Bradley Smith

Seventeen year old Scott Redding scored his first ever podium finish in the Moto2 World Championship with a brilliant third place in the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix.  In scorching conditions the Gloucestershire teenager finished third behind Championship leader Tony Elias and 125 cc World Champion Julian Simon.

“That was wicked and really hard work in the scorching conditions for an English rider,” said the Marc VDS rider, “it was brilliant to finish on the podium and I can’t wait for the next round at Misano in Italy.”

 

It was also a good day for his great friend Danny Webb who finished sixth in the 125 cc race despite a big crash in qualifying.  Not so lucky was 19 year old Bradley Smith who crashed out of second place.

Pedrosa wins comfortably at scorching Indianapolis

Dani Pedrosa narrowed the gap on MotoGP World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo to 68 points with seven rounds of the 2010 season remaining by winning the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix on Sunday. It was the Repsol Honda rider’s third win of the campaign, the first time he has achieved three wins in a season in the premier class.

Starting from the second row Pedrosa was on the pace early on and a fastest lap on lap two lifted him into second position, as he set his sights on pole holder Ben Spies. On the end of the seventh lap the Spaniard overtook the rookie on the start/finish straight and never relinquished the lead, eventually crossing the line 3.575s clear of Spies.

After the race Pedrosa commented, “I’m really happy with this win and it was an especially tough one because of the heat today. My rhythm was good and even though Spies was strong in front I was able to close him down and make the pass. When I was out in front it was quite hard to stay focused and at the end of the race I was really tired - but I’m very happy because last year I crashed when I could have won and now I have made up for it.”

For the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Spies, second place marked his best result to date and a second podium in what has already been a fantastic debut season. Spies started from pole – the first of his MotoGP career – and his race result capped off a great weekend that also saw him confirmed as a factory Yamaha rider for 2011.

Completing the podium was series leader Lorenzo who had started from second on the grid but dropped to fifth at the start of the race. That failed to affect his concentration however and he battled his way past Andrea Dovizioso and into third just before the midway point of the race, finishing just over three seconds off Spies as his phenomenal record of having placed in the top two in every race this season was finally broken. He did however score a twelfth consecutive podium finish in the premier class.

A complicated weekend for Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) ended with the reigning World Champion placing fourth in the race, as he won the battle of the Italians with Repsol Honda rider Dovizioso taking fifth. Nicky Hayden was sixth having started from the front row for the first time in his Ducati career and battling with an awkwardly dislodged knee-slider throughout the race.

Rookies Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) impressed with seventh and eight places respectively, with Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing) and Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) completing the top ten. Loris Capirossi, Hiroshi Aoyama – on his return from injury – and Randy de Puniet were the final three riders to finish the race.

Suffering the disappointment of DNFs were Marco Melandri (lap two) on his 200th Grand Prix start, Casey Stoner who lost the front end of his Ducati Desmosedici GP10 on lap eight whilst in sixth, Colin Edwards who was forced to retire with rear tyre issues (lap 17) and Mika Kallio who crashed in turn ten when he hit a bump.

Lorenzo moves onto 251 points with Pedrosa now on 183 in second in the standings. Dovizioso is third on 126, with Stoner now seven points behind in fourth. Rossi remains in fifth while Spies moves up to sixth.

Moto2

Toni Elías won in the intermediate class with a characteristically measured ride on Sunday, taking a third consecutive GP win for the first time in his career as he tightened his grip on the inaugural Moto2 title. The Gresini Racing rider now leads the overall standings by 67 points after ten rounds, having topped the podium ahead of pole man Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) and Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team).

The race was restarted and shortened to 17 laps due to two separate crashes on the opening lap of the original contest which brought out the red flag. Championship leader Elías made a fantastic getaway as he used the gap on the front row vacated by Simone Corsi (JiR Moto2) to advance into the lead on lap one. Corsi started from the back of the grid having qualified fourth as he experienced problems with his bike due to the crash, but rocketed up the field throughout the race.

Elías and Simón became involved in a duel for top spot with Redding watching from third as he kept tabs on the duo, and six laps from the end Elías made a superb overtake round the outside of Simón to assume the lead. He held that to the end, eventually crossing the line just over four-tenths of a second ahead of his compatriot.

Redding took his first Moto2 podium as he crossed in third, just under four seconds behind Simón having been strong throughout the weekend, with Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up) fourth having started from way back on the seventh row. Corsi completed the top five having made an admirable recovery from the back of the grid.

Iannone remains second in the standings, with Lüthi and Simón level on 108 points in third and fourth. Corsi rises to fifth thanks to his result. Absent from the race was Fonsi Nieto who underwent surgery on his fractured left ankle in Indianapolis today following his qualifying crash.

125cc

Nico Terol’s first consecutive GP wins came with victory at Indianapolis as the Bancaja Aspar rider won the 125cc contest, his third of the season and on the same track he won his first World Championship race in 2008. Terol eventually crossed the line 4.995s clear of Sandro Cortese (Avant Mitsubishi Ajo), with Pol Espargaró (Tuenti Racing) completing the podium in what was a typically eventful 125cc race.

Marc Márquez (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) looked to be pulling away to a dominant victory in the early part of the race until a crash at turn ten with 15 laps remaining saw Terol assuming first position. Bradley Smith was riding hard and had climbed to second but with 11 laps remaining the Bancaja Aspar rider crashed at turn 11, thus ending his race and also a run of having scored points in every round this season. That elevated Cortese and Espargaró into second and third.

The drama was not finished there however and on the penultimate lap the remounted Márquez cut the track when in eighth position, crossing the finish line in fifth with Efrén Vázquez in fourth. The incident was examined by Race Direction and the decision was to penalise Márquez 20 seconds, meaning he was demoted to 10th position for the race.

That meant that the top eight was completed by Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX), Danny Webb (Andalucia Cajasol), Randy Krummenacher (Stipa Molenaar) and Alberto Moncayo (Andalucia Cajasol).

Terol’s win was the 20th successive 125cc victory for Spanish riders, and moved him into second in the overall standings on 168 points, with Márquez on 172. Espargaró is third on 167 points, with Smith remaining fourth on 115.

After such a brilliant day of qualifying yesterday race day turned into a disaster for the three British teenagers competing in the Cardion ab Grand Prix of Czech Republic at Brno this afternoon.

Bradley Smith restored a little pride with sixth place in the 125 cc race held in damp drying conditions.  Starting from pole position grip was a premium in the early stages for Smith but as the race progressed he fought back to secure sixth place in the race won by his team-mate Nico Terol.  

Danny Webb crashed on the first lap whilst Scott Redding was involved in a collision which dropped him back to 22nd place in the Moto 2 race after he had been running in seventh spot in the early stages.

Lorenzo extends championship lead with seventh win

Jorge Lorenzo’s phenomenal 2010 form continued at the Cardion ab Grand Prix of Czech Republic on Sunday where the Fiat Yamaha rider won his seventh race of the season. A front row start was converted into another 25 points by the Spaniard, who maintained his record of having finished inside the top two in every race so far.

The sun was shining brilliantly in stark contrast to the wet morning warm-up session and the dark clouds that had circled the track as just over 148,000 enthusiastic fans packed out the Brno circuit. Lorenzo quickly engaged himself in an early battle with rival Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) – who started from pole position – by taking the lead in the third corner.

