Moto GP

[Rev004]

Late Lorenzo tops timesheet in first Saturday run
Saturday, 04 July 2009

Jorge Lorenzo stated his intentions with a late fast lap in the Saturday morning practice at Laguna Seca.


Out to prove a point this weekend having finished second to his team-mate Valentino Rossi in the last two MotoGP races and having crashed out on the first lap of the race last year at Laguna Seca, Jorge Lorenzo was the top man in the Saturday morning practice run.

The young Spanish Fiat Yamaha rider took his M1 round the Californian track in 1â€21.799 right at the end of the session, to push Casey Stoner off the top spot, ahead of qualifying later today.

Fears about Stonerâ€s ability to perform this weekend at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix subsided somewhat in the first Saturday outing as the Ducati star put down a marker of 1â€21.835s that only Lorenzo was able to beat on his final lap. Of course Stoner will need more than one fast lap in Sundayâ€s eighth race of the year and doubts linger about his current stamina levels, having only completed 23 laps in FP2 compared to Lorenzoâ€s 35.

Valentino Rossi was around three tenths off Lorenzoâ€s best in third place and will look to increase the pace in qualifying later on. The Italian himself completed 34 laps, his best time of 1â€22.177 coming early in the outing.

A revitalised Toni Elías (San Carlo Honda Gresini) lapped fourth fastest, just ahead of Repsol Honda counterparts Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa, who lapped in similar times – around 0.75s slower than Lorenzo – in fifth and sixth respectively.

Eighth fastest participant Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki) was in the middle of an American sandwich behind Monster Yamaha Tech 3â€s Colin Edwards and in front of Ducatiâ€s Nicky Hayden - with all three lapping at a similar speed. Edwards†Tech 3 colleague James Toseland completed the top ten


RED BULL U.S. GRAND PRIX
MotoGP Free Practice Nr. 2 Classification
Pos. Num. Rider Nation Team Motorcycle Lap time Km/h Gap
1 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 1'21.799 256.227
2 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Team Ducati 1'21.835 259.927 0.036
3 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 1'22.177 263.478 0.378
4 24 Toni ELIAS SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1'22.367 255.379 0.568
5 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'22.552 256.837 0.753
6 3 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'22.561 258.558 0.762
7 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'22.781 260.178 0.982
8 7 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 1'22.917 256.714 1.118
9 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 1'22.935 256.227 1.136
10 52 James TOSELAND GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'23.127 253.699 1.328
11 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1'23.368 258.868 1.569
12 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 1'23.451 254.897 1.652
13 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA Hayate Racing Team Kawasaki 1'23.452 254.957 1.653
14 59 Sete GIBERNAU SPA Grupo Francisco Hernando Ducati 1'23.849 257.265 2.050
15 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 1'23.951 255.138 2.152
16 41 Gabor TALMACSI HUN Scot Racing Team MotoGP Honda 1'24.114 244.953 2.315
17 88 Niccolo CANEPA ITA Pramac Racing Ducati 1'24.202 252.868 2.403

Crashes for Lorenzo as he takes Laguna pole
Saturday, 04 July 2009

Jorge Lorenzo will need a medical check on Sunday to see if he is fit to race, after he crashed twice in qualifying at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix but still ended up in pole position.

Best images of MotoGP QP in Laguna Seca


Further medical checks will be required on Sunday for poleman Jorge Lorenzo after a dramatic qualifying session at Laguna Seca, which ended with the Spaniard being stretchered away having set the pole position time - a 1â€21.678 hot lap.

Fiat Yamahaâ€s former 250cc World Champion Lorenzo was unaffected by a lowside crash on the fourth corner with 20 minutes to go, jumping on his second M1 to grab pole for Sundayâ€s race, before a massive highside crash saw him taken away from trackside and straight to the medical centre. Initial tests showed a partially dislocated right shoulder and a bruised right foot, but Lorenzo will not be passed fit to ride, or ruled out of action, until Sunday morning.

Second fastest qualifier Valentino Rossi stood alone in parc fermÃ, having lapped 0.167s behind Lorenzo, with third fastest rider Casey Stoner also crashing heavily on turn three in the final minutes. Stoner appeared to be walking unaided, albeit unsteadily, after the session and is said to be ok to race.

