FIM MotoGP World Championship Mugello, Italy May 31, 2009 Race Results (wet conditions, all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Casey STONER (Ducati), 23 laps, 45:41.894 2. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), -1.001 seconds 3. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), -2.076 4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), -2.129 5. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), -3.274 6. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), -24.451 7. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), -25.621 8. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), -26.046 9. Niccolo CANEPA (Ducati), -31.815 10. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), -34.814 11. Marco MELANDRI (Kawasaki), -35.090 12. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati), -39.122 13. Mika KALLIO (Ducati), -52.462 14. Toni ELIAS (Honda), -52.478 15. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), -1 lap 16. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), -11 laps, DNF, crash 17. Yuki TAKAHASHI (Honda), -13 laps, DNF, crash World Championship Point Standings (after 6 of 17 races): 1. Stoner, 90 points 2. Lorenzo, 86 3. Rossi, 81 4. Pedrosa, 57 5. Dovizioso, 56 6. Melandri, 48 7. Edwards, 45 8. Capirossi, 38 9. Vermeulen, 37 10. De Puniet, 34 11. Toseland, 26 12. Elias, 23 13. De Angelis, 21 14. Kallio, 19 15. Hayden, 13 16. Canepa, 10 17. TIE, Takahashi/Sete Gibernau, 8 More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Bridgestone beats the weather as Stoner wins in wet/dry Mugello Round 5: Italy Race report Autodromo del Mugello, Sunday 31 May Tyre compounds used: Front: Wets – Soft. Slicks Medium, Hard. Rear: Wets – Soft. Slicks Medium, Hard Casey Stoner won his first Italian Grand Prix for the Ducati Team in mixed conditions that saw all riders start the 23 lap race on Bridgestone’s wet tyres and switch mid-way to slick tyres in an event reminiscent of the last outing at the Le Mans circuit. Bridgestone predicted Mugello would be the toughest test of tyres so far this season, and the weather added to this challenge in the fourth MotoGP weekend to be affected by rain this year. Heavy rain at 1200hrs left the circuit soaked, but the downpour had stopped before the race and as the sky started to lighten, the track started to dry quickly. James Toseland was the first to pit, coming in to switch to Bridgestone slicks on lap four. The front-runners switched much later in the race; Stoner, and the Fiat Yamahas of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi all entered the pits on lap ten. By lap eight however Toseland was faster than the top three, and by lap nine the Brit was the fastest man on the circuit on his hard compound front and rear Bridgestones en route to his best result of the season. Stoner had slipped to sixth position by lap eight before making a decisive comeback once on his Bridgestone slicks. Opting for the medium compound front and rear Bridgestones, the Australian overcame a 2.9second deficit to then-leader Andrea Dovizioso of Repsol Honda to retake the lead by lap fourteen. As the riders left the pit lane on the Bridgestone slicks, their individual slick tyre compound choices were the most varied this season. Ten riders opted for the medium compound front slick, nine riders opted for the medium compound rear, and the top three finishers all used a different combination of Bridgestone slick tyre compounds. Hiroshi Yamada – Bridgestone Motorsport Manager Motorcycle Sport Unit “I want to congratulate Casey and Ducati as I know this is a very special victory for them; their first at their home circuit. It was a very exciting race with six different race leaders, four of whom were Italian. Suzuki did a very good job and it was great to see both Chris and Loris leading, and for Loris to be running in the top three for much of the race. Niccolo Canepa also rode well to score his first top ten finish. This close competition is great for MotoGP, but hopefully in Catalunya we can avoid more rain! This weekend is also special for Bridgestone as Jorge’s second position marks our 200th podium finish in motorcycle racing, the first being Masaru Kobayashi’s victory at Suzuka in 1987.” Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development “Again this weekend we saw very difficult conditions for our tyres, with cold conditions and a wet start that quickly dried. I am happy with the performance of our wet and slick tyres as we saw sufficient overlap between the wets and the slicks, as we did also in Le Mans, and even in the cold and damp conditions both the medium and hard compound Bridgestone slicks worked well, even as the track temperature got colder throughout the race.” Casey Stoner, Ducati Team, Race Winner “When the track was very wet the bike was working great, but as soon as the track started to dry out a bit we struggled. I thought when we do go to slicks I want to be as close as possible so we pushed it further than we would have normally and than I felt comfortable with, but I had a really good feeling with the slick tyres immediately and we were able to start chasing down Dovizioso bit by bit.” Top ten classification (Sunday 14:00 GMT+2) Pos. Rider Team Race time Gap Front tyre Rear tyre 1 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 45m41.894s Wet, Medium (lap 10) Wet, Medium (lap 10) 2 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 45m42.895s +1.001s Wet, Medium (lap 10) Wet, Hard (lap 10) 3 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 45m43.970s +2.076s Wet, Hard (lap 10) Wet, Hard (lap 10) 4 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 45m44.023s +2.129s Wet, Medium (lap 9) Wet, Hard (lap 9) 5 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 45m45.168s +3.274s Wet, Medium (lap 9) Wet, Medium (lap 9) 6 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech3 46m06.345s +24.451s Wet, Hard (lap 9) Wet, Hard (lap 9) 7 James Toseland Monster Yamaha Tech3 46m07.515s +25.621s Wet, Hard (lap 4) Wet, Hard (lap 4) 8 Randy de Puniet LCR Honda MotoGP 46m07.940s +26.046s Wet, Hard (lap 7) Wet, Hard (lap 7) 9 Niccolo Canepa Pramac Racing 46m13.709s +31.815s Wet, Medium (lap 6) Wet, Medium (lap 6) 10 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 46m16.708s +34.814s Wet, Medium (lap 9) Wet, Medium (lap 9) Weather: Wet, drying. Ambient 16°C; Track 25-20°C (Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: DOUBLE PODIUM FOR FIAT YAMAHA IN MUGELLO THRILLER Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi took battling podium positions in the Italian Grand Prix today, after an action-packed afternoon saw the riders forced to swap bikes for the second race in a row due to changing weather conditions. Lorenzo recovered from a crash on the sighting lap to come home in second behind Casey Stoner, whilst Rossi finally surrendered the crown he has worn at his home track for the past seven years and had to be content with third. The rain had stopped by 1.30pm but the track was still very wet and Lorenzo slid out on the penultimate corner just before he reached the grid. He managed to remount and made it back to the box to swap bikes, exiting for a second sighting lap just seconds before the pit lane closed and leaving his team facing a race against time to rebuild the damaged bike before the drying track forced a pit stop. The Spaniard had a shaky start and dropped as low as tenth on the first lap before crossing the line in sixth first time round. He made little progress in the opening laps, trading places back and forth with Marco Melandri and Dani Pedrosa, and it was not until riders started to come in to change bikes that he began to creep through the order. On lap ten he was in third behind Stoner and Rossi and it was time for a pit stop to change onto dry tyres, with Lorenzo lying fourth after the reshuffle. From then on the 22-year-old made a determined charge for podium, passing Andrea Dovizioso and Loris Capirossi to take a deserved second place, one second behind Stoner. In the first, wet part of the race Rossi had looked his usual menacing Mugello self, stalking through the field from fifth after the end of the first lap to take the lead from Stoner on lap eight. He pitted at the same time as his team-mate on lap ten but a wrong tyre choice set him back and it was several laps before he had enough heat in his tyres to start really pushing and he lost several places in the process. In the final stages he was the quickest man on track and set the fastest lap of the race on lap 23, but by then it was too late to challenge for the lead and he had to make settle for fighting his way through to third, holding off a determined last-lap challenge from Dovizioso. Lorenzo loses the championship lead to Stoner but the first three are still within ten points with the Australian on 90, the Mallorcan on 86 and Rossi close behind on 81. The next round of the championship is Lorenzo’s home race at Montmelo in Catalunya in two weeks time. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 2 Time: +1.001 “Honestly, this is as good as a win for me and I can’t really believe the race today, it was like a movie! This morning in warm-up I was quite worried because I was slow in the rain, then on the sighting lap I slid off into the gravel pit. All I could think about was making it back to the pits as quickly as possible in case there was still a chance to make the grid and luckily I made it just in time. My team had the second bike ready and I was able to still start from the pole position. On the grid I tried not to think about the crash, I just tried to focus. But then I had a big slide off the line and the first part of the race wasn’t so good for me. I have to say the biggest thank you to my guys today for getting the damaged bike ready in such a short time; it was a brilliant job and after I swapped bikes everything changed. From then on I had a great rhythm and I was able to stay on fighting to the end and take this second place. It’s a really amazing result because things could have been much worse today, so thank you again to everyone for making it possible. I’m really happy with this result.” Valentino Rossi Position: 3 Time: +2.076 “Of course I am disappointed not to win again in Mugello but seven times in a row is not so bad and the important thing is that I made it onto the podium. It’s a very special moment in Mugello, with all the fans below, and I would have been very sad to have missed that! It was a very hard race today and once again the weather was a problem for us, we’re very unlucky in these half-and-half races and I think this is my first podium in one. In the wet we were very fast because we had found a great setting, but then when we changed bikes we made a mistake and chose a front tyre that was too hard, so it took me a long time to be able to put enough temperature on it and I lost a lot of time. At the end I was able to ride better and I knew that I had to make it onto the podium, so I am happy for this. Of course after Le Mans this is a big improvement and these points are important because it’s very close between the three of us.” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “We can consider this like a victory after crashing on the sighting lap; we were very lucky to be able to get back to the pit in time to change the bike and to still be able to start from the grid. The mechanics were incredible today and showed their ability when repairing the damaged bike in such a short time; without such a brilliant job from them our race would have been over today so I have to say a huge thank you to them. The team did a great job and that enabled Jorge to do his part to take a fantastic second place. Congratulations to everyone!” Davide Brivio Team Manager “Of course this is not what we expect from Mugello, but we have taken an important podium and these 16 points are key for the championship. It is easy to say now that we could have done things differently, but we took a decision before the race based on the characteristics of our bike, on Valentino’s riding style and on our experience. You only know at the end of the race if the decision you took was the right one. Today we leave with a good points haul, we remain close to the top of the classification and we continue towards our goal: getting more and more points in order to make sure that we have more than everybody else at the end of the season!” More, form a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Loris Capirossi was just over one second away from scoring a sensational podium on his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R at his home Grand Prix at Mugello in Italy today. Capirossi – like the rest of the field – started the race on wet tyres after heavy rain soaked the Italian track. He was boxed in on the first corner and found himself back in eighth at the end of the first lap, after starting from third on the grid. As the track dried out, Capirossi pitted at the end of lap eight to change to his GSV-R which was equipped with a dry weather setting and slick tyres. He quickly carved his way through the field and was soon up with the leaders, before moving into the lead on lap 15. The sheer speed that some other bikes demonstrated down Mugello’s long straight made him fight to hang on to every position. With two laps remaining Capirossi was still second, but just couldn’t get enough out of his bike to hold on and eventually brought his bike home in fifth, just three seconds behind the winner, Casey Stoner. Chris Vermeulen got an amazing start from the fourth row of the grid and led the race at the end of lap one. He stayed with the leaders right up until he pitted to change his bike, but he was unable to generate enough grip in his slick race tyres to give him the performance he wanted to continue his challenge towards the front. As the race wore on he started to get a better rhythm and reeled off consecutive personal fastest laps, eventually overtaking two riders towards the end to give him a 10th place finish. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP now heads across Europe for the Catalonian round of the 2009 MotoGP World Championship, which will be held at the modern Montmelo Circuit near Barcelona in Spain, on Sunday 14th June. Loris Capirossi: “I tried my best today and we nearly got the result the whole team deserved. When I came in to change my bike I was quick immediately and I tried to catch Casey. When I did, I thought I’d done a good job to get there but from then it was very difficult to stay with him and keep a distance from the guys behind. The whole team worked so hard this weekend and we tried to find the best solution for today’s conditions and the bike felt like it had a good rhythm in both the wet and the dry. We now need a lot of help from Suzuki, because on the straight it is difficult to follow and stay with the faster guys – and this is what is limiting us at the moment. I want to say a big thank-you to everybody and we will try to build on this next time.” Chris Vermeulen: “I had a good start and everyone braked early for the first corner and that allowed me to take a wider line where it was a bit drier and I got through into second. A couple of corners later I moved into first and everything felt quite good while the track was wet, but as it started to dry out I struggled a bit with entry grip on the rear. I rode as hard as I could to try and stay with the front guys. I waited for a lap or two to come in and change bikes and I think I did it at the just the right time, but then I struggled to get enough heat into the slick tyres. I did as much as I could and got past a couple of guys right at the end and brought the bike home in 10th – obviously we were hoping for a bit better. The next track we go to is one where we’ve been a bit more successful so hopefully we’ll do alright there.” Paul Denning – Team Manager: “We have mixed emotions after a thrilling Mugello GP today. Loris rode like an animal and timed his pit-stop to perfection, but what really allowed him to challenge the front group was the speed of his in and out laps – the commitment he made on the new slicks dragged him right up to the leaders. He managed to lead his home GP and right up until two laps from the end the podium was within his grasp. Ultimately though, the length of the Mugello straight, and the speed of our competitors, made it impossible to hold them off. Nonetheless, only three seconds from the win and a second off the podium is a result Loris can be proud of. I am convinced he got every last bit of performance out of the GSV-R today. Hopefully we can give him more from the package shortly so he can compete even more strongly. “Chris made an amazing start and was very aggressive in fighting his way to the front, and also timed it right for his pit-stop. Unfortunately he was unable to generate anything like the grip that Loris did on the slicks and that cost him in the earlier dry laps. Chris did well to keep the bike upright and score some decent points. “The overall performance this weekend – whilst we would have loved to have been on the podium – puts us in positive spirits for the Grand Prix in Barcelona in two weeks time.