FIM MotoGP World Championship Motorland Aragon, Spain September 19, 2010 Race Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Casey STONER, Australia (DUCATI), 23 laps, 42:16.530 2. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), -5.148 seconds 3. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (DUCATI), -9.496 4. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), -9.580 5. Ben SPIES, USA (YAMAHA), -13.771 6. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (YAMAHA), -27.330 7. Marco SIMONCELLI, Italy (HONDA), -28.511 8. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (SUZUKI), -35.254 9. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (HONDA), -35.393 10. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (DUCATI), -35.467 11. Hector BARBERA, Spain (DUCATI), -35.522 12. Colin EDWARDS, USA (YAMAHA), -45.360 13. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan (HONDA), -48.319 14. Mika KALLIO, Finland (DUCATI), -58.047 15. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (HONDA), -1 lap, DNF, crash 16. Randy DE PUNIET, France (HONDA), -8 laps, DNF, crash World Championship Point Standings (after 13 of 18 races): 1. Lorenzo, 284 points 2. Pedrosa, 228 3. Stoner, 155 4. Rossi, 140 5. Dovizioso, 139 6. Spies, 131 7. Nicky Hayden, 125 8. De Puniet, 81 9. TIE, Melandri/Simoncelli, 74 11. Edwards, 70 12. Barbera, 66 13. Espargaro, 50 14. Bautista, 49 15. Capirossi, 41 16. Kallio, 33 17. Aoyama, 29 18. Alex De Angelis, 11 19. Roger Hayden, 5 20. Kousuke Akiyoshi, 4 21. Wataru Yoshikawa, 1 More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Race-long battles give Bautista eighth at Aragon Publish Date: Sunday, September 19, 2010 Rizla Suzuki racer Álvaro Bautista secured his third successive eighth place finish today after a battling performance at Aragon in Spain. Bautista got a good start from 12th on the grid, but was blocked at the first corner and couldn’t capitalise on it to make up as many places as he wanted. He immediately got involved in a five rider fight, which saw the 25-year-old Spaniard battling for a top-six finish. He first had to deal with Frenchman Randy De Puniet and Bautista passed him on the seventh lap as he then chased after the riders in front who had by now made a bit of a gap. Bautista caught fellow countryman Hector Barbera, but was unable to match him for speed down the long back-straight at Aragon. On the final lap Bautista passed Barbera, but was then put under immediate pressure from behind by Marco Melandri. The Suzuki man kept his head and protected his lines through the final turns to score a hard-fought, but well deserved eighth at the flag. Today’s inaugural Motorland Aragon Grand Prix attracted 70,124 enthusiastic and excited fans; they enjoyed unbroken sunshine all-day and saw former World Champion Casey Stoner win his – and Ducati’s – first Grand Prix of the season. World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo finished fourth. Rizla Suzuki and the rest of the MotoGP paddock now embark on a threeweek Far East tour taking in Japan, Malaysia and Australia in consecutive weekends. The first of the trio will be at Motegi in Japan on Sunday 3rd October, when Rizla Suzuki look to welcome back Loris Capirossi from injury to partner Bautista at Suzuki’s home Grand Prix. Álvaro Bautista: “I had some great battles out there with De Puniet, Barbera and some other riders and I really had fun during the race. At the beginning I had a bit of a problem when I was braking and I felt a lot of moving in the front, so I couldn’t keep up my speed entering the corners. I wasn’t able to push how I wanted, but luckily after a few laps the bike started to work how I wanted it to it was much more like the bike I had in qualifying so I was able to find a good rhythm. In the middle of the race the performance started to deteriorate and it was getting very difficult to follow Barbera on the fast back straight. This made it very difficult to overtake him and if I did manage he immediately came back past on that straight, so that made me lose more time on the guys in front and the riders behind started to catch us. I had to fight right until the last corner on the last lap to keep eighth place once I’d got past Barbera, I was forced to close every line and in the very last turn Melandri tried to come past but I was able to block him. Today the bike was probably not perfect because the tyres started to slide from the middle of the race onwards. I fought as hard as I could and eighth is not a bad result, but I certainly think we can do better.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “Álvaro’s pace today compared to the top-six group was a little bit further away than at Misano two weeks ago. Maybe the race-day setting wasn’t quite as good as then, but most importantly he toughed it out and fought with all his heart to make sure that he finished at the front of the group of riders he was with, for another solid eighth place. As Álvaro keeps finishing races in more competitive positions his confidence will grow and as he pushes harder the team’s understanding of what he needs and his experience, grow together. “We’ve high hopes for Álvaro, Loris and the GSV-R’s performance in both Japan and Malaysia and we will pack up tonight for the fly-aways in good spirits we’ll certainly be looking to end the season in a lot more positive way than it started.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Stoner cements strong weekend with victory at Aragon Round 13: Grand Prix of Aragon Race Motorland Aragon, Sunday 19 September 2010 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Medium, Extra Hard. Rear: Soft, Medium Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner finished a strong weekend with a decisive victory at Motorland Aragon, resisting an early challenge from Jorge Lorenzo to run away from the pack and finish over five seconds clear of Dani Pedrosa. Pedrosa chased Stoner throughout, setting the fastest lap in the process, and at one point the gap was just 0.8 seconds, but ultimately the Australian’s pace was too strong. Completing a return to form for the Ducati Team, Nicky Hayden snatched third position from Jorge Lorenzo on the final lap having trailed the championship leader for most of the race. The result is Hayden’s second premier class podium finish on Bridgestone tyres, the first being at Indianapolis last season. Every rider used the harder option rear for its improved consistency over race distance, especially as the track temperature reached its highest of the weekend, and the harder front slick was also preferred by all riders except Alvaro Bautista, Colin Edwards and Mika Kallio who used the softer option. Rizla Suzuki’s Alvaro Bautista demonstrated the performance of Bridgestone’s softer front slick with an excellent ride to eighth place, at the head of a four-rider group who all crossed the line split by less than 0.3seconds. Hiroshi Yamada Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department “Congratulations to Casey and Ducati for their win, and also to Nicky for a hard-fought and well deserved podium. It was good to see an exciting race at this new venue, which has proved itself to be world class this weekend. Even for the first GP here there were over 70,000 spectators on race day which is a good sign of how strong the sport is in Europe especially. At this point in the season Dani and Casey are looking particularly strong and the result of the last few races has closed the championship standings a little as we head into the final five