The second row for Sundayâ€s eighth MotoGP contest of 2009 will be an all Honda affair, with factory pair Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso qualifying fourth and fifth respectively, in front of San Carlo Honda Gresiniâ€s Toni Elías – all three less than half a second down on Lorenzo.

MotoGPâ€s American representatives Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati) will be joined on row three by Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki), who like Hayden has a good record at Laguna.

The top ten qualifiers list was completed by Vermeulenâ€s veteran teammate Loris Capirossi.

RED BULL U.S. GRAND PRIX
MotoGP Qualifying Practice Classification
Pos. Num. Rider Nation Team Motorcycle Lap time Km/h Gap
1 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 1'21.678 261.058
2 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 1'21.845 264.058 0.167
3 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Team Ducati 1'21.910 262.901 0.232
4 3 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'22.113 260.492 0.435
5 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'22.135 260.554 0.457
6 24 Toni ELIAS SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1'22.146 260.303 0.468
7 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'22.490 262.326 0.812
8 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 1'22.540 259.241 0.862
9 7 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 1'22.633 260.303 0.955
10 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 1'22.662 262.326 0.984
11 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA Hayate Racing Team Kawasaki 1'22.842 256.532 1.164
12 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1'23.004 260.617 1.326
13 59 Sete GIBERNAU SPA Grupo Francisco Hernando Ducati 1'23.106 256.959 1.428
14 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 1'23.147 254.777 1.469
15 52 James TOSELAND GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'23.390 256.837 1.712
16 88 Niccolo CANEPA ITA Pramac Racing Ducati 1'23.912 256.349 2.234
17 41 Gabor TALMACSI HUN Scot Racing Team MotoGP Honda 1'24.528 248.905 2.850

Rossi wishes rivals well after crashes
Saturday, 04 July 2009.

Second fastest qualifier and World Champion Valentino Rossi hopes crashing poleman Jorge Lorenzo and third placed Casey Stoner, who also hit the deck, will be fit to race on Sunday.


Fiat Yamahaâ€s Valentino Rossi was quick to wish his World Championship rivals Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner all the best on Saturday afternoon at Laguna Seca having seen both of them carried away from trackside in a dramatic qualifying session.

Rossi, who leads the general standings by five points from team-mate Lorenzo and is nine points in front of Stoner, qualified in second place on the grid for Sundayâ€s American MotoGP contest, while both of his big rivals suffered nasty crashes.

Poleman Lorenzo partially dislocated his right shoulder and heavily bruised his right foot in a huge highside on the Yamaha M1, whilst Stoner highsided the Ducati Desmosedici GP9 and was also helped away from trackside, prompting a concerned Rossi to wish all the very best to both afterwards.

Stoner is uninjured, but Lorenzo will not be cleared to race, or ruled out until Sunday, with Rossi commenting, “Firstly I just hope that Casey and Jorge are fit and are able to race, because for sure it would be a great battle between us, as our pace on race tyres is very similar.”

On his own performance in qualifying he added, “Iâ€m very happy with my second position. Actually today we did not have two perfect practices and we still have some problems to fix. At the end, especially in the last part of the track I am not strong enough so we have to work on Sunday to improve our setting. So Iâ€m happy that we still managed to qualify second, not far from Lorenzo, considering our problem.”

Lorenzo explains big highside crash
Saturday, 04 July 2009

Fiat Yamahaâ€s Jorge Lorenzo faces an anxious wait overnight to see if he can ride at Laguna on Sunday, due to the QP highside crash which he described to motogp.com afterwards.

Jorge Lorenzo 2nd. crash during QP in Laguna Seca


Title chasing MotoGP star Jorge Lorenzo is hopeful of riding in Sundayâ€s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix race despite the massive blows he sustained to his right shoulder and foot in the second of two crashes in Saturdayâ€s qualifying session, which he remarkably concluded on pole.

The Spanish rider faces a late medical check on Sunday morning after partially dislocating his right shoulder and severely bruising his right foot in QP, at a track where he also spectacularly crashed out in last yearâ€s race.

