It was a wet Brno this morning for almost the entire third free practice and Casey Stoner headed the top of the charts, despite a crash at turn 3 on his first flying lap. Luckily the Australian walked away unhurt to finish the session with a best lap of 2.07.321.

Lap times were much tighter than yesterday with ten riders separated by just a little more that seven tenths of a second. Jorge Lorenzo finished 2nd and was just 0.005s from the current MotoGP standings leader. As usual the Ducati’s performed much better in the wet; with Valentino Rossi taking the 3rd (+0.122) and team mate Nicky Hayden was fifth and no doubt much happier than yesterday. Dani Pedrosa who led both sessions yesterday was sandwiched between the two Ducatisti.

Hiroshi Aoyama and Cal Crutchlow were in sixth and seventh respectively, while Andrea Dovizioso, Marco Simoncelli and Ben Spies completed the top 10.

Rizla Suzuki’s wildcard John Hopkins also crashed at turn 3 and didn’t return to track, because he may have sustained a hand injury.

Continue reading: Casey Stoner takes FP3 in a wet Brno

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Dani Pedrosa had a great start to the Brno GP weekend, returning from the summer break to dominate both free practices. The Repsol Honda rider set the fastest lap time in both sessions, although this morning he was slightly faster. His FP1 lap of 1:56.328 was better than Jorge Lorenzo’s circuit record lap from 2009 (1′56.670) and just a little more than two tenths off of Valentino Rossi’s 2009 pole position (1.56.145).

Here’s what the riders had to say after Friday’s combined practice sessions:

Dani Pedrosa - 1st

“The feeling was very good today from the beginning. The bike was working well from the first round and we could move ahead, improving little by little in both practice sessions. I think the main difference I felt is that I’m fresh after the summer break, the rest I had has helped me a lot, I can feel the energy I didn’t have in the races before the break, so I hope I can keep the pace for Saturday and Sunday and be strong for the race. I’m very happy with the job we did in both sessions and I think we can still improve and be ready for both the qualifying practice and the race. I guess the other rivals will also do the same, so we have to keep focused. Today I rode alone all the time, maybe tomorrow I can compare a little with other riders to see where are they stronger or weaker than me”.

Continue reading: MotoGP Brno: Riders recap Friday's free practices

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Dani Pedrosa continued his dominance this afternoon at Brno. The Spaniard was still the fastest rider of the field with a best lap of 1’56″454, which was one tenth of second slower than this morning’s blistering time as he strung a series of fast laps all under the 1.57 mark.

However in this second free practice, several riders were able find some pace and get much closer to the Repsol Honda rider and team mate Casey Stoner was one of these. The Australian was the only other rider able to break the 1.57 mark and get within 0.377s of Pedrosa, but his pace was much less constant compared to Pedrosa’s. Marco Simoncelli once again finished in third and was 0.682s from the Spaniard’s factory Honda.

Jorge Lorenzo also took fourth again and the consistency of his race pace belies his final lap time. Andrea Dovizioso was again the slowest of the Honda Repsol riders in fifth ahead of Yamaha’s Ben Spies.

Continue reading: Dani Pedrosa continues Brno dominance in FP2

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Reigning MotoGP World champion Jorge Lorenzo has decided to change the graphics on his Nolan X-Lite X-802 helmet for this weekend’s Czech Grand Prix and has decided to go all Top Gun on us.

Lorenzo wrote on his Facebook page that the helmet has special meaning to him, but we think that he must have has recently watched a rerun of the 1986 flick and decided that he wanted to become ‘Maverick’ and say ‘I Feel The Need…….The Need For Speed’ (considering Pedrosa’s blistering pace FP1, he’ll need it) or he must admire 125cc rider Vinales’ first name an awful lot.

Maybe he can even get Yamaha team mate Ben Spies to change the design on his HJC lid and become Goose, even if Iceman would suit the American better.

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After the brief summer pause, the 800cc engines finally roared into life again for the 11th round of the MotoGP championship at Brno, and this morning’s first free practice got underway in dry conditions but under cloudy skies, and it was Dani Pedrosa who set the pace with two very hot laps; his first on his 11th lap with a 1.56.908 and a second blistering lap of 1.56.328 on his 15th lap that left the rest of the field gasping and unable to even get close. Repsol Honda team mate and father-to-be Casey Stoner was second, but a massive 0.966s adrift.