races in six weeks.” Tohru Ubukata Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department “Today the conditions were the warmest of the weekend and after the 125cc and Moto2 races the track was much cleaner, both of which helped the performance of the harder rear tyre. Race pace was reasonably consistent, and the fastest lap was just 0.6seconds from yesterday’s pole time, set by Casey on a grippier softer option rear slick, so this illustrates that conditions were better today. Overall, I’m happy about our tyre compound choice for this new circuit.” Casey Stoner Ducati Team Race Winner “It’s a big relief to be honest! It’s been too long between wins. All weekend has gone more or less ok, and we tried something totally different and changed the bike completely and had a much better feeling with the front end. The track got better with more rubber and we got better and better. I tried to stay consistent and smooth to keep the tyres as good as possible until the end. For the team and everyone who’s stuck by me, sorry it took so long.” Top ten classification (Sunday 14:00 GMT+2) Pos. Rider Team Race time Gap Front spec Rear spec Tyres 1 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 42m 16.530s Ex. Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 2 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 42m 21.678s +5.148s Ex. Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 3 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 42m 26.026s +9.496s Ex. Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 4 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 42m 26.110s +9.580s Ex. Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 5 Ben Spies Monster Yamaha Tech3 42m 30.301s +13.771s Ex. Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 6 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 42m 43.860s +27.330s Ex. Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 7 Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 42m 45.041s +28.511s Ex. Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 8 Alvaro Bautista Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 42m 51.784s +35.254s Medium Medium Bridgestone slick 9 Marco Melandri San Carlo Honda Gresini 42m 51.923s +35.393s Ex. Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 10 Aleix Espargaro Pramac Racing 42m 51.997s +35.467s Ex. Hard Medium Bridgestone slick Weather: Dry. Ambient 22°C; Track 39°C ( Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Interwetten Honda: Aoyama disappointed about 13th position The first ever Grand Prix at the racetrack of Aragón, Motorland Aragón in Spain, was not the best weekend for Hiroshi Aoyama and the Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team. The weekend was technically without special occurances and Aoyama did not bad during the sessions, even though his physical condition is not 100% perfect yet. The track layout is not easy and requires a lot from the gladiators of the new age, nevertheless the 28 year old Japanese could stay with the group and fortunately spent the weekend without crashing. The race was a tough one for Aoyama, as he knows he could have been better than 13th today if he would have attacked the riders in front earlier. At least the 13th position brings three more championship points for him. The next race will be his home race, which was postponed in April when the volcano Eyjafjallajökull cancelled the plans of the MotoGP world championship to travel to Japan and it will be held on 3rd of October in Motegi. Aoyama hopes that he can get his best result of the season so far in front of his fans and family there. Hiroshi Aoyama, 13 42’48.319: “As you may can understand I am not really happy about the 13th position. My rhythm was good when I was riding alone. At the beginning I lost a lot of time and I could have been faster if I would have overtaken Kallio earlier. I tried it in each corner, but couldn’t. When I finally passed him, because he made a mistake, it was too late to better the result and I am very angry about that.” Daniel M. Epp, Team Manager: “I am glad that we survived also this weekend without a crash. Exactly three month ago Hiro had his big accident where he hurt himself badly. In two weeks time he will be part of his home race and I think if he arrives there with the knowledge that he doesn’t have to worry about his back anymore, he will get stronger results.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: ESPARGARO’ TENTH PLACE FOR IN THE FIRST GRAND PRIX OF ARAGON. FOURTEEN POSITION FOR KALLIO. After the difficult yesterday’s qualifying that saw both Pramac Racing Team riders conquering the rear starting positions, Aleix Espargar finished the race in tenth position and Mika Kallio had to settle for the fourteenth position. During yesterday’s qualifying, the Team has had problems on both bikes which were eventually resolved, in part, during this morning warm up. The warm up ended with the Pramac Racing Team in eighth and ninth position with a gap of less than one second from Hayden’s best lap. Unfortunately, the rear position departure has not helped much the green riders. After a good start in the early laps Aleix tried not to lose contact from the riders ahead of him so to try to recover positions. During the fourteenth lap Aleix has overtake De Puniet for the thirteenth position and tried to mend the gap from the group of Melandri, Barber and Bautista that where fighting for the ninth position. On the last lap he then gave the maximum to overtake Barber and tr y to burn on the final straight Melandri that has finished the race ahead of him with a lead of less than a tenth of a second. The final tenth position is overall a good result for the Spaniard after a not very good start of the weekend. Mika had a good start, and he was able to immediately overtake Aoyama in the first lap and then overtake Edwards in the fourth lap. Unfortunately due to a small error in the tenth round, the American rider has overtake Mika bringing him in the fourteenth position. During the thirteenth lap Mika was also overtaken by Aoyama that was having a better pace lap, relegating the Finn of the Pramac Racing Team in sixteenth position. The falls of De Puniet in the fourteenth lap and Dovizioso on the final lap, had made conquer to the Finn rider the fourteenth final position. Marco Rigamonti – Aleix Espargar Track Engineer “Aleix’s bike had a quite good set up during this morning warm up when he was very close to other riders and this has gave us a huge confidence for this afternoon’s race. Unfortunately, the rear starting grid position did not allow us to fight for a better position. Pity, because he could certainly fight for a top eight position. ” Aleix Espargar – Pramac Racing Team – 10th in the race – 13th in the World Championship “What a sprint we did with Bautista and Melandri, for just a few tenths of second I was not able to gain a better position. In any case, the tenth position is not so bad if I think about how my weekend was started on the new track of Aragon. During the first few laps I was pretty fast, but my pace did not allow me to be very close to the other riders. After the fourteenth lap where I overtook De Puniet, I had a gap to recover from Melandri and from the group that was fighting for the ninth position. Last lap I was getting close to the group and I managed to pass Barber in the last few corners. In the final sprint for a few meters, Bautista and Melandri had finished the race in front of me with a lead gap of less than two tenths of second. I am still happy for the result. ” Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing Team – 14th in the race – 16th in the World Championship “Too bad the final result, during this morning warm up we had solved some problems we had yesterday and the gap from the first riders was not so bad. During the first few laps I had a good lap pace and I thought I could overtake some positions. Unfortunately thirteen laps from the end I have been overtaken by Edwards first and then by Aoyama, and I was never able to regain positions. It wasn’t a good weekend for me. I really hope to conquer a good position in the next race in Japan on Motegi circuit that is one of my favorite tracks.