FIM MotoGP World Championship Motegi, Japan October 3, 2010 Race Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Casey STONER, Australia (DUCATI), 24 laps, 43:12.266 2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (HONDA), -3.868 seconds 3. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (YAMAHA), -5.707 4. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), -6.221 5. Colin EDWARDS, USA (YAMAHA), -27.092 6. Marco SIMONCELLI, Italy (HONDA), -30.021 7. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (SUZUKI), -31.826 8. Ben SPIES, USA (YAMAHA), -35.572, ran off track 9. Randy DE PUNIET, France (HONDA), -47.564 10. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan (HONDA), -49.598 11. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (HONDA), -49.999 12. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (DUCATI), -50.703, ran off track 13. Hector BARBERA, Spain (DUCATI), -51.422 14. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (DUCATI), -52.843 15. Mika KALLIO, Finland (DUCATI), -74.668 16. Loris CAPIROSSI, Italy (SUZUKI), -3 laps, DNF, retired World Championship Point Standings (after 14 of 18 races): 1. Lorenzo, 297 points 2. Dani PEdrosa, 228 3. Stoner, 180 4. Dovizioso, 159 5. Rossi, 156 6. Spies, 139 7. Nicky Hayden, 129 8. De Puniet, 88 9. Simoncelli, 84 10. Edwards, 81 11. Melandri, 79 12. Barbera, 69 13. Bautista, 58 14. ESpargaro, 52 15. Capirossi, 41 16. Aoyama, 35 17. Kallio, 34 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: Bautista fights back to seventh at Motegi as luckless Capirossi retires Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers Álvaro Bautista and Loris Capirossi had very different ends to today’s Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi as one took a fine seventh position, while the other was forced to retire. Bautista was boxed in on the first corner and relegated to 12th place at the end of the first lap, from ninth on the grid. He then set about making his way through the field and just after half distance he had caught and passed Marco Melandri for eighth. The next rider in Bautista’s sight was team-mate Capirossi and as he chased him down for what was looking to be an exciting inter-team battle in the closing stages, Capirossi visibly slowed and went into the gravel on lap 22. As Bautista benefitted from Capirossi’s sad demise and moved into seventh, he tried to make up the distance to the top six, and although he ended the race with top-five position lap-times, he was just unable to close down on Marco Simoncelli with the few laps that were remaining. Capirossi had had an impressive race and was still in with a strong chance of a top-five position, until his enforced retirement. He made an impressive start and settled into a good rhythm in seventh place, fighting with Colin Edwards and Simoncelli for fifth. Capirossi looked in with a good chance of attacking the pair in the last few laps, but an electrical issue caused him to lose power and slow dramatically, before his bike finally stopped altogether due to a fail-safe measure as he went into a corner, causing him to run into the gravel. Capirossi was unable to re-start his machine and forced to retire. He was very disappointed to leave Motegi empty-handed after what had been a very positive weekend for him. Today’s race was held in warm, but overcast conditions and was watched at trackside by just over 40,000 very colourful and exuberant fans. Ducati’s Casey Stoner took his second win in succession, with World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo in fourth. Rizla Suzuki now travels immediately to Malaysia for the next round of the season, which will be held next Sunday at the Sepang International Circuit near Kuala Lumpur. Álvaro Bautista: “It was not a good, but also not a bad result! We improved on our position from the last few races, but I had a problem in the first few laps with the rear tyre because it was just not getting enough temperature in it, this made it difficult to follow the others riders. After three or four laps I got back into my rhythm and saw that I could keep a similar distance and time to the front group, but the gap was too big and I wasn’t able to catch them. I am happy with the result and the whole team has worked very hard all weekend, but we need to improve on what happened in the first few laps, because in this category those laps are very important. I hope that in Malaysia we can make steps with this and we’ll try to be in the position that I think we should be – which at the moment is in the top-six.” Loris Capirossi: “Overall the weekend has been quite positive and we have been in a good position all the time apart from right at the end of today! I started well and got into a good rhythm behind Marco and Colin, at some points on the track I would lose time on them, but in other places I would make a lot of time on them. Then five or six laps from the end the bike started to slow down a bit. I don’t know what happened, but then it started to go ok again and then with a couple of laps to go it completely stopped. I am very sorry for the whole team, but it seems the luck is just not with me this season we will still try to finish the season in the best way that we can.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “The whole team is very disappointed for Loris. He rode with a lot of pain all weekend, he showed a consistently good pace and without the failure then sixth position was very possible. He can take some positives from this weekend, the bike package worked well and he loves Sepang, so hopefully next weekend he can go for his best result of the season. “It was nice to see Álvaro go one better than the last three Grands Prix, again it involved a big fight after being a long way back after the first couple of laps and we could make his life a lot easier with better initial performance from the GSV-R in the early stages. He’s been riding well and consistently, his level is increasing step-by-step and we’re excited about his potential for the remainder of the season.