There were two early fallers as Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) and Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) went down inside the opening three laps, the latter managing to avoid collisions with a number of oncoming bikes while stranded in the middle of the track coming out of turn nine. Dovizioso rejoined the back of the race but was forced to retire shortly after with a handlebar issue.

Lorenzo and Pedrosa exchanged fastest-lap times in the preliminary stages of the race as they set the pace but the championship leader gradually began to pull away from his compatriot, and the pair were also well ahead of Casey Stoner (Ducati Team) in third place. The riders became more separated as the race reached its finale, and Lorenzo cruised across the line 5.494s ahead of Pedrosa to extend his Championship lead over his fellow Spaniard to 77 points. The Repsol Honda rider was followed onto the podium by Australia’s Stoner, who finished third almost six seconds back and also moved into third in the Championship ahead of Dovizioso.

Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) placed fourth from his first MotoGP front row grid position having made an impressive start, with Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) fifth, just over four seconds off the rookie. American duo Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) and Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) were sixth and seventh respectively, with Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team), Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) and the returning Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) completing the top ten just four weeks after breaking his leg in Germany.

A frustrating weekend was ended in heartbreaking fashion for Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) as the rookie slid out on the last corner of the final lap, having just passed Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) who took 11th.

Moto2

A controlled and well-measured ride from standings leader Toni Elías delivered the Spaniard’s fourth win of the 2010 campaign at Brno, which also marked the Gresini team’s 100th podium finish in the World Championship.

As opposed to the start of the earlier 125cc contest the Moto2 riders were met with sun as they lined up on the grid, and early in the race there were up to nine riders battling for the lead, amongst them pole man Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP) and Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing), who got off to a great start from the third row.

Arne Tode (Racing Team Germany) crashed out early on but there were few fallers, and Elías patiently monitored the situation at the head of the race, sidling up to Tomizawa. Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up) was also in the group vying for positions towards the front and the Italian moved into first position as halfway approached.

Iannone threatened to pull away as he has done more than once before this season, but Elías recovered a gap of over a second to overtake on lap 13 as Roberto Rolfo (Italtrans STR) became involved in the top-three battle. Unfortunately for the Italian a mechanical failure on the next lap ended his race prematurely after an impressive ride.

The experienced Elías started to pull away and Yuki Takahashi (Tech 3 Racing) passed Iannone to slot into second on the penultimate lap, a position he held to the finish line. The victorious Elías met the chequered flag with an advantage of 2.312s over the Japanese rider to take the 25 points, with Iannone third behind Takahashi by just over six-tenths of a second.

Cluzel and Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) completed the top five, with Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up) completing a solid weekend in sixth. Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Racing) placed 11th, which means Iannone now sits second in the Championship standings at seven points ahead of the Swiss rider. Elías’ lead at the top remains strong after nine rounds and he is now 55 points clear.

125cc

After a short delay to the start of the race when rain suddenly started to fall, a frantic changing of tyres by many teams on the grid to wet compounds, led to a fantastically intriguing encounter as the track dried throughout the course of the 19-lap race.

Terol’s choice of front and rear wets paid off for the Bancaja Aspar rider as he opened up a substantial lead early on over Tuenti Racing pair Efrén Vázquez and Pol Espargaró. The Aprilia rider’s display was made all the more impressive given that this was his first GP back from a vertebra injury having missed the previous round in Germany.

The real battle was for the remaining podium spots and a great contest began to unfold as Vázquez and Espargaró stuck close together. Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX) was soon to enter the fray as well, whilst Championship leader Marc Márquez (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) put up a valiant effort to remain as close to the front as possible, having dislocated his shoulder earlier in the weekend.

Johann Zarco’s WTR San Marino Team made the decision to change the Frenchman’s tyres to slicks and although he rejoined the race at the back he set a number of fastest laps to show they were the correct choice of tyre, but was too far behind to make any difference to the points-scoring positions.

Rabat passed Vázquez with three laps to go to slot into third and Vázquez then crashed on the penultimate lap as he pushed to keep up.

The victory belonged to Terol however and he crossed the finish line 20.351s ahead of Espargaró for a resounding victory – his second of the season – with Rabat delighted to take third just two-tenths of a second behind. Jonas Folger (Team Ongetta) and home rider Jakub Kornfeil (Racing Team Germany) completed the top five, with pole holder Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar) having done well to recover an early loss in ground to place sixth. Márquez took valuable points with seventh as he rode a courageous race.

The result means Márquez’s lead at the top of the Championship has been cut to 15 points ahead of Espargaró, with Terol’s victory preserving his third spot and moving him back to within 23 points of the leader.

Both Bradley Smith and Danny Webb scored important World Championship points in the 125 cc eni German Grand Prix at Sachsenring this afternoon.

In damp conditions Smith led into the first corner but slipped back to fifth place in the race won by Marc Marquez.

Webb just got quicker as the track dried and eventually finished in seventh place his best result of the season.

Scott Redding was not so lucky in the Moto2 race and retired with clutch problems.

Pedrosa takes the honours at Sachsenring

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 German Grand Prix 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 lined 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 at the eni German Grand Prix, 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 German Grand Prix, 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.

With easily his best ride of the season Oxfordshire teenager Bradley Smith grabbed a superb second place in the 125 cc race at the Aperol Grand Prix of Catalunya in Barcelona this afternoon.

Smith was involved in a ferocious battle for second place with the Spanish duo of Pol Espargaro and Nico Terol which was resolved on the last lap when Terol crashed and Smith pulled away for 20 hard earned championship points.

“That was a second place that was hard earned big time,” said a delighted Smith after the 22 lap race won by 17 year old Marc Marquez. ”I just pushed so hard throughout the 22 laps and it finally paid off. Nobody was going to catch Marc at the front and so this was almost a victory and makes up so much for all the disappointments earlier in the year.”

Kent-base Danny Webb also had a good ride after starting from the fourth row of the grid and eventually finished in tenth place.

 

It was not such good news in the dramatic Moto2 race. Scott Redding was forced wide in a big crash at the first turn and was also hit from behind. He battled on bravely but was eventually forced to retire.

Lorenzo continues winning streak at Catalunya

Jorge Lorenzo became the first Yamaha rider to win three successive premier class races from pole position since Eddie Lawson back in 1986, when he took his fifth victory of his 2010 campaign at today's Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya. The Mallorcan is now 52 points clear at the top of the championship standings as a result of his phenomenal run of form and his second win on home soil this season.

Dani Pedrosa made one of his trademark rapid starts from the second row to lead into Turn 1, but he then ran wide coming out and had dropped down to ninth by the end of the first lap. It was an error Pedrosa managed to recover from in the early laps however, as he quickly fought his way back to third.

Aleix Espargaró had a run-off as he pushed hard to move up the order and Andrea Dovizioso started a fight for the lead with Lorenzo on lap three when he overtook to move into first, but it was a lead Lorenzo regained on the next lap as the battle lines were drawn.

Running in third place, Casey Stoner ran off track shortly after and dropped to fifth as Randy de Puniet and Pedrosa came through. Espargaró then suffered disappointment in his home race when he crashed out on lap six.

Lap 14 proved to be an eventful one as first Marco Simoncelli crashed out of sixth place, as he chased his best premier class finish to date. Then, in a decisive moment for the race, Dovizioso also went down as he pushed himself when chasing Lorenzo at the front, rejoining the race in 15th place shortly after.