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Top six for Edwards, Toseland boosted by seventh in Mugello thriller Brilliant wet and dry weather performances from Colin Edwards and James Toseland handed the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 squad a deserved double top ten finish in an enthralling flag-to-flag Italian MotoGP race in Mugello today. In what turned out to be a carbon copy of the French MotoGP race in Le Mans two weeks ago, today’s 23-lap race started on a wet track, but a dry line quickly started to appear as Toseland and Edwards both fought on the fringes of the top ten on full wet Bridgestone tyres. Unable to find confidence with rear grip as the track dried out, British rider Toseland gambled and pulled into the pits first to switch to his Yamaha YZR-M1 machine fitted with hard front and rear compound slick tyres on lap four. It was a decision that paid off handsomely as Toseland was able to lap over three seconds quicker than the rest of the field. He brilliantly carved his way through from 17th position to find himself embroiled in an exciting duel for sixth place with Frenchman Randy de Puniet from lap 12 onwards. He was able to hold off de Puniet under severe pressure in the last three laps, but lost sixth place to hard charging team-mate Edwards, who in the dry had produced another fantastic fight back from outside of the top ten in front of 81,657 fans. The American struggled with a small front-end set-up issue on full wet tyres and he didn’t pit for his dry YZR-M1 bike until lap nine. Once out on full slicks the 35-year-old surged through superbly from 14th to sixth, overtaking Toseland on the final lap to clock the sixth fastest lap of the race. Edwards is now just 12-points away from fourth place in the world championship standings, while Toseland’s best result of 2009 moved him closer to the top ten in the overall points. Today’s result consolidated the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team’s position as the leading independent team in MotoGP, and the French squad trails Suzuki’s factory team by just four-points in the Team World Championship. Colin Edwards 6th 45 points “That race was almost exactly the same as what happened in Le Mans where I was losing time in the wet at the beginning and then charging through from the back in the dry. I don’t know why, but when the track is damp or full wet, I’ve got no confidence with the front. And being a front-end guy, if I’ve got no feeling then I don’t go fast. When I enter the corner I get too much weight transfer to the rear and that makes the front feel really vague. I probably should have come in for my dry bike a couple of laps earlier than I did, but with the hard compound front and rear slick in, it took me a while to get temperature in them and I was having a few moments. I just put my head down and was able to get down to some decent times and to take the positive out of the race I at least came back to finish in the top six because I was way back. But I’ve got to get this bike fixed for me in the wet because I haven’t sorted out that particular puzzle yet.” James Toseland 7th 26-points “That’s my best result of the season and I’m happy with that because I feel I should be fighting around the top six on a regular basis. I started the race with quite a hard spring in the rear shock and in the first few laps I was in trouble. I hadn’t planned on coming into the pits so early for my dry bike but I had no choice. I was losing a lot of time so it was definitely a gamble worth taking. The first couple of laps on slicks were eventful while I was trying to get the hard tyres to temperature, but once I’d got a rhythm going I felt pretty confident and I was pleased I’d decided to come in early. The section of track with the new tarmac was a bit scary because that never dried through the whole race, but you could ride the rest of the track pretty much flat-out and coming in when I did definitely helped gain me a lot of places once I’d picked up my pace. I had a really good dice with Randy and there were a few good overtakes. It’s the first race I’ve enjoyed for a while because for most of it I was fighting for the top six. That’s where I was a few times last season and that’s where this bike and team deserve to be. Hopefully I can push on in Catalunya.” Herve Poncharal – Team Manager “It might be hard for Colin and James and the team in a flag-to-flag race, but those kind of races are really exciting and fantastic for the show. You can see lots of different riders running at the front and this makes it very interesting and flag-to-flag is a big bonus for the racing. I’m really pleased with today’s result and I want to give special congratulations to James. He has had a very difficult year so far but he’s never given up and I’m pleased to see him back where he belongs and fighting for the top six. He was the first one to come into the pits and it was a good decision because for a few laps he was the fastest rider on track and this helped put him a position where he could fight for a good result. He showed a great fighting spirit to battle with Randy and this race will be a big confidence boost for him. It was another good weekend for Colin too. He qualified on the second row and he finished sixth and if he could have solved some of his issues in the wet I’m sure he could have been much higher. I’m convinced that Colin will be on the podium a few times before the end of the year.” More, from a press release issued by Playboy LCR Honda: DE PUNIET 8th OVERALL AT DAMP MUGELLO Mugello, 31 May: In hard fought race LCR Honda MotoGP racer Randy de Puniet finished eight in today’s Italian Grand Prix at Mugello circuit ahead 81.657 MotoGP fans. The fifth round of the season started today at 14:00 local time and was held in wet conditions after two days of sunny skies and high temperatures. Rain showers hit the 5245 m track early in the morning with ambience temperature of 18°C (20°C on the ground) so the premier class riders used the 20-minute warm up session to chase the correct set up ahead another wet race. De Puniet set a good rhythm in this morning warm up session gaining the 7th quickest lap time in the wet and started from the second row for the 23-lap race. After some laps the track surface started to dry up and the 800cc riders had to switch on slick tyres. The 28-year-old came out on lap 7 when he was 10th and, after that, he started an amazing battle for 6th place with Toseland and Edwards. Stoner is today’s leader followed by Lorenzo and Rossi. De Puniet 8th De Puniet 8th: “Unfortunately the conditions were the same of Le Mans race but today’s result is a bit better. I took a very good start but after some laps in the wet I did not feel pretty confident and was slower compared to the others; probably I have been to cautious. I changed my bike at the right moment but, for two laps, I struggled to set my rhythm especially on the damp parts of the track. Anyway I had fun battling with Toseland and tried many times to leave him behind but it was impossible. At two laps to go Edwards caught us and I pushed to end 6th but was to late. Eight position is not so bad in these conditions but we could get that sixth place in the pocket. Thanks to my Team once again for their good work”. More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: In the second flag-to-flag race in as many