The MotoGP race at Sachsenring was stopped after just a handful of laps due to a bad crash that left three motorcycles and three riders lying in the track. LCR Honda’s Randy De Puniet crashed coming out of a right-hand turn. Pramac Racing’s Aleix Espargaro and Rizla Suzuki’s Alvaro Bautista both hit De Puniet’s prone Honda and also fell. All three riders and three bikes, including one on fire, were lying in the track, forcing officials to stop the race with a red flag, a rarity in MotoGP. De Puniet suffered fractures to his left tibia and fibula and could not make the restart. Bautista and Espargaro were physically able to make the restart, but because their bikes did not return to pit lane within five minutes of the red flag, by rule they were excluded from the restart. American Colin Edwards, who crashed his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha prior to the three-bike incident, also did not make the restart. During the restarted race, Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa battled for the lead with Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo before pulling away to a convincing victory. Lorenzo got second and still holds a significant lead in the World Championship point standings. Lorenzo’s teammate Valentino Rossi and Marlboro Ducati’s Casey Stoner fought for the last spot on the podium all the way down to the final corner. There, Stoner made an aggressive pass on Rossi to steal third place. Rossi was fourth. Americans Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies finished seventh and eighth, respectively. FIM MotoGP World Championship Sachsenring, Germany July 18, 2010 Race Results (21-lap restart, all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (Honda), 21 laps 2. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (Yamaha), -3.355 seconds 3. Casey STONER, Australia (Ducati), -5.257 4. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (Yamaha), -5.623 5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (Honda), -17.158 6. Marco SIMONCELLI, Italy (Honda), -17.757 7. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (Ducati), -17.935 8. Ben SPIES, USA (Yamaha), -20.957 9. Hector BARBERA, Spain (Ducati), -22.000 10. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (Honda), -35.217 11. Loris CAPIROSSI, Italy (Suzuki), -45.042 12. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (Honda), -45.204 13. Mika KALLIO, Finland (Ducati), -21 laps, DNF, crash 14. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (Suzuki),DNS, crash 15. Randy DE PUNIET, France (Honda), DNS, crash 16. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (Ducati), DNS, crash 17. Colin EDWARDS, USA (Yamaha), DNS, crash World Championship Standings (after 8 of 18 races): 1. Lorenzo, 185 points 2. Pedrosa, 138 3. Dovizioso, 102 4. Stoner, 83 5. Hayden, 78 6. Rossi, 74 7. De Puniet, 69 8. Spies, 67 9. Simoncelli, 49 10. Melandri, 45 11. Barbera, 41 12. Edwards, 39 13. Capirossi, 30 14. Espargaro, 28 15. Bautista, 25 16. Kallio, 24 17. Hiroshi Aoyama, 18 18. TIE, De Angelis/Kousuke Akiyoshi, 4 20. Wataru Yoshikawa, 1 More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki racer Loris Capirossi brought his Suzuki GSV-R home in 11th place during today’s German Grand Prix, whilst team-mate Álvaro Bautista was forced to miss the second half of a two-part race following a red flag incident. Capirossi and Bautista were both battling for top-10 finishes during the first part of the race and the latter had just posted his fastest lap, before Randy de Puniet crashed on lap 10. Capirossi was in close vicinity to the accident but missed the falling rider, however Bautista was not so fortunate and had to take evasive action to avoid de Puniet, but couldn’t avoid the stricken Honda. The race was immediately red flagged due to de Puniet’s injuries and the three crashed motorcycles on the track Aleix Espargaro was also involved in the incident. Sadly for Bautista and Espargaro they were unable to join the re-start, due to the regulations, and had to sit out the second part of the race. Capirossi began part two of the race which had now been reduced to 21-laps from 11th on the grid, but he was unable to find any grip from the tyre he used for the re-start and wasn’t able to make any advances through the field. Today’s incident filled race at Sachsenring was watched by 98,477 fans in warm but overcast conditions. They saw Spaniard Dani Pedrosa win from World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo. Rizla Suzuki now immediately embarks on a transatlantic journey to Laguna Seca in California for the ninth round of the MotoGP World Championship to be held next Sunday. Álvaro Bautista: “It has been a bit of a disaster today. I didn’t start that well and I couldn’t get enough warmth in the right-side of the tyre early on. After the first few laps I managed to get a good rhythm and was able to stay with the group for top-10 positions. After nine laps Randy crashed and I had some riders in front of me and I couldn’t see where his bike was on the track, but when the other riders disappeared I saw the bike in front of me and I couldn’t do anything to avoid it, so I crashed. I then couldn’t get to the box with my bike, so I couldn’t start again. The regulation is the regulation, but in this case maybe there could’ve been an exception because I crashed because of Randy not for something I had done. We must continue learning, like we have done this weekend, because at the moment this is the most important thing.” Loris Capirossi: “Overall we worked quite hard this weekend to find the best setting and we wanted to make a modification today for the race in warm-up, but unfortunately it was wet so we couldn’t try it. We decided to try a different setting in the race and some electronic modifications and in the first part of the race it worked really well. It was the best the bike had been all weekend and I had a good feeling and was sure I could get past some of the guys in front of me. After the red flag we decided to change to a used tyre from yesterday because there were no new ones left, and it just didn’t work and I had no feeling at all from the beginning until the end zero grip! I ended up fighting with de Angelis to keep my place. This result is a bad position for us, but overall we have learned a lot of things today. I think without the stop in the race our result today would’ve been much better.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “We knew that the potential had at least improved following Barcelona, but today was massively frustrating. In the first part of the race both the guys found a good rhythm and were able to race with the group from sixth place backwards. Álvaro had just set his fastest lap when the accident happened and whilst we respect the rule book completely, I would imagine there will be some careful discussion for the future, because with only 17 bikes on the grid it is definitely a problem for the show to have fit riders and good bikes sat in the pit after an incident like that when they should be out there racing. “The second part of the race was a disaster for Loris from the very first lap, he used a tyre that had done a few laps yesterday, but he just couldn’t get any grip at all and that stayed the same for the full race distance, He toughed it out and brought the bike home, but all-in-all it was a disappointing end, given the potential the two riders showed in the first part of the race.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Pedrosa victorious in red flag-interrupted German GP Round 8: German GP Race Sachsenring, Sunday 18 July 2010 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Hard, Extra Hard. Rear: Hard, Extra Hard (asymmetric) Dani Pedrosa took his second victory of the season today in Germany and set a new lap record in the process, beating his own benchmark time from 2009. He did so using Bridgestone’s extra hard compound front slick tyre and hard compound rear, the same tyre specifications as he used to secure a front row start during qualifying yesterday. Both before and after the red flag, brought about following a crash involving Randy de Puniet, Aleix Espargaro and Alvaro Bautista, Pedrosa was locked in a close battle with countryman and championship leader Jorge Lorenzo, also using the harder front tyre and softer option rear. Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi traded positions furiously in the closing stages, but it was Stoner with a decisive move on the last lap who claimed the final step of the podium. During the red flag period, before the race was restarted, several riders took advantage of the break at one third race distance and changed their slick tyres. Nicky Hayden changed to a harder rear and Marco Melandri chose a softer front. Stoner and Loris Capirossi replaced their rear tyres with used items of the same specification but with fewer miles. Marco Simoncelli’s front and rear tyres and Alex de Angelis’ rear tyre were also replaced with brand new items of the same specification. Hiroshi Yamada Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department “It is sometimes hard for interrupted races to flow well, but fortunately everyone did a great job to return the track to a safe condition after the crash and the second part of the race was just as exciting. I’d like to congratulate Dani and the Repsol Honda Team today for their victory and their new lap record, and I also wish Randy a speedy recovery from the injuries he sustained from the accident. It is also fantastic to see Valentino back his recovery has been remarkably fast and his pace this weekend has been very impressive.” Tohru Ubukata Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department “This weekend we used rear tyres with a special construction designed to have better heat durability, the same as we use in Phillip Island. This helped durability a great deal and was the reason that riders could use the softer option for the race today. Consistency was also remarkable, and Casey set his best time on the final lap of the race. The top three riders were also all under the lap record so I can say that overall performance was very good too. The race was interrupted by a red flag but the overall competitive distance remained the same, with just three extra in and out laps. Of course riders will want to use new tyres when they are given the opportunity, but we can see from Dani and Jorge that with exactly the same tyres for both parts of the race there was no problem with performance or durability so changing tyres was not a necessity.” Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team Race Winner “The race was difficult because in the first part Jorge and I were going so well, then we saw the red flag. Sometimes when you restart it’s not the same, but when I restarted I felt just as good and again Jorge and I were going well. Jorge overtook me but we were going fast together. At the end I was spinning in many corners but still able to go fast so I’m very happy.” Top ten classification from Race Part 2 (21 laps after red flag) (Sunday 14:40 GMT+2) Pos. Rider Team Race time Gap Front spec Rear spec Tyres 1 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 28m50.476s Extra hard Hard Bridgestone slick 2 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 28m53.831s +3.355s Extra hard Hard Bridgestone slick 3 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 28m55.733s +5.257s Extra hard Hard (U) Bridgestone slick 4 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 28m56.099s +5.623s Extra hard Hard Bridgestone slick 5 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 29m07.634s +17.158s Extra hard Hard Bridgestone slick 6 Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 29m08.233s +17.757s Ex hard (N) Hard (N) Bridgestone slick 7 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 29m08.411s +17.935s Extra hard Extra hard* Bridgestone slick 8 Ben Spies Monster Yamaha Tech3 29m11.433s +20.957s Hard Hard Bridgestone slick 9 Hector Barbera Paginas Amarillas Aspar 29m12.476s +22.000s Extra hard Hard Bridgestone slick 10 Marco Melandri San Carlo Honda Gresini 29m25.693s +35.217s Hard* Hard Bridgestone slick Key: (U) indicates tyre replaced with a used item during red flag. (N) indicates a brand new tyre. * indicates a change of compound Weather: Dry. Ambient 23°C; Track 36°C ( Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: PEDROSA STORMS TO HIS TENTH MOTOGP VICTORY, DOVIZIOSO FINISHES FIFTH Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa rode immaculately to secure a dominant win in the German Grand Prix today, setting the five fastest laps of a shortened race at the Sachsenring and setting a new lap record along the way. It was Pedrosa’s second victory of the 2010 season and his tenth since he moved up to the MotoGP class with Repsol Honda in 2006. The win for the 24-year-old Spaniard closed the gap in the World Championship standings by five points to Jorge Lorenzo, who finished second today. Pedrosa’s team-mate Andrea Dovizioso fought to a valiant fifth place today – in a race which was restarted and reduced to 21 laps after a crash brought out the red flag – halting the race. Pedrosa and his Honda RC212V looked very strong all weekend at the Sachsenring and were clearly the fastest combination this afternoon. In the first part of the race Pedrosa and Lorenzo took off at the front, with Lorenzo fractions of a second ahead when the red flag came out on lap 10 after a crash involving Randy De Puniet, Alvaro Bautista, and Aleix Espargaro, during which De Puniet was unfortunate to suffer a broken leg. At the restart, Pedrosa took the lead into the first corner and led lap one before being demoted by Lorenzo to second place, where he stayed in close attendance for eight more laps. At the end of lap nine, Pedrosa made his decisive move, getting a better drive out of the final corner and sliding alongside Lorenzo on the start-finish straight before holding a tight line into turn one. From that moment he never looked back and relentlessly stretched away at the front to win by 3.355s. It was Pedrosa’s second MotoGP win at Sachsenring, following on from his victory in 2007 when he won by a huge 13.166s margin. On the podium today, Pedrosa wore the shirt of the Spanish national football team in homage to Spain’s victory in last weekend’s World Cup final in South Africa. Dovizioso looked impressive and committed at the start of both today’s races and was in third place when the red flags came out after the crash. In race two he was up to third again and the 24-year-old Italian was determined to take the battle to the frontrunners, but all the time he was struggling for grip and he eventually slipped to seventh before mounting a spirited fight-back and clawing his way up to fifth at the chequered flag. Dovizioso remains in third position in the World Championship standings after eight rounds of the 18-race MotoGP series. The next MotoGP race – the U.S. Grand Prix – takes place in one week’s time at the Laguna Seca circuit in California, where the Repsol Honda Team will be seeking another victory. DANI PEDROSA 1st World Championship position 2nd 138 points “I’m very happy because we are back winning races and it’s a great feeling. It wasn’t easy today because when the race is stopped and restarted like that, sometimes you don’t have the same feeling on the machine in the second part. Also you get nervous again on the grid and it’s possible you won’t have the same pace after the restart. But it went very well for us in both races. In the first one I was very close to Lorenzo and the pace was good, but then they stopped the race and we looked at each other saying, “Why?”. It was even better in the second part. We just made one small change with the rear suspension to get a bit more traction, but we didn’t change the tyre because we didn’t have any new tyres left – we went with the same ones. I made another good start and in the first laps after Lorenzo had passed me I was pushing very to try to take him back. I couldn’t do it with my first attempt, but when I got a second chance I just went for it. Then it was a great feeling to stretch ahead and get the victory – the team deserve it. This victory is even better than the one in Italy because at Mugello I just went away in front and there was no battle with anybody, but here I was battling with Lorenzo in the first and second race, and finally beat him, so this is even more important. Also before the race we were not 100 per cent sure about what the weather would do, but it stayed clear and finally the weekend has ended perfectly. I was really looking forward to wear the Spain shirt on the podium. It was difficult to get it because it wasn’t in the shops and I really wanted to celebrate a win like that. I also want to thank the team because they worked really well this weekend, the bike was very good from Friday onwards and this is the form we need so we can to keep this consistency going from now on.” ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 5th World Championship position 3rd 102 points “I really gave it everything today so of course I cannot be happy to finish fifth, especially after qualifying in fourth. Simply I was not fast enough to stay with the top riders today and in fact I was riding very aggressively and maybe even overriding a little to try and stay with them. When you do this you use up the tyre more quickly and also use more energy so I knew it wasn’t the right way, but I had to try to stay with the frontrunners. This weekend we didn’t quite find the right electronics set-up and machine settings, and between the first and second parts of the race we tried to change some electronics settings because the set-up was not 100 per cent in the first part. I was losing a lot in turn seven, turn 12 and on the straight because I didn’t have the perfect set-up to use all the potential of the bike. Now I’m just looking forward to Laguna Seca n ext week and to getting right up front and being fully competitive again. My compliments go to Dani today. He rode at an incredible pace and the win is good for the team.” TOSHIYUKI YAMAJI – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER “This was great win for Dani and the team and I’d like to say congratulations to him. To be honest this victory is not a surprise because Dani has been in good shape all weekend, but it’s still very gratifying when all the pieces fall into place and we get a result like this. For Andrea it was a frustrating race because he was confident beforehand and he rode at the maximum level to try to stay with the leaders. There was something missing in the machine settings here for him however, and he fought very hard to maintain fifth place. He can be strong again in Laguna, and the whole Repsol Honda Team will use today’s result to give us even more motivation for the next race.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER TAKES THIRD CONSECUTIVE PODIUM FINISH, HAYDEN CHARGES TO SEVENTH IN GERMANY Ducati Marlboro Team rider Casey Stoner picked up his third podium finish in as many races at Sachsenring today with a stunning fight for third position, which wasn’t decided until the last corner. The Australian started from second on the grid and was running in third place when a crash further down the order led to a red flag and restart after nine laps. Nicky Hayden had made a stunning start to the first race, charging from fifteenth on the grid to ensure sixth spot on the reformed grid. He made up another position in the second race but was unlucky to be passed by two riders after losing the front of his Desmosedici GP10 just three laps from the end, leaving him in an otherwise creditable seventh. Stoner held third for much of the 21-lap affair but a late challenge from Valentino Rossi saw the pair swap positions several times before Stoner made his decisive move at the bottom of the ‘Waterfall’ section. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 3rd “In the first part of the race I didn’t have such a good feeling and I was doing everything I could to stay with Dani and Jorge but tenth by tenth they were pulling away from me. So, for the second part of the race we changed to a tyre we’d already used yesterday and I immediately found more grip and was able to run faster lap times. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get past Dovi at the start so the front two opened a gap and by the time I got up to third place they were gone. We saw in the first race that Valentino’s pace was a little better than ours and that proved to be the case again in the second race. He was taking big chunks of time out of me and to be honest once he got past I didn’t think I’d be able to follow. I tried really hard to stay in there and we had a good battle with a lot of nice passes. I tried one last time at the bottom of the hill, where he tried to close the line on me but I was already there. We touched but it was a good, clean fight and I’m just pleased to come away with a podium. We had hoped to be a little closer to the front here but we’re happy with this.” NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Marlboro Team) 7th “On paper seventh place doesn’t look like a great result but after qualifying fifteenth yesterday actually it’s not so bad. I was running fifth but with a few laps to go I lost the front coming through the Waterfall and went back to seventh, after which I couldn’t really get back to them. Also on the last lap the bike jumped out a gear and I almost crashed so I’m happy to have picked up points. Of course fifth would have been a lot better but I’m proud of my team because yesterday was probably the worst day of our season so far but they worked so hard to change almost everything with the set-up, from the forks to the pivot and the shock. We tested it in the wet morning and it felt okay I was fifth fastest and comfortable so we rolled the dice and went for it in the race. At the start I was able to recover a lot of positions and got up to sixth when the red flag came out, which did me a favour because it closed the gap back up. I had not the best feeling with the bike for a couple of laps, I was running wide in a lot of places and it was difficult. From there I got into a very aggressive race with Dovi and Simoncelli – I got rubber on both sides of my leathers but you expect that in MotoGP when start fifteenth. It was a good battle with those guys and overall this is a much more positive result than it looks ahead of my home race at Laguna.” Vittoriano Guareschi, Team Manager “I think it was a positive day for us even though after practice we thought Casey could be fighting for the win. It didn’t turn out that way but we still saw a great race from him and a wonderful battle with Vale that Casey sealed in the final corner after so many overtakes. They put on a great show, the kind we haven’t seen for a while, and I think everybody enjoyed it. Nicky was starting from an impossible position but he rode a determined race and rediscovered the rhythm and speed that we know he has, even though for some reason he lost his way a little in practice. In ‘race one’ he produced an amazing charge through the pack and in ‘race two’ he set an excellent pace despite losing out in the end to Dovizioso and Simoncelli. Anyway, it looks like he has his feeling with the bike back and that it good news with Laguna Seca on the horizon.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: LORENZO KEEPS PODIUM RECORD INTACT WHILE ROSSI SEALS REMARKABLE FOURTH PLACE The German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring today provided a thrilling afternoon’s racing, with Jorge Lorenzo finishing second and his resurgent Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi rounding off a remarkable return from injury to finish fourth by a mere whisker. A red flag after nine laps meant the race was restarted, with Dani Pedrosa eventually taking the win after a 21-lap ‘second’ race. Starting from pole for the fourth race in a row, Lorenzo lost ground to Pedrosa at the start but retook the lead on the first lap and led the way by a couple of tenths for the first nine laps. Rossi meanwhile, back racing just six weeks after breaking his leg, had dropped two places on his grid position to seventh. On the second lap he passed Hector Barbera and then loomed up behind Marco Simoncelli, passing his fellow Italian to tak e fifth on lap four. The World Champion had more than a second’s gap to Andrea Dovizioso but he quickly started to close down on him and was in range on the ninth lap, passing him on the tenth. By then however an incident involving three riders had caused the race to be red-flagged and, with positions then taken from the end of the ninth lap, that left the top five in almost their original grid order of Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Stoner, Dovizioso and Rossi. Thirteen riders restarted the race and it was the same story all over again, with Pedrosa passing Lorenzo into turn one but the championship-leader getting back through before the end of the first lap. The next few laps saw the two