With that, Lorenzo was clear by just over 5.5s with less than half the race to go, and Stoner and Pedrosa began duelling for second place with de Puniet further back in fourth. Lorenzo’s lead proved to be too much and he crossed the line 4.754s clear to take his fifth win of the season. Pedrosa won the scrap for second by just two-tenths of a second from Stoner, as the podium of the previous round at Assen was repeated.

Fourth place and his best result of the campaign so far went to de Puniet after yet another impressive ride on the satellite RC212V of the LCR Honda team. In fifth with a superb ride was rookie Álvaro Bautista, as he produced a magnificent effort on his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R.

Ben Spies continued his progress with sixth place on another new circuit, and Loris Capirossi, Nicky Hayden, Marco Melandri – on his return from a dislocated shoulder and fractured sternum – and Héctor Barberá all finished inside the top ten, with Dovizioso eventually finishing 14th.

Lorenzo now has 165 points with Pedrosa on 113 in second. Dovizioso remains third on 91, with Hayden, de Puniet and Stoner all leapfrogging the absent Valentino Rossi to fill positions four to six.

Moto2

Yuki Takahashi took his first Grand Prix victory since 2006 when he won today's somewhat chaotic Moto2 race at the Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya. The Tech 3 rider won from second place on the grid, profiting from a mistake by Andrea Iannone who was penalised for overtaking at Turn 1 when the yellow flags were out.

A typically frantic Moto2 start was marred by a huge crash in Turn 1 as Alex Debón, Mike di Meglio, Roberto Rolfo, Robertino Pietri, Shoya Tomizawa, Héctor Faubel, Dominique Aegerter, Sergio Gadea and Alex Baldolini all went down.

Clear of the pile up were Thomas Lüthi, Toni Elías, Takahashi, Iannone and Julián Simón and it was this group that ended battling for the top positions throughout the race.

With the yellow flag still out from the opening lap and no overtaking therefore allowed, Iannone’s move on Takahashi to assume the lead resulted in the Italian being demoted back to second, a message his team tried desperately to convey to him but without success.

Shortly after Niccolò Canepa crashed out at Turn 9 and his bike caught fire in dramatic fashion, and Ratthapark Wilairot was another faller as the pace remained at the limit.

With eight laps remaining and Iannone not having taken his demotion the Italian was issued with a Ride Through penalty - he eventually finished 13th - and his surrendering of the lead placed Takahashi at the head of the race.

Following behind the Japanese rider were Lüthi and Simón, but at a distance of almost five seconds as the end of the race approached. Victory was therefore safe for Takahashi and he crossed the line 5.037s clear of the pair, who fought to the last corner with Lüthi edging it by just 0.163s for his third successive podium. Simón’s third place was his third podium of the 2010 campaign.

Completing the top six were Karel Abraham, Toni Elías and Simone Corsi. There was a spectacular crash for Carmelo Morales as he tried to slipstream Kenny Noyes for seventh on the start/finish straight. Apart from a minor contusion on his hand the substitute rider was uninjured in the crash.

The race result means Elías remains at the top of the standings on 111 points, with Lüthi second on 94 and Simón third on 77. Tomizawa is fourth, just a point behind Simón, after his DNF today.

125cc

Marc Márquez became the youngest ever rider to take four successive Grand Prix wins today when he triumphed in the 125cc Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya. Taking the record off Valentino Rossi, the 17 year-old Spaniard won by a comfortable margin as he underlined his dominance of the category with his third victory from pole position.

Bradley Smith got a fantastic start from the front row and led into Turn 1 but when he ran wide at the exit it was Márquez who took advantage to shoot through and immediately start building an early lead as the field settled into their rhythm. Unfortunately for Esteve Rabat his race was ended prematurely – as it had been in the previous round at Assen – when he crashed out at Turn 10 on the opening lap.

Randy Krummenacher made an impressive start to rise from 14th to seventh, whilst towards the front a battle for second started to settle between Smith, Nico Terol and Pol Espargaró, as they became detached from the remainder of the field and Márquez continue to build his lead.

There were further fallers in the form of Alexis Masbou and Sturla Fagerhaug as they pushed for positions further down the field, but the real battle was unfolding between the trio competing for the remaining two podium positions. Luis Salom was forced to retire shortly after.

As the final quarter of the race approached Márquez had established an unassailable lead, which stood at close to four seconds, but Smith, Espargaró and Terol were incredibly closely matched as they engaged in a tactical contest. The distance back to fifth placed Sandro Cortese had stretched to almost 40 seconds as the last two laps beckoned.

Drama on the final lap saw Terol try to make a move but had to pull back suddenly to avoid hitting Espargaró and he ran wide and dropped to the back of the trio. The tension peaked further when the Bancaja Aspar rider then had a highside as he pushed hard, ending his participation. That left Smith to take his second podium of the season and cross the line in second place at 4.638s off winner Márquez. Espargaró was a further 0.358s back as he took third.

Cortese won the battle with Efrén Vázquez for fourth place, with Tomoyoshi Koyama sixth and Krummenacher seventh. Johann Zarco, Jonas Folger and Danny Webb completed the top ten.

Bradley Smith could not repeat his Silverstone podium finish and eventually finished fourth in the 125 cc race at the TIM Dutch TT in Assen this afternoon. The Oxfordshire teenager was involved in a fierce battle in the early stages of the 22 lap race which cut him adrift from the leaders. Try as he might Smith could not pass Pol Espargaro for third place in the race won by 17 year old Marc Marquez, his third grand prix victory in succession.

Kent teenager Danny Webb produced his best finish of the season, an excellent seventh place after a tremendous battle with Swiss rider Randy Krummenacher for sixth place.

Scott Redding fought back from a tough qualifying session to finish 11th in the Moto2 race after a tremendous battle with former 125 cc World Champion Gabor Talmacsi and Italain Simone Corsi.

Lorenzo celebrates 80 years of the Dutch TT with emphatic win

Fiat Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo marked the 80th anniversary of the Dutch TT with an emphatic win from pole position. The Spaniard's fourth win of the season stretched his lead at the top of the championship standings to 47 points over today's second place finisher, Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa. Ducati's Casey Stoner claimed third in today's TIM TT Assen, securing his first visit to the podium this season.

Ben Spies and Pedrosa gained major benefits from good starts as both improved four places from their grid positions to slot into second and third place respectively, as Lorenzo led the field into the Haarbocht turn from pole position.

Lorenzo started to open up a very early lead and for the first couple of laps it looked like the Spaniard would race clear as he did at Silverstone, but Pedrosa and Stoner both passed Spies on lap three, before closing the gap on the leader.

Andrea Dovizioso passed Spies as well early in the race to move into fourth, and by the midway point he was a second ahead of the American, who in turn led sixth placed Randy de Puniet by just over 1.5s.

As Stoner struggled to find a way past Pedrosa, just as he had done six days ago at Silverstone, Lorenzo started to again edge away, extending his advantage little by little as the laps flew by. Further back Spies closed right up on Dovizioso and passed the Italian to move into fourth, with de Puniet also joining the three-way fight for fourth place

At the front Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner became further separated from one another, whilst de Puniet and Dovizioso fought intensely to the last lap, with the Frenchman out of the seat on more than one occasion, as he pushed his tyres to the limit.