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Stoner makes it two in a row with dominating victory in Japan Round 14: Japanese Grand Prix Race Twin Ring Motegi, Sunday 3 October 2010 Bridgestone slick tyre compounds available: Front: Medium, Hard. Rear: Medium, Hard (asymmetric) Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner took his second victory in a row today at Motegi from third on the grid, catapulting himself into an early lead that he never relinquished, despite pressure throughout from pole man Andrea Dovizioso of Repsol Honda who crossed the line in second. In third, emerging on top of a tooth-and-nail battle with his Fiat Yamaha teammate, was Valentino Rossi who traded paint with Jorge Lorenzo in the closing stages of what was the most nail-biting fight of the race. Both riders used the softer rear tyre, but Rossi used the harder front slick whereas Lorenzo opted for the softer compound. As had been indicated all weekend, the overall performance of both option front tyres was very similar, and this was highlighted by the Rossi and Lorenzo battle in which the pair were very evenly matched throughout the 24 laps. Only Lorenzo and Nicky Hayden used the softer option front slick tyres, but all riders favoured the softer rear slicks. Colin Edwards scored his best result of the season in fifth for Monster Yamaha Tech3, triumphing in his own battle with Marco Simoncelli. Teammate Ben Spies finished eighth after recovering from an early off-track excursion with Nicky Hayden, and Loris Capirossi retired having also been fighting with Edwards and Simoncelli. Mikio Masunaga Vice President and Official Member of the Board, Bridgestone Corporation “I would like to congratulate the Ducati Team and Casey Stoner for their excellent victory here today. This year’s Japanese Grand Prix was delayed because of the Iceland volcano but we are very glad that it was rescheduled. We are honoured to have been able to support our second Japanese Grand Prix as MotoGP’s Official Tyre Supplier, and Bridgestone will continue to strive to provide tyres of consistent quality and safety and a fair tyre service to all teams.” Tohru Ubukata Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department “I’m pleased with tyre performance in today’s race, especially with the consistency of our softer spec rear. Conditions for the race were almost the same as last year but the pace was much faster which indicates the improvement in performance from using our asymmetric rear tyres here. I’m also happy with our tyre compound selection for this grand prix as all weekend we have seen that both specs of rear tyre were performing well and in the race our softer front slick was also very consistent, even in the intense battle between Valentino and Jorge that pushed the tyres to the maximum right to the end of the race.” Casey Stoner Ducati Team Race Winner “Today is awesome, and this is a big victory for us. We’ve been struggling a little with setup and were a little bit down on pace going into qualifying, but we took all the data from qualifying and the warm-up and made another little step for the race so huge thanks to the team and everyone. After the first couple of laps I saw the times we could do and thought we had a chance, but we just couldn’t get any distance from Andrea. It was impossible to get any breathing space! But this win means a lot to us and is a big confidence boost going into these next races.” Top ten classification (Sunday 15:00 GMT+9) Pos. Rider Team Race time Gap Front spec Rear spec Tyres 1 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 43m 12.266s Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 2 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 43m 16.134s +3.868s Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 3 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 43m 17.973s +5.707s Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 4 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 43m 18.487s +6.221s Medium Medium Bridgestone slick 5 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech3 43m 39.358s +27.092s Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 6 Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 43m 42.287s +30.021s Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 7 Alvaro Bautista Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 43m 44.092s +31.826s Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 8 Ben Spies Monster Yamaha Tech3 43m 47.838s +35.572s Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 9 Randy de Puniet LCR Honda MotoGP 43m 59.830s +47.564s Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 10 Hiroshi Aoyama Interwetten Honda 44m 01.864s +49.598s Hard Medium Bridgestone slick Weather: Dry. Ambient 24-23°C; Track 33-29°C ( Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Interwetten Honda: Aoyama finished home race in Top 10 The home race of Hiroshi Aoyama at the Twin Ring Motegi went well, but consisted of a lot of ups and downs. But the 28 year old did his best to achieve a good result and satisfy the Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team and Aoyama could repeat his best result of the season so far with a tenth place. After a difficult qualifying yesterday, where he finished 14th, Aoyama is happy that the race went better and is now looking forward to Malaysia as the Sepang International Circuit is his favourite track. Hiroshi Aoyama, 10 43’49.598: “The conditions in the race was a bit cooler today and that was not so good for the tyres. I had to wait a couple of laps to warm the tyres up and then I could start to overtake the other riders in front of me. On this track you don’t have so many possibilities to pass them. This race was not ideal for me, but at least I could repeat my best result of the season so far. This week I started to understand my bike a bit better and especially as I know this track so well I could learn more about the bike and we improved the set up. Now I am looking forward to Malaysia, which is my favourite track.” Daniel M. Epp, Team Manager: “This was another difficult weekend for us. We lost a lot of time with the set up of the bike, because of Hiro’s injury. Hiro still is not completely fit. He cannot ride as aggressive, as it would be necessary yet. But we did a step forward and earned the tenth place for that.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Casey Stoner followed up his first win of the season at Aragón with a second victory at the Grand Prix of Japan today, with pole-sitter Andrea Dovizioso second and Valentino Rossi in third. It was another strong performance from the Ducati rider, who many felt would be unable to challenge at the front today. Stoner took the lead in turn two after having started the race from third on the grid and then coolly managed a half-second gap to Dovizioso throughout the majority of the 24-lap race. The real excitement in the Grand Prix however was drawn from Fiat Yamaha team-mates Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo’s intense battle for the final spot on the podium, which after swapping paint as they jostled for position ended with the reigning World Champion finishing ahead of the champion-elect. As at Aragón, Stoner got a fast start and took the lead on the opening lap and quickly settled into a rhythm much higher than he had shown in practice. He traded fast laps in the early stages with Dovizioso, who had from pole for the first time in the premier class and stuck with him for the early stages. Lorenzo hinted at what was to come as he passed Rossi to assume third, but that was just the start of the duo’s enthralling contest. Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) ran off at turn five together on only the second lap as they dropped down the order, whilst rookie Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) pitted their wits against one another in the push for fifth. Stoner began to open up a slender lead over Dovizioso which eventually became a full second with just seven laps remaining, while further down the order Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) was forced to retire when his bike seemingly stalled as he ran wide alongside team-mate Álvaro Bautista in the chase for seventh place. With Stoner assured of victory and Dovizioso returning to the podium after an eight-race stint without a top-three finish, Rossi and Lorenzo locked horns in the kind of battle that demonstrates there is little in the way of team orders at Yamaha. Repeatedly pushing one another the pair clashed bikes with two laps to go as they fought side-by-side in a rousing finale to the race. Victory for Stoner came by a margin of 3.868s and Dovizioso’s fifth podium of the season his first since Silverstone was also confirmed. Rossi managed to hold his own in third place and score a seventh rostrum result of 2010, and in the process ensure that Lorenzo finished outside the top three for the second successive race. In the absence of the injured Dani Pedrosa, Lorenzo’s lead at the top of the Championship was extended to 69 points and if Pedrosa fails to make the Malaysian round, Lorenzo needs just a tenth place finish to assure himself of his maiden MotoGP crown. Edwards won his personal scrap with Simoncelli to post a season’s best result of fifth, with the Italian sixth and Bautista seventh. Ben Spies, Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) and Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP) completed the top ten. Moto2 Toni Elías took another step towards sealing the 2010 Moto2 World Championship with victory in the Grand Prix of Japan on Sunday, holding off the determined challenge of Julián Simón to take his seventh win of the season. Immediately from the off pole man Simón and Elías, who started from the front row, were at the head of the race and they swapped the lead on a number of occasions in the early stages. The duel between Elías and Simón continued to rage at the front whilst Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2), Yuki Takahashi (Tech3 Racing), Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) and Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team) all remained in the hunt for third place. Elías managed to resist Simón’s determined push and eventually finished 0.315s ahead of his fellow Spaniard. For the Gresini Racing rider victory stretched his advantage at the top of the Championship to 81 points over Simón, who finished second for the fourth race in succession. An intense last-lap push for third place saw De Angelis and Abraham touch bikes on the final lap, with the Czech rider coming out on top for his first ever World Championship podium. 125cc Marc Márquez took victory at Motegi in the 125cc Grand Prix of Japan on Sunday as he closed the gap on Championship leader Nico Terol who finished the race in second position to six points. It was the Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider’s seventh win of the season, which came from his ninth pole position start of the year. Traffic at the start of the race saw Jonas Folger (Team Ongetta) and Efrén Vázquez (Tuenti Racing) crash out through no fault of their own as a coming together of bikes affected the duo. The German youngster escaped with bruising to his left arm and Vázquez avoided injury as well, but was transferred to hospital for precautionary checks. Avoiding the chaos at the head of the race were Terol, Márquez, Bradley Smith, Pol Espargaró and Sandro Cortese who all settled into a leading group of five, which itself became more dispersed as the race continued. With 14 of the 20 laps completed Márquez had stretched to a lead of just over two seconds ahead of Terol, with Smith (Bancaja Aspar) riding a relatively lonely race in third position. Young British rider Danny Kent, riding for the Lambretta Reparto Corse team and impressing by rising to 14th, then suffered the disappointment of crashing. It was a fate that was also experienced by home rider Tomoyoshi Koyama (Racing Team Germany) who was running in fifth when he fell with two laps to go, managing to rejoin the race but finish down in 22nd. There were no slip ups at the front however as Márquez crossed the line 2.612s clear to narrow the gap on Championship leader Terol, who finished second, with his team-mate Smith collecting a fourth podium of the season by placing third. Espargaró (Tuenti Racing) placed fourth, but dropped to third in the championship standings, seven points adrift of Márquez. Alberto Moncayo (Andalucia Cajasol) sealed an impressive fifth-placed finish for his best result to date. More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: RACE TO FORGET FOR THE PRAMAC RACING TEAM RIDERS ON MOTEGI CIRCUIT: ESPARGARO’ FOURTEENTH, KALLIO FIFTEENTH. After the yesterday’s difficult qualifying session that have seen both Pramac Racing Team riders starting the race in the rear starting grid positions, Aleix Espargar have finished the race in fourteenth place while Mika Kallio had to settle for the fifteenth and final position. A negative result for the Team that aimed to achieve a good result on this track. Both riders where having a very good start but despite this, Mika has never been able to lower his lap pace positioning himself in last position. Aleix who had initially struggled with Aoyama and Barber trying to gain a better position, he have been overtaken on the thirteenth lap by Spies and then with three laps to go by Hayden, the Ducati rider overtake has bound the Spaniard in the penultimate position. A race that has to be quickly forget so that the Team can immediately return to work in order to increase its riders performance since the next Malaysian Grand Prix which will be held next Sunday on Sepang’s track. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Technical Director “During this morning warm-up we had further reduced the gap we had accused yesterday from the best riders. This has gave us good feelings for the today’s race, but unfortunately Mika and Aleix have not had a good lap pace that allowed them to recover positions. Too bad because we had aimed to achieve a good result on this track. It will be very important for us now to continue to work hard since next Friday on Sepang’s track, where we can take advantage by using the technical data that we were able to accumulate during the winter tests ” Aleix Espargaro – Pramac Racing Team – 14th in the race – 14th in the World Championship “I’m really disappointed with how things went. It was absolutely the worst weekend of the year, since the first free practice I had handling problems with my bike and unlike other races where I had the possibility to change my pace during the race, in this case I have not been able to fight with my opponents for a better position. I started quite well, maintaining my position, I unfortunately found in front of me some riders who were very slow in the first few laps, this has effectively divided the group into two with a gap of several seconds in the first few laps. I struggled with Aoyama and Barber to try to gain a better position. Their lap pace, however, was much faster than mine, because I’ve never been able to run under a 1′.49″. Over the last few laps I was also overtaken by Hayden. This result will help us to react in the best way and try to our best next week in the Malaysian Grand Prix. ” Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing Team – 15th in the race – 17th in the World Championship “This was a weekend and a race to quickly forget, one of the worst races ever. During the warm up we had partially reduced the gap from the other riders, this has gave us a good feeling for the race, but unfortunately it was not like this. Only in one occasion I was able to turn with a lap time less than 1 ‘.50. That is not a good thing if your direct rivals are turning two seconds faster than you. We will work hard to close the gap that we have accused today so that we can be as much as possible more close to other riders in the next Grand Prix. ” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: DOVIZIOSO BACK ON THE PODIUM FOR REPSOL HONDA TEAM Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso claimed his fifth podium finish of the 2010 season by taking second place in a hard-fought Japanese Grand Prix today. The 24-year-old Italian led into the first corner after securing his first ever MotoGP pole position yesterday, but Casey Stoner was able to sneek up the inside into turn two. For the next sixteen laps Dovizioso shadowed the Australian as the pair pulled away at the front of the field. Matching Stoner lap-for-lap and riding totally flat out, Dovizioso never let the gap grow much beyond half a second, but he couldn’t quite get close enough to mount an attack. In the last three laps of the 24-lap race, Dovizioso launched his last push for victory, but a near-highside lost him time and gave Stoner a crucial gap. After this, Dovizioso wisely brought his RC212V home for his fifth podium of the season and his first rostrum visit since the British Grand Prix in June. The result means Dovizio so climbs one position in the World Championship by taking fourth place from Valentino Rossi, who finished third after winning a thrilling battle with his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo. Dovizioso’s second position today was also the Repsol Honda Team’s 250th podium finish since Repsol and Honda joined forces in 1995 to make one of the most recognisable partnerships in motorcycle racing history. The team’s other current rider, Dani Pedrosa, who has made a big contribution to this impressive total but missed today’s race after breaking his collarbone on Friday, remains in hospital in Barcelona after yesterday’s successful operation to plate the fracture. Further updates on Pedrosa’s condition will follow. The MotoGP paddock now packs the flight cases ready for shipping to Kuala Lumpur in preparation for next weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix. ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 2nd World Championship Position 4th 159 points “I pushed at 100 percent for the whole race and the lap times of Casey and me were pretty impressive and very consistent. At the beginning, Casey was really fast when the tyres weren’t fully up to temperature and at that moment I knew it was going to be a hard fight with him. I don’t know what Casey did to up his pace today but his speed was amazing. There were two or three places on that lap where he was faster than me every time, but I saw that he was also on the limit and so I kept pushing. It was hard to maintain the pace on the tyre in the last few laps and I nearly had a big highside three laps from the end – at that moment I knew I couldn’t win the race. It was a little bit disappointing because I wanted the win and I thought it was possible today, but I’m really happy to be back on the podium again. Following Casey I learned a lot about the strategy for tuning the electronics settings for the final part of the race when the tyre performance is dropping off, so this is really positive for the future. I want to say thank you to the team because I’m in this position thanks to their hard work. And also thanks to HRC – I’m really glad to have a good result at Honda’s home race.” TOSHIYUKI YAMAJI – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER “Andrea had a very strong pace this afternoon and the battle at the front was actually very close, even though Andrea couldn’t quite get close enough to overtake Casey. In the final laps he dropped back, but this was a good result for Andrea and it’s great to see him back on the podium. It was also an important podium for the Repsol Honda Team – the 250th since we joined forces in 1995. I’d like to say congratulations and thank you to all the riders who have contributed to this impressive total, and also to everyone who has worked with the Repsol Honda Team to make this partnership so strong.