2010 MotoGP NEWS

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Portuguese Grand Prix, Estoril
Date: 30-31 October

Jorge Lorezo crashes in qualifying



Stoner and Lorenzo fly off bikes in rain

Newly crowned MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo earned pole position for Sunday's Portuguese MotoGP after heavy rain led to qualifying being abandoned.

The starting grids in Estoril will be based on the combined practice times, meaning Ducati's Nicky Hayden joins Lorenzo on the front row.

Lorenzo said: "It is one of the easiest poles in my career as I didn't have to ride for it in qualification."

Further rain is forecast for the race on Sunday.

His Yamaha team-mate, Valentino Rossi, starts from third after finishing ahead of Casey Stoner.

Organisers were forced to cancel Saturday's scheduled qualifying for the 17th race of the season after a downpour rendered the circuit unsafe.

But Lorenzo avoided the worst of the weather to record the only time under 1' 49".

Britain's Bradley Smith will head up the grid in the 125cc class for the third time this year, with Moto2's Gabor Talmacsi claiming pole for the first time this season.

MotoGP starting grid (based on combined practice times):

1 Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Yamaha) 1min 48.522sec

2 Nicky Hayden (USA/Ducati) 0.135sec

3 Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 0.361

4 Casey Stoner (AUS/Ducati) 0.539

5 Ben Spies (USA/Yamaha) 1.199

6 Marco Melandri (ITA/Honda) 1.262

7 Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Honda) 1.485

8 Randy De Puniet (FRA/Honda) 1.521

9 Colin Edwards (USA/Yamaha) 1.791

10 Marco Simoncelli (ITA/Honda) 1.978

LINK: BBC Sport - Motorbikes - Jorge Lorenzo awarded pole in rain-hit Estoril MotoGP

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Race results - Estoril MotoGP


Sun, 31 Oct 14:40:51 2010




Ben Spies fell on the way to the grid and was unable to start the race, which was held in the dry.

There had not been any dry track time before the race.

1. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Fiat Yamaha Team 46m 17.962s

2. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 46m 26.591s

3. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team 46m 44.437s

4. Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 46m 44.496s

5. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team 46m 45.116s

6. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 46m 46.259s

7. Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 46m 48.071s

8. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team 47m 2.909s

9. Marco Melandri ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 47m 31.611s

10. Hector Barbera ESP Paginas Amarillas Aspar 47m 35.683s

11. Alvaro Bautista ESP Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 47m 35.87s

12. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Interwetten Honda MotoGP 47m 50.987s

13. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 47m 57.714s

DNF:

Carlos Checa ESP Pramac Racing

Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team

Aleix Espargaro ESP Pramac Racing

DNS:

Ben Spies USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3

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2010 MotoGP Valencia Preview

November 02, 2010



Jorge Lorenzo (above) is just 15 points away from matching the record for the most points earned in a single season. Meanwhile, Valentino Rossi (#46 below) will seek one last win as he prepares to leave Fiat Yamaha.

Just one round remains in the 2010 MotoGP Championship as the paddock steers its way to the Valencia circuit in Spain. It will be an ideal return home for Jorge Lorenzo, who officially secured the Triple Crown in the last round at Estoril by taking the Rider, Team and Manufacturer titles. Lorenzo gets a final 2010 performance in front of home fans as the new World Champion while his teammate, Valentino Rossi, will bid farewell to Yamaha as the Italian moves on to Ducati.

In the penultimate round of the series Lorenzo once again rode to victory lane after breaking a six-race losing streak. The Spaniard is thrilled to have the chance to ride in front of friends and family again – putting the perfect cap on a season which has seen the 23-year-old take eight wins, seven poles and a staggering 15 podium finishes. There is still one record in sight for Lorenzo and that is the most points accrued during a single season. Currently at 358, Lorenzo needs another 15 ........

Continued HERE: 2010 MotoGP Valencia Preview - MotoGP 2010 News - Motorcycle USA

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BBC SPORT
Stoner on pole for Valencia race

Valencia MotoGP Date: 6-7 November Saturday 6



Ducati's Casey Stoner maintained his excellent end-of-season form by taking pole position for Sunday's final race of the MotoGP calendar in Valencia.