Lorenzo eventually crossed the line 2.935s ahead of Pedrosa, but it quite wasn't the easy win that many expected at Assen for the Spaniard.

"The race was a big more difficult than Silverstone, because Dani was so fast with the softer tyre early in the race," declared Lorenzo. "I went with the harder rear tyre, which I knew would come good towards the end, but even then I was sliding around quite a lot. Actually, I made a mistake at the chicane in the closing stages and nearly crashed, so I was quite glad to finish!"

Lorenzo celebrated by planting the usual 'Lorenzoland' flag in a gravel trap and then getting his entire team to sign a world cup football in parc ferme.

"The football was to celebrate my 'hat-trick' of wins at Assen; I've won here in all three classes now," explained the championship leader.

Pedrosa's second place was enough to elevate the Spaniard back to second in the championship standings, ahead of his Repsol Honda teammate, Andrea Dovizioso.

"I'm surprised by this result, because we had a lot of problems in practice and I wasn't expecting to be able to run this pace today," said Pedrosa, after the race. "I knew the soft tyre would give me an advantage early on, so I pushed really hard, but then I started losing time through the first part of the circuit and lost touch with Lorenzo. I'm happy I'm second in the championship today, but I'm more pleased with second place in the race."

Stoner finally took his first podium of the season in third aboard the Ducati. Spies finished fourth in another impressive display from the rookie, with Dovizioso edging out de Puniet for fifth with another overtake on the chicane just before the finish line.

Nicky Hayden, Colin Edwards, Marco Simoncelli and Aleix Espargaró all took top-ten finishes. Marco Melandri was absent from the race after he dislocated his left shoulder in the second free practice session on Friday morning.

The result extended Lorenzo’s lead at the top of the Championship further and he now stands on 140 points after six rounds, having finished in the top two in every race. Pedrosa moved into second on 93 with his podium finish, ahead of teammate Dovizioso who is third on 89.

Moto2

Andrea Iannone took his second win of the season from pole position today at Assen, after dominating qualifying and the race in a similar style to that which he displayed at Mugello, where he took his first victory in the new Moto2 class. The Italian topped every session this weekend aboard his Fimmco Speed Up machine, and was headed only briefly in the 24-lap race, which he won by just under five seconds from current championship leader, Toni Elias.

Ratthapark Wilairot got off to a flying start from his best-ever grid position of second and led into the first turn, Haarbocht. Toni Elías shot through from his place on the second row to take third into the first turn, as he stepped immediately into the contest. However, poleman Iannone quickly assumed the lead and started to open up a gap as he had done at Mugello.

Fonsi Nieto made a good start and was in the running early on, but held up the pursuing pack as he struggled to match their speed, and allowed Iannone to open up an unassailable advantage at the front of the race.

"I got a good start, but I just didn't have the engine to stay with the frontrunners," said Nieto, after retiring from the race following a crash six laps into the race.

Elías moved up into second on lap three and began to try and close up what was already a 2.3s gap to Iannone, as Valentin Debise took a ride-through penalty due to a jumpstart. Anthony West returned to the pit lane for an adjustment to his MZ machine, before eventually retiring from the race three laps later when he lost the nut from the rear axle.  

In fourth place and preparing to play an important role was Thomas Lüthi, whilst behind him Julián Simón, Jules Cluzel and Shoya Tomizawa battled for fifth. Arne Tode was the next crasher and was forced to retire from the race.

Meanwhile Elías and Wilairot continued to engage in a progressive battle for second place as they swapped places on a number of occasions, but all the while Lüthi was tracking the pair down as he narrowed the gap and soon caught up.

As Iannone rode a lonely race at the front Lüthi and Wilairot began to open up a fantastic duel for the final podium spot as they exchanged positions countless times, right up until the final lap.

Iannone eventually crossed the line 4.492s ahead of Elías, with Lüthi managing to hold onto third to complete the podium as Wilairot placed fourth. Tomizawa and Simón completed the top six, with a substantial eight-second gap back to seventh placed Cluzel who was followed by Mike di Meglio, Karel Abraham and Yuki Takahashi.

Elías extended his lead at the top of the Championship to 24 points as he moved onto 100, with Tomizawa (76) and Lüthi (74) maintaining second and third respectively. Iannone’s win moved him up to fourth on 67 points.

Absent from the race were Alex Debón and Axel Pons, who were both injured in Friday’s qualifying session.

125cc

Marc Marquez secured his third consecutive win of the season at the TIM TT Assen today, marking him out as a true contender for this year's 125cc World Championship title.

The race got underway in brilliant sunshine and with the same pace he's shown in qualifying to take pole position, Márquez got off to a blistering start, leading into the opening corner ahead of Bradley Smith, Nico Terol and Efrén Vázquez. Pol Espargaró, who led the Championship by a single point before the start of the race, dropped positions from his starting spot on the front row.

Espargaró rode hard to regain ground and on lap two he pushed through on both Vázquez and Smith to slot into third, but by the next lap Márquez and Terol were two seconds clear at the front of the race as they opened up what was to be a continually increasing gap.

Vázquez dropped out of the running when he crashed at Turn 15 on the fourth lap, as he struggled to match the pace of teammate Espargaró, and immediately after Esteve Rabat’s race was ended when he highsided off the Blusens Aprilia. Luca Marconi and Marco Ravaioli also joined the list of crashers as the race went on.

Márquez’s rhythm remained rapid as he and Terol battled it out at the front, but the race leader did have a moment on lap 15 when the front of his bike lifted off as he pushed it to the limit.

The race was then decided on lap 16 when the front two encountered a back marker in the form of wildcard rider Jerry van de Bunt. Márquez managed to pass the Dutchman without incident but Terol was not so fortunate, and had to force himself through on the inside line as Van de Bunt crashed. The momentary hold up allowed a two-second gap to be opened up by Márquez, and he did not relinquish the advantage.

From there Márquez guided his bike home for his third successive win, with Terol eventually crossing the line 2.332s adrift in second. Espargaró completed the podium a further five seconds back, with Smith fourth. Sandro Cortese was an additional 27 seconds back in fifth, with Randy Krummenacher, Danny Webb Luis Salom and Simone Grotzkyj all inside the top ten, which was completed by Jonas Folger, who had fought his way through from 32nd on the grid.

The result means that Márquez maintains third place in the Championship standings on 107 points, with Terol regaining the lead from Espargaró by moving onto 118 points, with the Tuenti Racing rider on 115 in second.

Nineteen year old Bradley Smith secured his first podium finish of the season in a magnificent return of the MotoGP World Championship to the Silverstone circuit at the AirAsia British Grand Prix. The Oxfordshire Aspar rider finished third in the 17 lap 125 cc race that produced a memorable finish round the new 3.667 mile circuit.

“At last a podium finish after so many disappointments this year. It’s not only my first of the season and also the first ever at the British Grand Prix,“ explained a delighted Smith, who held onto fourth place in the World Championship after five rounds.” It was a fierce battle for third and I took advantage after a clash between my team-mate Nico Terol and Efren Vazquez. I got a fantastic reception from the crowd on the cooling down lap and it has been a very special day on the return of grand prix racing to my home circuit here at Silverstone.”

Kent-based Danny Webb recovered from a bad start from the second row of the grid to eventually finish in tenth place.