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: A DISAPPOINTING DAY FOR FIAT YAMAHA AT ARAGON The inaugural Aragon Grand Prix was a disappointing affair for the Fiat Yamaha Team today, with Jorge Lorenzo losing out in a last lap battle and finishing off the podium for the first time this season and Valentino Rossi coming home in sixth. It brought to an end an impressive run of 47 consecutive podiums for Yamaha, with the Factory having had at least one of its riders on the podium at every race since Valencia 2007 until today. Championship leader Lorenzo got a good start from second on the grid but it was soon clear that he lacked the pace to stay with eventual winner Casey Stoner as the Australian quickly began to open out a gap, while the Yamaha man came under pressure from compatriot Dani Pedrosa behind. On lap three Pedrosa passed the Mallorcan and, hampered by a lack of grip, Lorenzo was unable to run with him and spent most of the remainder of the race in third, just ahead of Nicky Hayden. He did everything he could to hold onto the final podium spot but a determined Hayden mounted a strong last-lap challenge and Lorenzo, not wanting to put his championship lead in jeopardy with too many risky moves, was powerless to keep the American from passing him on the final part of the track and missed out at the line by less than a tenth of a second. Rossi’s problems were evident all weekend, as his shoulder issues meant he unable to run the best set-up for this track. He had hoped he might be able to improve a little under race conditions but it was not to be, dropping to ninth at one point before clawing back to his starting position of seventh by passing Hector Barbera and then fellow Italian Marco Simoncelli. A last-lap crash from Andrea Dovizioso elevated him to sixth but it was a disheartening weekend for the nine-time World Champion and his crew. Des pite today’s result Lorenzo’s championship lead still stands at a healthy 56 points from Dani Pedrosa, with five rounds remaining. Rossi is still in fourth, one point ahead of Dovizioso and 15 behind Stoner. The next round comes in two weeks in Japan, the first of three consecutive race weekends in the Far East and Australia. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 4 Time: +9.580 “My start was very good, but during the race I struggled a lot with Nicky always behind me, very close! We can’t be happy with the result and I am disappointed to finish my podium run, but the most important thing is that we did finish and we still took points for our championship. We have five more races to go and, although this is a complicated moment for us and we have some things to address, I am confident that we can improve again. Now we go to Motegi and I am looking forward to a good result at the home of Yamaha.” Valentino Rossi Position: 6 Time: +27.330 “This was a very difficult race for us; we had a lot of problems all weekend and I was very slow today. I had to try to arrive to the end but I couldn’t do better than sixth. All the Yamahas have suffered here but my shoulder problems made it even worse for me and this, combined with the problems with our package at this track, made it extra hard. We’re very sad this afternoon and we hope for better in Japan.” Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager “Over the last couple of races we have struggled a bit to keep up with some of our rivals, so we were quite worried about this race and today wasn’t great for us. We’re at a point in the championship when we can’t afford to take risks but there are other riders who have nothing to lose, and this was the story today. Jorge didn’t have enough grip and in those last few laps he didn’t have the confidence in the front to push hard and get away from Nicky, who clearly had a good feeling here. Finishing off the podium for the first time we’re obviously disappointed, especially because he had to push to even finish fourth! It’s definitely time to make a change so we will think hard about Motegi, which is luckily a track which Jorge likes and where the Yamaha goes well.” Jeremy Burgess Crew Chief “We ran into troubles from the start here and unfortunately we couldn’t find a way to put a competitive package together. Valentino’s shoulder is causing him problems too and this, together with the set-up issues, meant we couldn’t finish any higher up the order today. We’re disappointed but we have some ideas and we hope for a better weekend in Japan.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Casey Stoner took his first victory of the 2010 campaign at Aragón on Sunday, converting his pole position at the Spanish circuit into a well-deserved win. The Ducati Team rider finished 5.148s ahead of Dani Pedrosa, with Nicky Hayden completing the podium for his first top-three result of the year after a magnificent last-lap overtake on championship leader, Jorge Lorenzo. Starting from pole Stoner held his position going into the first turn, but usual rapid starter Pedrosa dropped to fifth as the riders bunched up in the tight opening curve. The Repsol Honda rider fought back in the early stages of the race however to climb to second behind Stoner, and the gap between the two fluctuated throughout. The pair were consistently fast for the duration of the race but Stoner managed to pull away towards the end as he achieved what was eventually a comfortable 25 points, with Pedrosa maintaining his good form in second. There were battles all the way through the field and none more entertaining than that between Hayden and Lorenzo for the final podium spot. A fearless overtake on Lorenzo by Hayden on the final lap delivered the American the honours, and ended the Fiat Yamaha rider’s record of having placed on the rostrum at every race so far this season. Ben Spies notched another impressive result with fifth place as he resisted the challenge of Andrea Dovizioso, who crashed out on the final lap whilst pushing hard in better the American Valentino Rossi rounded off a tough weekend in sixth place, whilst rookies Marco Simoncelli and Álvaro Bautista completed the top eight with solid displays. Marco Melandri and Aleix Espargaró took top-ten finishes, whilst Randy de Puniet escaped injury when he crashed out on lap 16. Lorenzo’s advantage at the top of the Championship was cut to 56 points and he now stands on 284 points, with Pedrosa on 228 in second. Stoner’s victory lifts him to third on 155, with Rossi staying fourth and Dovizioso dropping to fifth. Moto2 Andrea Iannone took his third win of 2010 in the Moto2 World Championship at Aragón on Sunday with another dominant performance, securing victory from pole position by a margin of 6.203s over second placed Julián Simón. Iannone’s Fimmco Speed Up teammate Gabor Talmacsi completed the podium with championship leader Toni Elías fourth. The leading quartet managed to avoid a crash at turn