Spanish riders in some superb wheel-to-wheel action as Lorenzo tried and failed to shake Pedrosa off, the pair maintaining a nail-biting distance of about a tenth for several laps. After three wins in a row however Lorenzo finally succumbed today and on lap nine he was unable to hold his compatriot off any longer, sensibly deciding to bring his M1 home in second place for 20 points. The 23-year-old has now finished in first or second place at every one of the eight rounds this season. The restart saw Rossi again lose some ground but he passed Hayden second time around to retake fifth and set off in pursuit of the leaders. On the sixth lap he got by Dovizioso but with a near two-second gap to Stoner it looked unlikely that the Italian would make much headway on the Australian. Rossi is always one to amaze however and he was soon lapping at the same pace as the leaders to bring himself within striking distance of Stoner with a third of the race remaining. The final six laps saw some superb action between the two rivals, with Rossi looking as if he had never been away and several brilliant overtaking manoeuvres from both riders. On the penultimate lap Rossi took the lead in what looked like a decisive move but on the final corn er Stoner somehow found a way back through and the nine-time Champion was forced to settle for fourth, albeit probably the most impressive fourth position of his career. Lorenzo’s championship lead now stands at 47 points from Pedrosa, whilst Rossi moves up one place to sixth. The paddock now heads directly to Laguna Seca in California for the US Grand Prix in one weeks time. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 2nd Time: +3.355 “It’s always difficult when a race is split like this and I think I didn’t ride quite as well in the second race as I felt I had been doing in the first. Dani was very, very strong and I was on the limit trying to stay ahead. When he passed me I tried briefly to stay with him but he was much faster than me today and I was going to have to take a lot of risks to stay with him; the safest thing for me to do was finish second and take 20 points for the championship. I am happy because I never really liked this track and now I’ve been second here two years in a row. Now we go to Laguna and I am very excited about racing there again.” Valentino Rossi Position: 4th Time: +5.623 “I didn’t expect this! I thought it was maybe possible to make fourth or fifth place but I thought it would be very difficult. In the end I was fourth but I had a great battle with Casey and I was so close to the podium, so this is a fantastic result after missing four races. I need some more kilometres to really recover the feeling and feel completely okay with the bike again, but I think I did a great job and this was a very good comeback, better than we could wish for. I felt a bit of pain in my shoulder but more in the leg when changing direction, but at the end the battle with Casey was such fun that I didn’t think about it. Unfortunately though he just got the better of me on the last corner! Thanks to all my team for helping me come back and be competitive like this, we will try to do even better in Laguna.” Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager “I said before this weekend that we can’t win them all and today Jorge rode another very sensible race to finish second and bring home 20 valuable points for the championship. It’s a pity about the restart because the final third of the race is generally Jorge’s strongest and with the shortened race he didn’t have that bonus, but he rode a great race nonetheless and tried his best to stay with Pedrosa, who was a bit faster than us today. This hasn’t been one of his best tracks in the past and he had some problems the first day so this is a good result for us all.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “In the end this race was something completely unexpected; one week ago we didn’t know if we’d be able to ride here at all and then day by day our targets changed. We would have been happy whatever with a top five today but finally we were really competitive and so close to the podium. It’s unbelievable and even more so because we were lapping at the same pace as the leaders. We’ve never been so excited by a battle for third position! It was very positive; Valentino worked so hard to be here and he made it in style, so now we will continue our plan in Laguna next weekend.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa reduced the gap to Jorge Lorenzo in the championship standings to less than 50 points with victory in today’s restarted eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland at Sachsenring. The original race was red flagged on lap nine when a crash for Randy de Puniet at turn four brought down both Álvaro Bautista and Aleix Espargaró, neither of whom could avoid the Frenchman’s bike as it burst into flames in the middle of the track. The top five order at that stage was Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso and Rossi, which is how they lines up on the grid for the restart after the race had been red flagged. Espargaró and Bautista were not allowed to start the shortened 21-lap race as both failed to return to pit lane with their bikes within the allowed five-minute window after the showing of the red flag. De Puniet was physically unable to retake the grid, having sustained fractures in his left tibia and fibula in the incident. Espargaró was later diagnosed with a cracked C6 vertebra. After a 25-minute interval the new shortened race got underway, with Mika Kallio sliding out at turn one in an unfortunate end to his weekend. As he had done in the original race Pedrosa got his nose in front on the first lap, but Lorenzo quickly assumed the race lead that would change again however. The top order was much the same as it had been before the red flag, with Lorenzo holding off Pedrosa, Stoner in third, and Rossi and Dovizioso battling for fourth. The reigning World Champion was in front of his Italian compatriot before too long, and the Repsol Honda man was caught by the chasing pack shortly after. The battle between Lorenzo and Pedrosa was developing into a thriller with the two Spaniards swapping the lead as they constantly looked for ways through on one another. Pedrosa was at his best as he set a new circuit lap record on lap 10 and then again on lap 12, assuming the race lead and breaking his own record from the previous year and consistently riding in the low 1’22″s bracket. There was a good scrap going on for fifth between Marco Simoncelli, Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden, with the latter two going through on the rookie when he had a bit of an out of the saddle moment on the drop down to turn 12. Rossi was defying his precarious physical condition to engage in a great contest with Stoner for third, the two side by side with only a few laps to go and taking their duel to the bitter end. Pedrosa crossed the line in first position, 3.355s clear of championship leader Lorenzo thanks to a faultless ride. “I’m very happy because we are back winning races and it’s a great feeling,” said Pedrosa. “Today’s win was even better than Mugello, because I was battling with Lorenzo and finally beat him, so this is even more important. This weekend has ended perfectly.” “I don’t think I rode as well in the second part of the race as I did in the first,” explained Lorenzo. “Dani was very strong and I was on the limit trying to stay ahead. When he passed me I tried to stay with him, but he was much faster than me today.” Stoner managed to edge Rossi for third with a final corner move that handed the Italian fourth on his return from injury, a highly impressive result. “Valentino was taking big chunks of time out of me and, once he went past, I didn’t think I’d be able to follow,” admitted Stoner. “I tried really hard to stay in there and had a good battle with a lot of nice passes. We touched at the bottom of the hill, but it was a good, clean fight and I’m pleased to come away with a podium.” “I thought it was maybe possible to make fourth or fifth place, but I thought it would be very difficult. I certainly didn’t expect this,” declared Rossi. “I felt some pain from my leg and my shoulder, but the battle with Casey was so much fun I didn’t really think about it. Unfortunately though, he got the better of me on the