Two years ago Gloucestershire’s Scott Redding  won the 125 cc British Grand Prix at Donington Park when he was just 15 years old. He put in an equally heroic performance in the very first Moto2 Grand Prix to be staged in Britain. After a poor start Redding fought through the field to challenge for the lead and eventually finished fourth, just one place off a deserved podium finish. It was easily his best Moto2 performance of the season that should give him great confidence for the remainder of the season.  

Lorenzo seals solid Silverstone win

World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo took victory from pole position at the AirAsia British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday as he stretched his lead at the top of the standings to 37 points over Andrea Dovizioso, who placed second in the race. Ben Spies achieved his first MotoGP podium with third place.

Lorenzo flew off from pole position as he and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) immediately engaged in a duel which saw them swap the early lead on the opening lap a number of times. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda), Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati) were all involved as well, whilst Casey Stoner (Ducati) suffered misfortune as he dropped to dead last from his starting position of sixth as the riders entered the first turn.

Marco Melandri suffered disappointment as he crashed out on the opening lap, but his San Carlo Honda Gresini team-mate Marco Simoncelli enjoyed better fortunes as he climbed positions.

Lorenzo wasted little time in finding a rapid rhythm and by lap seven his advantage at the head of the race was a substantial one at over five seconds. Meanwhile Dovizioso and De Puniet ignited an intense contest for second spot, with Hayden hot on their tails. Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Spies was also making progress as he moved through to enter the top five and latched onto the chase for a podium spot.

Midway through the race Stoner’s lap times were almost identical to race leader Lorenzo’s, but in eighth place he was forced to chase down Pedrosa and the Australian found it hard work trying to pass the Spaniard. He eventually managed to do so on lap 13, and then proceeded to make up further ground.

Loris Capirossi’s race was ended early when the Rizla Suzuki rider crashed out at Copse as he ran off and fell whilst trying to overtake Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar). At the front end Dovizioso, De Puniet and Hayden were separated by less than half a second as they continued their tactical tussle for the final two podium spots – Spies keeping a tag on as well – with Lorenzo’s lead by now an unassailable one.

With three laps to go Hayden and Spies both managed to pass De Puniet, and Stoner scented the chance to get in the hunt. He soon made a move on the Frenchman to slot into fifth in a rousing finale.

The final lap provided a fitting climax as Spies got through on Hayden at Farm Curve to take third spot, a position he held to the finish whilst ahead Lorenzo crossed the line first. Dovizioso’s second place was his fourth podium finish and best result of the season, with Spies completing the top three for a first Grand Prix podium.

Ducati duo Hayden and Stoner took fourth and fifth after fine individual rides, with De Puniet sixth. Rookie Simoncelli took his best premier class result to date with seventh, as Pedrosa finished eighth. The top ten was completed by Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing).

Absent from the race was Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP) who attended hospital to assess his condition following a crash in the morning warm up session. World Champion Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) also remains out whilst he recovers from his broken right leg.

Moto2

Jules Cluzel celebrated the first win of his World Championship career after a stunning Moto2 race, riding his Forward Racing Suter to victory ahead of Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Racing) and Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar).

From the start Fonsi Nieto (G22 Holiday Gym) flew up to third from tenth on the grid as he wasted no time in pushing his way forward, and with the pack tightly bunched on the opening lap there were a pair of fallers as front row starter Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) and Simone Corsi (JiR Moto2) – third in the Championship standings before the race – collided and crashed out.

The Forward Racing pair of Claudio Corti and Cluzel, who started from the front two spots on the grid, became embroiled in a battle with Nieto at the head of the race, a fight which Simón soon became involved in as Nieto’s challenge faded shortly after.

Cluzel, Corti and Simón threatened to become slightly detached at the front as the scrap for fourth involving a host of riders took place, but Lüthi and Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing) – who had fallen to 17th after the start – began to regain ground as they swallowed up track behind the trio.

Lüthi’s superb pace meant that by lap 12 of 18 a gap that had stood at almost two seconds to the front three had been diminished as he and Redding caught the leading group, making for a fantastic final third of the race which became a marvellous five-way contest.

Former 125cc World Champion Lüthi pushed his way to the front as he rode an unforgiving and admirable race and with two laps to go Corti crashed out as he lost his Suter bike going through Turn 8, the entry to the chicane approaching Club. The Italian returned to the race to finish 30th.

The final lap provided great drama and as Lüthi ran wide going into the corner where Corti had crashed shortly before Cluzel went through on him to take the lead, holding it until the finish line to take his debut World Championship win. Lüthi and Simón both took their second podiums of the campaign with second and third places respectively, with Redding achieving his best result of the season so far with fourth in his home GP.

Debón, Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP), Mike di Meglio (Mapfre Aspar), Xavier Simeon (Holiday Gym G22), Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP) and Championship leader Toni Elías (Gresini Racing Moto2) completed the top ten, as Yonny Hernández (Blusens-STX) and Alex Baldolini (Caretta Technology Race Dept) both crashed out on the final lap.

Elías remains at the top of the Championship standings on 80 points, with Tomizawa still second on 65. Lüthi climbs to third on 58, with Simón and Corsi both on 51 in fourth and fifth.

125cc

Marc Márquez took his second win of the season at Silverstone after a fierce battle with compatriot Pol Espargaro. Pole holder Márquez managed to pull away with Espargaro as they moved to almost three seconds ahead of Bancaja Aspar riders Nico Terol and Bradley Smith before the halfway point of the race had even arrived.

Efrén Vázquez (Tuenti Racing) joined the Bancaja Aspar duo shortly after and managed to go through on both, taking third spot as the trio began a fight for third place whilst Márquez and Espargaró extended the distance to the chasing group even further.

With four laps to go Márquez and Espargaró were over ten seconds clear as Terol, Smith and Vázquez continued the scrap for third. Vázquez ran wide however and appeared to drop off enough momentarily to give Smith and Terol some breathing space.

The final laps provided an edge-of-the-seat finish and the fight between Márquez and Espargaró became just that as the two touched twice while pushing one another to the limit. Further back Vázquez crashed as he touched tyres with Terol, allowing Smith enough space to get through and into third.

At the front a mistake from Espargaró two corners from the end saw him run wide, which gave Márquez enough room to get clear and take the win, eventually crossing the line 2.576s ahead of Espargaró who now leads the Championship by a single point from Terol. The Bancaja Aspar man finished fourth, behind team-mate Smith who secured his first podium of the season in front of a delighted home crowd and became the first non-Spaniard to make it into the top three this season.

Tomoyoshi Koyama (Racing Team Germany), Sandro Cortese (Avant Mitsubishi Ajo), Randy Krummenacher (Stipa-Molenaar Racing) and Johann Zarco (WTR San Marino Team) completed the top eight, with British rider Danny Webb (Andalucia Cajasol) tenth. Vázquez managed to remount his bike and cross the line in 11th.

Bradley Smith was involved in a ferocious battle for victory in the 125 cc race at the TIM Grand Prix of Italy in Mugello this afternoon.  For the second Grand Prix in succession he was knocked off a podium position on the very last lap of the hectic 20 lap battle and eventually had to settle for fourth place. The first four riders led by 17 year old Marc Marquez were separated by less than 2 tenths of a second as they crossed the finishing line.

Kent based Danny Webb put in another top class performance by finishing in 10th place but his great friend Scott Redding is struggling in the Moto2 class and could only finish in 24th place.

