It looks like we haven’t heard the last on Casey Stoner vs Valentino Rossi entertaining verbal catfight that we had at Estoril, and by all chances it will be carried over big time during this weekend’s Le Mans GP, if one of the contenders decides to play along.

According to Sportmediaset.com ( yes it’s always them for the gossipy articles and ready to stir up the pot) they were tipped off by someone attending the WSBK round at Monza that Casey Stoner had blocked and run Valentino Rossi off the track during the MotoGP test at Estoril.

We can only imagine who tipped off Sportmediset, but our money goes on Marco Simoncelli who was at Monza, and has become their new darling and has his own couple of minutes of air time every GP weekend called “Dimmi di Sic, chiedilo a Simoncelli” where he answers questions posed by fans.

Continue reading: Casey Stoner vs Valentino Rossi sparring to be carried over at Le Mans?

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Hector Barbera’s Estoril race lasted only four corners into the first lap, when the Mapfre Aspar rider suddenly crashed out due to the usual cold tire syndrome and was left lying breathless in the gravel pit, unaided at first by a corner marshal who preferred to pick up his Ducati GP11.

Barbera seemed okay when he returned to his garage and stated that he hadn’t been injured, but a subsequent visit to the Clinica Mobile revealed that he had sustained a small crack on the right hand side of his lumbar vertebra. Apparently the injury isn’t serious and only requires rest, but this could mean that Barbera may have to sit out the Estoril test like Randy de Puniet.

Talking about his crash Barbera said, “It is a shame, because I think that we could have been in the top eight with the practice pace that we had. I wanted to continue my form from Jerez. It was my mistake, because I maybe overstretched myself. It was just that I had a group of riders in front of me and didn’t want to lose them. I suppose I should have been a bit more reserved, because it was the first left hander and the tyre was perhaps a little cold. The crash was a strange one, because I didn’t get any warning and suddenly I was on the ground. I rode almost the same line on the warm-up lap, and nothing happened then. I don’t know what to think. It was an excess of confidence, because I had never had problems on that corner before the race. I wasn’t even on the throttle when I took it. After I got changed I noticed that my back was aching, so I went to the clinica and got some scans done. It looks like I might have a small crack on the right hand side of a vertebra, but it is something that maybe won’t trouble me tomorrow. The doctors have told me to rest up and come back tomorrow for another examination.”

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Randy de Puniet finished 10th in yesterday’s race at Estoril, but it was a real struggle for the French rider, who suffered some pretty bad leg pain, so much pain that he’s decided to skip today’s important MotoGP test to find out why.

De Puniet was one of the many riders that underwent surgery during long break between the Jerez and Estoril GP’s. He had a screw removed from his left knee that was inserted after breaking his leg at the Sachsenring last year and was causing him some lingering pain and discomfort while riding.

“I’m partly happy,” said de Puniet. “Before the start of the race, if I knew I’d finish tenth, I’d have celebrated the result this weekend. But I don’t know what happened with my knee. It hurt very badly in the race, and I didn’t have enough strength in my legs. I had X-rays earlier this week, but I don’t know how my ligaments are. I hope it’s not anything serious, but tomorrow I will return home for a check-up.”

“As for the bike, we’ll try to fix the problems with the front. I’m happy for the six points earned, but without the pain in my knee, my result would undoubtedly have been better. We must work to find the same feeling glimpsed at Losail and Jerez.”

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Jorge Lorenzo may have looked like he was going to win today’s Estoril GP for the fourth consecutive time, but he didn’t take in account another rider, Dani Pedrosa and his sheer determination. At least fans were spared the moonwalk again, I’m just kidding.

Someone on Ben Spies’ team really messed up today, they left a tool that is used to temporarily block the fuel overflow pipe in place and this caused all the American’s problems and mining his confidence which caused him to crash.

“I made a good start and I’m really happy for that then I pushed to my maximum to try to open the gap to Dani,” said Lorenzo. “Unfortunately today was not the day for that, he was too strong and consistent and at the end he was maybe fresher to push. Second is a good result, we have a lot of points from three races so I think we are in a good way to keep fighting for the championship. I want to thank my team who worked really hard this weekend to make sure we were as competitive as we could be.”

Continue reading: Jorge Lorenzo thinks that Pedrosa was too strong, tool left on Ben Spies' bike wrecks havoc

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While the Estoril race wasn’t as bad as yesterday’s qualifying session for Ducati, the Italian team seemed to find some comfort in Valentino Rossi’s fifth place and Nicky Hayden’s ninth, but the two riders seem to be more anxious over what Ducati will bringing in for tomorrow’s testing session after the recent three day test at the Mugello.