one, which was started by Fonsi Nieto, who also collected Alex Baldolini, Mattia Pasini, Ricky Cardús and Yonny Hernández on his way to the gravel trap. All the riders involved were uninjured. Just as he’d done to take his first win of the season in Mugello, Iannone got away at the front and immediately set about building an insurmountable gap back to his pursuers. Alex de Angelis was running towards the front when he suffered the disappointment of crashing out having started from the front row, and it was left to Simón, Simone Corsi and Talmacsi to begin the battle for the final two podium spots. Jules Cluzel and Scott Redding were part of a chasing pack, which Dominique Aegerter later joined, whilst championship leader Elías overcame a difficult grid position of 12th to rise to fifth by the midway point of the race. All the while at the front Iannone was riding a comfortable race with a solid lead, which stood at as much as eight seconds towards the closing stages. The Italian eventually repeated his wins from pole that came at Mugello and Assen, with Simón holding off Talmacsi’s challenge. It was the Mapfre Aspar rider’s third consecutive second place finish, with Talmacsi taking a well-deserved first podium of the season. Elías completed an impressive recovery from the third row to end fourth, coming close to catching the final podium spot, with Corsi, Cluzel, Aegerter, Redding and Stefan Bradl following him across the line. Another impressive ride in 10th came from Thomas Lüthi who overcame a difficult qualification position of 20th to again score points. There was bitter disappointment for British wild card Kev Coghlan however who had enjoyed a good weekend, qualifying in 13th. The Scottish rider suffered mechanical issues that meant he started from Pit Lane and he was later forced to retire from the race. Elías remains at the top of the standings and is now on 224 points, 76 ahead of Simón who retains second place. Iannone moves into third and is now four points off Simón, with Lüthi fourth and Corsi fifth. 125cc Pol Espargaró took his third win of the season at Aragón on Sunday with a masterful ride that climaxed in a final-lap fight with Nico Terol, who finished the race second and moved to the top of the championship after a highly dramatic 125cc contest. There was a huge development not just in the race but also the championship at the very start when Randy Krummenacher crashed at turn one on the opening lap and took Marc Márquez down with him. The Swiss rider was able to remount his bike but Márquez, the championship leader going into the race, was not and suffered his first DNF since the second round at Jerez. Krummenacher was later black flagged for the incident. That left the trio of Espargaró, Terol and Bradley Smith to contend for the podium positions as they pulled away from the remainder of the field, and the two Spaniards slowly began to open up a gap on the Briton. Espargaró and Terol engaged in an intriguing scrap that saw the pair swap the lead on a number of occasions throughout, as they attempted to outwit one another. At one stage Terol appeared to be pulling away but his rival responded and kept a close check on him going into the final lap. It was then that Espargaró made a daring bid for victory, going round the outside of Terol and assuming the lead which he held to cross the finish line just 0.050s ahead of the Bancaja Aspar rider, whose team-mate Bradley Smith rode to a lonely third place at 9.410s further back for his third podium of the campaign his first since Catalunya. Efrén Vázquez came in fourth at just over 6.5s back, with Sandro Cortese and Tomoyoshi Koyama completing the top six. Esteve Rabat edged Jonas Folger for seventh place by just over a tenth of a second, with Danny Webb and Luis Salom scoring top-ten finishes. The repercussions of the race result for the championship were that Terol now leads on 208 points, with Espargaró moving into second on 202 whilst Márquez drops to third and remains on 197. More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: DE PUNIET OUT OF LUCK AT ARAGON GP Aragon, 19 September: after yesterdays Aragon GP positive qualifying session result, LCR Honda MotoGP racer Randy De Puniet started from the 6th spot on the grid for the 23-lap race but suffered a high-side at 8 laps to go from which he luckily escaped unhurt but could not rejoin the race. After the left leg fracture sustained in the German GP, the Frenchman aboard the Honda RC212V worked hard to get the best from his machine and trained a lot to be fitted as quick as possible but in the last three races he was not able to perform as he expected. The 29-year-old lapped consistently fast in the practices and was ready to battle for a top-eight finish at the Spanish 5.078km race track which he likes very much. De Puniet still holds the 8th place in the world classification with 81 points. The MotoGP teams and riders will be back on track in Japan on the 3rd of October. De Puniet CRASHED De Puniet: “Another disappointing race for me after Indianapolis and Misano. Honestly in the last two days I had a very good rhythm and thought that I could make a positive race scoring important points for the classification. I did not take a good start and after 5 laps I had front front tyre grip issues and tried hard to manage the problem loosing several places. I could stay with the guys up there because we made similar lap times. Then at 8 laps to go on turn 7 I made a mistake and I suffered a high side. I am okay but I am in a bad mood because the last two months have been very tough for me. The first part of the season was incredibly positive for me and the Team and I hope to be back on my pace in the next races “. More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: PEDROSA TAKES A STRONG SECOND AT ARAGON, UNLUCKY DOVIZIOSO FALLS AT THE LAST Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa took another chunk out of Jorge Lorenzo’s MotoGP championship lead today by coming home in second place at the first ever Grand Prix of Aragon. With Pedrosa collecting 20 points for second and Lorenzo’s fourth place earning 13, the gap in the title standings has now reduced to 56 points with five races remaining. Andrea Dovizioso had a frustrating end to a competitive race on the other Repsol Honda RC212V after an enthralling battle for fifth place with Ben Spies ended in the gravel trap for Dovizioso on the very last lap. Making his 160th Grand Prix start, Pedrosa retained third place on the short dash to turn one, but a rear-end slide on the exit cost him two positions as the MotoGP field threaded its way around Aragon’s 5.078km (3.155-mile) lap for the first time. The 24-year-old Spaniard wasted no time in recovering however, using the impressive power of the RC212V to make three identical pass es on Aragon’s long back straight on each of the opening three laps, overtaking Ben Spies, Nicky Hayden then Jorge Lorenzo. Now in second place with a 1.5s gap to Casey Stoner in front, Pedrosa began to close in on the Australian, reducing the lead to 0.9s at the end of lap ten and setting the fastest lap of the race in the process. Diminishing rear grip for Pedrosa however meant that this was as close as he got and, with his rear wheel beginning to spin up, he decided that second was his position for the day and he eased the pace – allowing Stoner to win by 5.148s at the chequered flag. Dovizioso made a good start and moved up from eighth on the grid to sixth through the first corners of the race before slipping behind Marco Simoncelli