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Monday, 12 April 2010 08:30 |
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The 2010 MotoGP season got off to a flying start under the floodlights tonight with a gripping Qatar Grand Prix and a perfect opening result for the Fiat Yamaha Team. The indomitable Valentino Rossi took his 104th career victory, his first in the opening round since 2005, whilst Jorge Lorenzo rode a clever race to finish a strong second.
The World Champion got a brilliant start from second on the grid and led after the first lap but both Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner were faster on the straight and he was soon relegated to third. On lap five he battled back to pass the Spaniard but Stoner was two seconds in front by then and the Italian looked to be facing a hard task to catch him. On the next lap however Stoner slid out of the race, leaving Rossi in the lead pursued by Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso. His work was far from over however as Dovizioso proved impossible to shake off and mounted a challenge on the straight on lap 16, momentarily getting his nose in front before his more experienced compatriot passed him back on the brakes into turn one. A couple of quick laps from Rossi gave him some breathing space and he was eventually able to pull clear, leaving Dovizioso and Hayden to dice with Lorenzo while he charged over the line to finish 1.022 seconds clear. His win today makes him only the third rider in history to have scored points in 200 Grands Prix.
Lorenzo meanwhile had slipped several places at the start, dropping back to sixth before he started to find his rhythm on lap six. The 21-year-old had to contend with some pain in his recovering hand as well as a lap of grip in the rear but he played the waiting game until his fuel load lessened and he was able to push a bit harder. He then put up a gutsy display to gradually reel in the leaders and come within striking distance with two laps to go. A masterful overtaking display on the penultimate lap despatched first Hayden and then Dovizioso and he crossed the line behind his team-mate to the delight of the Yamaha garage.
The team now has a short break before heading in high spirits to Yamaha's home race in Japan, with the second round of the MotoGP World Championship coming at Motegi in two week's time.
Valentino Rossi - Position: 1stTime: 42'50.099
"I got a fantastic start but I wasn't quite fast enough and was suffering on the straight. I lost some time passing Pedrosa and by then Stoner was quite far from me, I thought then that it was going to be hard to catch him! Then he made a mistake and crashed, which was bad luck for him but crucial for us. After that I expected it would be easier but in fact it was very hard to stay in front of Dovizioso, who was very strong. We had a good battle and then I did three or four laps at the maximum and was able to stay in front, but it wasn't easy! I haven't won at the first race since 2005 and these 25 points at this stage are like gold dust, it's a fantastic result for the team to make a one-two at race one. It's especially good to win here because it doesn't suit our bike, we worked very cleverly throughout the practices and this is the reward, so thanks to all my guys. We definitely have some work to do but this is a good base to start from. I ran out of fuel on the slow down lap, I think I used more than expected early on because I was sliding quite a lot, but it was very funny to come to Parc Ferme riding a scooter!"
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Monday, 12 April 2010 08:29 |
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Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team's David Philippaerts can consider himself unfortunate to end his home Grand Prix with only 8th position after an eventful afternoon at Mantova for the second round of fifteen in the 2010 FIM MX-GP World Championship. The Italian was leading the first moto at the Grand Prix of Lombardia until a crash, which was then followed by an excellent recovery and finally thwarted by a damaged exhaust. He took 2nd place in the following outing. Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci Motocross Team's Ken De Dycker had a consistent day for 4th overall and his best finish yet on the YZ450FM.
The weekend began positively with Philippaerts among the fastest riders as the track rapidly began to change, chop and cut-up due to the intense period of activity thanks to the presence of two support classes; the opening rounds of the 125cc European Championship and Veteran's World Cup (won by champion and Yamaha rider Mats Nilsson). The 25 year old enjoyed an entertaining battle with Tony Cairoli and Max Nagl in the Heat race to earn the first Pole Position for the rear-slanting innovative 2010 YZ450FM and put the distinctive black and green motorcycle into the Grand Prix gate first.
