After a three-week summer vacation period, the MotoGP paddock reconvened today at the Central European city of Brno in the Czech Republic, the first of six races remaining in the seventeen event MotoGP World Championship calendar. Despite cooler conditions earlier on this week, the sun was shining and temperatures were on the up as summer returned to the area for the eagerly awaited Gauloises Grand Prix Ceske republiky. Leading the way as the series enters the home stretch is American rider Nicky Hayden, who arrives at the circuit with a 34-point cushion over team-mate Dani Pedrosa. Hayden is in fine form after he beat the young Spaniard into second place at the last round. After that successful home race at Laguna Seca, the Kentucky Kid knows that he will face a full-on attack from several quarters, with his closest challengers – Pedrosa, Marco Melandri and Valentino Rossi – all having won at the circuit in the past. A selection of visiting and home riders paid a trip to a local brewery for a pre-event activity ahead of tomorrow’s practice sessions. MotoGP riders Shinya Nakano and James Ellison were accompanied by local stars Jakub Smrz and Lukas Pesek in learning about the different stages of the brewing process at the Starobrno factory, which has roots in a nearby 14th Century monastry and is just a small part of the nation’s proud brewing heritage. The customary press conference was attended by the key players in the title race, with Hayden, Pedrosa, Rossi, Melandri and Loris Capirossi all giving their pre-race opinions to the gathered media. In two notable developments of the day, it was announced that both Sete Gibernau and Yuki Takahashi would be absent from proceedings at Brno. Gibernau, still recovering from a second operation on his collarbone, will be replaced at Ducati by Alex Hofmann as happened earlier on in the season, with Hofmann’s place in the Pramac D’Antin team being occupied once again by Ivan Silva. Takahashi meanwhile has chosen against riding in Sunday’s 250cc race, instead deciding to await further recovery from his broken arm. MotoGP Nicky Hayden: I’m just having fun now in the races, riding better than I ever have and remaining consistent. We’re coming up to some tracks which I really like and I have to stay focused, because I’ve been dreaming about the title since I was three years old and there is still a long way to go yet. It’s not one of my best tracks but I enjoy it, the elevation, the smoothness and the overtaking opportunities are my favourite aspects. Dani Pedrosa: Last year was a great race for me in 250cc, and I have to repeat that in MotoGP, which is always the case. Here will be different for me than last year, something that I’ve had to get used to. I am happy to be second in the championship at the moment, I can be proud of that. Marco Melandri: It was a nice holiday, but now it is good to get back on the bike and I can’t wait to ride again at 100%. I like the track but have never had a good race here. Now I just want to do my best and not think about the championship, in which there is quite a large gap. Valentino Rossi: The last few races have been difficult. The situation was better before Laguna, 51 points is a big step up, and my M1 has never been at 100%. Nothing is impossible, but to win six in a row seems too difficult for me. The important thing now is not to start from 10th and to finish on the podium at every race. I’ve won a lot of times here in Brno, but it’s not one of my favourite tracks. Loris Capirossi: The break was for the best, I’m back at 100% and there are some good tracks ahead for Ducati. I think the championship is a little bit too far away for me, but we can think about the future, and we are definitely performing better than last year. GRAND PRIX STATISTICS NICKY HAYDEN HITS TOP FORM After his debut victory at the U.S. Grand Prix last year, Nicky Hayden has performed consistently at a high level, challenging at least for a podium result at most races even when he has not qualified particularly well. This