The next Grand Prix is the big one for the British teenagers because it is at Silverstone in England on June 20th.

Victory from pole for dominant Pedrosa at Mugello

Dani Pedrosa rode a start-to-finish victory at Mugello on Sunday as he took his maiden win of the 2010 campaign at the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM. The Spaniard, who had only converted three of his previous fourteen premier-class pole positions into wins prior to this race, never looked like relinquishing the lead he held from turn one of the opening lap as he crossed the finish line 4.014 seconds clear of the rest of the field.

The whole of MotoGP had been rocked on Saturday by the crash of Valentino Rossi, which left the World Champion in a Florence hospital recovering from an operation to his broken right shin. However the Mugello crowd responded, with over 76,000 fans packing the hillsides, many draped in yellow and offering support to their hero Rossi.

Sporting a t-shirt on the podium in the famous yellow colour of his stricken team-mate, World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo was unable to take advantage of his rival’s absence. The Fiat Yamaha rider was forced to settle for second place having been unable to replicate his impressive practice pace, however he still extended his lead at the top of the standings.

Undoubtedly Lorenzo will be disappointed, unable to keep tabs on Repsol Honda’s Pedrosa, whose lead had stretched to 7.309s at the mid-point of the race. Behind Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso were more closely matched, and neither was able to close down the gap to the eventual winner.

Pedrosa’s win became more secure as the final laps counted down, and it was left to Lorenzo and Dovizioso to decide the remaining podium spots. The Fiat Yamaha rider opened up a slender advantage that he did not surrender for the remainder of the race. An emotional Dovizioso could console himself with giving the home crowd a podium to cheer in Rossi’s absence.

Much further back positions four to six remained open as Marco Melandri, Randy de Puniet and Casey Stoner exchanged blows, with Ben Spies not out of the chase either. Stoner eventually pushed his struggling Ducati to the limit to claim fourth as he beat Melandri and de Puniet in a last-lap dash.

Spies finished seventh in his first race at the circuit, with another rookie impressing in the shape of Aleix Espargaró who took eighth. Simoncelli had recovered from an early mistake in time to take ninth, with Loris Capirossi tenth.

Lorenzo now has 90 points at the top of the Championship, with Pedrosa second on 65. The absent Rossi is third on 61 with his return date unknown, whilst Dovizioso’s podium takes him to 58 in fourth.

Moto2

Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up) won the Moto2 race by a comfortable margin, delighting the home crowd as the battle for positions two to six provided a riveting contest. Sergio Gadea eventually took second place, drafting past Simone Corsi on the run to the line, for his first rostrum in 2010. Corsi just made it as the second Italian on the podium as he rose from 26th on the grid to take third place with an incredible ride.

Swiss rider Thomas Lüthi was just 15-thousandths further back in fourth, with Championship leader Toni Elías taking fifth. Shoya Tomizawa made a late break to steal second from in amongst the fiercely contested chasing group, but his error on the penultimate lap meant he was forced to settle for sixth. The top ten was completed by Gabor Talmacsi, Yuki Takahashi, Julián Simón and Alex Debón.

Elías remains at the top of the Championship standings with 74 points, with Tomizawa staying in second on 55 and Corsi in third on 51. Gadea sits fourth on 46, whilst Iannone’s win lifts him to fifth, level on 38 points with Lüthi.

125cc

Marc Márquez took his first World Championship win in a tight 125cc race that went all the way to the wire, leading an all-Spanish podium, which was completed by Nico Terol and Pol Espargaró.

A four-way battle for the lead came about after an early break by Terol and Espargaro, with Marquez joined by Briton Bradley Smith in the chase for the lead duo. After pole holder Sandro Cortese crashed on the opening lap, the front quartet broke away in a breathless fight as the lead changed hands regularly before the end of the race.

Into a thrilling 20th and final lap, Márquez led the pack and ultimately managed to hold his slender advantage to cross the line ahead of Terol and Espargaró with Smith cruelly missing the podium in fourth. Remarkably just 0.161 seconds separated the four.

Efrén Vázquez, Randy Krummenacher, Esteve Rabat and Tomoyoshi Koyama completed the top eight, with British rider Danny Webb placing tenth.

Terol remains at the top of the standings after the race with 85 points, six ahead of Espargaró and Márquez moves to third on 57.

The British teenage trio of Bradley Smith, Danny Webb and Scott Redding all enjoyed the sunshine at Le Mans by scoring World Championship points in the Monster Energy French Grand Prix this afternoon.

 

Oxfordshire teenager Bradley Smith looked set for his first podium finish of the season but on the very last bend of the 125 cc race was knocked back to 5th place in a frantic finish.  In the same race Kent based Danny Webb put in a really mature performance to finish 9th after a tremendous four way battle.

 

In an equally hectic Moto2 race 17 year old Gloucester rider Scott Redding secured his first points of the year after finishing in 11th place in a race that saw many of the top riders crash out.

 

LORENZO EXTENDS CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD WITH LE MANS VICTORY

 

Jorge Lorenzo’s lead at the top of the MotoGP World Championship stretched to nine points after the Spaniard won the third round at Le Mans, his second victory of the season, triumphing in the Monster Energy Grand Prix of France ahead of Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso. Lorenzo’s success also made it three Yamaha wins in the opening three races of the season for the first time since 1980.

A superb start from Rossi from his pole position saw the Italian lead into the first turn ahead of Dani Pedrosa and Lorenzo, but the latter quickly moved into second and set his sights on his Fiat Yamaha team-mate. The early race order saw Ducati Marlboro pair Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner and Dovizioso inside the top five, whilst San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Melandri shot up from 11th on the grid to sixth.

A decisive moment in the race came on only the second lap when Stoner slid out at turn six, and the Australian was unable to remount his Desmosedici GP10 machine as he experienced the second non-finish of his stuttering season. Shortly afterwards, the race of Ben Spies was ended prematurely with a fall, and Loris Capirossi was forced to retire too after damaging his bike when he went down.

The fight for the win started on lap seven when Lorenzo took the lead from Rossi, only to see the Italian immediately reclaim it. Undeterred, Lorenzo pushed again on lap ten, this time making his move stick as he moved into first and began to open up an advantage.

As the Yamaha duo occupied the top two spots, the battle for third was also extremely engrossing, and involved another pair of team-mates. Repsol Honda’s Pedrosa and Dovizioso were tight in third and fourth, with Hayden refusing to lose touch in fifth as well.

 

Lorenzo’s lead over Rossi at the front had stretched to over four seconds with four laps to go, and Pedrosa and Dovizioso were by now locked in a marvellous duel for the final podium spot. Marco Simoncelli, Colin Edwards and Héctor Barberá  were involved in another tricky encounter for eighth position, as was Hiroshi Aoyama until a moment on his bike saw him lose valuable seconds.

 

A thrilling last lap played out as Dovizioso forced his way through on Pedrosa to take third, and Hayden also squeezed past the Spaniard after he ran wide. Lorenzo crossed the line to take victory by a gap of 5.672s from Rossi, with Dovizioso taking his second podium of the season in third place.

 

Hayden finished fourth for the third consecutive race, with Pedrosa ending the race in fifth. Melandri was sixth as a pre-race switch of suspension paid off for him, with Randy de Puniet taking seventh in his home GP. The top ten was completed by Barberá, Aleix Espargaró and Simoncelli. Aoyama took 11th place, and was followed by Edwards and Mika Kallio.

