Motorcycles and news

Stoner sped away from the line and established a 1.25 second lead within the first four turns over Chris Vermeulen and John Hopkins (both Suzuki) with Marco Melandri (Gresini Honda RC212V) holding fourth place early on. Nicky was positively raring to get on terms with Stoner and was fifth at the close of the first lap.

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) was on the pace in sixth and as Nicky stole fifth from Melandri Dani moved up a place too and the Repsol duo set about the Suzuki pairing as Stoner enjoyed the early luxury of a comfortable lead. Rossi lay ninth at the end of lap two of this 26-lap race.

By lap three Nicky had snatched third place and Dani was right up there in fourth. Hayden had a two second gap to close on Hopkins in second and the way he set about his task was ebullient in the extreme. There was a dynamism about his riding that showed precisely why he lifted the World Crown last season.

It looked as if Stoner might stroll to the win in these early laps, but Rossi was on the prowl and by lap six the Italian had relieved Dani of fourth place and was hungry for further scalps. By lap eight he was third and as Stoner left Hopkins in his wake Nicky piled on the power to stay with the front-runners.

As lap ten passed Stoner was 1.1 seconds ahead of Hopkins with Rossi turning in a fastest lap of 1m 37.6s as Stoner could only manage a best of 1m 38s. Rossi then moved up to second as Randy de Puniet (Kawasaki) and Vermeulen tangled, the Kawasaki rider hitting the tarmac as Vermeulen visited the gravel trap and then rejoined the fray.

There was no doubting the sheer intensity of this race under a cloudy but sporadically sunlit sky. Rossi was repeatedly a full second quicker than Stoner as he closed on the Australian Ducati man, and Nicky was refusing to lose ground on the leaders as he put pressure on Hopkins for third place.

By lap 16 Rossi was on Stoner’s rear wheel and the lead duo were 2.6 second ahead of Hayden who was now third. Nicky shaved this gap down to two seconds with five laps to go, but he was never going to get on terms with the front pair as they fought tooth and nail for superiority.

Rossi dived inside Stoner at the final chicane with three laps to run. The series points leader then recognized that the former World Champion had too much pace to make a challenge for the win worthwhile. Rossi won by 1.909 seconds from Stoner with Nicky 6.077 seconds off Rossi as he crossed the line to signal a welcome return to the podium.

Nicky said: “It’s really nice to get a good result and just have fun ­ be up there at the front battling with the boys. My pace was pretty good but when Valentino came through he just split and I couldn’t get my pace down to do those few quick laps to stay with him. I thought for a while I might be on for something a bit special and maybe an even better result, but we’ll definitely take this one and try to build on it ­ a big thanks to my team and all my guys at Repsol Honda who’ve worked really hard for me.”

Dani, who finished fourth, said: “After qualifying in ninth position in the rain yesterday fourth in the race is not too bad, although I have to admit I was actually hoping for better today. My speed was quite good and I was able to improve on my pace from practice, which was encouraging. It’s a shame that in the last six or seven laps I began to struggle with traction again and I just couldn’t keep the gap to Nicky. We’ll have to keep working on this because it’s an issue we’ve had in a few races this year, which means we haven’t always achieved the results that looked possible.”

Marco Melandri was tenth. The Italian said: “I got a good start but the problems we had in practice on dry conditions returned and I couldn’t ride as I wanted. I had so much chattering and it was really hard for me. I gave it my best shot but the end result is disappointing.”

Carlos Checa (LCR Honda RC212V) finished 11th and said: “It was great to be fighting for a place in the top ten and I had a great battle with Hofmann, West and Melandri. In the beginning it took some time for my rear tyre to come up to temperature but then I was able to race with the others. I had some fun with Marco passing him once, but I just lacked full confidence on the brakes to push any harder, it was difficult to find a gap on the brakes. But I’m happy for the team that we were able to score some points today.”

Shinya Nakano (Konica Minolta Honda RC212V) came home in 12th place. The Japanese rider said: “We had a difficult start to the race as I couldn’t get a good rhythm, maybe because I chose a harder tyre than usual. But this meant that towards the end of the race I had a good pace I could catch the group in front of me. The result is still a little disappointing, as I could see the group ahead, and we’re still missing some corner speed and confidence in the front-end, but it has been the same the whole weekend. It was good to see Honda improve at the front and this must be good news for us in the long run and in the second half of the World Championship.”

Kurtis Roberts (Roberts KR212V) was 15th and said: “We’d made a lot of changes for the race that we hadn’t tested, and I wasn’t happy with the bike until about lap 19. I figured I’d stay out and see what came to us. Luckily a crash handed us a point today when two riders came down. It’s not like we’re in the World Championship hunt, but it’s better to get points for the team than not, and we’ve got to keep chipping away at it. The problem is only four hours to test at the race, and it keeps raining. I’m looking forward to Laguna, because at least I know the track there.”