is illustrated by some statistics from the last 21 races since his maiden Grand Prix victory: Hayden has only failed to score points once in the last 21 races, at the British GP last year when he crashed out in the very wet conditions on lap 3. The only two races at which he has finished lower than 5th during this period are the 2005 Japanese GP and the British GP earlier this season; he was 7th on both occasions. He has finished on the podium 15 times in this period, including 3 race victories. Hayden has scored a total of 340 points since winning the 2005 U.S. GP, exactly the same number of points as reigning world champion Valentino Rossi. If Hayden finishes in the top four at the Czech GP he will have scored more points in the first 12 races of 2006 than he did throughout 2005. 7 of his 9 podium finishes this year have come after he has failed to qualify on the front row of the grid. YOUNGSTERS IMPRESS IN MOTOGP The influx of new young riders into the MotoGP class who have started to challenge regularly at the front have had a significant effect on the age profile of the podium finishers this year. As shown in the following table the average age of the podium finishers in the premier-class has been fluctuating marginally over the past five years from a low of 27.3 in 2001 to a high of 29.5 in 2004. This year there has been a significant drop to an average age of just 25.8 years. Further evidence of the young riders taking over in the class is that only one rider over the age of 30 has won in 2006; Loris Capirossi at the first race of the year in Jerez. At the end of 2005, six of the riders who finished in the top ten in the Championship standings were over the age of 30, while in the current standings only three riders from the top ten are over the age of 30. At the same time, the age profile of the podium finishers in the 125cc and 250cc class has stabilised around the 21 year mark, after both seeing a considerable reduction between 2001 and 2004. AVERAGE AGE OF GRAND PRIX PODIUM FINISHERS Year/MotoGP/250cc/125cc 2001 27.3 25.8 23.7 2002 28.1 22.7 23.6 2003 28.6 22.5 22 2004 29.5 22.2 20.4 2005 28.4 21.0 21.2 2006 (after USA GP) 25.8 21.3 21.8 Official statistics compiled by Dr. Martin Raines MOTOGP FACTS & FIGURES – Honda riders have won the premierclass race at the current Brno circuit on 10 occasions, Yamaha on 7 and Suzuki just once with Kevin Schwantz in 1989. – Nicky Hayden’s 5th place last year at Brno is his best result at this circuit. Hayden has been the first Honda rider across the line 5 times in the first 11 races of 2006. – Dani Pedrosa has been on the podium for the last 4 years racing in the smaller classes at the Czech GP, including 2 victories; the 125cc race in 2003 and last year in the 250cc class. After just 11 rounds of the championship Pedrosa has scored 160 points, the highest total by a Rookie in the premier-class since Rossi scored 209 points throughout the 2000 season. – Marco Melandri made his GP debut at the Czech GP in 1997 shortly after his 15th birthday to become the youngest ever rider to compete in a Grand Prix at that time. Melandri is a three-time winner at Brno having taken victory in the 125cc race in both 1998 and 1999 and the 250cc race in 2002. Melandri’s 3rd place finish at Laguna Seca means he has finished on the podium at 3 successive races for the first time in the premier-class. – Valentino Rossi scored his very first win in GP racing at Brno in 1996 in the 125cc class, after starting from pole for the first time in his GP career Since then he has had 4 more victories at Brno; the 250cc race in 1999 and the premier-class in 2001, 2003 and last year. – Loris Capirossi has had 6 top five finishes at Brno, including podium places in 2001 and last year. Capirossi’s 2nd place at Brno in 2005 is the best ever result for a Ducati rider at this circuit and the first podium finish at Brno for a rider using Bridgestone tyres. – Casey Stoner’s 3rd place last year in the 250cc race was his first podium at the Brno