Philippaerts comfortably fronted the pack in Moto1 for two laps across the rippled and treacherous terrain until catching a bump awkwardly at speed that pitched him onto the floor. Dazed, he remounted in 12th and began an emphatic charge to fly to 5th. With several laps to go the silencer on his exhaust broke free and robbed his machine of power. The 2008 world champion coasted across the finish but was penalised by a minute for failing noise control and classified 19th. Philippaerts again started well in Moto2 and rode a lonely 35 minutes and 2 laps behind winner Tony Cairoli and ahead of Max Nagl.
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In contrast to the fine race had by Philippaerts on Saturday De Dycker suffered two falls in the Qualification Heat that left him ruing 19th place in the gate for the motos. The Belgian shook off the limitation from the line to slot into top ten contention and rise steadily to 4th and 5th positions for his best showing yet in Monster Energy colours.
De Dycker is 4th in the world championship standings and Philippaerts is five points behind in 5th. The MX-GP FIM World Championship will now pause for a break after two events in succession. The Grand Prix of the Netherlands will run on April 25th at Valkenswaard.
In other news Spaniard Carlos Campano leads the MX3 World Championship on his YZ450F after winning the opening round in Portugal last week and finishing fourth in France today.
David Philippaerts, Yamaha Monster Energy MX Team, 8th:
"The first moto was terrible. I had a big crash when I caught a bump at speed and the bike pushed me off. I hit my head on the ground and was dazed for a few moments. The bike was damaged and got worse as I went on. I made some good positions but five laps from the end the silencer broke; I did not feel safe even making the jumps. The second moto was good. I was in second and Nagl was quick at the beginning. I watched my lap-times on the board. Cairoli was too far to catch but I was pleased overall because I know I am fit and the bike is working very well. The track had a lot of ruts and bumps and was dangerous so I am pleased to come away feeling healthy. I will go to Belgium now for some training. Valkenswaard is next and I am fast there. Last year I should have done well but physically I was not 100%. This time I want better than a top five."
Ken De Dycker, Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team, 4th:
"I am pretty happy because yesterday was a nightmare. I felt better in the morning but I still had to work so hard on the bike and I really pushed to get those results. I feel that we can work from what we have achieved here and get better for Valkenswaard. The track got much drier and was a real mix of hard and soft bumps; it had everything."
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Monday, 12 April 2010 08:28 |
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Both the Superstock 1000 and Superstock 600 European Championships saw Yamaha take more valuable points this weekend at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia. In the Superstock 1000 class French MRS Racing rider Loris Baz put in a solid ride on his Yamaha YZF-R1 to take fourth at the line. He heads to Assen for the third round in fourth on 27 points, trailing the lead by 23.
In the 600 class Jeremy Guarnoni rode the MRS Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 in an action packed race, taking a well deserved podium with a second placed finish. His race win at Portimao in the first round means he remains leading the championship and heads to Assen with 45 points and a 20 point advantage at the top of the table. |
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Sunday, 11 April 2010 00:00 |
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James Toseland put in a solid performance in race one today on his Yamaha Sterilgarda R1, starting from ninth on the grid the British rider made short work of the field to take second by the ninth lap. He was hotly pursued by Aprilia rider Max Biaggi for the entire race duration and fought off a number of attacks, holding on to second until just two laps from the end. He finished the race in third, claiming his well deserved first podium of the year, just 3.6 seconds off the race leader. Team mate Cal Crutchlow had a tougher first race. A less than perfect start saw him drop from pole to seventh going into the first corner of the race. He fought hard for the duration despite suffering from a lack of grip, riding as high as fifth before dropping back to claim seventh at the line.
Race two was marred with incident, three laps in a high speed crash into the pit wall caused the race to be red flagged. After a delay it was restarted under aggregate timing with Crutchlow and Toseland in ninth and 12th respectively. The hot track temperature proved challenging for grip levels, with both riders fighting hard for position. Toseland crossed the line in seventh having challenged for several positions, whilst team mate Crutchlow hung on to take ninth at the chequered flag.
Toseland goes to the next round in Assen with 50 championship points having jumped up the table from 11th to sixth. Team-mate Crutchlow remains in tenth as he heads to the Dutch round with 41 championship points.