last corner. This is a fantastic result though after missing four races.” Dovizioso finished fifth, with Simoncelli achieving his best premier class result to date in sixth. American duo Hayden and Ben Spies were seventh and eighth respectively, with Héctor Barberá and Marco Melandri completing the top ten. The final two riders to complete the race in 11th and 12th were Loris Capirossi and stand-in rider Alex de Angelis. Colin Edwards had crashed out on lap seven of the original race. Lorenzo now has 185 points at the top of the standings, with Pedrosa second on 138 and Dovizioso third on 102. Stoner moves into fourth, 19 points off Dovizioso. Moto2 Toni Elías’ third win of the season came at Sachsenring today, as the Gresini Racing rider triumphed in the Moto2 class, extending his advantage at the top of the championship standings. An opening-lap crash saw five riders in the gravel trap, as Raffaele De Rosa collected Héctor Faubel, Ricky Cardús, Joan Olivé and Lukas Pesek after crashing at turn one. Faubel and De Rosa rejoined the race, but the Italian was eventually forced to retire just a few laps before the end. Clear of the trouble at the front was the Fimmco Speed Up pair of Gabor Talmacsi and Andrea Iannone, with Julián Simón chasing hard in third. Another faller came in the shape of Yuki Takahashi and shortly after Simón’s participation was ended early when he slid out whilst pushing hard to keep on the tail of Talmacsi. Home rider Arne Tode, who had qualified in second position, Alex Debón and Sergio Gadea also fell, with an early end to a frustrating weekend following shortly after for Thomas Lüthi. With 11 laps remaining Elías was well on the way to recovering from a start that had seen him drop from his starting position of third, charging up the order and through on Talmacsi who started to drop back as his tyres went off with Simone Corsi also passing the Hungarian. The Italian’s race ended on lap 20 however when he lost the front of his machine at turn 12 when in third position. The experienced Elías was closing in all the while on race leader Iannone and six laps from the end the championship leader made his move, taking first position. Roberto Rolfo was moving up the order too and went through on the by now frustrated Talmacsi, who was unable to do anything. A fantastic last-lap battle for third played out between Rolfo and Fonsi Nieto was eventually being won by the Italian, after Elías had crossed the line 3.297s clear of Iannone for his third win of the season. Nieto took fourth, with Karel Abraham fifth and Talmacsi sixth. A fantastic ride from stand-in rider Damian Cudlin for the Tenerife 40 Pons team handed the Australian seventh. Elías now has 136 points at the top of the standings, 42 clear of second-placed Lüthi after his DNF. Iannone moves into third, just four points off the Swiss rider thanks to his third podium of the season. 125cc Marc Márquez’s dominance of the 125cc class continued today at the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, where the 17 year-old Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider benefitted from a late crash for Pol Espargaró to take a fifth consecutive win, with Tomoyoshi Koyama and Sandro Cortese completing the podium in a thrilling contest. It was a noticeably nervy grid prior to the start of the race as riders and teams tried to best judge what tyre combinations to go for, with the wet track fast drying out. Home riders Jonas Folger and Marcel Schrötter opted for full wet front and rear, giving them an early advantage as they got clear at the front with Folger leading by 2.4s from his compatriot. The first crasher of the race was Alberto Moncayo, with a host of riders fortunate not to be taken out by the young Spaniard’s bike, and as the surface continued to dry quickly the early gap opened by Folger and Schrötter had been swallowed up by lap six as Márquez and Espargaró overtook. The pair initiated a battle for the lead at the front and started to open a gap back to the remainder, and further back Folger had a run off as his race ran into difficulties. A quartet comprising Randy Krummenacher, Esteve Rabat, Bradley Smith and Koyama had by then established themselves as the group contending for what looked to be the only remaining podium spot by mid-race distance. The Márquez-Espargaró battle continued to rage in an aggressive manner and the championship leader experienced a momentary wobble on his Derbi machine as the pace remained high. As the final quarter of the race unfolded Cortese had done an admirable job of pulling himself up to the group fighting for third. On lap 24 of 27 Krummenacher suffered the bitter disappointment of crashing at turn one as he pushed hard to maintain third position, thus opening the door to the remaining challengers. More drama, which would affect the race lead, was to come on the next lap however. With Espargaró in front of Márquez the Tuenti Racing rider’s rear tyre touched the astroturf on the side of the track and he was thrown from his bike, Márquez only narrowly avoiding being taken out as well. Unable to restart his machine and get back on track the race was over for the 19-year-old, as Márquez cruised on to victory by a margin of 17.578s. The crash of Espargaró elevated Koyama to second position, a great result for his team in their home GP, with home rider Cortese edging Rabat in the dying stages of the final lap to complete the podium, his first of the campaign and one which naturally delighted the fervent German crowd. Rabat and Smith completed the top five, with Johann Zarco, Danny Webb, Efrén Vázquez, Sturla Fagerhaug and wildcard rider Dani Kartheininger in the top ten. Krummenacher eventually finished 11th. In total 13 riders failed to finish the race. The result means Márquez now holds a 26-point lead at the top of the Championship, with Espargaró remaining second and the absent Nico Terol third. The win was also the 100th in GP racing for Derbi. More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Spies storms to battling eighth in Sachsenring Ben Spies continued his fantastic charge towards the top five in the MotoGP world championship standings this afternoon after a richly deserved eighth place in a restarted German MotoGP race. Facing a difficult challenge after starting in a lowly 13th position following an incident-packed qualifying session, Spies was in hot pursuit of a top eight finish when the scheduled 30-lap race was red flagged on lap ten after a three-rider incident. The race was restarted over 21-laps and Spies lost contact with the group in front of him when Mika Kallio crashed at the first corner. The 26-year-old sat in tenth position for the open ing seven laps before he managed to expertly guide his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine by Marco Melandri on lap nine having already disposed of Hector Barbera. At that stage Spies was over five seconds behind compatriot Nicky Hayden, but the reigning World Superbike champion was able to embark on a stunning charge in front of 98,477 fans. His lap times were only bettered by the leading quartet at one stage and Spies was able to lap over a second faster than the group contending fifth spot in front of him. By the end he’d closed to within two seconds of Hayden and Spies was delighted with his pace, confident had he not started so far down the field that he would been able to seriously threaten for a place in the top five. A difficult weekend for Colin Edwards ended in disappointing fashion. Despite numerous changes to the set-up of hi s Monster Yamaha YZR-M1 machine throughout the weekend, Edwards was unable to discover a setting that allowed him to push at the fast pace he is capable of. And his hopes of maintaining his proud record of scoring points in every race were ended when he crashed out of 16th position shortly before the race was red flagged. Spies and Edwards now turn their attention to the all-important American MotoGP race at Laguna Seca. It is the eagerly anticipated home race for the Texan duo and both are determined to deliver strong results for an expectant and partisan crowd. Ben Spies 8th 67 points “Eighth place does not reflect what happened on track today and it was quite clear that I could have been much higher. I had the misfortune in qualifying yesterday that was nobody’s fault, but starting that far back h urt me today. It wasn’t easy