circuit. VALENTINO ROSSI’S TEN YEARS OF GRAND PRIX SUCCESS The Czech Grand Prix will be the 10th anniversary of Valentino Rossi’s first win in Grand Prix racing, in the 125cc class at Brno on the 18th August, 1996. If he should win this year at Brno he will become the 22nd rider in the 58 year history of motorcycle Grand Prix racing to have a winning career lasting over a ten year period. The other riders who have achieved this are shown in the following list, which is topped by Angel Nieto, who won a total of 13 world tiles in the 125cc and 50cc classes. Second is Loris Capirossi, who would move to the top of this list on next winning a Grand Prix. RIDER/FIRST GP WIN/LAST GP WIN/LENGTH OF WINNING GP CAREER/YEARS 1Angel Nieto 50cc/E. Germany/1969 80cc/France/1985 16.02 2 Loris Capirossi 125cc/GB/1990 MotoGP/Spain/2006 15.64 3 Phil Read 350cc/GB/1961 500cc/Czech/1975 14.19 4 Loris Reggiani 125cc/GB/1980 250cc/Czech/1993 13.03 5 Max Biaggi 250cc/South Africa/1992 MotoGP/Germany/2004 11.87 6 Toni Mang 125cc/W. Germany/1976 250cc/Japan/1988 11.58 7 Alex Barros 500cc/FIM/1993 MotoGP/Portugal/2005 11.56 8 Luigi Taveri 125cc/Spain/1955 125cc/Italy/1966 11.36 9 Giacomo Agostini 350cc/W. Germany/1965 500cc/W. Germany/1976 11.34 10 Alex Criville 125cc/Australia/1989 500cc/France/2000 11.10 11 Barry Smith 50cc/IOM TT/1968 125cc/Belgium/1979 11.06 12 Tarquinio Provini 125cc/Spain/1954 250cc/Italy/1965 10.92 13 Bruno Kneubühler 350cc/Spain/1972 125cc/Sweden/1983 10.87 14 Tommy Robb 250cc/Ulster/1962 125cc/IOM TT/1973 10.82 15 Pierpaolo Bianchi 125cc/Austria/1976 80cc/San Marino/1986 10.31 16 Jorge Martine 80cc/Dutch TT/1984 125cc/Argentina/1994 10.24 17 Noboru Ueda 125cc/Japan/1991 125cc/Italy/2001 10.19 18 Barry Sheene 125cc/Belgium/1971 500cc/Sweden/1981 10.12 19 Luca Cadalora 125cc/W. Germany/1986 500cc/W. Germany/1996 10.11 20 Carlo Ubbiali 125cc/Ulster/1950 250cc/Italy/1960 10.06 21 Eugenio Lazzarini 125cc/Dutch TT/1973 125cc/Belgium/1983 10.02 22 Valentino Rossi 125cc/Czech/1996 MotoGP/Germany/2006 9.91 USA GO ABOVE GERMANY Nicky Hayden’s success at Laguna Seca was the 172nd victory by a rider from the USA in all solo classes of Grand Prix racing. This is one more victory than achieved by riders from Germany (including the former East Germany). As shown in the following table only three other nations have scored more Grand Prix wins; Italy, Great Britain and Spain. GRAND PRIX VICTORIES BY NATION Total/MotoGP-500cc/350cc/250cc/125cc/80cc/50cc 1 Italy 669 192 66 183 207 3 18 2 Great Britain* 381 138 85 96 52 1 9 3 Spain 279 29 1 60 119 27 43 4 USA 172 153 19 5 Germany 171 1 11 81 44 6 28 6 Japan 162 12 8 61 75 6 7 Australia 132 84 14 21 10 3 8 Rhodesia 70 12 31 23 4 9 Switzerland 65 1 1 7 30 9 17 10 France 62 3 9 34 16 * Includes riders from Northern Ireland – Colin Edwards’ 9th place finish at Laguna Seca was the 32nd successive race at which he has scored points. The only rider with a longer sequence of successive point scoring finishes is Mick Doohan, with a run of 37. – Kenny Roberts has had a single podium appearance at Brno, in 1999 when he finished 3rd riding a Suzuki. This was the last time that a Suzuki rider finished on the podium at Brno. – John Hopkin’s 74 points total after 11 races is the most points he has scored in a single season since entering GP racing in 2002. – Shinya Nakano, who won the 250cc GP at Brno in 2000, has not had a top ten finish at the Czech GP since moving up to the premier-class. For the last 2 years Nakano has been the first Kawasaki rider across the line in 12th place. – Toni Elias finished on the podium on 3 occasions at Brno while racing in the smaller Grand Prix classes, including a 125cc GP win in 2001. – Sete Gibernau has started from pole for the last two years at Brno and won the race in 2004. Gibernau has now gone 16 races, since the German GP last year, without having finished on the podium. – Chris Vermeulen finished 3rd in the second race of the World Superbike event held at Brno last year. Vermeulen’s 5th place finish at Laguna Seca, after