Premiere class results

[El Toro]

Stoner ran away with it today. Rossi and Pedrosa duked it out, exchanging 2nd place a few times before Rossi finally held on. Ewards rode home in 4th relatively comfortably. Dovizioso, Lorenzo, and Hayden were vying for 5th, but the order was D-L-H in the end. Lorenzo's 6th was especially nice for him since he started 16th.

The sad story of the day was James Toseland's high side crash in the first turn of the first lap. He gamely got back on, missing a foot peg, and rode the bike to 17th. Hopkins was the only DNF. His bike gave up in the 16th lap.

Overall Rossi extended his lead over Pedrosa, and Stoner passed Lorenzo and took over 3rd.

Stoner had the pole, and he got a good start. He lead from start to finish. He's the only one that can ride the Ducati as far as I can tell. They showed his tire after the race, and it was shredded. He did well to hang in there.

His teammate, Marco Melandri was not competitive again, and you can see the disappointment in his post race interview.

 

[FZ/FJR Mike]

Yes, it was a good battle for 2d during most of the race. Also, Spies qualified well but finished 14th. Poor Toseland & Hopper.

 

[El Toro]

Yes, it was a good battle for 2d during most of the race. Also, Spies qualified well but finished 14th. Poor Toseland & Hopper.

I thought Spies would do more, but then there's a big difference between racing and qualifying. I think that there is also a talent gap between Superbike and MotoGP. Remember Miguel Duhammel's run at Laguna Seca last year.

On the MotoGP web site in honor of Rossi's 200th consecutive start in the premiere class, they have been allowing nonsubscribers to view videos of Rossi's 125 cc era, 250cc, etc. on to the present day. If you get a chance you might want to take a look at the 125cc video. It shows Rossi as a small child riding around in a pocket bike race, knees dragging.

I'm really looking forward to the Indianapolis race.

 

[feejer222]

Spies was dissapointing, I fully expected a top ten after the excellent qualifying sessions. It really does show how much better the GP guys are than any one else on the planet.

Toseland was trying too hard to make up for a bad grid position. He will be wrecked for letting everyone down. There was such a build up to this GP hoping he could get on the steps in front of the home crowd, he fell for the pressure...literally.

He has not ridden at Donington for 6 years, but has ridden at Assen every year since joining the WSBK's so he has a better chance there. He also will have a huge Brit crowd behind him. About 30,000 travel over usually.

Looks liks Stoner has found his feet again. I like him and hope he does well. I hope it goes to a showdown at the end of the season with him and Rossi, I would bet on Rossi.

Once again I am dissapointed with Nicky, he is another of my favourites but even with the air valves just can't do it in the race.

What a ride from 'Gorgeous George' (Brit commentaters name for Lorenzo). During qualifying, when asked if it was pain in his feet that was slowing him down still, he said, 'no it's all in my head now'. Which was incredibly honest of him. He will shine again very soon I think.

 

[BobbyBlue]

I waited to read this as I saw it on the tube early this a.m. I was also surprised Big Ben rode so poorly. The big leagues take no prisoners I s'pose ! Stoner was on his game but the second place action was fun to watch and it was great to see Rossi on that M1. On to Assen then? Good stuff.

Bobby

 

[squeezer]

I'd hoped for better from Ben, but wasn't real surprised. New kind of bike, new tires, a circuit he'd never seen before -- I didn't see much happening his first time out. That he was running his fastest laps at the end and catching people up... well that, I think, bodes well for a top 10 at Laguna.

Seems like no one coming from superbikes -- whether WSBK or AMA -- tears it up in MotoGP right away. The best rookies are coming up from 250 bikes. Edwards, Hayden, Vermuelen, Toseland -- they all took (or are taking) a bit longer to find results than the guys moving up through the ladder.