on lap one. After dueling with Simoncelli for a few laps for sixth, Dovizioso got past and pulled away, slowly reeling in Ben Spies in fifth and closing to within striking distance by lap 16 of the 23. At the end of lap 22 Dovizioso was in front, only for Spies to retake the position and take the fight to the last lap. It was going through turns 12 and 13 where Dovizioso was unfortunate to finally come unstuck, highsiding as he flicked from left to right through the chicane after Spies had run wide into the corner. It was a costly fall in terms of championship positions because Dovizioso’s no-score means both Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi, who finished sixth, have moved ahead of him in the points table. However, having displayed race pace worthy of the podium today, Dovizioso remains determined to bounce back with a strong result at the next race in Japan in two week’s time. With five races remaining, the points difference from Pedrosa to Lorenzo in the championship is still a considerable one, but Pedrosa has achieved his goal of continuing to close the gap, and that will once again be the target when the championship resumes at Motegi on 3 October. DANI PEDROSA 2nd World Championship Position: 2nd 228 points “I’m pretty happy with second place today even though of course I wanted to win in front of the Spanish fans. In the first corner I had a slide which lost me a couple of places and then over the next few laps I had to make up some positions before getting behind Casey. By this point he was quite a way in front and our pace was similar at this stage so I tried really hard to catch him and managed to close the gap. But then I started to have some rear-wheel slides and it wasn’t possible for me stay with him so I thought: ‘Ok, this is my place today.’ Our bike here was struggling more with tyre wear than some of the others, but anyway, second place is not bad and the championship is still alive, even though it will be very difficult to catch Lorenzo. I’d like to say thanks to my team who are working really hard, and I want to maintain this momentum because re cently we have been fast at every race. I’m looking forward to Honda’s home event at Motegi.” ANDREA DOVIZIOSO DNF World Championship Position: 5th 139 points “Of course I’m really disappointed things ended in this way because my pace in the middle of the race was very good and the battle with Spies was exciting. The crash happened between turns 12 and 13. Spies went in too deep and I tried to overtake him on the inside. That meant I was carrying a little bit more speed through the change of direction and as I flicked from left to right I highsided. I’m really disappointed because we have lost third position in the championship, which is still our target even though scoring zero points today makes this more difficult. Early in the race I made some mistakes and lost contact with the front group, but actually our pace in the middle of the race was very fast. During the battle with Spies we overtook each other three or four times in the last laps and it was fun, but the crash spoiled the day. However, we’ll come back fighting at Motegi because we’ve proved we have the pace to be strong.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: DUCATI MARLBORO PODIUM DOUBLE AS STONER WINS AT ARAGON, HAYDEN THIRD The Ducati Marlboro Team celebrated victory and a podium double today as Casey Stoner took his first win and Nicky Hayden his first rostrum of the 2010 season. Stoner’s victory came from pole position and was hard earned after overcoming an early battle with Jorge Lorenzo on the first lap and pressure from Dani Pedrosa over the remainder of the race. The Australian was able to manage a gap of around one second throughout over the Spaniard, who finally gave best over the closing laps and crossed the line over five seconds adrift. Nicky Hayden gave chase to the leaders over the opening laps and stuck doggedly to the tail of Lorenzo to set up a thrilling finale. A perfectly timed pass onto the back straight gave the Spaniard little opportunity to respond as they charged to the final corner, sealing Hayden’s first top-three finish since Indianapolis last year and the team’s first podium double since 2007. After both making crucial changes to their Desmosedici GP10 machines this weekend, Stoner and Hayden are hopeful they can carry this form through to the final five races of the season. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1st “This win is a big relief, to be honest! We had the first race in Qatar wrapped up until I made a mistake and their have been other opportunities to win this year that I have missed out on through my own errors. We have had a lot of problems trying to find the final two or three tenths to run with Dani and Jorge this season but we changed the bike completely this weekend to adjust my position on it and got it working almost how we want it to. I had a little slip off in warm-up this morning which was a worry going into the race. I was staying away from every white line that I could over the first few laps but we were able to pick up the pace when we needed to and bring home a win. I want to thank the team, the factory and everybody who has stuck by me I’m just sorry it took so long!” NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Marlboro Team) 3rd “It feels great to be back on the podium and I really enjoyed myself today. The bike has been working really well all weekend and in the race I was able to get a good start and stay with Jorge. There wasn’t really anywhere I could get a wheel in and over the last couple of laps he pushed hard to get away but I decided that fourth wasn’t good enough for me today. I did a bit of a backyard move in the chicane over there and managed to hold him off to the line. It’s nice to be on the podium, it has been a really good weekend for us and for the team, the sponsors and the supporters I’m glad we could be up here today. We’ll try to do it again a few more times before the season’s over!” VITTORIANO GUARESCHI, Team manager “I am really happy for Casey, Nicky and all the team because today is payback for all their hard work. They have never backed off, even in the difficult moments. We came to a track that nobody had been to before but our bike worked well from the start. Both Nicky and Casey were fast in all conditions and today they produced a fantastic performance. Casey pushed very hard from the start to the finish but he always had the situation under control and even when he made a little mistake he recovered strongly and lap after lap he established an insurmountable lead over Dani. He really was brilliant today. Nicky was also fantastic because he kept up a strong pace throughout the race and never gave Lorenzo the chance to escape. He fought with him right to the end and came out with a podium. Congratulations to everybody but now we have to keep working as hard as ever to make sure we finish the season strongly.