rounds, Casey Stoner ended Valentino Rossi’s Mugello winning streak with a polished performance to give Ducati their first ever victory at the circuit. Much of the Gran Premio d’Italia Alice race came down to tactics again in front of the 80,000-strong Italian crowd, the riders once more starting on a wet surface and completing the 23 lap contest on slick tyres, with Stoner this time judging things to perfection. The Australian retook the championship lead as he crossed the line a second in front of former leader Jorge Lorenzo, who also rode well after the scare of crashing on the sighting lap. Lorenzo’s Fiat Yamaha colleague Valentino Rossi completed the podium in third place as his seven-year winning run at his beloved home track came to an end, the Italian hero crossing the line two seconds behind Stoner and less than one tenth in front of Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso. Dovizioso missed out on the rostrum on the last lap once again, having held the race lead early on when on wet tyres. Likewise, his compatriot Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) was leading at one stage later in the race but he fell away in the final laps to finish fifth. James Toseland made a brave decision to come in first and change bikes when running towards the back of the field and he just missed out on equaling his best MotoGP result of sixth as he was outdone by team-mate Colin Edwards on the last lap, having also dueled with LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet -who was eventually eighth. Niccolò Canepa (Pramac Racing) will be delighted to have achieved his best result to date as the second highest Ducati rider in ninth at his home race, with Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki) completing the top ten behind the young Italian. Dani Pedrosa hit the deck and crashed out on lap 14 having already damaged his hip earlier in the weekend, the Spaniard stretchered away from trackside. He will face an anxious wait to see if he is fit for his own home race at Barcelona in two weeks time. Honda satellite rider Yuki Takahashi also crashed out with 13 laps to go. 250cc The 250cc riders did battle on a wet track earlier in the afternoon, with Mattia Pasini (Team Toth Aprilia) eventually coming out on top by a 0.117 margin from second placed Marco Simoncelli who he brilliantly held off on the final lap. A big incident with ten laps to go saw title rivals Álvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar) and Simoncelli (Metis Gilera) clash at high speed, with both riders running off track when Bautista held the lead – Pasini pushing through to take over at the front and the Spaniard eventually finishing third. Race direction promptly investigated the incident, announcing a 5,000 USD fine for Simoncelli due to his riding in an irresponsible manner. Thomas Luthi (Emmi – Caffe Latte) finished a distant fourth, 24 seconds behind Pasini, to go some way to make up for his Le Mans disappointment. Héctor Barberá (Pepe World Team) was fifth, three seconds behind the Swiss rider. Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Racing Team) lost ground in the championship in sixth place, whilst Spaniards Alex Debon (Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens) and Héctor Faubel (Valencia CF – Honda SAG) were joined in the top ten by Italian pair Raffaele de Rosa (Scot Racing) and Roberto Locatelli (Metis Gilera). 125cc An exciting 125cc contest saw Briton Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar) take victory, holding off a strong challenge from Spaniard Nico Terol (Jack & Jones Team) on the last lap to take maximum points and the lead in the standings. After morning rain the track dried relatively quickly and allowed for a highly competitive contest with Smith, Terol and Julián Simón (Bancaja Aspar) pulling away in the second half of the race to fill the podium. Smith eventually crossed the line 0.216 ahead of Terol, with Simón conceding the championship lead as he trailed his Aspar team-mate by seven seconds. Home star Andrea Iannone (Ongetta Team I.S.P.A.) dropped out due to a technical fault on lap six when in second place, causing disappointment for the crowd, as the Italian’s recent difficult spell continued. Behind the front three an intriguing fight for fourth place was won by Pol Espargaró (Derbi Racing Team) as Sandro Cortese (Ajo Interwetten) crashed on the last lap, whilst young Spaniard Marc Márquez (Red Bull KTM) finished less then a second behind his compatriot Espargaró in fifth. More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: WET-DRY MUGELLO PRODUCES DRAMATIC ITALIAN GP FOR REPSOL HONDA Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso produced a fantastic display of never-say-die riding today, leading the Italian Grand Prix for seven laps and coming within 0.053s of a podium finish. The 23-year-old fought ferociously for every one of the 23-laps at Mugello in a race that, like Le Mans two weeks ago, was held in marginal conditions that were neither fully wet nor fully dry. At the chequered flag, Dovizioso was just 2.129s behind the winner and followed Valentino Rossi across the line by the tiniest of margins. With the entire grid starting on wet Bridgestone tyres, this was another race which saw the riders coming in before mid-distance to swap to bikes fitted with slick rubber. Dovizioso made the best of his wets, running in second place in the early stages, dropping back to third before taking the lead for the first time on lap four. He’d slipped to third place again by the time he came in to change bikes on lap nine but quickly scythed into the lead once his dry Bridgestones were up to temperature. As the track dried he slipped back to fifth, but then entered a three-way Italian duel for third place with Loris Capirossi and Rossi – Dovizioso taking a valiant fourth at the finish. It was a dramatic race in a very different way for Dani Pedrosa, who was riding in considerable discomfort from the hip injury he picked up yesterday. The tough Spaniard made his now-trademark ballistic getaway and led into the first corner from eighth on the grid, but in the treacherous conditions, and with pain from his leg, he inevitably slid back through the field. Then on lap 13, the luckless Pedrosa fell at the Savelli corner and was stretchered from the gravel trap. There was some consolation for Pedrosa as scans at the circuit medical centre indicated that he had not suffered any further damage – a finding that will be confirmed when Pedrosa flies home to Barcelona tomorrow. Dovizioso’s 13 points today have moved him to within a single point of Pedrosa in the World Championship standings, the Repsol Honda pair lying in fourth and fifth places. Today’s race was won by Casey Stoner, with Jorge Lorenzo in second. The next race – the Grand Prix of Catalunya – takes place at Barcelona in two week’s time and, despite today’s setback, Pedrosa will hope to be fit to race in front of his home crowd. ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 4th World Championship Position: 5th – 56 points “The sensation of leading the race in front of my home crowd was incredible and I think overall we had a good race today – I’m satisfied. I fought like hell to take third and we were so close – only 53 thousandths from the podium! I think our race strategy was good, we changed the bike at the right moment and I pushed as hard as possible to maintain my position. With three laps to go I tried to keep in contact with the others and when Rossi overtook me, I managed to stay with him. Then I tried to slipstream him out of the last corner but I couldn’t make it. Anyway, all in all it was an exciting race and a positive result. We are getting closer, but still not close enough to win. We need to keep on working because we are still not as competitive as the fastest riders, especially in dry conditions. I want to say thanks to the team because they did a great job today, and we’ll use this result to give us an extra boost of motivation.” DANI PEDROSA DNF World Championship Position: 4th – 57 points “What can I say? It’s obviously been a pretty bad weekend for us and the crash in the race just about summed it all up. After the