Marco Simoncelli was third and ended the session with a front end crash and he was a little more than a second from the Pedrosa. The lanky Italian is still part of the this year’s silly season as Fausto Gresini who wants to keep the Italian, is having trouble finding the funds for a factory spec Honda (3.500.000 euros + 700.000 for the seamless transmission) in order to give to his rider.

Jorge Lorenzo was fourth (+ 1.259) followed by Andrea Dovizioso and Ben Spies. John Hopkins who has a very busy month, in his second appearance in MotoGP this season for Rizla Suzuki (taking a 10th at Jerez) finished in an excellent 7th and ahead of his team mate Alvaro Bautista who was 8th. Yamaha Tech3 duo Cal Crutchlow and Colin Edwards closed out the top ten.

Continue reading: Dani Pedrosa sets scorching pace FP1 at Brno

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During today’s pre-event press conference at Brno, Casey Stoner officially announced that he is to become a father (Congrats to the new daddy-to-be!) stating that the knowing of his wife’s pregnancy may have contributed on his stance on boycotting the Motegi GP for fear of radition leaks from the Fukushima nuclear plant.

After the Sachsenring qualifying session Stoner had firmly stated that he had made up his mind and would not be attending, but now the Australian rider is more open to the idea after receiving further information from trusted people in his home country.

“There was a period after Silverstone that I felt very strongly that I wasn’t going to go there. After things I’d seen and heard, But that came from a very strong emotion after we found out that Adriana was pregnant. We’ve discussed it a lot since then and that’s a huge thing that’s happened in my life and now the most important. I felt that the best thing I could do at that time was to make my mind up. There was no way I was going to risk my wife or my family and it was very tough.

“But in these weeks I’ve taken a lot of data from Australia, people we feel we can trust on the matter, and I’m now slightly more open to it than I was before. I think people can understand I was taken a little bit with my safety and that of my family in this matter. We’ll see in these next weeks, we’ll continue talking and try and find out as much information as we can. I’m not saying that I am going, but I’m not saying that I’m not now. So we’ll just have to see what happens in the near future, ”commented the Australian rider.

Jorge Lorenzo was the first MotoGP rider to take a public stand against racing in Motegi, but he too has been coming to terms with the idea of going to Japan and today confirmed that he’ll make his final decision in the coming weeks, while the Safety Commision will further discuss the situation tomorrow and review the ARPA study which concluded that the radiation risk at Motegi is ‘negligible’.

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Apparently the fact that Marco Melandri admitted he was just kidding around when he spread the Valentino Rossi-Honda rumor, didn’t stop the journalists present at today’s pre-event press conference at Brno from asking the ‘The Doctor’ whether he’d be staying in Ducati next season.

The Italian obviously denied the whole story, confirming that he has a signed contract with Ducati and he’s staying put in the Italian team, even laughing at the rumor saying that Marco Melandri is his new manager and that the journos should ask the superbike rider about any of his decisions.

“I read especially about something from my new manager that is the superbike rider Marco Melandri that know very well my decision for next year. It is better you speak with him. I will race for Ducati next year but this is not in doubt. I have already a contract signed, so the situation is 100% fixed and for sure I will race with Ducati.”

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Randy de Puniet at Laguna Seca was just the latest rider to succumb to the cold tire syndrome that has been afflicting the grid over the start of the season (actually it’s been going for a lot longer) and Bridgestone has responded to the fact that the riders have been hitting the tarmac and tumbling into the kitty litter with all the hurting consequences, just a little too often.

The Japanese tire manufacturer will introduce this weekend at Brno and for the first time at the Czech circuit an asymmetric rear tire, and the riders will finally have three different compounds to select from for their front tire allocation with an additional even softer compound option also being made available to increase safety, but only in case of particularly low track temperatures, which will be decided solely by Bridgestone.

An additional change has also been made to rear tyre regulations, here too the riders will have a little more choice, instead of the usual five hard and five soft, they can now decide which combo to use after FP2, choosing a maximum of six of one compound option and four of the other.

We just have to wait for tomorrow morning’s first free practice to see if anyone crashes on their first laps out, but the teams may have to break out the rain tires at some point, because forecasts are predicting cloudy skies and scattered rain showers.

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The Brno GP will be another tough weekend for Pramac Ducati team. Their garage will still look like a clinic for the walking wounded, because both Loris Capirossi and Randy de Puniet are still carrying previous injuries that will no doubt hamper their performances in the Czech Republic, and with another two races (Indy and Misano) in the next three weeks, their physical situation won’t have time to improve.