leading for more than half of the race, is his best result so far in his debut season on MotoGP. JORGE LORENZO AND ANDREA DOVIZIOSO BATTLE FOR 250CC HONOURS Since moving to the 250cc class at the start of 2005 Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso have continued a rivalry that had started in the 125cc class in 2004 when they finished together on the podium on 5 occasions. The following statistics show that since joining the 250cc class they have each finished on the podium 13 times, with Lorenzo having been victorious on 5 occasions while Dovizioso has stood on the top step once. However, Dovizioso has been a more consistent finisher with 21 top six finishes and scoring more points over his 250cc career than Lorenzo. Lorenzo has started one less 250cc race after missing the 2005 Malaysian GP, due to being suspended for his part in a collision with Alex de Angelis on the final lap at the previous race in Japan. STARTS/WINS/PODIUM/FINISHES/TOP 6 FINISHES/POLE POSITIONS/TOTAL POINTS AVERAGE Dovizioso 26 1 13 21 2 361 13.88 Lorenzo 25 5 13 17 11 341 13.64 LUKAS PESEK REVIVES THE FORTUNE OF CZECH RIDERS Derbi factory rider Lukas Pesek has revived the fortunes of riders from the Czech Republic with a number of impressive qualifying and race performances during 2006. He has set a number of new records and milestones with respect to Czech riders: At the opening race of the year at Jerez, Pesek became the first ever Czech rider to finish on the podium in a 125cc GP. This second place finish at Jerez also gave him the record of being the youngest ever Czech rider to finish on a Grand Prix podium. This podium at Jerez was also the first top three result for a Czech rider in any class since Bohumil Stasa was second in the 350cc race at the Czech GP in 1971 riding a Jawa-CZ. At the Italian Grand Prix Pesek became the first Czech rider on record to have qualified on pole position. Pesek’s current score of 102 points is already the greatest number of points accumulated by a Czech rider in a single season of Grand Prix racing. CLOSE RACING ONCE AGAIN IN THE 125CC CLASS The climax to the 125cc race in Germany was once again incredibly close, with Lukas Pesek the third placed rider just 0.111 sec behind the winner, making this the 5th closest podium finish in 125cc history. This was the 5th time this year that all three podium finishers have been covered by less than half a second, 3 of which feature in the following table showing the top 10 closest podium finishes of all time in the 125cc class (only races that have gone full distance are included). CLOSEST PODIUM FINISHES EVER IN THE 125cc CLASS Race/Time Covering Podium Finishers 1. Australia/1998/Philip Island 0.044 sec 2. Italy/2006/Mugello 0.052 sec 3. European GP/1993/Catalunya 0.085 sec 4. Catalunya/1998/Catalunya 0.096 sec 5. Germany/2006/Sachsenring 0.111 sec 6. Spain/1996/Jerez 0.116 sec 7. Great Britain/1979/Silverstone 0.120 sec 8. Australia/2004/Phillip Island 0.123 sec 9. Dutch TT/2006/Assen 0.128 sec 10. Spain/1999/Jerez 0.129 sec – Carlos Checa has scored points at all 18 races since he finished 8th at the Czech GP last year. Checa’s 7th place finish at Laguna Seca was the best result in the premier-class for a rider using Dunlop tyres since John Hopkins finished 7th on a Dunlop shod Yamaha at the Dutch TT in 2002. – Randy de Puniet twice finished on the podium in the 250cc class at Brno, including a victory in 2003.50cc facts & figures – Aprilia have won the 250cc race at Brno 7 times in the last ten years, while Honda have had just 2 wins in this period, with Biaggi in 1997 and Pedrosa last year. Nakano’s triumph in 2001 was the second at this circuit for Yamaha in the 250cc class. – Jorge Lorenzo, who won the 125cc GP at Brno in 2004, finished 2nd in the 250cc race last year after qualifying on pole position and leading for the majority of the race. – The two riders heading the current championship classification, Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso had a great battle for the