Here’s what Rossi and Hayden had to say about the race:

“Apart from Dovizioso, today went well! I’m joking, but Andrea obviously rode a race that was strategically perfect,” said Rossi. “I think he played with me a little, knowing that on the straight, he could probably beat me to the line. He couldn’t pass me because I was strong on the brakes, so he had me do all the work for 28 laps before making his attempt, and he got me by twenty-five thousandths. Apart from that, the team and I are very happy, because it was a nice race and this, for the time being, is the best we can do. I started well, I made up several positions, and then I was very consistent, with decent times. I practically did the same lap from qualifying for 28 laps, so it’s a good result. My only disappointment is that fourth would have been my best finish with the Ducati. Anyway, another positive is that I’m physically well, as I’m missing just fifteen percent of my strength, but I think I’ll be at 100 percent between Le Mans and Catalunya. As for the bike, there’s certainly still work to do, but we’re working together with the Ducati technicians. They’re pleased with the data they have, and I’m seeing that what I get from the racing department works. It will take some time, but we’re going forward. Tomorrow we’ll have some new things to try, so let’s hope that it’s dry, and we’ll see how it goes. We don’t expect to solve everything in seven hours, just to continue down the path we’ve started on together.”

Continue reading: MotoGP Estoril: Ducati waxes positive over results, waiting for new parts

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Honda can be more than satisfied with its results at the Estoril GP. Dani Pedrosa seems to have overcome most of his shoulder problems and taken his first win of the season, even if we admit that after seeing him stretch out his arm in one of turns while chasing Lorenzo we thought he couldn’t last the whole race distance, and how wrong we were.

Casey Stoner had some rear tire problems, a back problem and a beef about Marco Simoncelli after taking third, while Andrea Dovizioso was in a certain way the other man of the day after he pipped Valentino Rossi at the finish line. Hiroshi Aoyama had his hands full with a very smooth Cal Crutchlow. Toni Elias wasn’t dead last this time and was able to fight with Loris Capirossi, but both riders were advantaged by the fact that three riders crashed out in the first lap.

Probably the biggest disappointment in today’s race was Marco Simoncelli who binned it on lap 1, when he had the potential to be on the podium.

Rider quotes after the jump.

Continue reading: Honda rider quotes: Dani Pedrosa more happy with arm condition than win

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It’s going to be hard making today’s Estoril GP sound exciting, because only three things made it worth watching. Marco Simoncelli highsiding on the first lap on a cold rear tire when he was expected to be on the podium, a suffering Dani Pedrosa who overtook Jorge Lorenzo for the lead with four laps to go and sped away to the chequered flag and Andrea Dovizioso who beat Valentino Rossi for fourth place over the finish line by a mere 0.025s.

Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa completely dominated the race from start to finish, with Pedrosa never letting the Yamaha rider out of his sights and more or less matching lap times until the 22nd lap when the Pedrosa decided it was time to break the monotony and on the first turn overtook an almost suprised Lorenzo. Seemingly unsettled by Pedrosa’s pass, Lorenzo immediately tried to retaliate but made a small mistake and lost 4 tenths of second and contact with the Repsol Honda rider. The 23rd lap saw Lorenzo lose another 3 tenths and Pedrosa laying down the best lap of the race and then speeding to victory.

Casey Stoner took the third spot on the podium, but he immediately lost contact with the front runners on the first lap when Simoncelli crashed out in front him and couldn’t make up the gap despite running excellent lap times.

Continue reading: MotoGP Estoril: Dani Pedrosa stops Lorenzo's Portoguese domination

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This morning’s 20 minute warm-up practice at a damp Estoril saw Colin Edwards take the lead in a huge last lap lunge that left Casey Stoner in second and adrift by a massive 0.720s.

Edwards may have had his breakfast of champions, but it was running slicks that gave the Yamaha Tech3 rider such an advantage over Stoner who was on rain tires. Ducati duo, Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden were third and fourth respectively, but taking off in 9th and 13th this afternoon is the wrong place to be, especially if the weather turns out to be sunny and dry.

Marco Simoncelli was fifth followed by his new media rival Jorge Lorenzo. Dani Pedrosa was only seventh, but he’s saving his strength for the race. Cal Crutchlow, Hiroshi Aoyama and Ben Spies closed out the top ten.