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Heroic Spies storms to fifth at Motorland Aragon Ben Spies produced arguably the best MotoGP performance of his blossoming career at the spectacular Motorland Aragon tack this afternoon, the Texan winning an epic battle with Andrea Dovizioso to finish in fifth place. Spies was in scintillating form throughout the 23-lap race that was played out in front of a partisan home crowd of just over 70,000 Spanish fans at the challenging 5.078km circuit. A fast start saw Spies pounce on an early mistake by Dani Pedrosa to snatch fourth on the opening lap before he settled into fifth place, the reigning World Superbike champion looking threatening behind Nicky Hayden and Jorge Lorenzo as they tussled for third spot. Spies had brilliantly hunted down Hayden and Lorenzo but just when he looked like hauling himself into a tense battle for third, a small mistake and a loss of rear grip cost him precious time. He slipped back into the clutches of Dovizioso and what followed was a pulsating final ten laps that saw Spies produce some inspired riding on board his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1 machine. Spies was riding at his brilliant best to keep Dovizioso at bay, the 26-year-old frequently able to produce stunning late braking moves to deny the tenacious Italian, who had a clear top speed advantage on the long Motorland Aragon straights. Spies lost fifth place on the penultimate lap, only to engineer yet another awesome overtake to the position back at the first corner on the final lap. With both refusing to give an in ch, Spies’ super human effort was rewarded, his pace and determination pushing Dovizioso into a mistake on the final lap. Today’s fifth was Spies’ ninth top six finish of a stunning rookie campaign and he remains firmly in contention for a top three overall finish in the standings on 131-points. Today’s race didn’t go according to plan for Colin Edwards, the American making a poor getaway off the line before struggling to find his rhythm in the opening half of the race. The 36-year-old passed Hiroshi Aoyama on lap eight and Mika Kallio three laps later to finish in 12th position, a result which keeps him firmly in the hunt for eighth place in the points standings. Ben Spies 5th 131-points “That was a really good race. I like racing like that and I told my crew that even if I’d finished sixth it would have been t he funniest race of the year for me. Dovi and me started going at it with four laps to go and it was fun. I wish it didn’t end with him crashing and I’m sure he’s mad he fell down but we were having a blast. We kept it clean and close and he just made a small mistake on the last lap. I must admit I wasn’t too far away from making one myself because it was getting pretty hectic. On the last lap I got him at turn one and then he got me back at turn eight. Going into turn 11 I passed him but got in deep and when we went back to turn 12 I was ahead of him but I didn’t have the right line. So he had to go around me but unfortunately he fell and that’s a shame because he rode great. I did too and for a while I was pulling back Nicky and Jorge but fifth is still a great result. I wasn’t far behind Jorge and I beat Valentino and I was the top non-factory rider again. And the points are good for my championship, so I’m looking forward to this big final run of races with a lot of c onfidence.” Colin Edwards 12th 70-points “It wasn’t a good race at all and it’s a strange feeling because I really like the track. But for whatever reason I’m just not fast enough and I haven’t figured it out yet. I made a terrible start and that put me on the back foot immediately but in the first few laps I couldn’t get into my normal rhythm. And when I was trying to make up some time I just made a few silly mistakes here and there and it felt like I’d never done a lap here before. Once I got into a rhythm my pace wasn’t too bad but I’d lost way too much time in the first ten laps. I ran the softer front tyre but I don’t think that had anything to do with it. I was more comfortable on the soft front all weekend because I couldn’t get the hard option to turn. It was a bit hotter today but I can’t blame that and truthfully I just wasn’t fast enough all weekend.” Herve Poncharal Team Manager “I am almost lost for words to describe the way Ben rode today. It wasn’t his best result of the season but it is certainly one of the best feelings because he rode an incredible race. He was pushing on the limit for the whole race and to beat Dovizioso was really impressive. I think it was a fight that the fans really enjoyed. It was clear Andrea had a little bit of an advantage on top speed but some of Ben’s braking moves were phenomenal and he was very brave. I am very happy with Ben and he is getting better and better and this race from him was stunning. He never gave up and showed unbelievable fighting spirit. It was a difficult afternoon for Colin. He didn’t make a good start and he couldn’t find a fast rhythm in the first laps and by the time he found a decent pace he had too much to recover. He carried on giving his maximum but it was still a positive week end at the fantastic Motorland Aragon. This is a great venue for MotoGP racing and the paddock has been given a wonderful welcome. We are already looking forward to coming back next season.” More, from a press release issued by Indianapolis Motor Speedway: HAYDEN EARNS FIRST PODIUM FINISH OF SEASON WITH LAST-LAP PASS Edwards renews with Tech 3 for 2011, keeping three Americans on MotoGP grid INDIANAPOLIS, Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010 After four fourth-place finishes this season, American MotoGP star Nicky Hayden broke through with his first podium result of 2010 by placing third in the Grand Prix of Aragon on Sunday, Sept. 19. 2006 MotoGP World Champion Hayden, from Owensboro, Ky., passed runaway points leader Jorge Lorenzo with a daring pass on his Ducati during the final lap at the new Motorland Aragon circuit in Spain. It was Hayden’s first podium finish since he placed third in the 2009 Red Bull Indianapolis GP at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, ending a drought of 17 consecutive races off the rostrum. “It feels great to be back on the podium, and I really enjoyed myself today,” Hayden said. “The bike has been working really well all weekend, and in the race I was able to get a good start and stay with Jorge. There wasn’t really anywhere I could get a wheel in, and over the last couple of laps he pushed hard to get away, but I decided that fourth wasn’t good enough for me today. I did a bit of a backyard move in the chicane over there and managed to hold him off to the line. “It’s nice to be on the podium. It has been a really good weekend for us and for the team, the sponsors and the supporters. I’m glad we could be up here today. We’ll try to do it again a few more times before the season’s over.” Hayden’s podium enhanced the best weekend of the year for the Ducati Team. His teammate, 2007 World Champion Casey Stoner, won the pole and earned his first victory of the season. 