Oz Racers around the World – May/June 2009

MotoGP - Mugello

Ducati finally won the Italian Grand Prix at its seventh attempt on Sunday 31st May, when Casey Stoner conquered Mugello for the home manufacturer - and took the MotoGP World Championship lead. The Italian Grand Prix had been won by home hero Valentino Rossi, using Honda and Yamaha machinery, ever since 2002 - but Stoner emerged victorious by one second over Rossi's team-mateJorge Lorenzo after a nerve-racking wet/dry race. 

After leading in the early stages, Stoner dropped back to sixth position when his wet tyres degraded, but kept in touch and was fourth at the  Crucially, Stoner's team fitted the softest available (medium) compound slick tyres both front and rear to his Desmosedici, allowing the Australian to get quickly up to speed on the damp track with Stoner's first lap out of the pits a 2min 6.761sec, compared to 2min 10.526sec for Lorenzo & 2min 13.483sec for Rossi. 

As a result, Stoner was up to second within one lap and took the lead on lap 14. After overcoming a clutch problem, and fighting off Loris Capirossi, the 2007 world champion was able to keep just out of reach of Lorenzo, whilst Rossi's late charge on hard tyres left him two seconds adrift at the flag.
“I have already won in Italy, at Misano in 2007, and it was great for Ducati but this was the one I really wanted,” admitted Stoner, after his 18th MotoGP race victory. “We've struggled to find a great setting here for the past two years but today was our day.

“We started out well in the wet, I felt good and the bike was doing great until the wet tyres were worn out. I kept trying to push to the limit because I didn't want to lose ground on the others like at Le Mans and stayed out there until I was absolutely sure it was the right time to change tyres.
“As soon as I went out on slicks I felt comfortable and competitive,” he continued. “Unfortunately I had an issue with the clutch and it started to give me a few problems. Loris came past and was pushing hard and riding very well and he kept me on my toes.

“At one point I thought it was all over but thankfully I was able to work out a way to ride around the problem and bring the victory home. I made a couple of mistakes over the final two laps but luckily it didn't matter. It was a really difficult race but a great one for the whole team, for everybody at Ducati and all the Ducatisti. I'm so happy today.”

“This is definitely a special win for us,” added Claudio Domenicali, Ducati Corse CEO and Ducati Motor Holding Product Director. “Mugello is our home circuit, where Vittoriano [Guareschi] has done thousands of kilometres in testing and where the Desmosedici made his first test in 2002.
“So to win here in front of so many passionate Italian fans, factory workers and suppliers, with the Ducati stand even more packed than ever, is a great feeling and a source of great pride. It is a good opportunity for us to thank all the sponsors who make results like this possible, our technicians and everybody working either at the track or back at the factory who give us the opportunity to unleash the full potential of an extraordinary rider.

Stoner's second victory of the season has put him back into the MotoGP World Championship lead.

1. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team.         

2. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team.
3. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team.              

4. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team.
5. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP.          

6. Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3.
7. James Toseland GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3.   

8. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP.
9. Niccolo Canepa ITA Pramac Racing.                    

10. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP.

11. Marco Melandri ITA Hayate Racing Team.        

12. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team.

 

World Superbikes

USA – May 31st

Ben Spies (Yamaha World Superbike) annihilated the opposition in the Utah US Round of the Hannspree FIM Superbike World Championship at Miller Motorsports Park, picking up his second double win of the year in his rookie SBK season. In front of 47,300 spectators the Texan again reopened the title battle that appeared to be firmly in the hands of Ducati. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox), who crashed heavily in practice, ran the two races in a bruised state, finishing ninth and eighth. The Japanese rider lost ground to Spies as well as to his team-mate Michel Fabrizio, who finished third and second. With the season now at its mid-point Haga leads on 265 points, with Spies up to 212 and Fabrizio on 201.


Race 1: Spies dominated the first race to cut the gap at the top of the table, as Haga could only finish in ninth place. The race was interrupted on lap 7 after a crash involving Australian Karl Muggeridge, who only came away with a few bruises. Spies powered away again in the second part to win by a comfortable margin on aggregate times. Behind Spies finished Spain's Carlos slowed by two poor starts. It was a good day for Ten Kate Honda as Ryuichi Kiyonari and Jonathan Rea came home in fourth and fifth position respectively. Max Biaggi started from row 4 but worked his way up to sixth position at the flag on his Aprilia RSV4 machine.

Ben Spies: "We've been working on our starts a bit and this is a long straightaway and I really needed to get a good one here. After the restart it was tough because I really wanted to win on the road and couldn't take too many risks to keep Carlos at bay. I just wanted to cross the line first even though I had a six-second cushion." Carlos Checa: "From the beginning Ben was too strong today. I didn't have so much grip in the first part but then we adjusted the tyre pressure and it was better in the second. The Honda is working well here, we have a good base from last year and we used that benefit to get at a certain level and get a good result. We needed this result because it has not been so good for us since the start of the year."

Michel Fabrizio: "It's a pity about the second start. I felt a bit like a ping-pong ball, because I was under attack from all sides by three of four other guys. Luckily, I managed to stay upright. Afterwards I managed to run at my own pace and get onto the podium for a good result."

