Stoner dominates Dutch TT to take Bridgestone’s maiden Assen win

Continuing where he left off in Donington last weekend, Ducati Corse rider Casey Stoner took a dominant win in this afternoon’s Dutch TT to secure his, Ducati’s and Bridgestone’s maiden win at the Assen circuit. It is Stoner’s third win of the season, and second consecutively, cementing his third place in the world championship with a reduced gap of 29 points to new championship leader, Honda rider Dani Pedrosa, who finished second today. Yamaha rider Colin Edwards completed the podium.

"We have had a good pace all weekend, but it is a bit nerve-wracking when coming to race day, when you know the only thing that can go wrong is you. I really didn’t want to make any mistakes today, especially with how uncertain the weather was looking. Apart from a few spots, the rain stayed away today, so I was happy about that. I have really got to take my hat off to the team, they have been doing such a good job these last few races to get us back on the pace and competitive again. Bridgestone has also worked well this weekend with the race tyres and also with the improvements they have made with the qualifying rubber.”

MotoGP » Gibernau 'very fast', but will he race?

Sete Gibernau concludes second 'comeback' test for Ducati by setting very impressive lap times at Mugello, but what happens now?

Sete Gibernau seems to have convinced Ducati that he still has what it takes to be a competitive MotoGP rider after crowning his second three-day 'comeback' test for the Italian factory with a best lap less than half-a-second slower than world champion Casey Stoner's official lap record.Gibernau, who retired from MotoGP at the end of 2006 after losing his Ducati seat to Stoner, clocked up around 800kms during the second test. The Spaniard initially worked with the next year's carbon-fibre framed GP9, then the current GP8, before finishing with a final exit on the GP9 for a 'back to back' comparison.The 35-year-old former double MotoGP World Championship runner-up made repeated runs of 4 or 5 laps and proved he had lost none of his fitness by lapping consistently in the low 1min 51secs range, despite air temperatures of over 30°C and track temperatures exceeding 50°C.

Indianapolis next circuit in motogp

Indianapolis all set for first MotoGP test

The newly laid out track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the venue for this September´s inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix, is ready to host its first MotoGP test sessions.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) is set to host its first MotoGP test today, with all five of the current manufacturers participating in the premier class represented by nominated test riders in the American visit.
The sessions will primarily give the new track a test ahead of its debut on the MotoGP calendar in the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix on the 12th-14th September weekend, and to allow tyre manufacturers Bridgestone and Michelin to gather data at the new World Championship venue.

Rossi`s Assen post-morten : `I made a mistake`

Rossi´s Assen post-mortem: `I made a mistake´
Saturday, 28 June 2008

Valentino Rossi was left bitterly disappointed after a first lap crash in the A-Style TT Assen.

Valentino Rossi, for all his undoubted talents, has never been the best of starters in MotoGP races. Identifying this as an area for improvement, and with the prospect of Assen poleman Casey Stoner making a breakaway at the head of the race, the Fiat Yamaha rider was going all-out in the Netherlands.
Unfortunately for the five-time World Champion, the gamble didn´t quite pay off, as on the opening lap he came unstuck due to a combination of over-exuberance a cold tyre and the tricky first left hander of the race.
`Unfortunately I made a mistake on the first lap, on the first left corner,´ admitted Rossi frankly after the A-Style TT Assen. `I went in too fast with a cold tyre and lost the rear.´
The Italian remounted his M1 and fought his way back to eleventh place after overtaking Marco Melandri and Toni Elias, but the rider taken out in his first lap fall was unable to do so. Rossi extended his apologies to LCR Honda´s Randy de Puniet, holding up his hand for the collision between the two.