2010 Red Bull Indianapolis GP winner Dani Pedrosa was second on his Repsol Honda. The decisive pass by Hayden on Lap 23 capped a race-long tug-of-war between Hayden and Lorenzo. Hayden qualified fourth and immediately started to stalk Lorenzo’s Yamaha, which qualified second but dropped to third at the start behind Stoner and Pedrosa. Lorenzo and Hayden stayed locked within one second or less virtually the entire race, the gap ebbing and flowing slightly every lap. Hayden finally dove under Lorenzo in the chicane on the undulating Aragon circuit for the first and only time when it counted, on the last lap. It was the first time in 13 races this season that Lorenzo didn’t finish on the podium. He leads Pedrosa by a commanding 56 points with five races remaining. “My start was very good, but during the race I struggled a lot with Nicky always behind me, very close,” Lorenzo said. American Ben Spies finished fifth on his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine after holding off the faster Repsol Honda of Andrea Dovizioso over the last few laps by braking very deep into corners. Spies’ teammate, Colin Edwards, finished a disappointing 12th. But Edwards can take consolation in the one-year contract renewal he signed over the weekend with the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha team for the 2011 season. It will be Edwards’ ninth consecutive MotoGP season and fourth consecutive year with the French team. Edwards will team with current Superbike World Championship standout Cal Crutchlow of Great Britain. “I am delighted to have signed a new one-year contract with the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team. I want to say a big thanks to Yamaha and to Tech3 for their unwavering support,” Edwards said. “I am honored to continue my long and successful relationship with Yamaha, Herve Poncharal and all at Tech3. I love the team and feel like part of a big family, and I’m thrilled that our adventure together is continuing next year. “I’m excited at the challenge of competing in the MotoGP world championship again and still being competitive in probably the strongest field in history is an achievement I’m proud of. I am also looking forward to working with and helping out Cal Crutchlow next season. I’d like to think I helped James Toseland and Ben Spies adapt when they arrived in MotoGP, and I will be doing my utmost to do the same for Cal if he needs any advice. I think all of us can look forward to an exciting 2011 together.” The re-signing of Edwards also puts three full-time American riders on the MotoGP grid in 2011, with Hayden remaining at Ducati and Spies moving to the factory Yamaha team. The 2011 schedule includes the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 26-28 at IMS. *** 2011 tickets: For information on 2011 Red Bull Indianapolis GP tickets, visit www.imstix.com, call the IMS ticket office at (317) 492-6700 or (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area or visit the ticket office at the IMS Administration Building at the corner of Georgetown Road and 16th Street. Ticket office and phone hours are 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET) Monday-Friday. The 2011 Red Bull Indianapolis GP is scheduled for Aug. 26-28 at IMS. Race Day general admission tickets cost $40, with Friday general admission $10 and Saturday general admission $20. A three-day general admission ticket is $60. A Friday-Saturday general admission ticket is $20 if purchased before Sept. 13, 2010, $25 afterward. Children ages 12 and under will be admitted free any of the three days of the event when accompanied by an adult with a general admission ticket. Race Day reserved seat prices will start at $70. More, from a press release issued by Honda: Aragon Grand Prix, MotorLand Aragon MotoGP and Moto2 races September 19 2010 Weather: warm, sunny and dry Track temperature: 39 degrees Ambient Temperature: 23 degrees Crowd: 70,124 ANOTHER PODIUM AND IMPORTANT POINTS HAUL FOR PEDROSA Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) scored a hard-ridden second place in today’s inaugural Aragon Grand Prix to take another bite out of Jorge Lorenzo’s World Championship points advantage. With five races remaining, Pedrosa sits 56 points behind his fellow Spaniard who finished fourth today. The race was won by Casey Stoner (Ducati), his first win of the season. Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V) fought with all his might to snatch fifth place from Ben Spies (Yamaha), only to fall on the last lap. Honda’s second finisher was Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) who came home in seventh place, just behind reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi (Yamaha). Pedrosa got a great start from the front row of the grid, but got sideways in the first corner, which lost him crucial time. Fourth at the end of the first lap, he quickly used his RC212V’s impressive straight-line performance to fight his way past third-place finisher Nicky Hayden (Ducati) and Lorenzo to move into second place on lap three. By then Stoner was already 1.5 seconds ahead, but nearing half-distance, Pedrosa upped his game and closed to within eight tenths of the lead. However, Stoner responded to the pressure, the gap growing and shrinking over the next few laps as the pair battled for the advantage. Finally, Pedrosa realised he would have to risk too much to mount a serious attack and eased off to ensure second place and 20 points. Following his wins at Indianapolis and Misano, this is the third race in a row that Pedrosa outscored Lorenzo. Dovizioso enjoyed his duel with Spies, the pair swapping places several times on the penultimate lap. On the final lap Dovizioso attempted to get the better of his American rival in the turn 12/13 esses but was highsided from his RCV. Simoncelli didn’t get the start he had been hoping for and yet he was able to run a very similar pace to Spies and Dovizioso during the early stages of the race. Then a couple of mistakes dropped him into the hands of Rossi. At one stage the rookie wanted to mount a counter attack, but once again he made a minor error that forced him to accept seventh place. Simoncelli was nevertheless happy with his weekend because he learned plenty. Team-mate Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) was less satisfied, struggling all weekend to get the best out of his RC212V. In the race he had some front-end push issues in the early laps. Later he worked himself into a good rhythm but was unable to get past the riders ahead of him eventually finishing the race in ninth. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) was in the thick of a busy contest for ninth contest for ninth place when he suffered a highside fall at turn seven on lap 16. Until then the Frenchman had been enjoying the ride this is the first weekend since he broke a leg in July’s German GP that he has felt really comfortable on a bike although he was having some issues with front grip. Three months after his Silverstone tumble which left him with a broken vertebra, Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V) finished 13th at Aragon today. The Japanese is still working to regain full fitness, but he was disappointed with his ride which saw him stuck behind Mika Kallio (Ducati) for much of the race. Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up) scored another runaway win in the Honda-powered Moto2 series, breaking away from the pack just like he did at Mugello and Assen. At one point the Italian was more than ten seconds ahead of the contest for second place, easing his pace during the final laps to cross the finish line 6.2 seconds ahead of Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter), who just edged out Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up) for the runner-up spot. This was Simon’s third consecutive second-place finish. Iannone rode his victory lap holding aloft a special flag to commemorate Shoya Tomizawa, the Moto2 ace who died following an accident at Misano two weeks ago. Other riders in all three classes here bore mementos of the popular Japanese rider on their bikes, leathers or helmets. A minute’s silence was held for Tomizawa following this morning’s warm-up sessions. Iannone led from pole position, getting into turn one first and then steadily increasing his advantage, usually by a few tenths a lap, but by bigger margins later in the race, which suggests that his team has fixed the tyre-wear issues which had troubled him at some other races. Simon spent much of the race in second place, only briefly losing the position to Simone Corsi (JIR Moto2, Motobi) and then successfully defending his position from Talmacsi during the final laps. World Championship leader Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) made a heroic charge through the pack from his third-row start, a legacy of a tumble during qualifying. The Spaniard, who had won the previous four races, ended the first lap in 14th and fought his way through to fourth, just eight tenths behind Talmacsi. Corsi finished fifth, well clear of Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing, Suter) and Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP, Suter). Front-row starter Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team, Suter) was eighth. Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125 Team) rode a great 125 race, coming through from 19th on the grid to claim three World Championship points for 13th place. The German teenager got as high as tenth place at one point of the race, but was nevertheless happy with 13th and his first points since Brno. the race was won by Pol Espargaro (Derbi) who beat Nicolas Terol (Aprilia) at the final corner. The MotoGP circus once again leaves Europe after this race, heading east for three races on consecutive weekends in Japan (October 3), Malaysia (October 10) and Australia (October 17). The season finishes back on the Continent with the Portuguese GP (October 31) and the Valencia GP (on November 7). HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V): 2nd “I’m pretty happy with second place today even though of course I wanted to win in front of the Spanish fans. In the first corner I had a slide which lost me a couple of places and then over the next few laps I had to make up some positions before getting behind Casey. By this point he was quite a way in front and our pace was similar at this stage so I tried really hard to catch him and managed to close the gap. But then I started to have some rear-wheel slides and it wasn’t possible for me stay with him so I thought: ‘Ok, this is my place today.’ Our bike here was struggling more with tyre wear than some of the others, but anyway, second place is not bad and the championship is still alive, even though it will be very difficult to catch Lorenzo. I’d like to say thanks to my team who are working really hard, and I want to maintain this momentum because recently we have been fast at every race. I’m looking forward to Honda’s home event at Motegi.” Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V): 7th “At the start I was hoping for a better result because I felt good but I have to be satisfied with seventh place. I was running with Spies and Dovizioso over the first seven laps but when I lost touch with them I made a couple of mistakes. Once Valentino came past I started to ride well again and even tried to attack him but made another mistake. After that there wasn’t much else I could do. Overall it has been a positive weekend and we have taken a step forward compared to other races.” Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V): 9th “It has been a bad weekend for us and the race didn’t go any better. Unfortunately over the first few laps the bike was unpredictable and the front kept pushing. Even when I put together a pace that was faster than the guys in front of me there was no way I could pass them. I haven’t made a pass on the brakes since the start of the season I can only overtake in direction changes and that shows something is wrong because I have always been a late braker but right now I’m not. I am really disappointed because things are not improving and we need a little help from Honda because I can’t do anything on my own.” Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V): 13th “As you may understand I am not really happy about my 13th position. My rhythm was good when I was riding alone. At the beginning I lost a lot of time and I could have been faster if I could have overtaken Kallio earlier. I tried it in each corner, but couldn’t. When I finally passed him, because he made a mistake, it was too late to better the result and I am very angry about that.” Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V): DNF “Of course I’m really disappointed things ended in this way because my pace in the middle of the race was very good and the battle with Spies was exciting. The crash happened between turns 12 and 13. Spies went in too deep and I tried to overtake him on the inside. That meant I was carrying a little bit more speed through the change of direction and as I flicked from left to right I highsided. I’m really disappointed because we have lost third position in the championship, which is still our target even though scoring zero points today makes this more difficult. Early in the race I made some mistakes and lost contact with the front group, but actually our pace in the middle of the race was very fast. During the battle with Spies we overtook each other three or four times in the last laps and it was fun, but the crash spoiled the day. However, we’ll come back fighting at Motegi because we’ve proved we have the pace to be strong.” Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V): DNF “There was a good group of us, so it was quite a hectic race for me. I didn’t feel too confident in the front end of the bike and then I started to lose the front a few times. I was trying to ride around that when the bike flicked me off. We still aren’t sure why that happened.” MOTO2 RIDER QUOTES Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up): race winner “It’s been a great day, but in no way was it easy or simple to me. After my injury in practice at Indianapolis I suffered a lot in the race at Indy and again at Misano, so it was great to feel strong again this weekend. I stayed on top in every practice and today’s win repays the team for all the hard work the team has done in fixing problems. Congratulations also to my team-mate Gabor, I hope that we can keep this run of results going.” Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter): 2nd “It’s very special to make the podium in Spain, especially at a new Spanish circuit. I’m very happy because it’s been a good weekend. I have been up the front all three days, just like I was at Indy and Misano, so I have been very regular at the last three races. This makes me very motivated for Japan, Malaysia and Australia. Of course, now I want to win a Moto2 race after being second at the last three. Today I got a good start and tried to go with Iannone, but his rhythm was too fast. I would like to dedicate this podium to Tomizawa.” Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up): 3rd “We have been trying very hard all season, but to begin with I didn’t have the same feeling with the bike that Andrea has. But we never gave up and we always kept trying, so this first Moto2 podium is a big reward for that. During this second part of the season me and the team understand each other better, so the bike is coming better and I hope we can continue like this during the last few races.” HONDA 125 RIDER QUOTES Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125 Team): 13th “The race went well. I had a good start and was able to stay with the group from the beginning. I could catch up some positions, stay in the slipstream and I managed to get even closer to the group. After the really bad two practice days I am really happy with this result. I think I could have finished even further in front, if my starting position would have been better.”