Indianapolis Moto GP and 125cc race reviews

After the Moto GP at Brno you could have been forgiven for thinking that Valentino Rossi was sure to retain the championship this year. His main challenger, teammate Jorge Lorenzo, has failed to finish the last two races and was trailing 50 points behind. Casey Stoner, the only other rider looking likely to challenge Rossi, had announced he would be out of the championship for three rounds to recover from illness. Rossi had been dominant and looked unassailable.

How things can change in only one race….

The Indy circuit only gets used for the Moto GP, strangely, and this has left the surface in somewhat less than perfect racing condition. It is bumpy and there are several changes in surface covering and where these changes are caused several offs during free practice and qualifying.

Dani Pedrosa, lying fourth in the championship, had been on the pace all weekend and no other rider could get close to his times. He started from pole, five seconds ahead on the timing sheets of Lorenzo, and soon started to look dominant with Rossi and Lorenzo in close pursuit.

However, in lap four, he lost the front end. He did manage to restart and from trailing four seconds behind the last placed motorcycle of Gabor Talmaschi he was soon lapping faster than all the other riders and managed to pull back to tenth position. Whilst ultimately Pedrosa did lose a chance to make up a lot of points on the leader his speed and performance this weekend have given him high hopes for the next round at Misano.

It looked like we were set for another Rossi and Lorenzo battle and I for one was holding my breath hoping that Jorge did not succumb to the red mist that saw him crash out at Brno.
But the next shock was not far away when Rossi ran wide on lap nine at the Brickyard part of the track and then lost the front end immediately afterwards. He did try to carry on but a problem with his throttle prevented it. It was Rossi’s first DNF since 2007 and shows the Italian is fallible.

Meanwhile, this left the way open for Jorge Lorenzo who managed to stretch his lead over the second position of Alex de Angelis to just under 9.5 seconds. Lorenzo rode a lonely race but was extremely pleased to have the win closing up the championship lead again.

De Angelis surprisingly is looking for a ride for next season, but his audition seems to be going well!

Nicky Hayden rode an excellent race proving he is getting to grips with the Ducati in what he has described as his most challenging season. He soon despatched fellow countryman Colin Edwards and despite a late charge from Andrea Dovizioso he took third place on the podium which he said was as good as a win at his home circuit.

For some great race day photos click here

Results:

Pos. Rider Nation Team Total time
1 J. LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 47’13.592
2 A. DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini + 9.435
3 N. HAYDEN USA Ducati Team + 12.947
4 A. DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team + 13.478
5 C. EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 + 26.254
6 J. TOSELAND GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 + 32.408
7 L. CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 34.400
8 M. KALLIO FIN Ducati Team + 34.856
9 T. ELIAS SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini + 45.005
10 D. PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team + 45.377
11 C. VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 45.478
12 R. DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP + 52.294
13 A. ESPARGARO SPA Pramac Racing + 1’03.552
14 G. TALMACSI HUN Scot Racing Team MotoGP + 1’15.086

Chamionship Standings:

Pos. Rider Nation Team Points
1 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 212
2 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 187
3 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Team 150
4 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team 141
5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 123
6 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team 120
7 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini 88
8 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 86
9 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 84
10 Marco MELANDRI ITA Hayate Racing Team 79
11 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 77
12 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team 73
13 James TOSELAND GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 72
14 Toni ELIAS SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini 70
15 Mika KALLIO FIN Ducati Team 42
16 Niccolo CANEPA ITA Pramac Racing 32
17 Sete GIBERNAU SPA Grupo Francisco Hernando 12
18 Gabor TALMACSI HUN Scot Racing Team MotoGP 10
19 Yuki TAKAHASHI JPN Scot Racing Team MotoGP 9
20 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Pramac Racing 3

125 Moto GP

I feel I have to mention Brit Bradley Smith’s result at Indy. Bradley has been tweeting about his wish to get a podium and despite qualifying fifth he had been on excellent pace all weekend.

The race soon became dominated by Terol, Espargaro, Smith, Corsi and championship leader and teammate to Smith, Simon. These five had an epic race long battle, with Terol holding a dominant lead for most of the race, with the Smith, Corsi and Espargaro fighting for second place.

We were holding our breath for Bradley hoping that he could finish in a good position and hopefully on the podium. The end of the race was even more tense as Espargaro challenged Terol for the lead and Bradley made a do or die round the outside pass on Terol, which thankfully did not end in tears.

Terol then fell back into the pack leaving the way open for Espargaro, Smith and Corsi to fight for the win. In the end Espargaro got his first, well deserved, win with Smith taking second only 0.12s behind and Corsi third three tenths behind him. Terol eventually finished fourth with Simon fifth.

This race exciting and frustrating in equal measures, exciting because of the battle for the lead, but frustrating that the camera director kept missing all that action by constantly showing the battle for sixth, the board for a ride through for Vasquez (twice!) and unbelievably showing the teams jumping up and down with joy when what we needed to be watching was the riders themselves crossing the finishing line, someone needs a kick up the bum.

The championship standings are getting ever closer with only eight points separating Terol and Smith for second place.

Second would be a great result for Smith.