Results: 1. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha; 2. Checa C. (ESP) Honda; 3. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati; 9. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati; 15. Corser T. (AUS) BMW;

Race 2: The second race was similar to the first, with the three-times AMA Superbike champion Spies taking the lead at the first turn and never relinquishing it. Fabrizio this time got off to an excellent start and was second at the first corner, the Italian managing to keep Spies in his sights for over half the race before settling for the runner-up slot. Checa crashed out on lap 4, leaving the battle for the final podium place to be fought out between Rea, Leon Haslam, who crashed out on the final lap, and Biaggi, competitive in the race after problems in qualifying. Kiyonari, Jakub Smrz and Shinya Nakano all finished ahead of Haga in eighth. It was an encouraging race for Kawasaki, with Parkes and Hacking often running inside the top 10, but BMW again had a difficult time of things with Xaus and Corser finishing outside the top 15.

Michel Fabrizio: "It was a good weekend, I tried every way possible until five or six laps from the end to give some problems to Ben but in my attempt to catch up to him I pusher a bit too hard and finished the front tyre so there was nothing I could do."

Jonathan Rea: "The guys have put a great bike under me this weekend, we've done some good development, but I've never had to race as slow as I could for third place because I had a few problems with the front and the front tyre. Ben and Michel put on a great run at the front, I couldn't go with them. I could see a big gaggle of riders behind me, and thought I'd keep something in reserve until the end but I couldn't see what happened with Leon's crash. Anyway it was my second podium in two rounds so I'm very happy.

Results: 1. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha; 2. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati; 3. Rea J. (GBR) Honda 11. Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki

 

World Supersport

Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) emerged the winner from the thrilling final lap of a race-long battle between four riders and three different makes: Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki. With just one lap to go the 2007 champion first passed points leader Cal Crutchlow, and then three turns from the chequered flag made a decisive move on Eugene Laverty, who had led from the start. For the Turkish rider it was the 13th win of his career, and the 67th for Honda in Supersport. The Ten Kate Honda rider is now back in contention in the points standings, behind leader Crutchlow and Laverty. Kawasaki scored a good fourth place with Joan Lascorz, who started from pole. Gianluca Nannelli crashed out of the battle for fifth, but Garry McCoy held the Triumph flag high with a positive sixth place. Seventh went to 2008 champion Andrew Pitt who started from the final row of the grid.

Results: 1. Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR600RR; 2. Laverty E. (IRL) Honda; 3. Crutchlow C. (GBR) Yamaha; 6. McCoy G. (AUS) Triumph; 7. Pitt A. (AUS) Honda

 

AMA (May 17, 2009)

Season win number eight put Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-1000R) back on top of the podium in AMA competition in the final round of this weekend's doubleheaders at Infineon Raceway in California.

Mladin held off repeated attempts by runner-up Ben Bostrom (R1) to take the number one spot as the two ran like they were qualifying from the moment the green flag dropped.

"It was a tough one today," said Mladin, who holds the record for AMA Superbike wins at Infineon with nine. "I had nothing left out there today. I went as hard as I could and kept going and going and going. I got stuck behind a couple of lappers but I said (to myself) I didn't want to give Ben a sniff, but he got one and he got pretty close. I just put my head down and went hard the rest of the way."

Bostrom spent his laps not only chasing Mladin, but holding off the charge of third place finisher Tommy Hayden (Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-1000R). Hayden threw down fast lap after fast lap at Bostrom but couldn't get by. "It's a tough track, one of the toughest we go to," said Bostrom. "I love it so much and I've always wanted to win a Superbike race here but I've never done it. Congratulations to Mat and Tommy, especially Mat. He rode a perfect race and it was stellar to watch".

Bostrom closed on Mladin on Lap 18 as both riders fought through traffic, but Mladin led all 22 laps and stretched the lead to 1.833 seconds at the checkered flag. For Bostrom, his second-place finish was his highest this season. Of the leaders, Hayden seemed to suffer the most with lapped traffic, then charging back to the rear wheel of Bostrom, but was unable to maintain enough momentum to complete the pass.

"It was a very tough race for me," said Hayden. "In the beginning Mat had his head down and was doing some quick laps. I just tried to hang in and stay close. I knew the bike was good over the distance of the race so I wanted to stay in and I hoped to make something happen but I made mistakes and lost some time.

Josh Hayes (R1) finished fourth and couldn't mount a charge to match the front three riders.

"The guys worked hard on the R1 and it was all rider error. I had a headache earlier and I don't know if it was allergies or what, but I just wasn't feeling right. The R1 was staying up with the front riders and I was just trying to ride my race and hope something happened up front. But I started messing up, hitting the bumps and missing the lines and I just tried to hang on."

Mladin, who has won eight of the last 14 Superbike races at Infineon, increases his points lead over teammate Hayden, 268-189. Hayes' performance this weekend improves him from sixth position to third in the 2009 championship points battle with 160, while Bostrom's strong performance on Sunday takes him to fourth with 150 points.