more exhilarating battle amongst the duo at Sachsenring eventually concluded in another win placing for the extra experienced Italian hero who increased his lead to 14 points.

Lorenzo continued his fantastic run of stage finishes, with his fourth second placing in the last five rounds, though if he was barely quick enough to catch his famous Italian colleague in the race to the line, having gotten near to Rossi on the final corner.

Lorenzo said, “Like at Montmeló we lost the battle, but it’s not a problem. I think we have to be happy because we are always towards the top and we are improving. It was a very hard race because this track is quite slow and you have to push your body to the maximum, so to keep with the pace of Valentino was difficult. It was hard to get past him because he was braking so hard and so late.”

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The Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland weekend commenced, as riders competed in a battle to the chequered flag at the Sachsenring circuit. The premier class competition will occur on Sunday afternoon, the chance to sharpen their racing abilities in a kart event hosted at the circuit complex was the command of the day in the traditional pre-event.

Competitors Marco Melandri, Andrea Dovizioso, Niccolò Canepa and Alex de Angelis were the major riders in the karting challenge, cut into three groups to incorporate 125cc and 250cc icons. Away from festivities this year was Casey Stoner, who usually freshens up in the nice natured event that easily turns competitive.

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Casey Stoner's new mysterious health has been diagnosed as minor gastritis and mild anaemia and the Aussie has sworn to fight for the remaining leg of the 2009 FIM MotoGP World Championship.

The Ducati rider fought weariness, abdominal cramps and nausea for the past three races in Spain, Holland and the US but clashed through the pain to stay within touch of the title race.

The 2007 champ placed fourth at Laguna Seca prior in spite of a grave clash in qualifying which cemented his fitness problems, and later remained in the States to complete a series of medical tests to determine the root of his condition.

Stoner is only 16 points away from leader Valentino Rossi heading into this weekend's comp in Germany, but he is adamant that one more podium finish is his goal.

"I have been in the USA until Saturday to do all the tests. First of all I'd like to thank all the doctors involved in this. Dr Ting and Dr Tuan in the Fremont Surgery Center, Dr Macchiagodena, Dr Catani, Dr Ceccarelli and of course my physiotherapist Freddy. Hopefully step by step I will feel better with their indications," Stoner says.

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World champion Valentino Rossi will be hoping to lengthen his nine point title lead at the ninth Grand Prix circuit of the 2009 MotoGP World Championship this coming weekend, with the stage being a minimum goal.

Rossi is aware that his wounded but always progressing talented title rivals Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa will each too be clashing for brilliance at Sachsenring, where the Italian master has already succeeded on three prior occasions in the first class.

Even if he admits that the location is not his top priority on the calendar, Rossi takes pleasure from a pivotal moment of accomplishment en route to the 2008 championship in his prior visit.  He collected a vital second place in a wet race with Pedrosa smashing out of first place.

Moving into the third of four competitions in a fiery five week period - a trip to Donington ensues after the Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland - Rossi says, “Thank goodness we’ve had some time to rest after the last two races because I was really quite tired after Laguna. The next two races are back to back and again it will be very hard, and it’s also a very important stage of the championship, the halfway point.”

“Sachsenring isn’t one of my favourite tracks but I’ve had some great races there and generally it suits Yamaha well, which is good. We need another good result to keep our lead because our rivals are so strong and we can’t afford to make any mistakes. Last year there was a lot of rain in Germany but in fact we were able to take a great second place. I hope this year we can go one better.”

Davide Brivio, Team Manager explains, “As always our first target is the podium and we’ve achieved this at all but one race this season so we will look to continue that trend. Last year it was very wet in Germany but we were able to take an important second place, which gave Valentino key points for his championship battle.

 

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Honda’s all new 2010 CRF250R places a more elevated standard than ever for its imposing power and handling, all combined into one contest-ready parcel.

Honda have become more accustomed to many of the same impressive features located on the Pro Open style-leading CRF450R.

Boldness shows an all-fresh, more influential compact engine with Programmed Fuel Injection (PGM-FI) mixed with an innovative Twin Spar Aluminum Frame and the characteristic Honda Progressive Steering Damper (HPSD), the 2010 CRF250R carries on Honda’s ancient position of class supremacy.

In general, the modifications to the engine, incorporates a mechanical variation of fuel stream and ignition timing, whilst mechanism ratios have also been amended to adjust the refurbished engine. The bike also includes bigger radiators as well as tougher pistons and valves.

With new enhanced bodywork borrowed from the CRF450R, Honda’s miniature version moto-crosser presents better steering response and in particular handling through a relocated front wheel.

