Race 2 at Donington Park has left BMW seething and calling for Jonathan Rea to be disqualified after he took his second victory of the season with final corner pile-up, as the Honda rider collided with Haslam causing a domino effect which also wiped out Melandri.

It was a thrilling race with a lot of hard overtaking between the same riders who starred in Race 1, Tom Sykes, Max Biaggi, Leon Haslam, Marco Melandri, but it was on the last lap that changed the final and unexpected outcome of the race.

Leon Haslam was leading into the final corner, when Melandri in a last desperate thrust tried to dive up the inside of his BMW team-mate, only to run wide which let Haslam turn into the corner only to find Rea taking advantage of the small gap, the two made contact with Haslam getting the worst of it crashing down and sliding he wiped out Melandri, and the two BMW riders ended up spitting dust and grass and a lot of anger just a few yards from the finish line, Haslam managed to re-start his bike and finish 15th.

Rea survived the close encounter inheriting the 1st place, with Max Biaggi and Tom Sykes taking second and third.

Leon Camier was fourth followed by Sylvain Guintoli who had lonely ride to fifth while Ayrton Badovini, Chaz Davies, Loris Baz Peter Hickman and Hiroshi Aoyama completed the top ten.

It was another day to forget for Althea Racing who saw Carlos Checa attempt a pass on the Eugene Laverty (who would later have a spectacular crash at the Craners) at the beginning of the first lap and clipped him and in the contact wiped out Effenbert Liberty’s Jakub Smrz and his own team mate Davide Giugliano. Checa is now down fourth in the championship.

WSBK Donington Race 2 results:

01- Jonathan Rea – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – 23 laps in 34’31.847
02- Max Biaggi – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.508
03- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 2.029
04- Leon Camier – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 4.245
05- Sylvain Guintoli – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 6.595
06- Ayrton Badovini – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – + 17.469
07- Chaz Davies – ParkinGO MTC Racing – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 17.788
08- Loris Baz – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 21.093
09- Peter Hickman – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 21.866
10- Hiroshi Aoyama – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 22.620
11- Niccolò Canepa – Red Devils Roma – Ducati 1198 – + 26.764
12- Lorenzo Zanetti – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 27.043
13- Michel Fabrizio – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – + 28.390
14- Mark Aitchison – Grillini Progea Superbike Team – BMW S1000RR – + 56.618
15- Leon Haslam – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 1’20.196

This afternoon’s World Superbike second free practice at Donington Park saw Jonathan Rea pip Carlos Checa by just 0.049s to take the top of the timesheets in his last flying lap and the two were the only ones to dip under the 1.29 barrier in another very tight session.

Taking third was Leon Haslam with his factory BMW who finished ahead of Effenbert’s Jakub Smrz who has shone all weekend so far. Tom Sykes was ‘only’ fifth after being foiled on his last flying lap by Pedercini’s substitute rider Gary Mason with the Kawasaki rider having to run off track to avoid hitting him.

Marco Melandri was sixth, followed by Leon Camier and Aprilia’s Max Biaggi, while Sylvain Guintoli made a jump forward to 9th and was just a little more than three tenths from Rea. Eugene Laverty also made raced down the charts to 10th with a little less than half a second from the top of the timesheet.

Despite the stable weather - which means it itsn’t raining - Ayrton Badovini and Loris Baz both suffered crashes during the session, which will make Badovini’s mechanics work over time to order to prepare his BMW for Superpole.

WSBK Donington FP2 Results:

01- Jonathan Rea – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – 1’28.856
02- Carlos Checa – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 0.049
03- Leon Haslam – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 0.235
04- Jakub Smrz – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 0.283
05- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 0.288
06- Marco Melandri – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 0.292
07- Leon Camier – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 0.297
08- Max Biaggi – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.338
09- Sylvain Guintoli – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 0.347
10- Eugene Laverty – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.476
11- Davide Giugliano – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 0.614
12- Michel Fabrizio – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – + 0.723
13- Niccolò Canepa – Red Devils Roma – Ducati 1198 – + 0.857
14- Ayrton Badovini – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – + 0.871
15- Chaz Davies – ParkinGO MTC Racing – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 1.338
16- Loris Baz – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 1.527
17- Hiroshi Aoyama – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 1.576
18- Peter Hickman – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 1.634
19- Maxime Berger – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 1.826
20- Mark Aitchison – Grillini Progea Superbike Team – BMW S1000RR – + 2.108
21- Lorenzo Zanetti – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 3.145
22- Leandro Mercado – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 3.411
23- Gary Mason – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 3.825