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: ROSSI BACK ON THE PODIUM AS FIAT YAMAHA FIGHT IT OUT AT MOTEGI Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo put on a brilliant show for the Japanese fans at Motegi today, fighting it out for the final podium position in a battle that went down to the wire. Rossi just prevailed over his team-mate to take third, his sixth podium of the season, while Lorenzo’s fourth place sets up his first Championship match-point at Sepang next weekend. The excitement between the pair started at turn one, when Lorenzo pulled an audacious move on Rossi, passing him around the outside and exiting the second corner in third place, with the Italian in fourth. As the eventual-winner and runner-up Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso moved clear in front, Rossi was determined not to let his team-mate escape and stuck close behind, looking for every occasion to pass him. He tried a few times before he was able to make it stick and the reigning World Champion eventually passed the current championship-leader on the sixth lap of 24, going on to set the fastest lap of the race on the next lap. Rossi and Lorenzo then settled into a rhythm with a gap of a few tenths between them, although they were unable to make much headway on the leaders, who were nearly two seconds ahead of them by that point. As the race sped towards its climax Rossi’s tyres began to slide a little and Lorenzo took the fight to him, making his first move on lap 18 but unable to stay in front. On the penultimate lap an incredible passing sequence led to the pair touching fairings on more than one occasion and the excitement did not end there, as they swapped positions several more times before Rossi just gained the advantage in the final few corners and crossed the line half a second in front. Lorenzo is now 69 points ahead of the injured Dani Pedrosa and needs to be at least 75 ahead of his fellow Spaniard after the Sepang race to seal the win there. Rossi has slipped back to fifth in the championship but he is only three points off Dovizioso and has fourth firmly in his sights. The MotoGP paddock now packs up and moves straight to Malaysia for the next round in one week’s time at Sepang. Valentino Rossi Position: 3rd Time: +5.707 “What a great race! Of course I would have preferred to be battling for the win but anyway it was a great feeling, a real show and I want to congratulate Jorge because he was very strong and didn’t give up! Unfortunately I lost time at the start when he passed me so Stoner and Dovizioso got away, and by the time I passed him again they were too far ahead. At the end I was tired and my tyre was sliding a lot, it was a bit softer than I would have liked, so I knew I was going to be in trouble but I wanted the podium so much. Jorge came back at me and we had a great battle, proper racing – I think everyone watching enjoyed it. It’s been a great weekend because we expected it to be difficult but in fact we’ve been strong in every session and worked very well on our bike. The shoulder is okay at the moment so let’s go to Malaysia and see if we can continue like this, or better!” Jorge Lorenzo Position: 4th Time: +6.221 “This was a big battle between Valentino and I, two warriors with the killer instinct. I have to say that at some points I do not think he was completely fair, we were both on the limit but some of his moves were maybe a bit too much and he touched me and pushed me wide when I don’t think it was right. We are team-mates, I am fighting for the Riders’ Championship but we are both fighting for the Teams’ and Manufacturers’ Championship as well and we have to remember this. I am disappointed to miss the podium of course because I wanted one at Yamaha’s home, but this is racing. We chose to ride with the old engine to be safe and then I wasn’t getting the best feeling from the front tyre, so things weren’t perfect for me, but anyway we took some good points. We are very close to getting our dream and I really hope we can do it n ext weekend in Sepang.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “The podium was our main target and it’s been a very good weekend. Valentino was fast since Friday afternoon and I think the team did a great job today. We had to change our tyre choice after warm-up and make some small adjustments to make it work properly, but he made the fastest lap and had a very good pace throughout. Then we had this exciting battle in the last laps, which was thrilling. When two strong riders have the chance to fight like this it is always going to create a lot of enjoyment and Jorge didn’t give up, but it was better for Valentino this time! We hope to see more of this for the fans and everyone watching.” Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager “We just need a few more points! This wasn’t a perfect race for us and we struggled a bit when the track changed after Moto2, especially at the hard braking in turn one, but our target was to play it safe and take points so we are happy. Of course the end of the race was exciting, but Jorge is a winner and even with the situation with the championship he was never going to give up on the final podium spot easily. It was a great battle between the two strongest riders in the world but they are team-mates and Valentino took too many risks and touched Jorge a couple of times, which should not have happened when Jorge is fighting for the championship. Anyway, considering the front-end issues and the fact that we chose not to run the new engine, we have to be very happy with these points and now we are all just focused on Sepang and the possible championship victory there.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: DE PUNIET TAKES 9TH PLACE AT MOTEGI GP Motegi, 03 October: after yesterdays positive qualifying session, LCR Honda MotoGP racer Randy De Puniet started from the 7th spot on the grid for the 24-lap close race at Twin Ring Motegi race track getting the 9th position overall. The fourteenth round of the season, which saw Stoner on the top of the podium, started today at 15:00 local time and was held in dry conditions with air temperature of 23 degrees ahead 40.113 local fans. The Frenchman riding the RC212V nr. 14 did not take a good start from the third row and on lap 10 he made a small mistake (due to the injured leg) running off. But the 29-year-old stayed upright continuing his race with a good pace and he confirmed he is finally back on form. Randy still holds the 8th place in the world standing with 88 points and will try to score important points at Sepang circuit next week. De Puniet 9th De Puniet: “Honestly I did not take a superb start but I was quite aggressive in the first part of the race. Then on lap ten at turn 5 I missed the downshift because of my injured leg which still hurts and went wide in the gravel loosing few places. After that it was not easy for me as I was alone in the race but I am quite satisfied about this result as we still hold the 8th position in the championship. We have been waiting a long time for a good race and I think we made a good jog this week end especially on race trim. This top ten finish is mentally positive for me after the bad period I had after the injury. There’s st ill a lot to do but now I feel more confident ahead the rest of the season. I want to thank the guys for their good job and2 their support in the last races…. I am looking forward to racing again in Malaysia”. More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER TAKES SECOND CONSECUTIVE WIN AT MOTEGI, HAYDEN SALVAGES POINTS FROM TOUGH RACE Casey Stoner celebrated his second victory in as many races with a dominant performance in the Grand Prix of Japan, leading from the first turn to the last to secure his place amongst the elite riders in MotoGP history. Stoner’s 22nd premier-class success moves him up to joint eighth in the all-time winners list alongside the legendary Geoff Duke, John Surtees and Kenny Roberts Sr. A difficult weekend for Nicky Hayden concluded with an unfortunate race, the American running off track on the second lap. Despite returning to the track in last place he posted some solid lap times to recover four positions and claim twelfth place. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1st “This win feels great. I could have never imagined when I began my first season in Grand Prix at sixteen years of age that I would reach this level and all I can say is that it is an honour to be alongside such great names. I have taken all my MotoGP wins with Ducati and it is down to their fantastic support, hard work and above all their belief in me that this has been possible. Once again we put in maximum effort all weekend here to find some stability in the hard braking and acceleration zones at this circuit, which has been a massive challenge for us. We tried something in warm-up this morning that didn’t quite work so we took a bit of a lucky dip for the race and it paid off. Once I got out in front I knew we had a chance to win but it wasn’t without fighting for it because Andrea (Dovizioso) rode a great race to push me all the way to the last lap. It’s a big win for me, especially because it’s my first at this circuit and that means a lot.” NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Marlboro Team) 12th “We haven’t had the best of weekends so we made a few more changes to the bike going into the race than we normally would and actually it felt pretty good from the moment the lights went out. Maybe I got a little too excited because I made a mistake into turn five on the second lap, got in there too hot and a few of us ran pretty deep. Spies went off in front of me and I followed him into the gravel. We touched coming back onto the track and then there was a big kerb that I had to avoid so I lost a lot of time there. Once I got into my rhythm the pace wasn’t too bad and I passed a few guys but each pass took me longer than I would have liked because I didn’t have much confidence on the brakes. By the end I could see ninth place and maybe with a couple of extra laps I could have made it but it wasn’t to be today. I have to apologise to the team because I crashed on Friday which got us behind and even though they worked hard all weekend we haven’t found the traction I needed to be competitive today. Luckily we don’t have to wait too long to put it behind us in Malaysia.” VITTORIANO GUARESCHI, Team manager “After two really tough days of practice we couldn’t really have expected a race like this so my compliments to Casey and the team. He had a great race today and set an incredible pace from the start to the end, without making a single mistake despite some intense pressure from Dovi. Congratulations to everybody in the garage because we kept cool heads yesterday at a time when it would have been easy to panic and make the wrong decisions. Unfortunately an off track moment for Nicky on the second lap meant that his charge through the pack was for twelfth place and not higher. His pace would have been good enough for seventh or eighth, which wouldn’t have been bad at all considering the way practice went and that can at least give him more confidence for the next races.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Edwards romps to season best finish in Yamaha’s home race Colin Edwards made a stunning return to the top six in MotoGP this afternoon, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider producing his best performance of 2010 to finish in a richly deserved fifth position. With predicted rain never materialising, the 24-lap race was run in mild conditions and Edwards made a fast getaway from fifth place on the grid. He held fifth for the opening two laps, the American engaged in an exciting early fight with Italian duo Marco Simoncelli and Loris Capirossi. Simoncelli took fifth on lap three but having comfortably pulled away from Capirossi, Edwards used all of his experience to exert intense pressure on Simoncelli. Knowing he was capable of running a much faster pace, Edwards was content to stalk Simoncelli until he made his decisive attack on lap 18. Edwards then clearly demonstrated his superior speed, the 36-year-old opening up a three second gap on Simoncelli in the last seven laps to secure his best finish since the final round of 2009 in Valencia. A sixth successive start from the second row of the grid had raised expectations that Ben Spies could continue his outstanding recent form. But a mistake under braking at turn five forced him into the gravel trap on lap two. Spies lost eight seconds with the off-track excursion and dropped down to 15th before he embarked on an enthralling recovery. The Texan showcased his overtaking skills with a series of breathtaking moves that delighted a large contingent of Yamaha supporters in the 40,113-strong crowd . Lapping close to the pace of the leading group in the final stages after gambling with a radically revised front and rear suspension set-up, Spies clawed his way back into the top ten on lap 12 and eventually finished in eighth. Colin Edwards 5th 81 points “In terms of the result I’m really happy because it is my first top six finish of the year and I think it was deserved after all the hard work the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team and me have been putting in to improve our results. And it is always good to get a result in Japan with the race being so important for Yamaha and the Tech 3 Team. I rode good all weekend and was only four-tenths off pole, but what I’m a little disappointed about is that I’m 27 seconds behind the winner. That’s a big chunk of time and I’m riding as hard as I can. I feel comfortable and I feel good on the bike now we improved the setting but I guess we just have to shoot for being top non-factory rider. It was hard in the first few laps because I didn’t have a lot of feel in the left-side of the rear tyre. But once I got confident, Simoncelli passed me but I was happy just to sit behind him and study him, check where I was faster while making sure I wasn’t going to leave the door open for Capirossi. I think my rear tyre had good grip for a little bit longer than Simoncelli’s and I managed to pass him, put my head down for a couple of