Toni Elias (Gresini Honda RC212V) did not ride after breaking a leg in a practice crash.

Casey Stoner now has 185 points to Rossi’s 164 after nine rounds of this 18-race series. Dani Pedrosa is third overall ahead of John Hopkins with Chris Vermeulen fifth and Marco Melandri sixth.

Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda:3rd.

“It’s really nice to get a good result and just have fun - be up there at the front battling with the boys. On the warm-up lap I was thinking this is by far the best my bike has felt all year in any conditions and, even though I’d qualified in 13th, on the line I just remember thinking, “fight like a dog today boy!” Then I just put it in gear and got a really good start. In fact I got such a good start that when I got to the haipin I almost relaxed and took a breath and Edwards came back past me. I needed that start ­ the only choice I had was to look for a hole and do something. My pace was pretty good but when Valentino came through he just split and I couldn’t get my pace down to do those few quick laps to stay with him. I thought for a while I might be on for something a bit special and maybe an even better result, but we’ll definitely take this one and try to build on it. A big thanks to my team and all my guys at Repsol Honda who’ve worked really hard for me. It would have been really easy to start giving up on me and pointing the finger but they stayed and worked really hard at the tests ­ especially the two days after Barcelona - so thanks to them. We’ve just found a little bit of an improvement with the machine - just those three or four tenths that make the difference between being at the back and the front. It’s not like we found two seconds a lap, but just enough so that I can push and have fun. There’s still some work to do and a lot of racing to go but we’ll just try and enjoy this one.”

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 4th.

“After qualifying in ninth position in the rain yesterday fourth in the race is not too bad, although I have to admit I was actually hoping for better today. I got a good start and was able to get behind Nicky and in the first few laps I was very comfortable. When Nicky made a few overtakes I was able to follow him through and we worked our way up the order. My speed was quite good and I was able to improve on my pace from practice which was encouraging. It’s a shame that in the last six or seven laps I began to struggle with traction again and I just couldn’t keep the gap to Nicky. We’ll have to keep working on this because it’s an issue we’ve had in a few races this year which means we haven’t always achieved the results that looked possible. The bike is getting better but we still have some problems in the latter stages of the races so we’ll have to continue to make a big effort for the next races.”

Marco Melandri, Gresini Honda: 10th.

“I got a good start but the problems we had in practice on dry conditions returned and I couldn’t ride as I wanted. I had so much chattering and it was really hard for me. I gave it my best shot but the end result is disappointing.”

Carlos Checa, LCR Honda: 11th.

“It was great to be fighting for a place in the top ten and I had a great battle with Hofmann, West and Melandri. In the beginning it took some time for my rear tyre to come up to temperature but then I was able to race with the others. I had some fun with Marco passing him once, but I just lacked full confidence on the brakes to push any harder, it was difficult to find a gap on the brakes. But I’m happy for the team that we were able to score some points today.”

Shinya Nakano, Konica Minolta Honda: 12th.

“We had a difficult start to the race as I couldn’t get a good rhythm, maybe because I chose a harder tyre than usual. But this meant that towards the end of the race I had a good pace I could catch the group in front of me. The result is still a little disappointing, as I could see the group ahead, and we’re still missing some corner speed and confidence in the front-end, but it has been the same the whole weekend. It was good to see Honda improve at the front and this must be good news for us in the long run and in the second half of the championship.”

Kurtis Roberts, KR212V: 15th.

“It was a frustrating race from the get-go. We’ve been frustrated all weekend. The bike seemed to work fairly well on the banked corners, but on the long double-apex flat corners that close in on them selves, it was miserable. That’s where we really struggled. There are four corners on this racetrack where we’d lose a second in each of them, it seemed like, because we couldn’t drive off, and it’s no secret we’re down on acceleration anyway, so it compounds the problem. In my worst corner, I got pushed wide and I think three people passed me, and then they were gone. That killed us. We’d made a lot of changes for the race that we hadn’t tested, and I wasn’t happy with the bike until about lap 19. I figured I’d stay out and see what came to us. Luckily a crash handed us a point today when two riders came down. It’s not like we’re in the championship hunt, but it’s better to get points for the team than not, and we’ve got to keep chipping away at it. The problem is only four hours to test at the race, and it keeps raining. I’m looking forward to Laguna, because at least I know the track there.”

Kenny Roberts Snr ­ Team Principal.

“We tried a completely different setting for the race, taking a chance, because we haven’t really performed good all weekend. Amazingly enough it did the same stuff. He went as fast at the end of the race, with good times, but when it’s new and when the tyres are new we can’t get it to turn. We made a drastic change, and it didn’t make any difference ­ so we have a problem somewhere that we are having difficulties isolating. We’re working hard on the new chassis. I don’t know if it will be there for Laguna, but that’s our target.”