Our mates from twin site Motoblog.it got ahold of a quite interesting sequence of pics showing Jonathan Rea’s crash in Donington during this morning Free Practice. We are not allowed to publish it because of copyright reasons, but you can check it out anyway by clicking on the image above - which is the first image of the whole sequence - and watch it on Motoblog.it

foto | ST Foto

Japanese motorcycle mag Young Machine reports that Honda is working on a new mid-size sportsbike that will be positioned in the current range between the CBR250R and the CBR600RR. Apparently, the model is being developed with the home market in mind, where this segment of the market is clearly on the rise, and it is supposed to continue the tradition of the classic VFR400 (NC30) and RVF400R (NC35), although the Japanese magazine reveals that the new model will be powered by a flat twin engine (that is likely to bear some resemblance with the CBR250R’s single) as opposed to the V4 that equipped the aforementioned couple of bikes..

According to VisorDown, this new Honda CBR400R should be able to count on about 50 hp, which is twice as much as the CBR250R but less than half the power of the CBR600RR, making it an ideal motorcycle to complete the transition between the two models.

The shockwaves caused by the steady fall of the sportsbike market worldwide surely hit the main guys in Tokyo, and the concurrent renaissance of the sporty 400s market did not go unnoticed either: putting two and two together, it sounds like there are a lot of customers out there that would be interested in this kind of product.

foto | TMCblog

Being the only German MotoGP rider and for Honda to boot, has certain fringe benefits as Stefan Bradl can attest to, as can LCR Honda.

The reigning Moto2 World champion and MotoGP rookie received from Honda Germany - who continues to sponsor the young rider - a brand new car and a VFR1200F, while his team received 5 Honda Vision 110cc scooters to use in the paddock for the rest of the 2012 season.

“I am happy to continue my working cooperation with Honda Germany especially this year. This season is extremely important for me and I want to thank Mr Katsushi Inoue and Mr Klaus-Peter Kniedel for their precious support. Now I can easily ride my VFR1200F for my Sunday outings at home with my friends and drive my new car to reach the circuits in a easy way: then on track I have got my Vision scooter to move easily in the paddock,” said Bradl.

After finally breaking his duck at Estoril Casey Stoner can now say that he has won races at every single track that on the current MotoGP calendar, not to mention some that are now no longer on it.

The Australian who took his 35th career victory is now leading the series by one point, admitted that he had some bad chattering issues (you could actually see his rear tire jumping) and that is was worse than in Qatar and Jerez, but changing his riding style somewhat helped him keep Jorge Lorenzo at bay when the Yamaha rider started to reel him in and began putting pressure on him.

“In the end it was another fantastic weekend for us. This morning we were more confident but also a little concerned because yesterday afternoon when we had a very similar setting to FP3 the bike was a little bit worse in the warm conditions. In warm up we didn’t have a big problem with chatter but then for the race, under the warmer conditions, we struggled a lot more. This was very difficult to ride with, in the first part of the race I was confident and attacking the track but I closed the front twice due to the chatter. From this point I backed of a little, tried to stay smooth and just wanted to stay in front of Jorge and Dani, but Jorge was coming strong. I had to try and keep my pace and not make too many mistakes, I was changing the mapping to try and reduce the chatter problem. Towards the end of the race I began to understand how to ride around it, this made things smoother and I found some more pace and was able to bring it home for a great race win,” said Stoner.

Dani Pedrosa was highly tipped to take victory at Estoril, until everyone saw what his team mate did in this morning’s warm-up practice. The Spaniard did get the holeshot, but his leading the race lasted very little as he suffered a big shake that sent his Honda sideways letting Stoner and Lorenzo through. Pedrosa is now third in the standings sitting 14 points from his team mate.