laps and managed to pull a gap.” Ben Spies 8th 139 points “Considering everything that happened this weekend with me not being totally happy with the bike and then running off early on, I’m extremely happy to finish eighth, especially coming from 15th. We made a big change to the bike before the race with the geometry in the front and I ran a rear shock that we hadn’t run all weekend and i t was a big step. It was a big gamble but it paid off. The front was a bit better in the turns and we definitely had better traction and it made the bike a bit easier to ride and more confidence inspiring. Going into turn five I think Loris was in front of me and it seemed like he braked really, really early. To avoid hitting him I had to move over and get on the kerb and run off track. After my pace in the warm-up I was wondering how I would be able to fight with anybody but I made some passes and I never gave up. I rode as hard as I could and while it wasn’t my best result it was still a really good race. Even coming through the field I was still turning some really fast laps that without the mistake would have given me a chance of running in the top five.” Herve Poncharal Team Manager “I am very happy with today’s race and I think Colin and Ben performed at their m aximum in the home race for Yamaha. We were determined to do well for Yamaha and I don’t think we disappointed with both of them performing incredibly well. I think everybody at Yamaha and the Japanese fans really enjoyed the way both of them performed. Colin had by far his best result of the season and this weekend he has been back to the outstanding form he showed all last season. He’s been working hard with his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew for several races now to improve and this weekend that effort paid off. He had a good battle with Simoncelli that Colin won comfortably and I think we saw he used his experience today. It was unfortunate that Ben ran off the track so early because his potential was much higher than eighth. His fighting spirit was unbelievable and he never gave up and his lap times at the end would have easily put him in the top five. He demonstrated his determination today and after a positive winter test at Sepang, I’m confident he can be challenging bac k at the front again in Malaysia next weekend.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: Results Japanese Grand Prix, Motegi MotoGP, Moto2 and 125cc races October 3, 2010 Weather: Hot and sunny Track temperature: 34 degrees Ambient Temperature: 23 degrees Crowd: 40,113 DOVIZIOSO ON THE PODIUM IN HOME RACE Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V) fought for the victory to the final lap of the Japanese Grand Prix at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit in Japan, but ultimately finished second to Casey Stoner (Ducati). Dovizioso was away quickly into the lead until Stoner passed him early on the first of 24 laps of the 4.801m Honda-owned circuit about 100k north of Tokyo. Then began an epic battle, with Stoner trying to pull away and Dovizioso drawing him back in. Dovizioso saw that Stoner had a few strong points, but the Italian was strong in other areas. Their strengths canceled each other out. The gap from first to second was under a second until the 17th lap, when Stoner just managed to open it up. And when Dovizioso had a moment a few laps from the end he had to abandon the victory chase. Still, it was a strong showing and gave him encouragement as the series enters its most concentrated stretch, and, for one race, at least, without Dani Pedrosa. Pedrosa was home in Spain after surgery to repair the left collarbone he fractured in a Friday practice crash. The surgery was deemed a success, but no date has been set for his return. With the Malaysian Grand Prix next weekend and the Australian Grand Prix a week after, the Spaniard has little time to recover from the physical trauma of the crash. Even though he was half a world away, because of his strong season, which includes four wins, Pedrosa maintained second in the MotoGP World Championship to Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha). Dovizioso moved into fourth in the championship today with his fifth podium of the year. Lorenzo finished fourth today after an epic battle, especially over the final two laps, with team-mate Valentino Rossi, who finished third. Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) equaled his career best sixth place MotoGP finish. The tall Italian was set to earn an unprecedented fifth when he was passed in the final quarter of the race by veteran Colin Edwards (Yamaha) after suffering fatigue in his forearms. The Motegi circuit has a number of hard braking, downhill corners, more than any other track on the calendar and the constant stress finally took its toll. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) was running in eighth place when he missed a downshift due to weakness in his still mending leg and he ran off track. The mistake only cost him two places, but it put him in a no-man’s land and he rode a lonely race to finish ninth. The finish didn’t hurt his championship placing as he still holds eighth with four races remaining. In his home race, Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP) equaled his best finish. Racing in front of friends and family, Aoyama spent the first few laps getting his tyres up to temperature, after which he began moving to the front. From 15th on the first lap, Aoyama passed five others to finish tenth, equaling his best of the year from the season-opener in Qatar. The race wasn’t one of the best for Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini). He started well and got as high as eighth place before traction issues began to crop up. Melandri was never able to get any heat into his tyres and also had brake problems. Eventually he finished a dispirited 11th. In the Moto2 class, Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) continued to strengthen his championship position with his seventh win of the season, and fifth in the last six races. The veteran led from the start, with Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter) the only rider capable of matching his pace. The Spaniards quickly separated from the 40-rider field to make the race their own. There was little between them. Simon kept the lead of Elias under half a second for almost the entire race. On the 17th lap it went to .596s, but came down on the next lap. And for the final six laps Simon pressured, but Elias never put a wheel wrong and sped across the line with a winning margin of .315s. The race for third was equally spirited, with Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing, FTR) passing Alex de Angelis (JIR Moto2, Motobi) on the final lap to take his first ever grand prix podium. Elias stretched his championship lead over Simon to 71 points, 249 to 168, with four races to run. Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up) had an off day finishing 13th after running off the track. He remains third in points with 147. There was no rest for the teams, as they had to quickly pack for next weekend’s race in Sepang, Malaysia, followed a week later by the Australian Grand Prix at Philip Island. HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V): 2nd “I pushed at 100 percent for the whole race and the lap times of Casey (Stoner) and me were pretty impressive and very consistent. At the beginning, Casey was really fast when the tyres weren’t fully up to temperature and at that moment I knew it was going to be a hard fight with him. I don’t know what Casey did to up his pace today but his speed was amazing. There were two or three places on that lap where he was faster than me every time, but I saw that he was also on the limit and so I kept pushing. It was hard to maintain the pace on the tyre in the last few laps and I nearly had a big highside three laps from the end – at that moment I knew I couldn’t win the race. It was a little bit disappointing because I wanted the win and I thought it was possible today, but I’m really happy to be back on the podium again. Following Casey I learned a lot about the strategy for tuning the electronics settings for the final part of the race when the tyre performance is dropping off, so this is really positive for the future. I want to say thank you to the team because I’m in this position thanks to their hard work. And also thanks to HRC – I’m really glad to have a good result at Honda’s home race.” Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V): 6th “That was a really nice race for me and to be honest after the warm-up I thought I could have done even better and been a little closer to the front guys. I got a bad start though and couldn’t manage it. Anyway, I had a positive race, setting a good pace until the end, when I had a few problems with my forearms and had to back off, losing touch with Colin Edwards. I would have liked to attack him again at the end of the race but I am happy and now the objective is to improve again in the next race.” Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V): 9th “Honestly, I did not take a superb start but I was quite aggressive in the first part of the race. Then on lap ten at Turn 5 I missed the downshift because of my injured leg, which still hurts, and went wide in the gravel losing few places. After that it was not easy for me as I was alone in the race, but I am quite satisfied about this result as we still hold the 8th position in the championship. We have been waiting a long time for a good race and I think we made a good jog this weekend, especially on race trim. This top ten finish is mentally positive for me after the bad period I had after the injury. I want to thank the guys for their good job and their support in the last races. I am looking forward to racing again in Malaysia”. Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V): 10th “The conditions in the race was a bit cooler today and that was not so good for the tyres. I had to wait a couple of laps to warm the tyres up and then I could start to overtake the other riders in front of me. On this track you don’t have so many possibilities to pass them. This race was not ideal for me, but at least I could repeat my best result of the season so far. This week I started to understand my bike a bit better and especially as I know this track so well I could learn more about the bike and we improved the set up. Now I am looking forward to Malaysia, which is my favourite track.” Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V): 11th “That was terrible another race just like all the rest. I got a good start but didn’t have any grip. The tyres were cold from the first lap and I had a lot less traction than the guys around me. Even when I thought they were up to temperature there was no change and they felt like they were spent. The usual problems with the bike continue and I just can’t get it stopped. When (Ben) Spies passed me I tried to push and stay with him but I just ran wide. It is a depressing situation and we have been completely forgotten about. Honda aren’t helping and I can’t understand why.” MOTO2 RIDER QUOTES Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki): 1st “I am really happy with this win, which moves us closer to the title. We have worked well all weekend and it was an important victory for me because I wanted to dedicate it to Tomizawa. I would have liked to have done it at Aragon but maybe winning Shoya’s home race for him is an even bigger tribute. I took control of the race pretty early but Simon didn’t make life easy for me. In the end I managed to hold him off and I’m really pleased. I am also happy to have won for Moriwaki at their home circuit. It has been a great day.” Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter): 2nd “I think that we worked very well all weekend in practice and today in the race. We have learnt a lot about the bike and have found out what we need to go a bit faster. I’m happy, because we are progressing well, have four consecutive podiums under our belts and have been close to a win. I tried to stop Toni (Elias) escaping, keeping close to his tail, but there was no clear chance to overtake him. Let’s say that we were riding very similarly in a lot of sections, but that the equality of the engines made it too tough to overtake. On the last lap I was pushing more in order to sneak past, but I made a mistake and he got just far enough ahead. I am happy with the result and with our work, as this result spurs me on for Malaysia.” Karel Abraham (Cardian AB Motoracing, FTR): 3rd “Thank you. It definitely feels great to be here, to be third, to be finally on the podium. Even on the last lap I wasn’t sure if I could make it. I tried and it worked.” HONDA 125 RIDER QUOTES Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125 Team): 14th “The race was good, not optimal, but after the bad qualifying result the weekend finished better than expected. I could stick with the group in front of me, but I could not overtake (Johann) Zarco. I was stronger in braking and that was my advantage to the group. Then Kent, who was in front of me had a problem and I lost my drive. Then I had problems with gear changing on the start and finish line and he was gone. At the end I rode a good race against (Jasper) Iwema and was able to succeed with it and I am happy about that.”