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James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team, (3rd, 7th)
"Race one was great, it's always nice when the team work so hard to be able to repay them with a result. I was probably the widest man out there because I certainly wasn't the quickest after half race distance, I was finding a few things a bit difficult with the bike. It was great though to dig deep and get a podium, my first podium this year and my first since Brands 2007 I think. It's been a while since I took a trophy home so I was very happy. The team are working unbelievably hard, we've got some issues but we're making up a lot of ground in a short space of time. In the second race I got an average start when the clutch grabbed early on the line. I don't know where the front guys got their pace from on the re-start, mid 34's was a second faster than it was in the first race. Assen is next which is fast and flowing which will suit the bike better. We need to keep improving until we're strong at every track."
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Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team, (7th, 9th)
"Race one was ok, I was just disappointed I lost the tow to the leaders at the start. We've got bad rear tyre problems again, seem to be spinning a lot more than the other competitors from the go. The higher grip levels in Portugal suited us better. We're looking forward to hopefully improving it at the next race in Assen. A difficult weekend, the second race was much the same, no grip from the start."
Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager
"We've had an up and down weekend. We had some issues on Friday then came back with the Superpole yesterday. It was great to see James achieve a podium in the first race, he really worked hard and deserved it. The second race was not so good for us, it proved to be more challenging for the riders with less grip levels on the circuit. For sure this weekend we've learnt some more about the bike and we've definitely improved since Phillip Island. We'll study the data from this weekend and we'll come to The Netherlands with something new."
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Saturday, 10 April 2010 00:00 |
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Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike rider Cal Crutchlow put the challenges of yesterday's qualifying behind him today, calmly working through the Superpole sessions to lay down the fastest lap of the third heat and claim his second consecutive Superpole of the 2010 season. Unlike many of his rivals Crutchlow saved his Qualifier tyres for the second and third sessions, delivering fast enough laps on a race tyre to make it through the first heat.
Team mate James Toseland was on equally impressive form, making it calmly through the first session without using a qualifying tyre. The second heat saw him switch to his first of the sticky tyres, putting in a solid 1'33.988 to claim third with five minutes to go. Unfortunately a flurry of competitive laps as the session closed saw him drop to ninth, a mere one thousandth of a second off eighth and a chance to compete in the third session. A breakdown of the timing screens at the end of the session added to the confusion, making it unclear for some time whether he was through or not.
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Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (1st, 1'33.615)
"It was good last year in Supersport, we had ten poles in total and we've now started the tally with two for this season which is great. The team have worked really hard this weekend as it's been difficult for us, quite like Australia, the grip level is not so good which is where we struggle. We went to Portugal and we had a lot of grip and the bike was fantastic, we've come here and it's hard work again but we're getting there. We'll have another late night tonight and then I'll look forward to the race tomorrow, it's alright doing one fast lap but 23 is a different story. I think we surprised a few people today, I used the same tyres in the first qualification session today as I used yesterday, finishing in 15th but I wasn't so worried. I knew if we could work through the stages we would be ok for the pole."
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James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (9th, 1'33.988)
"Lady luck doesn't seem to be shining on me at the start of this season! To lose out by one thousandth is a frustrating blow, especially as I knew the time was there. I wanted to save my second qualifier for the last Superpole session, for sure we could have done a similar time to Cal. It was definitely possible. Congratulations to Cal for another pole position, putting the bike where it should be. I'm disappointed for the team because we've worked really well this weekend and improved the bike again. To lose out on the top eight by such a small time and then the confusion when the screens went down is very frustrating. We've come a long way with the package so we just need to get a good start tomorrow because we know we have the race pace."
Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager
"We made a really good improvement from yesterday to this afternoon with both bikes. I'm so sorry for James, to lose the last Superpole by only one thousandth is something we were not expecting. By the time we realised, it was too late to do anything and go out again. I'm also really impressed with Cal, he made a very good last lap. Tomorrow I think it will be different but we're starting from pole so we will see!"
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