“It’s been a really tough race from the beginning, the pace was very very high from the first lap to the final one”, said Pedrosa. “Casey did a good race, unbelievably strong. I had a big shake in the first braking area, Casey and Jorge overtook me and I lost 1.5 seconds on the first lap. During the race I had some issues in the middle of the corner, I was not fast with corner speed; each lap I tried to get a little better, to try and modify my riding style, the mapping, braking later, I tried everything, I managed to match the lap times but not to close the gap. Three races on the podium is very good overall, but in three races we missed something, so let’s try it again in the next one. To reach my 100th podium is amazing and shows how fast the time goes. I’m very happy for that and I want to thank all my teams and sponsors during this time and especially Honda because I’ve been with them for my whole career”.

Casey Stoner has finally broke his Estoril duck by winning today’s MotoGP race, dominating from almost the start to finish, despite being pressured from Jorge Lorenzo for almost two thirds of the race, but the Yamaha rider lacked one or two tenths of second in the first sector to actually catch and pass the Repsol Honda rider.

The race in itself was processional, very reminiscent of the 800cc era with almost no passes except at the start when riders were jockeying for positions and a few crashes from some of the CRT riders in the back field.

This is the Australian’s second straight victory, while Jorge Lorenzo was second. Dani Pedrosa took the third spot on the podium, but he never had the pace of the two front runners.

The Yamaha Tech3 duo once again battled it out between themselves, but this time Andrea Dovizioso got the better of Cal Crutchlow. Alvaro Bautista took a very lonely sixth, while Valentino Rossi was today’s best Ducati rider with his 7th place despite having the pace of the three satellite riders who finished ahead of him.

Ben Spies had another tough and almost anonymous race finishing in 8th and having to battle with MotoGP rookie Stefan Bradl for the spot. Hector Barbera closed out the top ten finishing ahead of Nicky Hayden who was the last prototype riders and more than a minute adrift from Stoner and after a suffering Karel Abraham crashed out with five laps left in the race.

The best of the CRT riders was Aleix Espargaro in 12th who got the better of his battered and bruised team mate Randy de Puniet by over 3 seconds,while Michele Pirro was 14th. Bringing up the rear was Danilo Petrucci in 15th who was lapped the front runners.

Ivan Silva who had a horrific looking highside in this morning’s warm-up pitted, while Mattia Pasini lost the front of his Aprilia at the ‘Esses,’ and Yonny Hernandez had a high speed crash at the Parabolica Anterior.

MotoGP Estoril Race Results:

01- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 28 laps in 45’37.513
02- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.421
03- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 3.621
04- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 13.846
05- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 16.690
06- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 21.884
07- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 26.797
08- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 33.262
09- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 35.867
10- Hector Barbera – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 53.363
11- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1’02.630
12- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – 1’20.736
13- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – 1’23.483
14- Michele Pirro – San Carlo Honda Gresini – FTR Honda – + 1’37.905
15- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda TR003 – 1 lap

It was dry this morning for MotoGPs warm-up session at Estoril, however it rained last night and the incriminating last turn that remains damp is being signaled to the riders with yellow and red striped flag, but that didn’t stop Casey Stoner from laying down a 1.36.795 on his last flying lap which was faster than his pole position time (1′37.188), but it looks his arm pump issues are back which could cause some problems on the race distance.

The brief session was red flagged after Avintia rider IvanSilva had a bad highside at turn 1 and had to crawl off track and he was holding his left shoulder which could be mean a suspected collarbone fracture, he’ll probably miss this afternoon’s race.

The only rider who could get close to Stoner was his own team mate Dani Pedrosa, but he was almost eight tenths adrift, followed by Andrea Dovizioso, Jorge Lorenzo and Cal Crutchlow, all within one tenth of each other.

Ben Spies was sixth but he accused a 1.1 second gap, while Alvaro Bautista continues his adaptment with the RC213V as he posted the 7th best time, but he was up to third before Stoner decided to kill the field. Ducati riders Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi were 1.5 seconds adrift and separated by just 0.017s with Stefan Bradl closing out the top ten.