Explaining what had happened Lorenzo stated, “We were really comfortable and competitive on this track, but when I had my last chance to do a quick lap time I found some slower riders on track and they wanted to follow me. I decided to slow down for a while because I wanted to be alone but the rear tyre was too cold for the speed I was doing. I went into the corner and I crashed.”

“Iâ€m disappointed for these two crashes but I am okay and I am optimistic that I will be able to ride tomorrow,” Lorenzo added. “Now the American doctors and the Clinica Mobile are working together to try to help me as best they can and make me more comfortable.”

Indeed, as Clinica Mobile's Lello Rubbini commented, “Jorge dislocated the collarbone in his right shoulder and took a big blow on the front of his right foot. He needs to decide if he wants to race and we have to wait until the morning. Now we will work with him to give him painkillers and to help reduce the swelling.”

Stoner cautious about Laguna chances
Saturday, 04 July 2009

Ducati MotoGP Team rider Casey Stoner was in competitive form in qualifying practice for the USGP at Laguna Seca today, with the Australian sealing a front row start for tomorrowâ€s race.


However, it wasnâ€t all plain sailing for Stoner, who crashed out heavily at the end of the session. The 2007 World Champion is nevertheless confident he will be able to ride tomorrow although he is expecting a gruelling race, not least because of the physical exhaustion he has been suffering in recent weeks.

CASEY STONER (Ducati MotoGP Team) (3rd; 1â€21.910)
"To be honest the bike had given us a few warnings in a lot of places around the circuit today and Iâ€m sure there were a lot of other guys in a similar situation. The tyre is quite hard on the right-hand side and needs a couple of laps to warm up properly. Unfortunately on the lap before the crash, in the most important corner for heating that side of the tyre up I was held up by two riders having a disagreement and then I got stuck behind one of them into the next right-hander too. I was wary that the tyre would be cooler than I needed it to be on the next lap so I went into turn three a lot more carefully than normal, but as I closed the gas on the way into the corner the rear just came around. I tried to pick the bike up and go straight into the gravel but it didnâ€t want to and that was it – it threw me straight up in the air! It hurt when I landed but I thought Iâ€d only winded myself - now it looks like I might have torn something in my groin, which is not the best thing to happen before the race. Anyway, we have a great bike for this track so weâ€ll see what we can do."

Edwards determined to please crowd from seventh
Saturday, 04 July 2009

Lower down the grid than he hoped to be at Laguna Seca, home rider Colin Edwards still intends to give the American crowd something to shout about on Sunday.


Colin Edwards, who has yet to qualify lower than the third row in 2009, will start Sundayâ€s 32-lap Laguna Seca race from seventh position after he clocked a best time of 1â€22.490 in qualifying.

Despite encountering front-end issues on his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1, the 35-year-old was just over half-a-second away from a front row start.

Edwards, who lost most of the fingernail off the third finger on his right hand in a heavy crash at turn ten on Saturday morning, is still confident he can become only the 14th rider in history to score points in 100 separate Grand Prix races on Sunday.

Meanwhile, a crash at the final corner just 15 minutes into the QP session dented James Toseland's hopes of securing a third consecutive top ten grid position. The British rider lost the front-end at the left-hand corner, and riding his spare YZR-M1 machine for the rest of the session, he was unable to find a comfortable setting as he finished in 15th position.

Colin Edwards - 7th
“The bike felt better than yesterday but I'm still not completely happy and I've still got a few issues to iron out before the race. I made a mistake this morning and did a bit of damage to a finger on my right hand, but nothing that is giving me too many problems. It wasn't fun though high-siding at Turn 10 because that's not a slow corner. I was on my head and then my back, so just to take a fingernail off I feel pretty lucky. But the big issue is the feeling from the front-end. I've got too much movement and as soon as I go into the corner it doesn't feel stable at all. To be seventh I'm pretty happy because I didn't feel like I could push as hard as I want or need to. But if I can eliminate a couple of problems in the warm-up I'm confident of a good race. I know it is going to be tough to get a podium tomorrow but I'll be giving it my all for the American fans and for Monster. There are a lot of people here to support me on a big weekend for America and I'm determined to give them a good result.”
James Toseland - 15th
“It was a tough session and pretty obvious that we've got a lot of work to do. After such a good race in Assen when we made massive progress with the set-up of the bike, I just can't get the same confident feeling I had last weekend. I wasn't pushing too hard at the last corner when the front tucked and I was down. I was running a different setting on the front and I never really felt comfortable with it. The crash forced me to switch to the spare bike and we tried a new setting on the front and it just didn't really work. I'm nowhere near where I expected to be and that is disappointing. But as always I'll be working as hard as ever with my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 to find some improvements for the race.”