The Australian, in his last race before moving to Repsol Honda, led the way from new world champion Jorge Lorenzo.

Marco Simoncelli was third, ahead of seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi, in his last race for Yamaha before he replaces Stoner at Ducati.

Stoner has been in fine form lately with three wins in the last four races.

Lorenzo led for most of the session before Stoner posted a late lap of one minute 31.799 seconds, 0.331 seconds faster than the newly-crowned world champion.

In qualifying for the 125cc race, Marc Marquez boosted his chances of challenging for the world title by securing pole position in a time of 1:39.564, just over one-tenth of a second ahead of rival Nico Terol.

Great Britain's Bradley Smith qualified third fastest for his final race in the class before stepping up to Moto2 next season.

Valencia MotoGP qualifying result:

1 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 1min 31.799secs 2 J Lorenzo (Sp) Yamaha 1:32.130 3 M Simoncelli (Ita) Honda 1:32.244 4 V Rossi (Ita) Yamaha 1:32.330 5 N Hayden (USA) Ducati 1:32.422 6 B Spies (USA) Yamaha 1:32.566 7 C Edwards (USA) Yamaha 1:32.579 8 D Pedrosa (Sp) Honda 1:32.603 9 A Dovizioso (Ita) Honda 1:32.886 10 M Melandri (Ita) Honda 1:32.917 11 R de Puniet (Fra) Honda 1:32.925 12 A Espargaro (Spa) Ducati 1:33.085 13 H Barbera (Spa) Ducati 1:33.170 14 L Capirossi (Ita) Suzuki 1:33.339 15 H Aoyama (Jpn) Honda 1:33.343

125cc qualifying result:

1 M Marquez (Spa) Derbi 1:39.564secs 2 N Terol (Sp) Aprilia 1:39.672 3 B Smith (GB) Aprilia 1:39.712
Story from BBC SPORT:
BBC Sport - Motorbikes - Casey Stoner secures pole position at Valencia MotoGP

Published: 2010/11/06 14:37:51 GMT

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Lorenzo ends season with victory



World champion Jorge Lorenzo finished the season in fine fashion with victory at the Valencia MotoGP.

Lorenzo passed pole-sitter Casey Stoner on lap 22 after almost coming off when he made contact with Marco Simoncelli's Honda and held off Stoner for the win.

Valentino Rossi took a comfortable third in his last race for Fiat Yamaha.

Dani Pedrosa came home seventh after a good start, but had the consolation of finishing second in the championship, 138 points adrift of Lorenzo.

Pedrosa made a superb start but ran out of steam and once the front three were clear, became embroiled in a fierce battle for the minor placings with Simoncelli - who had started off the front of the grid for the first time in his MotoGp career - and Andrea Dovizioso.



But the intensity of their in-fighting allowed rookie of the year Ben Spies to show the form that has earned him the chance to replace Rossi next season and pass them all to claim fourth place.

Lorenzo ended the season with a record 383 points, 10 more than the previous best for a season, set by seven-time world champion Rossi.

It was also his ninth victory of a season he utterly dominated, and where his worst finish was fourth, at Japan and Malaysia.

"I can't ask for anything more," he said afterwards.

"It was one of the best races of my life - I had some difficulties with Simoncelli was stopping on a corner, but I kept calm and at the end I made a beautiful fight with Casey."

It was a landmark race too for Rossi as he bade farewell to the Yamaha team after seven years.

"It was a great experience," the Italian stated. "We enjoyed a lot with Yamaha so I'm happy to do a good race to finish the experience together.

"I enjoyed it a lot but unfortunately at the end I don't have any more power to stop the bike - third place is ok, it's another podium. I had fun."

In the 125cc race, Great Britain's Bradley Smith bade farewell to the class before his move up to Moto2 next season with his first victory of the season.

Spain's Marc Marquez finished fourth in the race, enough to secure him the world title, and a clean-sweep of titles in all three categories for Spain.

The Moto2 title had already been won by Toni Elias, who failed to finish the race after crashing out from third position on the final lap.