MotoGP Estoril Warm Up results:

01- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’36.795
02- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.798
03- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.863
04- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.891
05- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.930
06- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.100
07- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1.275
08- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.517
09- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.534
10- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 1.803
11- Hector Barbera – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.830
12- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 2.740
13- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 3.293
14- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 3.481
15- Yonny Hernandez – Avintia Blusens – FTR Kawasaki – + 3.823
16- Mattia Pasini – Speed Master Team – ART GP12 – + 3.881
17- Michele Pirro – San Carlo Honda Gresini – FTR Honda – + 4.524
18- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda TR003 – + 4.817
19- James Ellison – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP12 – + 4.875
20- Ivan Silva – Avintia Blusens – Inmotec MotoGP – + 5.567

Casey Stoner took his first pole position of the season in what turned out to be an exciting and very tight qualifying at Estoril for the top riders, with nine riders in less than a second, but we will be hearing several angry complaints regarding slower riders after today.

The session however was red flagged with only eleven minutes left, when Randy de Puniet came in too hot at turn 4 and in the change of direction lost control of his Aprilia CRT and went down wiping out an unsuspecting Colin Edwards who hit his head hard on the asphalt. Edwards was stretchered off to the medical centre with a probable left collarbone fracture, while a groggy De Puniet made was able to get there under his own steam with some bruised ribs and a small finger injury.

The Repsol Honda rider layed down a stratospheric 1′37.188, but it wasn’t easy as he struggled with fourth sector where he would lose all the advantage, but in the end he managed to pip his team mate Dani Pedrosa by just 0.013s, however the Spaniard was baulked by traffic in his last flying lap

Taking off on the first row will be the ‘new’ alien Cal Crutchlow who finished ahead of Yamaha factory rider Jorge Lorenzo who ‘only’ qualified fourth. This is the first time in four years that the Spaniard has been off the pole position at Estoril!

Ben Spies was baulked by James Ellison in his best lap and inside the pole position benchmark and ended up 5th while Alvaro Bautista took 6th. Andrea Dovizioso was seventh and he had a slight altercation with Ben Spies who slowed him down in his fast lap.

Following the Honda’s and Yamaha’s is a gaggle of Ducati’s with Hector Barbera in 9th with his satellite GP12 Zero who grabbed his ti,e early in the session with a tow from Jorge Lorenzo. The Spaniard out qualified factory riders Valentino Rossi (9th) by just 0.053s and had a slight improvement while Nicky Hayden closed out the top ten.

With Randy de Puniet out of action, his team mate Aleix Espargaro claimed top CRT honours in 12th, outqualifiying Ducati rider Karel Abraham who is suffering from severe neck problems, the Czech rider even cut short several of his practice sessions.

Ivan Silva was the last rider to qualify but will be probably be picking a video prize for his massive rodeo-style save.

MotoGP Estoril Qualifying Results:

01- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’37.188
02- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.013
03- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.101
04- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.278
05- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.535
06- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 0.729
07- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.755
08- Hector Barbera – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.818
09- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.871
10- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.065
11- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 1.077
12- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.165
13- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 2.210
14- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.398
15- Yonny Hernandez – Avintia Blusens – FTR Kawasaki – + 2.841
16- Michele Pirro – San Carlo Honda Gresini – FTR Honda – + 3.037
17- Mattia Pasini – Speed Master Team – ART GP12 – + 3.199
18- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Suter BMW – + 3.776
19- James Ellison – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP12 – + 4.206
20- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda TR003 – + 4.298
21- Ivan Silva – Avintia Blusens – Inmotec MotoGP – + 4.302

Dani Pedrosa pipped his Repsol Honda team mate in this morning’s final free practice session at the Estoril circuit, which today offered much more grip. The Spaniard suffered an electronics issue on his first bike and had to park it against a fence earlier in the session, but in one of his last flying laps on his second machine and he posted a 1.37.326 taking the top of the timesheets leaving Casey Stoner who dominated the entire session adrift by a mere 0.012s.

Jorge Lorenzo raised his head following his yesterday’s ’so-so’ 5th place and moved up the charts to take third and he was just 0.364s from the top Honda rider. Yamaha Tech3 duo Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso followed up in 4th and 5th respectively, with the Briton falling slightly back while the Italian moved up the timesheets from his Friday’s 10th spot after debuting a new swingarm.

Alvaro Bautista with his 6th spot was the last rider to be within a second from Pedrosa. Valentino Rossi was 7th and the fastest Ducati rider, but he was still more than 1.1 seconds slower that the fastest lap. Ben Spies seemed to suffer a set back with his 8th spot, but according to his team manager Maio Meregalli he did the entire session on hard tires hoarding the softer compounds for qualifying and the race. Nicky Hayden was 9th and he just 0.044s from his fellow American.