Continue reading: MotoGP Estoril: Warm-up sees Colin Edwards on top

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Whatever breakthrough that Valentino Rossi thought he found in Friday’s practice sessions, didn’t happen in today’s qualifying session at Estoril, infact the Italian back pedaled into 9th and a third row start, and it will be another uphill battle, fighting to find some of the magic mojo set-up that crewchief Jeremy Burgess used to be able to cast.

Nicky Hayden has also been struggling, not only did he lose one of the six engines that are allocated for the season yesterday, he’s having the same grip problems that Rossi had, which left him in a lowly 13th place and behind Hector Barbera and Karel Abraham on satellite Ducati’s.

“I’m a little disappointed with my performance today because I expected to get the fifth- or sixth-best time and be on the second row; that was the target,” said Rossi. “Unfortunately, though, it was a little more difficult than expected, and I wasn’t able to ride like I could yesterday since I didn’t have as much feeling. I couldn’t fight for a position that we would have been happier with. I struggled a little with the track conditions, as I didn’t have enough grip, especially on the front, and we’re trying to understand why. For tomorrow, we have to try to improve something with the front setup in order to still have a good race. I think the best pace will be around 1:37.5, and I’d be very happy to get in the high 1:37s, but we’ll have to find something in order to do that. I’m not hoping for a wet race, because although it’s true that we might be able to have more fun, racing in the dry makes it possible to understand more. Really, both options are fine.”

Continue reading: MotoGP Estoril: Valentino Rossi ain't happy and neither is Nicky Hayden

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There has to be something in the water at Estoril or the riders have being taking massive doses of adrenaline mixed in with some downright bitchiness, because after the Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi row, Jorge Lorenzo decided that he too needed to get something off his shaved chest and that was criticizing Marco Simoncelli.

During Friday’s press conference Lorenzo accused Simoncelli of being overly aggressive and dangerous with his riding style citing last year’s season finale in Valencia as an example (which was almost six months ago and it was Lorenzo who tried to force himself past Simoncelli, leaving tread marks on the Italian’s leathers before getting away and winning the race).

In today’s post qualifying conference Simoncelli was asked what he thought of Lorenzo’s comments and obviously Simoncelli didn’t dodge the questions and the verbal volley started.

Continue reading: Another duel in the making, Jorge Lorenzo vs Marco Simoncelli - Updated

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Dani Pedrosa definitely deserves a lot of respect, because after undergoing surgery on his shoulder earlier this month, the Spaniard came back this weekend to qualify in third in this afternoon’s qualifying session at Estoril.

Casey Stoner has had a bit of problems on his Honda during practice sessions and the first part of qualifying, but managed to turn the situation around and take fourth, while other Repsol team mate Andrea Dovizioso made a big jump forward from a difficult Friday to take the sixth spot on the grid.

“I’m very satisfied with this front row today. It was a very close session as it always is in this circuit and our main target this afternoon was to be on the front row, so I’m happy about this,” said Pedrosa. “For tomorrow, we will try to set up our bike a bit better for the race distance. I know that physically it will be tough for me because after the recent surgery my shoulder has improved a little but it is still very stiff and the muscles hurt. Anyway, I hope to be able to stay with Lorenzo because for sure he will be consistant and that will be one of the key points in the race. The weather is nothing that we can change, so we will need to also be ready to do our best in any condition”.

Continue reading: Dani Pedrosa hoping to last the distance, Stoner finds improvements, Dovi happier

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That Jorge Lorenzo is a force of nature at Estoril is a pretty well known fact and the Yamaha rider wearing his astronaut’s helmet grabbed his fourth consecutive pole position on a unexpectedly dry Portuguese track and his first of the 2011 season.

However it wasn’t that simple for Lorenzo, because Marco Simoncelli riding his Gresini Honda more like a superbike than a prototype, lead the field for almost the entire session and seemed to be on his way to take his first MotoGP pole position of his career, until an untimely lowside crash, with just four minutes left in the session, took away the opportunity. Super Sic’s best time which was just 0.133s adrift from the top spot, that will let him take off in second on tomorrow’s starting grid.

Being next to Simoncelli won’t exactly make Lorenzo jump with joy after having complained in his post-Friday practice press conference that the bushy afro- haired Italian is a dangerous rider.

The first row will be completed by Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa who a mere 0.030s from Simoncelli and 0.163s from his Spanish compatriot.

Continue reading: MotoGP Estoril: Jorge Lorenzo takes his 4th consecutive Portuguese pole

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