The race was won by Czech rider Karel Abraham, who is moving up to MotoGP next season. with Andrea Iannone second and Julian Simon in third, a result which saw Simon pip Iannone for runner-up spot in the championship.

Valencia MotoGP result:

1 J Lorenzo (Sp) Yamaha 46:44.622 2 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 46:49.198 3 V Rossi (Ita) Yamaha 46:53.620 4 B Spies (USA) Yamaha 47:02.265 5 A Dovizioso (Ita) Honda 47:03.782 6 M Simoncelli (Ita) Honda 47:05.296 7 D Pedrosa (Sp) Honda 47:11.419 8 H Barbera (Sp) Ducati 47:13.910 9 A Bautista (Sp) Rizla Suzuki 47:14.073 10 R de Puniet (Fra) Honda 47:14.482 11 A Espargaro (Sp) Ducati 47:16.383 12 C Edwards (US) Tech 3 Yamaha 47:18.226 13 M Melandri (It) San Carlo Honda Gresini 47:21.244 14 H Aoyama (Jpn) Interwetten Honda 47:23.590 15 C Checa (Sp) Pramac Racing 47:40.791

Championship standings:

1 J Lorenzo (Sp) Yamaha 383 2 D Pedrosa (Sp) Honda 245 3 V Rossi (It) Yamaha 233 4 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 225 5 A Dovizioso (It) Honda 206 6 B Spies (US) Yamaha 176 7 N Hayden (US) Ducati 163 8 M Simoncelli (It) Honda 125 9 R de Puniet (Fr) Honda 116 10 M Melandri (It) Honda 103 11 C Edwards (US) Yamaha 103 12 H Barbera (Sp) Ducati 90 13 A Bautista (Sp) Suzuki 85 14 A Espargaro (Sp) Ducati 65 15 H Aoyama (Jpn) Honda 53 16 L Capirossi (It) Suzuki 44 17 M Kallio (Fin) Ducati 43 18 A de Angelis (SM) Honda 11 19 RL Hayden (US) Honda 5 20 K Akiyoshi (Jpn) Honda 4 21 C Checa (Sp) Ducati 1 22 W Yoshikawa (Jpn) Yamaha 1

125cc race result:

1 B Smith (GB) Aprilia 40min 25.648sec 2 P Espargaro (Sp) Aprilia @ 2.786 3 N Terol (Sp) Aprilia @ 3.149 4 M Marquez (Sp) Derbi@ 8.326

125cc championship final standings: 1 M Marquez 310 points 2 N Terol 295 3 P Espargaro 281 4 B Smith 223

Moto2 race result:

1 K Abraham (Cze) FTR 43:49.499 2 A Iannone (It) Speed Up 43:50.021 3 J Simon (Sp) Suter 43:50.082

Moto2 championship standings:

1 T Elias (Sp) Moriwaki 271 2 J Simon (Sp) Suter 201 3 A Iannone (It) Speed Up 199
Story from BBC SPORT:
BBC Sport - Motorbikes - Jorge Lorenzo ends season with Valencia MotoGP win

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Silverstone offering discounted MotoGP tickets


Article posted: 18/11/2010

MotoGP fans who wish to see the world's fastest riders in their motorcycle clothing have been given the opportunity to get discounted tickets for 2011.

The MotoGP series is back at Silverstone on June 10th to the 12th, following the resounding success of its return to the Northamptonshire circuit this summer.

Fans wanting to go and see the likes of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo in their Dainese leathers can now get 20 per cent off the cost of entry to the event by booking early.

The offer is only available until November 22nd, so fans wanting to take advantage of the promotion are urged to act quickly.

Those who do attend the event will finally have a British rider to cheer on when the teams take to the grid, as Coventry's Cal Crutchlow is set to make his MotoGP debut this season.

Former World Supersport Champion Crutchlow has stepped into the Tech 3 Yamaha team in place of Ben Spies, who replaces Rossi in the factory team's motorcycle leathers.

LINK: News :: Silverstone offering discounted MotoGP tickets :: P&H Motorcycles Ltd