Stefan Bradl completed the top ten and the first CRT rider was the usual Randy De Puniet with his 12th spot followed by team mate Aleix Espargaro who finished ahead of satellite Ducati rider Karel Abraham.

MotoGP Estoril - FP3 results:

01- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’37.326
02- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.012
03- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.354
04- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.760
05- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.947
06- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1.006
07- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.117
08- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.232
09- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.276
10- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 1.388
11- Hector Barbera – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.530
12- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.035
13- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.899
14- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 3.048
15- Yonny Hernandez – Avintia Blusens – FTR Kawasaki – + 3.235
16- Mattia Pasini – Speed Master Team – ART GP12 – + 3.549
17- Michele Pirro – San Carlo Honda Gresini – FTR Honda – + 4.053
18- Ivan Silva – Avintia Blusens – Inmotec MotoGP – + 4.446
19- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda TR003 – + 4.676
20- James Ellison – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP12 – + 4.777
21- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Suter BMW – + 4.819

Fortunately this afternoon’s MotoGPs second free practice at Estoril was dry, but slippery so the riders were all using the softer rear tire. Casey Stoner who has never won at the Portughuese track, took the top of the timesheets with a best lap of 1.38.396. The Australian also had another of his usual misunderstandings with a slower rider, this time it was Hector Barbera who baulked him on one of his fast laps.

Ben Spies looks like he’s recovered the feeling that he has lost on his front, something that he was lamenting at Jerez, as he put in the second best time using one of Jorge Lorenzo’s settings and changing the weight distribution on his M1 and he was a little more than three tenths adrift from Stoner.

Seeing Cal Crutchlow in the top spots is no longer a surprise as the Briton took third and he was just 0.024s from Yamaha factory rider Spies. Dani Pedrosa was a little more than four tenths from his Repsol Honda team mate, while Jorge Lorenzo will be an upset birthday boy as he could only finish in fifth and was more than half a second off pace with Alvaro Bautista on his tail separated by just 0.029s.

Nicky Hayden was once again the fastest Ducati rider in 7th followed by Hector Barbera and Valentino Rossi who was 9th and for the first time less than one second adrift (0.961) losing time in the last sector, but he was still a big four tenths of second from his team mate.

Closing out the top ten was Andrea Dovizioso followed by Karel Abraham and rookie Stefan Bradl who was the last rider on the prototypes. Randy de Puniet was again the fastest on the Aprilia CRT and he was a little less than two tenths from the LCR rider.

MotoGP Estoril FP2 results:

01- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’38.396
02- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.321
03- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.346
04- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.401
05- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.534
06- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 0.563
07- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.633
08- Hector Barbera – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.797
09- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.961
10- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.219
11- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.811
12- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 2.502
13- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.692
14- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 3.238
15- Yonny Hernandez – Avintia Blusens – FTR Kawasaki – + 3.242
16- Mattia Pasini – Speed Master Team – ART GP12 – + 3.577
17- Michele Pirro – San Carlo Honda Gresini – FTR Honda – + 3.856
18- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Suter BMW – + 4.191
19- Ivan Silva – Avintia Blusens – FTR Kawasaki – + 4.408
20- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda TR003 – + 4.588
21- James Ellison – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP12 – + 5.269

As expected one of the first questions posed to Casey Stoner during today’s pre-event press conference at Estoril was the rumor that the reigning World Champion was thinking of retiring at the end of 2012 to spend more time with his family.

The rumor was launched by the European media, specifically by Italy’s Sportmediaset and Spanish magazine Solomoto who actually did a cover story on it calling it the “bombshell of the year.”

Obviously Stoner shot down the rumor, with “Until you hear it out of my mouth then don’t believe anything you read,” but he did repeat for the umpteenth time that he’ll continue as long as he enjoys it, but his retirement will come in a not to distant future.

“Everyone seems quite good at stories and making them up. I’ve said in the past that I’m not going to keep riding until my mid 30s. But I haven’t decided what I’m doing, so certainly no-one else is going to know,” said Stoner.

You’ve got to love the European press, with MotoGP TV audiences slipping in Spain (even attendance at Jerez was down over the weekend) and Italy, they obviously have to create a little drama.

Source | motomatters.com