to pass Melandri because his bike accelerates really well but once I got by and could run my own race, I was really happy with how I performed. Dovizioso, Simoncelli and Nicky were five seconds clear at that point but I got to just over a second away from them. I was pretty much the fifth fastest guy on the track and I definitely had a fifth place result in me today, but I just had bad luck with the qualifying crash. But I leave with a top eight result and I’m not that far away from fourth in the championship now. Now I’m really looking forward to going home and racing at Laguna Seca. I love the circuit and I will have a lot of support and I genuinely believe I can run in the top five.” Colin Edwards DNF 39-points “I got pushed around a bit at the start and lost a bit of time and I was just pushing because what I would lose on acceleration I wo uld try and catch it all up on the brakes. It was my mistake. I ran into the last corner wide and was probably a metre off line and when I tried to pull it back I lost the front. This wasn’t the result I wanted going into my home race next week at Laguna Seca but I’m more motivated than ever to get back on track and recover from a pretty difficult period in the season for me. I love Laguna and the atmosphere created by the fans and rest assured I’ll be aiming to get myself much closer to the front where I know I belong in front of my home crowd.” Herve Poncharal Team Manager “Ben was once again very impressive this weekend and he showed that he is an expert at learning new tracks. Unfortunately his race was dictated by his qualifying position and being so far down through no fault of his own was difficult. It was a pity because we saw that he had the pace to run in t he group battling for fifth. He was catching them a lot and as always he was very fast at the end of the race. He finished the weekend on a high note and he is really fired up for Laguna Seca next week now. It was a shame that Colin crashed in the first part of the race and unfortunately he has not been able to reach the level of performance we know he can this weekend. He’s never given up and worked really hard with his crew but thankfully he wasn’t hurt in the crash and I know he is incredibly motivated to perform better at Laguna Seca. The whole Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team is looking forward to Laguna Seca because the support for Ben and Colin will be incredible.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: DE PUNIET SUFFERS RIGHT TIBIA AND FIBULA FRACTURE AT GERMAN GP Sachsenring, 18 July: The eighth round of the season at Sachsenring race track was conducted in the dry despite cloudy skies however LCR Honda MotoGP Team rider Randy De Puniet did not finish the race crashing out heavily on lap nine. After yesterday’s good qualifying when De Puniet achieved the 7th fastest time of the day despite an awful crash (Lorenzo’s engine blew up spraying oil onto the track), the 29-year-old started from the third row for today’s 30-lap race at the German track but suffered a highside on the exit of turn 4 while he was 9th. Espargaro and Bautista were involved in the crash and Kallio apparently hit the Frenchmans left leg while he was passing by. The race was immediately red flagged and Randy was taken to the Clinica Mobile to undergo an X-Ray, which unfortunately confirmed the fracture of the left tibia and fibula. The LCR rider left the circuit with the helicopter together with Doctor Costa to reach Hartmannsdorf hospital where he will undergo surgery later tonight to insert a pin in his left leg. De Puniet – OUT De Puniet: “It can’t be worse than this! I took a bad start from the third row but I was back to ninth and my race pace was pretty good. I could push for the sixth place despite my painful ankle after yesterday’s crash in the qualifying. Suddenly I crashed at exit of turn 4 and one bike hit my left leg. I immediately realized that it was something serious and after the X-ray we discovered the truth”. More, from a press release issued by Honda: PEDROSA DOMINATES RESTARTED GERMAN GRAND PRIX Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) won a dominant victory in this afternoon’s German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring. The Spaniard got the better of World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) to score his second victory of the 2010 season. Pedrosa’s team-mate Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V) won a tight contest with Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) for fifth place, making it three Hondas in the top six. The podium was completed by Casey Stoner (Ducati) who won a last-corner duel with Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) who was returning to action six weeks after breaking his right leg at Mugello. With round nine of the 2010 MotoGP series taking place in California next weekend, the MotoGP circus is already making its way west towards Laguna Seca. Today’s race run in warm, dry conditions following a morning downpour was stopped and restarted following a three-bike accident that left Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) nursing a broken left leg. The Frenchman crashed on lap ten of what should have been a 30 lap race, his fallen machine bringing down Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki) and Aleix Espargaro (Ducati). In the first race Pedrosa had shadowed leader Lorenzo and in the 21-lap restart he once again followed his compatriot, before beginning his attack shortly before half distance. Between the two races Pedrosa’s crew had made a small tweak to his suspension settings which allowed him to mount a stronger challenge. On lap nine he briefly got into the lead at turn one, only to run wide and allow Lorenzo back in front. The following lap he repeated the pass and this time made it stick. Pedrosa then built a commanding lead for his first success since his runaway win in last month’s Italian Grand Prix. His tenth career MotoGP win strengthens his second position in the championship, though he still lags 47 points behind Lorenzo. Dovizioso ran fourth in the first race and had a busier time in the restart, spending the last half of the 21 laps fighting back and forth with Simoncelli and Nick Hayden (Ducati). With three laps to go he was at the back of the three-man group but he planned the last few laps to perfection, picking off his fellow Italian and Hayden to net a useful points haul that keeps him third in the World Championship. Simoncelli enjoyed the race immensely, swapping positions several times a lap. The 2008 250 World Champion had one last go at beating Dovizioso at the final turn, but ran wide. Nevertheless his sixth-place result is his best so far in the elite class and sends him to Laguna Seca in optimistic mood. Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) finished in tenth place, still suffering from the dislocated left shoulder he sustained at Assen a few weeks ago. This anti-clockwise circuit, with its run of seven consecutive left-handers in the middle of the lap, has been particularly tough on Melandri who found it difficult just to make the finish. Alex de Angelis (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V) had a challenging return to MotoGP, coming into this race as replacement for the injured Hiroshi Aoyama, without any testing. The San Marino rider had a high-speed tumble in yesterday’s qualifying session and finished the race in 12th place. De Puniet is a definite non-starter for next Sunday’s US Grand Prix after sustaining a broken left tibia and fibula. De Puniet tumbled as he accelerated out of the turn four right-hander. His bike came to a halt on the track, where it was struck by Espargaro and Bautista. He was then hit by another rider. Neither Espargaro nor Bautista suffered serious injury but they weren’t allowed to take part in the restart because they couldn’t get their damaged machines back to the pits. Tonight Puniet will undergo surgery at the nearby Hartmannsdorf hospital where surgeons will pin the fractures. Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) bounced back from a difficult few races to win today’s Moto2 race ahead of pole-sitter Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up). Elias may have led the World Championship since his second Moto2 race win in May’s French GP at Le Mans, but this was his first win since Le Mans. The Spaniard attributed the turnaround to crucial set-up work done during the post-Catalan GP tests at Aragon, yesterday’s qualifying session and morning warm-up. Elias had to work extra hard this afternoon, recovering from a first-turn collision that had left him 11th at the end of the first lap. Five riders, towards the back of the pack, didn’t even make it through turn one, though there were no injuries in this pile-up. By two-thirds distance Elias had fought his way into second place. From there he hunted down Iannone, who had led from the second lap and had looked likely to score his third win from the last five races of the Honda-powered series. Once Elias was ahead, Iannone had little answer for his rival who seemed to have more grip to play with. The final place on today’s podium went to Roberto Rolfo (Italtrans S.T.R, Suter) who fought a thrilling end-of-race duel with former 250 rival and fellow 250 GP winner Fonsi Nieto (Holiday Gym G22, Moriwaki). Nieto passed Rolfo on the penultimate lap, but Rolfo took back third place on the final lap to beat the Spaniard by just two tenths of a second. It was his first GP podium result since the 2004 Spanish 250 GP at Jerez. Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing, Suter) was the last rider in the group battling for third, finishing six tenths behind Nieto. The action throughout the rest of the pack was typically Moto2 fast and frantic, with lots of jostling for position. The next 12 riders were covered by just ten seconds, that particular contest won by Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up), who had spent much of the race in what looked like a safe second place until he started slipping down the order. The Hungarian crossed the line with Damian Cudlin (Tenerife 40 Pons, Pons Kalex) right on his rear wheel. Cudlin is subbing for Axel Pons, injured at Assen. Top German finisher was Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing, Suter) in ninth. Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP, Suter), winner of the first Moto2 race in Qatar, finished out of the points in 18th place. With eight races done and nine to go of the 2010 Moto2 series, Elias now leads the championship by 42 points from Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2, Moriwaki) who slid out of today’s race. Iannone sits a further four points behind Luthi. Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter) dropped one place to fourth overall after he too slid out of today’s race. Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125 Team) gambled on fitting rain tyres for the 125 GP, the first race of the day, following this morning’s heavy rain. The track was still damp in places when the race got underway, allowing Schrötter to hold second place for the first five laps. But as the track dried he was unable to compete with the majority of the riders who had chosen slicks, so he slipped down the order, nevertheless achieving his fourth points score of the year with 14th place. The race was won by World Championship leader Marc Marquez (Derbi). HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V): winner “I’m very happy because we are back winning races and it’s a great feeling. It wasn’t easy today because when the race is stopped and restarted like that, sometimes you don’t have the same feeling on the machine in the second part. Also you get nervous again on the grid and it’s possible you won’t have the same pace after the restart. But it went very well for us in both races. In the first one I was very close to Lorenzo and the pace was good, but then they stopped the race and we looked at each other saying, “Why?”. It was even better in the second part. We just made one small change with the rear suspension to get a bit more traction, but we didn’t change the tyre because we didn’t have any new tyres left – we went with the same ones. I made another good start and in the first laps after Lorenzo had passed me I was pushing very to try to take him back. I couldn’t do it with my first attempt, but when I got a second chance I just went for it. Then it was a great feeling to stretch ahead and get the victory – the team deserve it. This victory is even better than the one in Italy because at Mugello I just went away in front and there was no battle with anybody, but here I was battling with Lorenzo in the first and second races, and I finally beat him, so this is even more important. Also before the race we were not 100 per cent sure about what the weather would do, but it stayed clear and finally the weekend has ended perfectly. I was really looking forward to wear the Spain shirt on the podium. It was difficult to get it because it wasn’t in the shops and I really wanted to celebrate a win like that. I also want to thank the team because they worked really well this weekend, the bike was very good from Friday onwards and this is the form we need so we can to keep this consistency going from now on.” Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V): 5th “I really gave it everything today so of course I cannot be happy to finish fifth, especially after qualifying in fourth. Simply I was not fast enough to stay with the top riders today and in fact I was riding very aggressively and maybe even overriding a little to try and stay with them. When you do this you use up the tyre more quickly and also use more energy so I knew it wasn’t the right way, but I had to try to stay with the frontrunners. This weekend we didn’t quite find the right electronics set-up and machine settings, and between the first and second parts of the race we tried to change some electronics settings because the set-up was not 100 per cent in the first part. I was losing a lot in turn seven, turn 12 and on the straight because I didn’t have the perfect set-up to use all the potential of the bike. Now I’m just looking forward to Laguna Seca next week and to getting right up front and being fully competitive again. My compliments go to Dani today. He rode at an incredible pace and the win is good for the team.” Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V): 6th “That was the most fun I’ve had in a MotoGP race since the start of my debut season. Obviously sixth place is an important result but the thing that gives me most pleasure is the incredible battle I was in for the entire race. I had so much fun over the last few laps in the fight with Dovizioso and Hayden it was like a minibike race! We were passing each other a couple of times on each lap and I enjoyed myself so much that I don’t even care that I missed out on fifth place. I tried one last pass on Dovizioso in the final corner and I got inside him but I braked too late and ran wide. I am still really happy though and I have to say I got a little lucky because at the restart I was able to fit a different tyre that we’d already used in practice and that allowed me to set a faster pace over the first few laps. I’m really pleased and I would like to thank Honda, San Carlo, Team Gresini, all the crew and my chief mechanic Aligi. “ Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V): 10th “That was a particularly difficult race and I didn’t have a good feeling from the start. After around ten laps I had no more strength in my arm and I started to feel a lot of pain. There are so many left corners here and I totally lost my rhythm all I could think of was making it to the end.” Alex de Angelis (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V): 12th “I am very happy with the result. My team supported me a lot and helped me during this Sachsenring event. The second race start was lucky for us, because we were able to collect more data to prepare the next race. I am very fast in the corners, but I still have problems on the brakes. We can improve more, I am sure of that. I want to thank the team for their effort and I want to apologize for destroying a bike yesterday.” Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V): DNF “It can’t be worse than this! I took a bad start from the third row but I got back to ninth and my race pace was looking pretty good. I was pushing for sixth place, despite pain in my left ankle after yesterday’s crash in qualifying. Suddenly I crashed at exit of turn four and another bike hit my left leg. I immediately realised that it was something serious and after the X-ray we discovered the truth.” MOTO2 RIDER QUOTES Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki): winner “The most important part of this weekend was the last 15 minutes of qualifying when we made a big improvement to the setting. We took one more step in that direction after warm-up, even though we knew that was a risk, because we were sure it would be better again. And it was, I could feel the improvement from my first lap out of the pits. I got a bad start and many riders overtook me, so I had to take some risks on cold tyres. After two or three I felt more confident so I started to push and made many passes. Once I got into fourth place I could see the gap between me and Iannone, and every lap I was getting closer. Finally I caught him. I thought that passing him would be the most difficult part of the race, but in fact it was the easiest part. I already won two races at Jerez and Le Mans but then I was still in pain and suffering from my crash in preseason testing. Today I really enjoyed the race. Now we will try and continue like this till the end of the championship.” Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up): 2nd “I got pole yesterday but unfortunately I was unable to win the race. My congratulations to Toni and his team. For some reason I didn’t quite have the same feeling that I had on the bike yesterday, so I wasn’t able to maintain my pace. And then I wasn’t able to do anything about Toni. We will sit down and work out what went wrong today and we will try to learn and improve from that. Over the next few races we will try to continue with our consistency and keep building points.” Roberto Rolfo (Italtrans S.T.R, Suter): 3rd “It is very nice to be back the feeling is absolutely fantastic. I am very happy, because I like this track very much; in fact it was here that I scored my first GP win in 2003! I have enjoyed riding here and since the first session we have worked to improve on our usual setting. So far this year we have often been fast but we have been unable to get a good result. I was very concentrated for this race. It was nice to fight up front again. I am really enjoying this new category.” HONDA 125 RIDER QUOTES Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125 Team): 14th “Unfortunately we chose the wrong tyres. The track was quite wet in the morning and many very wet patches could be seen on the track, so I thought the rain tyres would give me some advantage. At the beginning I was able to fight in the front and I never thought that the track would dry off so fast. Of course I am disappointed, as I know that with the right tyres I could have been more in front, but on the other side it pushes me as well as I know what I can do now.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing: UNLUCKY RACE FOR THE PRAMAC RACING TEAM RIDERS IN THE ENI GRAND PRIX OF GERMANY. Very unlucky day for the Pramac Racing Team riders who failed to finish the eni Grand Prix of Germany. The race was stopped and made restart after that the riders had completed nine laps due to an accident triggered by De Puniet that have involved Bautista and the young Spaniard Espargarò. Real misfortune for the Spaniard who, after having made a good start, was fighting to recover some positions. His pace lap was consistently lower than the riders ahead of him, during the ninth lap, he was in twelfth position close to the group of the riders that where fighting for the eighth position. Unfortunately the very low gap did not allow him to avoid De Puniet’s bike who had stayed on the track after his fall. After Aleix fall he has paining returned to the box but with the strong intension to get back on track for the second stint. Unfortunately, the regulation did not allowed riders to return to the race if they don’t return to the box with their bike in five minutes, but Aleix’s bike was unfortunately destroyed in the front. The rider has reported a strong contusion on his right wrist and in his neck. From the X-ray made by the mobile clinic doctors nothing seems to be broken. The fall has also brought him a small cut to his left knee on which were placed two stitches. In the afternoon the rider was taken to Chemnitz’s hospital where the doctors have diagnosed a possible fracture of the vertebra C7. In the evening the scan will be sent to the rider personal doctor to see if this fracture is new or if is a old one. Developments will be expected for the next days to check the possibility that the rider can take part in the upcoming U.S. Grand Prix. He went now in Chemnitz’s hospital, where he will make a check-up to make unsure his physical condition. Contusion that should not prevent him from giving up next week on Laguna Seca’s track where he will race the U.S. Grand Prix. Bad luck for Mika Kallio, who finished his race soon after the second stint s tart at the first corner. Unfortunately he lost the rear tyre, that was perhaps in not perfect temperature, in the first corner. Also for him nothing more to do. During the first stint, Mika had not made a good start, it had lost three positions after the first sector. But thanks to a good comeback he had climbed in thirteenth position in one lap, just behind his teammate, his slight disadvantage allowed him to avoid the accident and take part to the second stint, that unfortunately lasted only few meters. Riders will soon have a good chance to have good result in the U.S. race next Grand Prix. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Pramac Racing Technical Director “What to say, it was an unlucky race for both riders. We aim to get away from the Sachsenring with a good haul of points, but unfortunately for us we have to hurry forget this race. During the first race we had a good pace with both riders despite a bad start, the riders had a good comeback and have recovered some positions. Unfortunately Aleix was involved in the accident and although he really want to get back in the saddle, by regulation they did not allowed him to take part to the second race. Mika has instead taken part in the second race, unfortunately he has arrived too fast in the first corner and his tyres where still too cold and he have lose the rear grip when he have reopened gas. Shame because we noticed a significant improvement in his times throughout all the weekend and we had great confidence in him for a good result. We have to quickly forget this race and start thinking about next weekend where both riders will be able to redeem themselves on Laguna Seca’s track. ” Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing Team – DNF in race – 16th in the world championship “This is not the right way! Cold tyres have betrayed me just few meters from the second start. With the second start I wanted to immediately comeback some positions, but unfortunately as soon as I entered the first turn, I lost the rear tyre and my bike slipped away. Too bad because I had a good pace during the first 9 laps, despite a bad start, I had recovered three positions and I was very close to the riders ahead of me and that were fighting for the eighth position. Luckily I avoided the bikes that were on the track after the accident, but unfortunately my race ended at the first corner of the second start. I very regret not being able to give a good result to my technicians. I hope to be competitive throughout next weekend during the U.S. Grand Prix. ” Aleix Espargarò – Pramac Racing Team – DNF in the race – 14th in the world championship “What a unlucky race for me today. I was reducing the gap from the riders ahead of me and I could easily fight with them for the eighth position. Unfortunately I found De Puniet’s bike that was lying on the track in front of me and I could not avoid it. My bike has brought too much damage in the accident and I was not able to bring it back to the box again. I had a big pain in my right wrist and in my neck, I wanted to make the warm up lap of the second round to see my physical condition and if I was able to ride for the second race. Too bad because I could gain a good position. I just made X-rays in the mobile clinic and fortunately nothing is broken, while in Chemnitz’s hospital, where I was took to have further checks, they have found that my vertebra C7 is broken. Tonight we will send the x-ray to Spain so that my doctor can see them and check if it is new or old fracture. I am confident and I hope to attend the upcoming U.S. Grand Prix.”