 

 

Moto2

 

Toni Elías opened up an 18-point lead at the top of the Moto2 World Championship standings with his second win of the season. The Spanish rider led a podium completed by Julián Simón and Simone Corsi, in a race that was extremely eventful in its opening stages.

 

Elías made a rapid start from seventh on the grid and took the early lead, but Alex Debón was soon in front. However, the Valencian rider was penalised for a jump-start and had to take a ride through penalty as he lost first position. Yuki Takahashi crashed out from fourth, and pole position man Kenny Noyes suffered the same disappointment.

 

At the head of the race Elías, Jules Cluzel and Simón established a break, but

but disaster struck from the Frenchman Cluzel when he lost the front of his bike. Championship leader at the start of the race, Shoya Tomizawa ran off twice, first as the result of De Rosa’s crash which forced him wide, then of his own accord, bringing down Mattia Pasini too.

 

As Elías stretched out his lead and Simón shored up second, Andrea Iannone and Corsi scrapped for third behind, with the latter coming out on top to claim his first Moto2 podium.

 

125cc

 

Pol Espargaró took victory with a fantastic ride in the 125cc race, edging out Nico Terol for the victory and narrowing his rival’s lead at the top of the World Championship standings to two points.

 

Terol led into the first turn after a storming start from his pole position, and Espargaró stuck on the Bancaja Aspar rider’s back wheel as the duo pulled away after the early stages of the race. Espargaró eventually made his decisive move to secure the win on the last lap as he crossed the line ahead of Terol.

 

A marvellous battle for third occurred behind, with Bradley Smith, Marc Márquez, Efrén Vázquez , and Sandro Cortese all engaged in a thrilling encounter. After Smith had been in the podium slot for most of the race, Márquez sneaked past him on the final lap, and despite the Briton’s attempts to claim the spot, in touching fairings with Marquez, Vázquez squeezed through his off-line bike for fourth. Smith finished fifth, with Cortese completing the top six.

A lack of power continued to thwart Bradley Smith but despite the problems the teenager still finished 4th in the bwin Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez this afternoon.

The Oxfordshire rider is 4th in the World Championship but both he and his Aspar team face a big struggle to find some extra horse power before the next round of the Championship at Le Mans in three weeks time.

“We still have a major problem with the horsepower which we must resolve before Le Mans if I am to run with the leaders,” said Smith, who won the race at Jerez last year, “I really got out of jail today with so many of the leaders crashing out and for that reason it could have been a lot worse.”

Kent teenager Danny Webb looked set for a superb top ten finish in the same race but crashed out with just a few laps remaining.

In the restarted Moto2 race 17 year old Gloucestershire rider Scott Redding finished just out of the points in 16th place.

A beautiful race…

Jorge Lorenzo branded today's bwin Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez "a beautiful race" after edging out his compatriot Dani Pedrosa to take the win in front of an enthusiastic Spanish crowd.

Pedrosa brought his Repsol Honda home in second place, to make it a Spanish one-two, with reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi rounding out the podium in third. The 25 points secured today move Lorenzo to the top of the championship standings.

His traditional lightning start to the race saw pole holder Pedrosa lead into the first turn, with Rossi making up two places from the grid to move into second place. Nicky Hayden also got a good start from the second row of the grid to slot into third place as the field headed towards turn two.

Loris Capirossi's race ended at the last turn on lap three, as the veteran Italian pushed just a little too hard, lost the front and crashed uninjured. Aleix Espargaro also crashed shortly after, but was able to return to the race following running repairs in pit lane.

Ben Spies was the next casualty, pitting and retiring from the race after struggling with a front tyre problem on his Yamaha M1 while running in the top ten.

As the midway point of the race approached Pedrosa was leading well at a second-and-a-half ahead of Rossi, with Lorenzo a further two seconds back. The fight for seventh place was a close one, with San Carlo Honda Gresini team-mates Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli battling one another amongst a group of five riders.

At the same time Lorenzo was closing the gap on Rossi and on lap 21 passed his teammate before turning his focus to fellow countryman, Pedrosa. From there a superb duel developed between the two Spaniards.

With two laps to go Lorenzo caught up with the factory Honda rider and made his move to pass, but Pedrosa held his line and the two almost touched as the excitement continued to increase.

In the end it came down to the last lap and as Pedrosa drifted wide at the Dry Sack corner while trying to defend his line Lorenzo swept through to assume the lead, which he held to the chequered flag. Crossing the line the Fiat Yamaha rider was 0.543s ahead of Pedrosa, with Rossi placing third to complete the podium.

Lorenzo promptly celebrated his win by jumping fully clothed into the lake in the centre of the Jerez circuit…

"I saw the lake on Thursday and thought it would be funny to jump in. I think the fans liked it, but I didn't really think about how heavy I'd be with wet leathers and for a minute I thought I wasn't going to get out," declared Lorenzo. "The dream nearly turned into a nightmare."

The Fiat Yamaha rider was eventually rescued by marshals and returned to pit lane to continue the victory celebrations.

"After a bad start I rode like a demon to get the front and I had a great fight with Dani when I eventually caught him. When I tried to pass him the first time we nearly crashed, but I knew I had to try again on the final lap. I know it's better to win races calmly from the front; today I had to fight on every lap," concluded the new Championship leader.

Completing the top five were Ducati Marlboro riders Nicky Hayden, who repeated his fourth spot from Qatar, and Casey Stoner, with Andrea Dovizioso taking sixth place.

Mika Kallio completed an impressive rise from last place on the grid to take seventh, with Melandri, Randy de Puniet and Álvaro Bautista also placing inside the top ten.

Moto2

An eventful Moto2 race at the Spanish Grand Prix saw Toni Elías take his first Grand Prix victory since his win in Estoril back in 2006 after a shortened 17-lap contest following a pile-up on the second lap of the original race.

A coming together between Simone Corsi and Shoya Tomizawa at the Dry Sack corner saw the Japanese rider slide out and deposit fuel on the track surface, which brought down a number of following riders. The race was red flagged and then restarted 30 minutes later, after some frantic work in pit lane to repair the bikes that had been involved in the crash.

With 42 riders fighting for position and all lapping within one second of each other more crashes were inevitable, with Karel Abraham, Andrea Iannone and Joan Olivè all early fallers.

Kenny Noyes was the first rider to get to the front and then try to gap the pursuing pack but, try as he might, the American simply couldn't escape from the clutches of Toni Elias, Thomas Lüthi and championship leader, Tomizawa. With six laps to go, nine riders were still in with a chance of victory.

Overtaking moves were not in short supply as the frontrunners constantly pushed one another, and as the final laps approached Elias, Tomizawa, Lüthi and Takahashi were nose to tail.

To the delight of the Spanish crowd it was Elías who pulled off a double overtake to take the chequered flag, 0.190s ahead of Tomizawa who maintains his Championship lead with his podium finish. Lüthi, at a further seven-thousandths behind completed the top three in a fantastic grandstand finish, as he moved into third place in the overall standings.

Takahashi and Corsi both finished inside the top five. Sergio Gadea followed Corsi home, meaning the top six riders were all former Grand Prix winners.

Noyes, Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar), Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up), and Yonny Hernández (Blusens-STX) completing the top ten.