victory in the 125cc race at Brno in 2004, which was won by Lorenzo by just 0.036 sec after passing Dovizioso at the final corner. – Alex de Angelis and Jorge Lorenzo have both finished on the podium at the last 5 successive races. – Yuki Takahashi has only finished on the podium twice this year, but on each occasion has won the race. -Only 3 riders have scored points at each of the 10 250cc GP races this year; Andrea Dovizioso, Yuki Takahashi and Roberto Locatelli. -Roberto Locatelli took the 125cc race at Brno in 2000 on his way to winning the world title. GRAND PRIX RACING NUMBERS 51 Valentino Rossi is currently 51 points behind championship leader Nicky Hayden. Only one rider has ever gone on to win the premier-class title after being so far back, Wayne Rainey in 1992 when he trailed Mick Doohan by 65 points with five races of the year remaining, but went on to claim the title after Doohan suffered serious injuries which resulted in him missing several GPs. 36 The total number of Grand Prix events held at Brno. Eighteen were held on the previous closed road circuit and eighteen on the current circuit, which was first used in 1987. 12 The number of times Alex de Angelis has finished on the podium in the 250cc class without having tasted victory. Only one rider has had more podium finishes in the 250cc class without winning a race, Heinz Rosner, who finshed in the top three 13 times in the mid 1960’s riding MZ factory machines. 7 Max Biaggi is the most successful Grand Prix rider at the current Brno circuit, having won on 7 occasions; 5 times in the 250cc class and 3 in the premier-class. THIS WEEK IN HISTORY 13 years ago Czech GP/Brno/1993/500cc Three times world champion Wayne Rainey scored the last of his 24 Grand Prix victories with team-mate Luca Cadalora following home in second place, the last time that Team Roberts scored a one-two result in Grand Prix racing. Two weeks after this race Rainey crashed at the Italian GP at Misano and sustained injuries that ended his career. 18 years ago Czech GP/Brno/1988 Jorge Martinez won both the 125cc and 80cc races on his way to taking the world titles in both classes. This was the last ever occasion that a rider has won two Grand Prix races on the same day. 19 years ago Czech GP/Brno/1987 The first Grand Prix event to be held at the current Brno circuit following a four year gap without a Czech Grand Prix, after the old road circuit that had held the races up until 1982 was considered too dangerous. 25 years ago Swedish GP/Anderstorp/1981/500cc Barry Sheene’s last Grand Prix victory and the last occasion on which a British rider has won in the premier-class. This was the 300th GP to be held in the premier-class, of which riders from Great Britain had won 138. Since then there have been 356 races in the premier-class without a British rider being victorious. 26 years ago West German GP/Nurburgring/1980/350cc One of the greatest title deciding races of all time with the two protagonists Jon Ekerold and Toni Mang level on points going into the last race of the year. The race was run at record pace with a fastest lap by race winner Ekerold taking an incredible 14 seconds off the previous lap record; a time faster than Kenny Roberts had achieved to qualify in second place on the grid for the 500cc race. 30 years ago Czech GP/Brno/1976/500cc Twenty-four year old British rider John Newbold, riding a Suzuki, scored the only Grand Prix victory of his career and the first ever victory at Brno in the premier-class by a two-stroke machine. 32 years ago Czech GP/Brno/1974/500cc Phil Read riding an MV-Agusta won the race from team mate Franco Bonera. This was the last time that four-stroke machines achieved a one-two finish in the 500cc class. 52 years ago Swiss GP/Berne/1954 This was the last GP to be held in Switzerland prior to the country banning motorcycle racing. Switzerland held a Grand Prix for the first six years of the World Championship series with five of the events being at Berne and one, in 1950, being held at Geneva.