problem with my right leg yesterday I had a pain-killing injection this morning for the warm-up and it allowed me to ride the bike, but to be honest there was still a lot of pain and I couldn’t ride at full speed. The rain didn’t help either because all the practice sessions were dry so the wet settings were a bit of a gamble. Anyway, I want to thank Doctor Costa and his assistants for all their help that allowed me to be on the grid today. I had another injection before the race but the conditions were very hard to read and it was difficult for me to gain confidence or find a rhythm – also the bike change wasn’t easy for me because of my leg. On the dry bike I didn’t really have time to get used to the settings and track conditions because I lost the rear on my third lap out and crashed. It’s quite hard to find anything very positive to say right now, but I’m glad that I didn’t do any more damage when I crashed – that’s something. I want to check again with my doctors when I get home and then have a bit of rest – I feel really tired now. Despite this setback we’ll keep working. It’s my home Grand Prix next and I just hope I can go there and be in contention.” KAZUHIKO YAMANO – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER “This was another race run in very tricky conditions and Andrea did really well to come through it and finish so close to the podium. It was good to see a Repsol Honda leading the race for several laps and this is where we want to be consistently. When it dried out Andrea didn’t quite have the pace to fight for the win, but he put in a great effort and a podium would have been a good reward. For Dani it was obviously a very difficult race and even without his fall he was going to struggle today. It’s fortunate that he didn’t pick up any more injuries, so we just hope he can be in the best possible condition for Catalunya. Our package is improving steadily but the job is not done yet and we must continue to get it to a point where our riders can battle right at the front.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: DUCATI CONQUER MUGELLO WITH CASEY STONER Ducati finally conquered its home race at Mugello today thanks to a stunning performance from Casey Stoner in one of the most difficult and eventful races of his career. Victory for the Australian in the second wet-to-dry flag-to-flag race in succession was his 18th for the Italian factory and it was enough to secure the World Championship lead after five rounds, with four points more than Lorenzo and nine more than Rossi, the two riders who joined him on the podium today. The Ducati Marlboro Team rider, mindful of his Le Mans experience two weeks ago, perfectly negotiated a track that started out wet following a heavy rain shower before the race. He kept pace with the lead group even when his wet tyres were completely spent, before quickly rejoining the battle for the lead after changing to slick tyres and holding off the challenge of the men behind him. Nicky Hayden produced an excellent performance to charge from sixteenth on the grid to finish ninth before being slowed by a small problem with his rear brake. The American is hopeful he can continue to make progress, starting with the next race in Barcelona. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1st “I have already won in Italy, at Misano in 2007, and it was great for Ducati but this was the one I really wanted. We’ve struggled to find a great setting here for the past two years but today was our day. During the practice my pace in the dry wasn’t perfect but it was quite good. We started out well in the wet, I felt good and the bike was doing great until the wet tyres were worn out. I kept trying to push to the limit because I didn’t want to lose ground on the others like at Le Mans and stayed out there until I was absolutely sure it was the right time to change tyres. As soon as I went out on slicks I felt comfortable and competitive. Unfortunately I had an issue with the clutch and it started to give me a few problems. Loris came past and was pushing hard and riding very well and he kept me on my toes. At one point I thought it was all over but thankfully I was able to work out a way to ride around the problem and bring the victory home. I made a couple of mistakes over the final two laps but luckily it didn’t matter. It was a really difficult race but a great one for the whole team, for Filippo (Preziosi), for everybody at Ducati and all the Ducatisti. I’m so happy today.” NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Marlboro Team) 12th “Once again we got hit by some crazy weather although to be honest I was hoping for a wet race today after being sixth fastest in the warm-up. I didn’t get away well in the race but I managed to get past a few guys pretty quickly and my team did a great job to change the settings on my second bike and allow me to be amongst the first to change over. That allowed me to make up even more ground and I was up to ninth, having a good race until the rear brake wore down towards the end and I lost three positions. I was using it too much to stop the rear from spinning up and moving around and it has cost me a lot in the end. It’s a shame but we can take some positives out of this race I was back in the top ten for several laps and we have something to work from in the next race.” CLAUDIO DOMENICALI Ducati Corse CEO and Ducati Motor Holding Product Director “This is definitely a special win for us. Mugello is our home circuit, where Vittoriano (Guareschi) has done thousands of kilometres in testing and where the Desmosedici made his first test in 2002. So to win here in front of so many passionate Italian fans, factory workers and suppliers, with the Ducati stand even more packed than ever, is a great feeling and a source of great pride. It is a good opportunity for us to thank all the sponsors who make results like this possible, our technicians and everybody working either at the track or back at the factory who give us the opportunity to unleash the full potential of an extraordinary rider. Casey rode majestically on board a machine that is built on the sweat of a lot of people. Another source of great satisfaction is Niccolò (Canepa), who enjoyed his best race of the season so far, and good performance from Nicky (Hayden), who was only denied a top ten finish by a brake problem at the end.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: Italian Grand Prix, Mugello Race day, Sunday May 31 2009 Weather: MotoGP race, drying track. 250 race, wet track Temperature: ambient 18 degrees, ground 20 degrees Humidity: 66 per cent Crowd: 81,657 DOVIZIOSO LEADS ITALIAN GP, FINISHES O.053s OFF PODIUM Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) scored a hard-fought fourth-place finish at rainy Mugello this afternoon, just five hundredths of a second off a podium place and just 2.1 seconds behind race winner Casey Stoner (Ducati). Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) was the next Honda rider home in eighth place. Conditions were very similar to the previous Grand Prix at Le Mans, the race getting underway on a damp track, with all riders starting on rain tyres and then switching to their slick-equipped machines as the circuit dried out. Once again, the changing conditions made for a thrilling race, with frequent changes of position, both on the track and in the pits. All three practice and qualifying sessions were held in warm, sunny conditions, though riders did get the chance to work on wet set-up during this morning’s rain-hit warm-up. Dovizioso made a storming start to the race, several riders smoking their tyres as they roared away from the damp grid, and took the lead from Stoner on lap four. The Italian led for four laps and pitted earlier than most, switching bikes at the end of lap nine. Conditions were still treacherous, however. Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini), Yuki Takahashi (Scot Honda) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) all fell victim to damp tarmac during the next few laps. Pedrosa, who had already injured his right hip while fighting to control a slide during Saturday practice, fell at the fast Savelli left-hander during his third lap on slick tyres. The Spaniard had been in severe pain following yesterday’s incident and underwent painkilling injections before warm-up and the race. Pedrosa’s lap 13 tumble ended a run of three brilliant podium finishes and left him battered and bruised. Dovizioso retook the lead from Marco Melandri (Kawasaki) on lap 11 and stayed there for another three laps until Stoner came past once again. The Honda RC212V rider was in the hunt for a podium finish all the way to the flag, slipstreaming reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) across the finish line. De Puniet enjoyed a similarly hectic afternoon. The Frenchman struggled in the early laps on rain tyres but got right into the groove once he had swapped bikes and his slicks had got up to temperature. He battled with James Toseland (Yamaha) for sixth position for the remainder of the race, though both were passed by Colin Edwards (Yamaha) during the final laps, de Puniet crossing the line in eighth spot, just 1.6 seconds behind Edwards. Honda’s other finishers had a more difficult Italian Grand Prix. De Angelis remounted after his tumble to take the final point in 15th, one place behind team-mate Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini) who on the last lap just failed to get the better of Mika Kallio (Ducati) for 13th place. Elias ran well on wets and was confident he could improve his position on slicks. The Spaniard was fifth after he changed bikes on lap ten but struggled to get heat into his rear slick and was unable to maintain position. It was a disappointment for Elias who felt he had made real progress with his RC212V during the two days of practice here. De Angelis ran off the track at turn two during his out lap on slick tyres. He managed to stay on board as he rode through the gravel trap but had to lay his bike down before he ran into the safety air fence. Takahashi’s crash was a great disappointment for the MotoGP rookie who yesterday scored his best grid slot, qualifying tenth fastest after making crucial rear-end improvements to his RC212V. He was thus confident of a great race but slid off soon after switching to slicks The heavens opened shortly before the earlier 250 GP, the track awash by the time the race got underway. The 250s endured the most difficult conditions of the day because the track had been dry during their warm-up, so they went into the soaking race without having completed a single practice lap in the wet. Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Honda) was Honda’s top 250 performer, taking a strong sixth-place finish in the treacherous conditions. The result keeps the Japanese second in the World Championship points standings, just seven points behind leader Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) who finished third after a frantic battle with Marco Simoncelli (Gilera). At one point of the race the pair collided and ran off the track together, Simoncelli recovering fastest to attack race leader Mattia Pasini (Aprilia) in the closing stages. The lead changed eight times on the final lap, Pasini taking the win by 0.117 seconds. Hector Faubel (Valencia CF-Honda SAG) finished eighth, five seconds down on Aoyama, the Spaniard lacking some speed because his engine ran too cool. Before the start his mechanics had taped up the radiator to maintain the correct engine temperature but the tape came adrift during the race. The same problem affected team-mate Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT-SAG) who ran well early on but slipped to 14th at the flag. Raffaele De Rosa (Scot Honda) came through from 11th on the first lap to finish ninth, the 250 rookie’s third successive top-ten finish. GP rookie Shoya Tomizawa (Team CIP Honda) was looking good for a points-scoring finish until he slid off on lap seven of 21. Fellow GP rookie Bastien Chesaux (Racing Team Germany Honda) finished out of the points in 18th place. The MotoGP circus now heads back to Spain for the second of the season’s three races on Spanish tarmac, the Catalan Grand Prix at Catalunya on June 12/13/14. HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda), fourth finisher, said: “The sensation of leading the race in front of my home crowd was incredible and I think overall we had a good race today I’m satisfied. I fought like hell to take third and we were so close only 53 thousandths from the podium! I think our race strategy was good, we changed the bike at the right moment and I pushed as hard as possible to maintain my position. With three laps to go I tried to keep in contact with the others and when Rossi overtook me, I managed to stay with him. Then I tried to slipstream him out of the last corner but I couldn’t make it. Anyway, all in all it was an exciting race and a positive result. We are getting closer, but still not close enough to win. We need to keep on working because we are still not as competitive as the fastest riders, especially in dry conditions. I want to say thanks to the team because they did a great job today, and we’ll use this result to give us an extra boost of motivation.” Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda), eighth finisher, said: “Unfortunately the conditions were the same as they were at Le Mans, though our result here was a bit better. I got a very good start but I did not feel very confident in the wet, so I was slower than some of the other guys. I was probably being too cautious. I changed bikes at the right moment, but for the first two laps on slicks I struggled to find a good rhythm, especially on the damp parts of the track. Anyway I had fun battling with Toseland. I tried many times to leave him behind but finally it was impossible. With two laps to go Edwards caught us and I pushed really hard to get sixth place but it was too late. Eighth position is not so bad in these conditions but we could have got sixth. Thanks once again to the team for their good work.” Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini), 14th finisher, said: “I’m disappointed and angry because in racing you have to be ready to tackle any situation and today we weren’t. The most frustrating thing is that I was expecting the first six or seven laps in the wet to be the hard part for us today and we actually did a good job, so I was confident we could kick on for a top result in the dry. I came out on slick tyres right behind Valentino and Casey, just two seconds behind them, but it took me four laps to get the rear tyre up to temperature and even then we were losing three or four seconds a lap, which I cannot understand. It’s a disaster and something clearly wasn’t working right. We’re going to analyse the data, find out what went wrong and make sure we’re better prepared next time. There are positives to take out of this weekend because in general we have stepped up our pace but right now that just makes me even more disappointed that we haven’t come away with a good result.” Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini), 15th finisher, said: “I think we went with the right race strategy and chose the correct moment to change bikes. I went back out pretty fast but went a little bit too hard into turn two and was heading straight for the air fence, so I had to jump off. It was a real shame because it has probably cost us a handful of points but the reality is that we didn’t have a good set-up with the bike for the dry and I honestly don’t think we’d have been capable of great things anyway today.” Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), DNF, said: “What can I say? It’s obviously been a pretty bad weekend for us and the crash in the race just about summed it all up. After the problem with my right leg yesterday I had a pain-killing injection this morning for the warm-up and it allowed me to ride the bike, but to be honest there was still a lot of pain and I couldn’t ride at full speed. The rain didn’t help either because all the practice sessions were dry so the wet settings were a bit of a gamble. Anyway, I want to thank Doctor Costa and his assistants for all his help that allowed me to be on the grid today. I had another injection before the race but the conditions were very hard to read and it was difficult for me to gain confidence or find a rhythm also the bike change wasn’t easy for me because of my leg. On the dry bike I didn’t really have time to get used to the settings and track conditions because I lost the rear on my third lap out and crashed. It’s quite hard to find anything very positive to say right now, but I’m glad that I didn’t do any more damage when I crashed that’s something. I want to check it again with my doctors and have a bit of rest I feel really tired now. Despite this setback we’ll keep working. It’s my home Grand Prix next and I just hope I can go there and be in contention.” Yuki Takahashi (Scot Honda), DNF, said: “Yesterday in the dry we had an excellent set-up for this track. Today in the wet we struggled a bit. I came in to change bikes when the team signalled me to come in, then I went out again with slick. Maybe the tyres were too cold or maybe I pushed too hard, anyway, I crashed. I’m really sorry for my crew and for the team. But we have learned a lot here and I am confident that we can get a good result at the next race.” HONDA 250cc RIDER QUOTES Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Honda), sixth finisher, said: “The conditions were tricky, but less problematic than they were at Le Mans. In the first part of the race I could push hard but in the second I had some trouble with the engine so I was slower than I could have been. Lap after lap I lost a few positions. Nevertheless, we have improved the bike, so I’m satisfied about that and I think we can certainly do well at the next few races.” Hector Faubel (Valencia CF-Honda SAG), eighth finisher, said: “We had a big opportunity to get a good result here today. But we had an issue with engine temperature, which made the engine slower than usual, which is a problem somewhere like Mugello, with its long main straight. I had a good race with Debon, and once when I was trying to pass him a lapped rider got in the way and I nearly crashed. It was at that moment that I decided to make sure I finished and scored some points conditions were tricky, so it was very easy to make a mistake.” Raffaele De Rosa (Scot Honda), ninth finisher, said: “A dry race would have been better for me. Like everyone else we had to find the correct rain setting on the grid! My aim during the race was to finish and to get as many points as possible. From mid-race onward I had a good rhythm and I was able to overtake a few riders, but by then the gap to the riders out front was too big for me to make any more progress.” Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT-SAG), 14th finisher, said: “I had problems with the suspension and with the engine temperature too, which made the bike difficult to ride, so I didn’t feel at all comfortable. I did my best to get as many points as possible but in the end I only got two. The good thing was that my ankle and hand injuries weren’t a problem, which makes me optimistic for the next race at Montmeló.” Bastien Chesaux (Racing Team Germany Honda), 18th finisher, said: “That was a really tough race! I got a good start and then there was a lot of bumping and barging at the first corner. After that I felt good and confident, but before the race my team had asked me not to make a mistake like I did at Le Mans. The important thing was to finish the race, to gain experience and confidence. And we did that.” Shoya Tomizawa (Team CIP Honda), DNF, said: “That was such a difficult race, because I had never ridden this track in the rain until the race started! I did my best and I was doing not so bad, but then I had a rear-end slide in the final corner and I couldn’t control it. It’s a big shame, but conditions were so difficult for me.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: Canepa ninth in the Grand Prix of Italy. Kallio thirteenth Weather condition similar to two weeks ago during the Grand Prix of France and this time the tactic choose is the right one. Niccolò Canepa, Pramac Racing rider, has in fact changed to the second bike with wet set up after only a few laps on the contrary of two weeks ago. With the second bike Niccolò demonstrated his true value recovering many positions concluding the race in ninth place. Opposite story for Mika Kallio who was doing really well with wet surface of the track, but with the change of the bike he encountered too many difficulties. The Finnish rider had to accept the final thirteenth place. In two weeks the sixth round of the MotoGP World Championship in Barcelona, Spain. Marco Rigamonti – Niccolò Canepa track engineer “With the rain Niccolò has unluckily lost too much time, but we have made the right choice to enter the pit to change bike as soon as possible and thanks to this he made to recover many positions. He has done a really good job today, very calm but determined. We knew that here, on a track where he has already ridden, he would have done well. We are very happy of the work done this weekend.” Niccolò Canepa – Pramac Racing rider – 9th in the race – 16th in MotoGP classification “I am very happy today. At the beginning with wet surface I was last; I didn’t have the confidence to ride as I would have liked to. When the condition of the track got better I started to register very interesting lap times. My ninth position in my first Italian Grand Prix in MotoGP is not bad at all. Now we have Barcelona race, another track that I already know quite well and where I think we can conquer another good result.” Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing rider – 13th in the race – 14th in MotoGP classification “With the first bike everything seemed to go well, but than I don’t know what happened with the bike with dry set up. In the first two turns I was going only 50km/h, but the bike didn’t want to follow my instructions. In the second turn I almost went off track. I was going really slowly in the first two laps and this made me lose many positions. The situation was unmanageable, now we have to check where we went wrong.” More, from a press release issued by Indianapolis Motor Speedway: MotoGP RACE REPORT: GRAND PRIX OF ITALY Stoner thrills Ducati fans with victory in mixed conditions, seizes points lead INDIANAPOLIS, Sunday, May 31, 2009 Another race, another new leader atop the MotoGP point standings. Casey Stoner won the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, the home track of his Ducati team, to seize the MotoGP points lead May 31. He edged pole sitter Jorge Lorenzo who led the points entering this event — by 1.001 seconds for his second victory of the season. Lorenzo’s Fiat Yamaha teammate, six-time MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi, finished third. Rossi had won this event the last seven consecutive years, since 2002. Americans Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden finished sixth and 12th, respectively. There has been a different points leader after all five MotoGP races this season, as Stoner regained the top spot for the first time since winning the season-opening Grand Prix of Qatar in April. Stoner has 90 points, Lorenzo 86 and Rossi 81. It was Stoner’s first career MotoGP victory at the iconic Mugello Circuit, nestled in the hills of picturesque Tuscany. “I have already won in Italy, at Misano in 2007, and it was great for Ducati, but this was the one I really wanted,” Stoner said. “We’ve struggled to find a great setting here for the past two years, but today was our day. I’m so happy today.” This 23-lap race, which took place in mixed track conditions, resembled the jumbled nature of the MotoGP standings since the start of the season. It appeared no one wanted to take control at the front until Stoner took the lead from Loris Capirossi for good on Lap 16 after Stoner, Chris Vermeulen, Andrea Dovizioso, Rossi, Marco Melandri and Capirossi each took turns in first over the first 15 laps. There were two causes for the multiple duels between riders during the first half of the race: This was the tightest starting grid in MotoGP in nearly two years, and riders peeled into the pits at various times to switch to bikes equipped with slick tires as the track dried. Edwards was hindered by continued problems finding a good setup for his Yamaha Tech 3 bike during damp and