Bruised Vermeulen battles onto third row
Saturday, 04 July 2009

Rizla Suzukiâ€s Chris Vermeulen fought through the pain barrier in qualifying at Laguna Seca to earn himself a third row start for Sundayâ€s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix race.


Chris Vermeulen suffered a huge high-side crash at the end of the morning practice in California which left the Australian with heavy bruising all down his left side, but thankfully no broken bones. Vermeulen showed consistent race pace throughout both of Saturdayâ€s sessions and managed to qualify in ninth place.

Loris Capirossi made some progress towards the end of the afternoon qualifying session as he finally found a setting he was comfortable with on the Suzuki GSV-R. He qualified just 0.029s behind team-mate Vermeulen in tenth place.

Chris Vermeulen – 9th
“I managed to stay upright this afternoon for a whole hour, so that was a first for this weekend and the mechanics are also very pleased about that! Firstly though, I want to thank my crew because they worked so hard between sessions today after I wrecked a bike this morning. The crew has done a great job and managed to get the bike ready for this afternoon. When we went out we made quite an improvement and took some big steps in lap-times. I was able to do the lap-times very consistently and I think we can do that tomorrow in the race. We still need to find a bit more pace to be right at the front, but the front feeling certainly got better today, although we are still looking for a bit more rear grip. We still have a couple of things to work on tomorrow morning, but we should be in good shape for the race. I am a bit disappointed to be on the third row as I feel like I had the pace to be nearer the front of the grid. It will be important to get a good start and get right up there early on and work on things from there.”
Loris Capirossi – 10th
“I think we tried to do too much in the first two sessions of this weekend and I felt more like a test rider because I really tested everything we had and we never really found anything that worked. Then, this afternoon, we went back to a more standard setting like we have used in the past, and we finally got a rhythm and improved lap-by-lap. It is still not great and to be 10th on the grid is not that good, but compared to where we were yesterday, and after this morning, it is a lot better. The thing is that we have really lost a couple of hours of testing and now we will find it hard to make any improvements in warm-up tomorrow morning because the conditions will still be a bit cold. I am really positive for the race because we have improved so much and we will have to wait and see what can happen tomorrow.”

Hayden upbeat after best qualifying result of ‘09
Saturday, 04 July 2009

Ducatiâ€s Nicky Hayden is ready to give it his best shot in Sundayâ€s race in front of his supporters, having qualified in eighth place at Laguna.


Hoping to repeat some of his past glories and kickstart his 2009 season on home territory this weekend Nicky Hayden took some steps forward despite an FP2 crash on Saturday in California and hopes to be competitive in the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix race.

The ‘Kentucky Kid†has qualified in his best grid slot to date with Ducati ahead of his American race debut for the Italian firm and he summarised Saturdayâ€s action by saying, “In the morning we made a good step, we changed some of the electronics and I was coming off the corners better and immediately able to drop a second on my times, just from hitting the right buttons on the computer, so my data guy did a good job. Then I had a crash and it set us back a bit.”

“In qualifying it wasnâ€t easy, but we got on the third row which is not great but is by far my best qualifying this year. I was hoping to hold onto the second row start when I did my best time and I thought I might have a chance. Itâ€s still the best this year and normally in qualifying recently Iâ€ve been going backwards or down at the end of the sessions, but this time I managed to stay up and move up a few places.”