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As soon as Dani Pedrosa intersected the line at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix in top place, (only 0.344s ahead of World Champion Rossi), it was the Spaniard's primary win in over 12 months, finally bringing a conclusion to a year of woes.

Over that time, Pedrosa smashed out of the race front at Sachsenring, injuring his hand.  He also damaged his leg with another crash at Phillip Island, wounded himself in pre-season testing, harmed his hip whilst endured another DNF at Mugello, unfortunately crashing out once more at Assen.

After extensive phases of physiotherapy, operations and irregular stage appearances, Pedroas has endured a difficult period, lacking also in practice time.

Mike Leitner, Repsol Honda rider's crew chief and their tight team never lost confidence in Pedrosa during the difficult period, eventually coming to a generous conclusion last weekend.

“The close group around him never lost confidence in him,” Leitner explains.  “Sure people outside think, ‘what’s going on?’, because they don’t know how bad the damage is to the rider. I mean in Mugello and Barcelona he was really suffering and the Assen race was an extra blow, so it shows this Laguna result was very good.”

 

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Ousted from the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, James Toseland was bitterly disappointed with this last weekend. The Briton was deemed to have jumped started the race at Laguna despite the anxious attempts of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team trying to alert him that he required a ride-through.  Toseland was not aware of the consequence pending a black flag ready to be waved.


As an extra woe, Toseland’s late entry into the pits also meant he neglected to see the first viewing of the black flag. He sustained that the early take-off was minor at worst, and expressed why he wasn’t paying attention for his pitboard earlier. 


“I feel like the jump start was pretty harsh. I knew it was close but I didn't think I'd jumped the start and that early in a 32-lap race I'm not looking at my pitboard,” said Toseland. “I was just concentrating on catching the guy in front and the first thing I realised that I'd been penalised was when I saw the black flag and my number.


“Obviously if I'd known I'd jumped the start then I would have come in but I've watched the TV replay and you can't see anything. I didn't gain any places either so in my opinion it's pretty harsh. It's a setback but I've just got to get on with it and bounce back in Germany.”


Toseland has had a few setbacks, even before his penalty

 

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The 2007 World Champion Australian Casey Stoner from the Ducati team was joined by San Carlo Honda Gresini’s rider Toni Elías and LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet. The trio paid a special visit to the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park located in Los Angeles to mark the arrival of the MotoGP in California.

The trio decided to take the chance to relax before they had to head up the coast along Route 101 to the Laguna Seca circuit, for the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, the MotoGP riders were shown around the various Universal Studios Hollywood attractions, including film and TV sets.

The riders visited Wisteria Lane where the television show ‘Desperate Housewives’ is set, and the small town of Cabot Cove of ‘Murder, She Wrote’ fame, the trio also viewed animations reproducing the sets of classic Hollywood blockbusters such as ‘‘Fast & Furious’, Jaws’, and ‘The Mummy’.

The three then also witnessed an earthquake simulation in a metro station, before Elías and De Puniet rode through Springfield on the Fox-sponsored ‘The Simpsons’ ride and also were given a chance to sample the ‘Jurassic Park’ rollercoaster ride.

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In the incident Kallio damaged one of the fingers on his left hand and as a result the Finnish rider is unable to ride his Ducati Desmosedici GP9 at the Red Bull Grand Prix this weekend at Laguna Seca.

He damaged the ‘ring finger’ of his left hand, Kallio's finger was cut down to the bone in the crash which mean that Mika Kallio has lost the nail on that finger for good, though he was fortunate that the nervous system in the finger has not been damaged. For the time being a bandage has been placed on the finger and it is being disinfected daily in an effort to prevent infection and help the healing process.

Kallio who after the Sachsenring and Donington rounds will most probably require a skin graft to permanently close the wound. Kallios is expected to compete at those two European rounds with an imitation skin protection on the injured finger.

As for his racing team the Pramac Racing team have decided not to find a substitute for Mika Kallio for Laguna Seca, which means that Niccolò Canepa will make his American debut alone.

The Pramac Racing Technical Director Fabiano Sterlacchini said, “Mika’s condition is better than what we thought straight after the race, but still we preferred to give him a weekend off to recover. This would have been the first time at Laguna Seca for him and with his precarious physical condition we preferred not to take any more risks and we hope he will be at his best in three weeks time at Sachsenring. Mika will not undergo surgery before the German GP, but will continue to take medication and have the injured finger cleaned daily to avoid infection and further complications.”

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