Capirossi, who should finally get around in announcing whether he’ll be retiring at the end of this season, has still persistant shoulder problems that he picked up at Assen after a qualifying crash that ruled him out of both the Mugello and Sachsenring rounds, but he was able to ride at Laguna Seca despite now admitting that he’ll need shoulder surgery.

“Unfortunately, the shoulder problem is persisting. The doctor said I should undergo surgery, but I’ll only consider that after the championship. For now I’m undergoing therapy every day. For Brno I hope to continue improving my physical condition,” said the feisty MotoGP veteran. “I’ve rested during this two-week break, which I really needed. I want to ride well and to finally have a good result. The Czech track is one of my favorites, so hopefully I’ll manage that.”

Team mate de Puniet isn’t in much better shape. The French rider who is rumored to make the move to World Superbikes next year, suffered a crash during the Laguna Seca qualifying session picking up fractures to two of his vertebrae that ruled him out of the race, however he’s now confirmed that he didn’t sustain any pelvic fractures, but still has persistant pain.

Continue reading: Loris Capirossi and Randy de Puniet still carrying injuries

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As we expected, also because Ducati team manager Vitto Guareschi had confirmed it early July, Ducati will not be testing their GP12 during Monday’s official post race test at Brno, but only their 800cc machine.

Ducati perfers to continue testing their GP12 privately, and their next test will be at Misano for two days, so we won’t be able to see any comparison between Yamaha, Honda and Ducati on Monday at the Czech circuit, maybe because Rossi has already revealed that their GP12 is slower than the 800cc and Ducati may want to avoid a ‘brutta figura’ (give a bad impression).

Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden however will be present (they decided to skip the last official test date at Mugello) and will working solely on their current 2011 bikes.

Continue reading: Rossi and Hayden will test only the GP11's at Brno

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Jorge Lorenzo is back in shape and all charged up after his brief summer vaction in the Dominican Republic after his TC-less crash and a second place at Laguna Seca, ready to try to catch up on those 20 points that stand between him and points leader Casey Stoner and where he and Ben Spies can finally test on Monday, the new Yamaha 2012 machine.

Yamaha, who was supposed to give their 2012 bike it’s first official rider shakedown at Mugello, but decided to postpone it to allow further development, is now ready to roll out the new M1, as confirmed by Lorenzo, “After the race we will be testing the 1000cc bike for one day. I am really looking forward to discovering the new Yamaha.”

Ducati has already used up half of their eight official testing days allotment with Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden getting a day a piece on the GP12 Jerez and then at the Mugello for another two days, while Honda has had Casey Stoner out on their new machine at Jerez back in May, after HRC test riders Kosuke Akiyoshi and Shinichi Ito tested it in April at Suzuka, Japan. So we also expect to see the Honda RC213V in action also on Monday with Stoner and Dani Pedrosa.

It will also be Pedrosa’s first time his new machine, as he missed the previous test due to his broken collarbone after the controversial crash at Le Mans.

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John Hopkins can be defined the comeback rider. After his personal and physical problems in 2010, that almost forced him to retire, the Anglo-American rider is back on track and burning hot and true this 2011 season and becoming a hot commodity.

Riding in the British Superbike Championship for Samsung Crescent Suzuki, Hopkins is currently second in the standings and during the Brands Hatch round last weekend picked up even more precious points (finishing second, third and fourth place) and after a stunning pole position at the World Superbike weekend at Silverstone (5th and 7th) the American is ready to return to MotoGP action at Brno as a wildcard.

“This is my third race in as many weeks and I am really looking forward to it! It’s been very busy and doing these three different championships back-to-back is quite a challenge, but I am really excited to be back in amongst the big boys at MotoGP. When I rode at Jerez earlier in the year I’d had no real 2011 racing experience so it was a bit ‘in at the deep end’. It was also the first time I’d raced with my wrist working properly since the operation, up until then it was still healing and the few times I’d been on a bike in 2011 had been for pre-season tests and the filming shoot at Qatar. Now I feel that I have gained more confidence and I’m riding better than ever. I’m really pumped that the race is at Brno because it is one of my favourite tracks and I hope I can go well. I’m under no illusions that it will be tough, because the other guys have been racing on MotoGP bikes all season and I’ll need some time to get up to speed with the bike and tyres, but I’ll be giving it all I’ve got to try to get a good result for the team.”

Hopkins is also one of the few riders in the world to have competed in three different championships in a single year, not to mention three different races in three consecutive weeks (WSBK, BSB and MotoGP).

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