Referring to the big crashes suffered by his team-mate Casey Stoner and poleman Jorge Lorenzo, Hayden added, “Qualifying was wild today, I havenâ€t see a dry session in a long time in the MotoGP class like that, so I really hope everybody is ok. The race will be tough but I have certainly helped by qualifying in a decent way and weâ€ll just have to see.”

Dovizioso quietly confident of sticking with top trio
Saturday, 04 July 2009

Repsol Honda rider believes he has pace to keep up with leaders at Laguna Seca.


Starting from the second row for his second Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix and with some principal rivals riding injured, Andrea Dovizioso has not had a better chance of taking a first podium of the season in 2009. The Italian had struggled with colder morning temperatures at Laguna Seca, but as things heated up he was able to take his Repsol Honda RC212V round in 1m 22.135s and take fifth on the grid.

“As I expected this afternoon, with the higher temperatures and using the hard Bridgestones, I could improve my lap times by a decent amount over this morning. Thatâ€s good because these are the tyres weâ€ll use for the race and weâ€re in pretty good shape,” revealed Dovizioso after the Saturday afternoon session.

“I think I have a good race pace and starting from the second row is not bad. Towards the end of qualifying I think I could have gone even quicker with the last soft tyre but I was on track when Lorenzo crashed so I had to slow down because there were yellow flags,” he added, referring to the nasty tumble suffered by his former 250cc title rival.

“Anyway Iâ€m happy with qualifying and tomorrow weâ€ll aim to make a good start and stay with the leaders. In the heat of the race I think I should be able to grit my teeth and shave a few more tenths from my lap time too. This track is really special and the atmosphere here is unique, so and Iâ€m really looking forward to tomorrowâ€s race. I hope we can be competitive and give the team a strong result before we head back to Europe. We have the pace to keep with Stoner, Rossi and Lorenzo, but I will really need to make a good start for this to happen.”

Dovizioso was unable to finish last weekendâ€s race in Assen after crashing out before the midway point

Rainey impressed by Lorenzo but backing Rossi
Saturday, 04 July 2009

MotoGP Legend goes for Rossi, Lorenzo, Stoner podium prediction.

Rainey gives Laguna race predictions


There is no rider who knows Laguna Seca better nor lives closer to the scene of the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix than Wayne Rainey, former 500cc World Champion and MotoGP Legend.

The American gave his thoughts on what was expected of Sundayâ€s race just after qualifying, and was left impressed by the Yamaha new generation.

“I watched qualifying from different points on the track, and to me Lorenzo looked the best. He looked the fastest, the smoothest and the most consistent,” said Rainey, before emphasising that the riderâ€s late crash had changed his prediction. “Then he made a couple of mistakes, and now it looks as if Rossi is going to be the strong one and Lorenzo could possibly get second place.

“With those two being injured, and Laguna Seca being possibly the most physically demanding circuit out there, I would think that Rossiâ€s got the edge, and that Stoner will be up there.”

Pedrosa content with fourth on grid
Saturday, 04 July 2009

Spaniard looks to get faster to challenge leaders.


Qualifying on the second row of the grid for the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, Dani Pedrosa is looking to make some small improvements to challenge the front line starters. The Repsol Honda rider is targetting a three-tenths of a second drop on his practice times in order to find the ideal race pace on Sunday.

Dani Pedrosa -4th
“We started this afternoonâ€s session really well and were able to lap consistently quickly straight away. Towards the end it became a little bit more difficult to improve the lap times because they tyres werenâ€t quite getting up to temperature and it was easy to make a mistake - we saw a few crashes out there later in the session. Fourth on the grid is not bad - I would have liked to be on the front row of course but fourth is ok. For tomorrow Iâ€d like to improve our race pace by about three tenths per lap and thatâ€s what weâ€ll work on in the warm-up. We did a lot of laps today on the tyres weâ€re planning to race on and this was one of our targets this weekend so Iâ€m satisfied with that. Itâ€s a short lap here and there isnâ€t any chance to rest which is going to make it a tough race tomorrow. You have to stay very focused and concentrated because itâ€s easy to make a mistake. In the sessions today I was mostly riding on a clear track, so Iâ€m confident that if I can get away with the front group then this will help my rhythm and pace even more.”