wet conditions, which also plagued him in the mixed conditions May 17 at Le Mans. Once Edwards switched to slick tires, he gained time on the field, just like at Le Mans. He squeezed past teammate James Toseland on the last lap to claim sixth. “To take the positive out of the race, I at least came back to finish in the top six because I was way back,” Edwards said. “But I’ve got to get this bike fixed for me in the wet because I haven’t sorted out that particular puzzle yet.” The next race is the Grand Prix of Catalunya on Sunday, June 14 at Barcelona, Spain. The second annual Red Bull Indianapolis GP is Sunday, Aug. 30 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. *** RESULTS MUGELLO, Italy Results of the 23-lap Grand Prix of Italy MotoGP race, with position, rider, country, motorcycle, time behind winner. All riders on Bridgestone tires: 1. Casey Stoner Australia Ducati 2. Jorge Lorenzo Spain Yamaha +1.001 3. Valentino Rossi Italy Yamaha +2.076 4. Andrea Dovizioso Italy Honda +2.129 5. Loris Capirossi Italy Suzuki +3.274 6. Colin Edwards United States Yamaha +24.451 7. James Toseland Great Britain Yamaha +25.621 8. Randy de Puniet France Honda +26.046 9. Niccolo Canepa Italy Ducati +31.815 10. Chris Vermeulen Australia Suzuki +34.814 11. Marco Melandri Italy Kawasaki +35.090 12. Nicky Hayden United States Ducati +39.122 13. Mika Kallio Finland Ducati +52.462 14. Toni Elias Spain Honda +52.478 15. Alex de Angelis San Marino Honda +1 lap 16. Dani Pedrosa Spain Honda +11 laps 17. Yuki Takahashi Japan Honda +13 laps Fastest lap: Rossi, 1:51.186, Lap 21 Pole lap: Lorenzo, 1:48.987 *** POINTS Riders: Stoner 90, Lorenzo 86, Rossi 81, Pedrosa 57, Dovizioso 56, Melandri 48, Edwards 45, Capirossi 38, Vermeulen 37, de Puniet 34, Toseland 26, Elias 23, de Angelis 21, Kallio 19, Hayden 13, Canepa 10, Sete Gibernau 8, Takahashi 8. Manufacturers: Yamaha 115, Ducati 90, Honda 76, Suzuki 49, Kawasaki 48. *** PODIUM QUOTES CASEY STONER (Ducati Team Ducati/Bridgestone, winner): “I have already won in Italy, at Misano in 2007, and it was great for Ducati, but this was the one I really wanted. We’ve struggled to find a great setting here for the past two years, but today was our day. We started out well in the wet. I felt good, and the bike was doing great until the wet tires were worn out. I kept trying to push to the limit because I didn’t want to lose ground on the others like at Le Mans and stayed out there until I was absolutely sure it was the right time to change tires. As soon as I went out on slicks, I felt comfortable and competitive. Unfortunately, I had an issue with the clutch, and it started to give me a few problems. Loris came past and was pushing hard and riding very well, and he kept me on my toes. At one point, I thought it was all over, but thankfully I was able to work out a way to ride around the problem and bring the victory home. I made a couple of mistakes over the final two laps but luckily it didn’t matter.” JORGE LORENZO (Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha/Bridgestone, second): “Honestly, this is as good as a win for me, and I can’t really believe the race today. It was like a movie! This morning in warm-up, I was quite worried because I was slow in the rain, then on the sighting lap I slid off into the gravel pit. All I could think about was making it back to the pits as quickly as possible in case there was still a chance to make the grid, and luckily I made it just in time. My team had the second bike ready, and I was able to still start from the pole position. On the grid I tried not to think about the crash, I just tried to focus. But then I had a big slide off the line, and the first part of the race wasn’t so good for me. I have to say the biggest thank you to my guys today for getting the damaged bike ready in such a short time; it was a brilliant job and after I swapped bikes everything c hanged. From then on I had a great rhythm and I was able to stay on fighting to the end and take this second place.” VALENTINO ROSSI (Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha/Bridgestone, third): “Of course, I am disappointed not to win again in Mugello. But seven times in a row is not so bad, and the important thing is that I made it onto the podium. It’s a very special moment in Mugello, with all the fans below, and I would have been very sad to have missed that! It was a very hard race today, and once again the weather was a problem for us. We’re very unlucky in these half-and-half races, and I think this is my first podium in one. In the wet, we were very fast because we had found a great setting, but then when we changed bikes, and we made a mistake and chose a front tire that was too hard. So it took me a long time to be able to put enough temperature on it, and I lost a lot of time. At the end, I was able to ride better and I knew that I had to make it onto the podium, so I am happy for this. Of course, after Le Mans this is a big improvement, and these points are important because it’s very close between the three of us.” *** AMERICAN RIDER QUOTES COLIN EDWARDS (Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha/Bridgestone, sixth): “That race was almost exactly the same as what happened in Le Mans, where I was losing time in the wet at the beginning and then charging through from the back in the dry. I don’t know why, but when the track is damp or full wet, I’ve got no confidence with the front. And being a front-end guy, if I’ve got no feeling, then I don’t go fast. When I enter the corner, I get too much weight transfer to the rear, and that makes the front feel really vague. I probably should have come in for my dry bike a couple of laps earlier than I did, but with the hard compound front and rear slick in, it took me a while to get temperature in them, and I was having a few moments. I just put my head down and was able to get down to some decent times, and to take the positive out of the race, I at least came back to finish in the top six because I was way back. But I’ve got to get this bike fixed for me in the wet because I haven’t sorted out that particular puzzle yet.” NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Team Ducati/Bridgestone, 12th): “Once again we got hit by some crazy weather, although to be honest, I was hoping for a wet race today after being sixth fastest in the warm-up. I didn’t get away well in the race, but I managed to get past a few guys pretty quickly, and my team did a great job to change the settings on my second bike and allow me to be among the first to change over. That allowed me to make up even more ground, and I was up to ninth, having a good race until the rear brake wore down toward the end and I lost three positions. I was using it too much to stop the rear from spinning up and moving around, and it has cost me a lot in the end. It’s a shame but we can take some positives out of this race. I was back in the top 10 for several laps, and we have something to work from in the next race.” *** MotoGP SUPPORT CLASS WINNERS 250cc: Mattia Pasini, Italy, Team Toth Aprilia 125cc: Bradley Smith, Great Britain, Bancaja Aspar Team 125cc Aprilia. American Cameron Beaubier did not race due to a broken left forearm suffered during a crash in the Grand Prix of France on May 17. He attempted to practice at this event but could not continue. He is 26th in the season standings after five races. *** NEXT RACE Grand Prix of Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain, June 14. Round 6 of 17. *** 2009 IMS tickets: Established in 1909, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has long prevailed as an icon of motorsports excellence. Beginning in 2009, the Speedway celebrates its Centennial Era, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the facility in 2009 and the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race in 2011. Tickets for the two remaining events in 2009 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard and Red Bull Indianapolis GP can be purchased online at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com at any time. Tickets for groups of 20 or more also are on sale. Contact the IMS Group Sales Department at (866) 221-8775 for more information.