125cc

Pol Espargaró kicked off the Spanish domination of all three classes at today's Gran Premio bwin de España by taking a hard fought win and led an all-Spanish 125cc podium at Jerez, ahead of Nico Terol and Esteve Rabat.

There was immediate drama before the opening lap had been completed, as pole position holder and one of the strong favourites for victory on home soil Marc Márquez crashed out, sustaining a dislocation in his right arm in the process.

The early stages of the race saw a group of five riders establish themselves as the main competitors for the podium, and by the midway point it was still Terol , Espargaró, Efrén Vázquez, Sandro Cortese and Tito Rabat who were challenging one another at the front of the race.

Cortese’s chances of securing a podium finish ended around lap 16 when the suspension linkage on the rear of his bike broke and he eventually finished in a very creditable 11th place with no rear suspension. Shortly after Cortese dropped back Vázquez crashed out, leaving Espargaró, Terol and Rabat to sort out the final podium positions between them.

Coming into the final lap Espargaró pulled a gap on his pursuers to take the win ahead of Championship leader Terol, who maintains his lead in the overall standings, with Rabat a further 13 seconds back. Bradley Smith took fourth place at the track at which he won last season, with Tomoyoshi Koyama completing the top five.

Alberto Moncayo (Andalucia Cajasol) was sixth as he added another Spanish name to the top ten, with Johann Zarco (WTR San Marino Team), Randy Krummenacher (Stipa-Molenaar Racing), Alexis Masbou (Team Ongetta) and Jasper Iwema (CBC Corse) also securing top-ten finishes.

It was not the best of starts to the season for the British teenage trio competing in the opening round of the MotoGP World Championship the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar on Sunday evening.

In the 125cc race Bradley Smith, despite suffering from lack of top speed on his Aspar Aprilia, still fought his way through to 8th place in a race won by his new team mate Nico Terol.  Three places behind him was Kent based Danny Webb who secured a useful 5 points on his debut with his new Spanish based team.

In the very first Moto2 race Gloucestershire teenager Scott Redding had a tough time after hitting problems at the very first two bends and finally finished in 23rd place in the race won by 19 year old Japanese rider Shoya Tomizawa.

Valentino Rossi starts title defence with a win in Qatar

Valentino Rossi got his title defence off to a perfect start by taking the first win of the season in Qatar after pole sitter, Casey Stoner, crashed out of the lead just five laps into the race.

Front row qualifiers Stoner, Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo all got good starts, but it was Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda who led the field into the first turn, after a lightning start from the third row of the grid.

Pedrosa and Rossi swapped the lead for two laps, before Stoner pushed his way to the front and started to pull away from the chasing group. The Ducati Marlboro rider posted the fastest lap of the race on his fourth lap, as he tried to open a gap on his pursuers. The Australian was still pushing hard when he made an uncharacteristic mistake, lost the front and crashed out of the lead on the very next lap.

With Stoner gone and a clear track in front of him, Rossi upped the pace and tried to pull away from the field. Nicky Hayden on the second Ducati Marlboro Desmosedici and Repsol Honda's Andrea Dovizioso rode hard to stay with in contact with the reigning World Champion and, on lap 16, Dovizioso managed to squeeze his way past the Fiat Yamaha to briefly take the race lead.

Rossi retook the lead on the following lap and held it to the line, ending Stoner's run of three successive victories in Qatar.

"I got a fantastic start, but I wasn't quite fast enough and was suffering on the straight," said Rossi. "I lost some time passing Pedrosa and by then Stoner was quite far from me. I thought then that it was going to be hard to catch him! Then he made a mistake and crashed, which was bad luck for him but crucial for us."

Dovizioso was very strong and we had a good battle. I did three or four laps at maximum and managed to stay in front, but it wasn't easy. I haven't won at the first race since 2005 and these 25 points at this stage are like gold dust, it's a fantastic result for the team to make a 1-2 at race one. I ran out of fuel on the slow down lap, but it was very funny to come to Parc Ferme riding a scooter" added the reigning World Champion and race winner.

A hard charging Jorge Lorenzo, passed both Hayden and Dovizioso on the penultimate lap to make it a Fiat Yamaha 1-2 on the podium. After getting the better of Dovizioso on the final lap Hayden looked all set to secure the final podium place, but the Italian rider managed to slingshot past the American on the run to the line, denying the Ducati rider by the narrowest of margins.

 

Ben Spies finished an impressive fifth on his debut as a full-time MotoGP rider with the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team. LCR Honda rider, Randy de Puniet, finished in sixth place ahead of Dani Pedrosa, who had faded back through the field after an impressive start to the race.

Colin Edwards took eighth place on the line with Loris Capirossi, in his 300th Grand Prix, just one second further back in ninth. Hiroshi Aoyama rounded out the top ten on his MotoGP debut, finishing ahead of Marco Simoncelli, Hector Barbera and Marco Melandri.

Moto2

Expectations were high ahead of the first ever Moto2 race in Qatar tonight and the new four-stroke class certainly didn't disappoint. After a race that saw pitched battles fought out from the front to the back, 19-year-old Japanese rider, Shoya Tomizawa, wrote his name in the record books by taking the first ever Moto2 win.

Toni Elias made a great start from pole position to lead the 41-strong field into turn one. By turn two he was the only rider who qualified on the front row left in the race, as Alex De Angelis crashed out and took Stefan Bradl with him in turn one and Julian Simon retired his RSV machine after cooking the clutch at the start.

Elias was ousted from the lead by a hard charging Jules Cluzel on lap two, which prompted a fairing bashing battle at the front as Elias, Cluzel, Alex Debon and Tomizawa all fought it out to take the honours in the first race of this new World Championship class.

Tomizawa eventually fought his way to the front on lap six and was never headed for the remainder of the race, as the other Moto2 combatants held each other up fighting for the privilege of leading the chase for the Japanese rider. Elias eventually succumbed to the pain of his injuries, sustained in a testing crash just two weeks ago, settling for fourth place and leaving Debon and Cluzel to sort out the two remaining podium positions between them. At the line it was Debon who took second, with Cluzel a very close third.

Roberto Rolfo brought his Italtrans Suter MMX machine home in fifth place, closely followed by Mattia Pasini, Thomas Luthi, Simone Corsi and Gabor Talmacsi, who'd battled together throughout the 20-lap race. Sergio Gadea rounded out the top ten aboard his Pons Kalex machine.

125cc

The 125cc grid may be smaller this year, but tonight's race in Qatar was as close and exciting as ever, as Nico Terol overcame four hard charging Derbi riders to take the race win aboard his Bancaja Aspar Aprilia.

Efren Vazquez got a lightning start from the front row of the grid to take the race lead as Marc Marquez, Terol Tito Rabat and Pol Espargaro continually swapped positions behind him.

Marquez took the lead briefly on lap 7 and again on lap 12, before Terol pushed through to the front and, following an out of the seat moment for Vazquez that baulked the pursuing pack, managed to pull out an advantage that he held to the chequered flag.

Vazquez took second place on the line, with Marquez taking third and making it an all-Spanish podium for the first 125cc race of the new season.

Sandro Cortese got the better of Randy Krummenacher to take fourth place, with the Swiss rider followed home by a fading Rabat, Bradley Smith and Tomoyoshi Koyama. Alexis Masbou completed the top ten aboard his Ongetta Aprilia.