All posts tagged motogp motegi
More Images from Motegi GP
More than 34,000 fans attended the Motegi GP, and were treated to seeing Norick Abe’s father doing two demonstration laps on one of his late son’s YZR500’s and also on track was Jarno Saarinen’s 1973 machine and then got to watch Johann Zarco break his jinx, Andrea Iannone beat Marc Marquez and the highlight of the day, MotoGP’s very eventful race.
Enjoy this new gallery of image we’ve posted for you and after the jump you check out a highlight video of the race.
MotoGP Motegi Image Gallery
We’ve got our first gallery of images from the weekend’s Grand Prix of Japan for you to enjoy and where Dani Pedrosa won his third race of the season and celebrated the 400th win for a Spaniard in Grand Prix racing.
Just click on one of the thumbnails to see the rest of the 131 pics.
More rider quotes from Motegi GP race
This year’s MotoGP race at Motegi will be longed remembered in the minds of racing fans. The race was postponed due to the horrific earthquake and tsunami that hit the Japanese country and population in March.
The riders and paddock personnel didn’t want to go (a big part of Italian media stayed at home as did their Spanish colleagues) fearing radiation leaks from the Fukushima reactor, with top riders making statements that riled up fans on both side of the fences, only to change their minds as the race date grew nearer and decisions had to be taken. In the end all of the teams showed up and took their own personal precautions, geiger counters, showering with bottled mineral water and eating only imported can goods and wearing their scruffiest clothes to leave at the airport before heading home (wonder what they’ll do with their expensive leathers and lids).
In the end the race turned out to be the most chaotic we’ve seen of the season, surpassing even a wet race or a flag-to-flag and truthfully we can’t remember a race where three ride-through penalties were handed out. It wasn’t the most entertaining race, but it certainly was very different from what we’ve been accustomed to.
Rest of the rider quotes after the jump.
Repsol Honda: Pedrosa super happy while Stoner and Dovizioso have different issues
This year’s controversial Motegi GP was one strange race, and Casey Stoner who was tipped to win it and continue his winning streak suffered a big technical issue that left him third, while Andrea Dovizioso had jump start that psyched out several other riders.
Dani Pedrosa who last year lost his 2010 title chances in Japan due to a faulty throttle and picking up a fractured collarbone, instead took the first win ever for the Repsol Honda team at the Twin Ring and now is just one point behind Andrea Dovizioso (3rd) in the championship standing.
With three rounds to go, Stoner still leads the championship by 40 points over Jorge Lorenzo.
Dani Pedrosa - 1st
“I’m super happy with this victory, for the team that has been working so well, for HRC because this is the first win in Motegi with the Repsol Honda Team and for myself because it is the first time I’ve won here in MotoGP after doing so in 125cc and 250cc. The race was strange at the beginning with Stoner and Dovi really fast on the first few laps, they pulled away and then Casey had some problem and Andrea had a ride through for his jump start. I was alone in front with Lorenzo close, but I tried to put my head down and push every lap to pull away. I’m happy because at this track I’ve had a mix of good and bad results and some bad injuries, so to come back one year later and win in MotoGP is fantastic.”
Continue reading: Repsol Honda: Pedrosa super happy while Stoner and Dovizioso have different issues
Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden: "It was a shame"
It was another hard weekend for Ducati riders, Valentino Ross and Nicky Hayden who couldn’t capitalize on the incident packed Japanese GP. Rossi ended up with a DNF after crashing out on the first lap picking up a some small injury to the fingers of his left hand, while Hayden reported that the start caught out several nervous riders out and that running off track trying to chase Bautista and Stoner ruined his chances of getter a higher spot on the finishing grid.
“Our bike was pretty good this weekend,” said Hayden. “Even though I was only eighth fastest this morning, I was pretty consistent, and this weekend is really the first time I’ve been kind of competitive here. On the start, everybody flinched, and I almost got baited into jumping. Then I got touched by Vale on the exit of Turn 1 and went off the track and lost a lot of time. We were all racing, and it was normal for the first lap. I got into a pretty good rhythm, and when Casey came past me, I wanted to try to follow him past Bautista, but I came in way too hot and went off the track. It’s a shame, because with everybody making mistakes, I had a chance to get us a good result. It was my mistake, and I’m sorry to Ducati and everybody, because they worked so hard. Phillip Island is a track I like, so hopefully there we can do a decent race there.”
“It’s really a shame to be out of the race after two corners, especially after the progress that we made this weekend, and with the knowledge that we’d worked on the bike well,” said a disappointed Valentino Rossi. “I was fourth in the morning warm-up, and it would have been possible to have a pace in the high 1:46 range. I also think our choice of tyres for the race—hard on the back and soft on the front—was correct. When you also consider the troubles that Stoner, Simoncelli and Dovizioso had, we could have fought for the podium, which would have been really nice for us. We were a little unlucky. Unfortunately, Lorenzo went onto the grass slightly in Turn 1, and in the next turn he moved suddenly to get his trajectory right. He didn’t see me because I was slightly behind. When he touched me, it pushed me into Spies, who touched my front brake lever. It was normal racing contact, but I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Anyway, we did a good job this weekend, and we were more competitive than usual. It’s a challenging time for us, but we hope we’re on the right path.”
Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies talk about Motegi GP
While Jorge Lorenzo finished second ahead of Casey Stoner and reduced the standings distance to forty points at the Motegi GP, the reigning World Champion has conceded that keeping the title is ‘almost impossible’ now that there are only three rounds to go.
Lorenzo’s only big moment in the race was he came into contact with Valentino Rossi, and managed to avoid going down, but Yamaha team mate Ben Spies was a lot less luckier and got caught up and swept away, but he managed to return to action and carve through the field and take sixth, and you won’t hear him say ‘your ambition outweighs your talent’ in what everyone considered at racing incident that happens when the pack is still tight, even if Lorenzo did say, “when I lost position and then Valentino almost took me off and I lost touch with Stoner.”
Jorge Lorenzo - 2nd
“I didn’t expect such a strange race, Casey going wide and Dovi having a ride through. I thought it was possible to fight with Dani but he came better and better, I think he was inspired today and at a very high level of riding. He decided the victory and I couldn’t follow him. To win now is almost impossible, just maybe some small possibilities! A big thank you to my team who worked so hard this weekend to make a very competitive bike and thank you to all the Japanese fans who came out to support us.”
Continue reading: Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies talk about Motegi GP
Hector Barbera confirmed with fractured collarbone, Australian GP in doubt
Hector Barbera’s Motegi race ended on lap 2 at turn 12 when he lost the front of his Aspar Mapfre Ducati and crashed. Unfortunately the Spaniard has been diagnosed with fractured right collarbone, which puts his partecipation at Phillip Island in two weeks time now in doubt.
As the rider lost consciousness following the crash, the circuit doctors decided to airlift him to the Dokkyo hospital in Mibu, where a CAT scan confirmed that his collarbone was fractured. Barbera will be required to a stay in the hospital between 24 and 48 hours.
Dani Pedrosa wins an error fraught race at Motegi
Today’s MotoGP race at Motegi was fraught with rider errors, crashes, with Dani Pedrosa emerging victorious and taking his 3rd win of the season and giving Honda its first win at their home track since 2004.
The 24 lap race began with Casey Stoner taking the lead followed by team mates Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso, but a turn 3 in a still tightly packed field, Valentino Rossi found himself squeezed out by Jorge Lorenzo. The Ducati rider crashed taking out Ben Spies who was next to him, while the American would be be able to rejoin, albeit in last place, Rossi’s race was over before the end of the first lap.
Aspar’s Hector Barbera also crashed out during lap 2 and was stretchered away, where he is undergoing tests for a suspected fractured collarbone. If two crashes wasn’t already enough, on lap 3 the Race Direction hands out three ride throughs penalties for jump starts to Andrea Dovizioso, Marco Simoncelli and Cal Crutchlow and then Casey Stoner found himself in trouble. The Repsol Honda rider suffered a huge tank slapper that shook his brakes from their pads and unable to stop his RC212V ran into the gravel pit, he managed to stay on and re-joined in 7th and had to start all over again.
Continue reading: Dani Pedrosa wins an error fraught race at Motegi
Karel Abraham decides to sit out Motegi race
Karel Abraham has decided to sit out today’s MotoGP race at Motegi. The Czech rider has been complaining of concentration problems since his arrival in Japan and after this morning’s warm up practice has decided to withdraw from the race.
Abraham had been given the all clear from doctors after his horrible first lap crash at Aragon two weeks ago, when the wheel of his Ducati had clipped him on his helmet.
“It would be a risk to start the race in such a conditions,” said Abraham. “I’m sorry I’m not able to participate in the race, but I believe it’s the right decision not to risk anything.”
MotoGP rider quotes from today's qualifying session at Motegi
Casey Stoner took his fourth consecutive pole position at Motegi today, his 10th of the season and he has now surpassed Valentino Rossi’s nine and he needs just two more to reach Mick Doohan’s record of twelve in one season, and what more can you say about the Australian and the roll he’s on this year.
Only Jorge Lorenzo looks capable of actually destroying Honda’s wet dream of having an all Repsol Honda podium tomorrow at their home track.
Lap times were pretty close from Valentino Rossi (6th) to Randy de Puniet (13th) so we should expect to see some interesting battles in the middle of the field during the race.
Casey Stoner - 1st
“Everything has gone very well so far this weekend, we’ve been fastest in all but one session so it’s been fantastic. We tried a few different settings this afternoon and didn’t really improve so we’ll probably go back to this morning’s setting for tomorrow. We’ll have to watch the weather as this will affect the set up, there’s also a chance of rain so it could get complicated. Jorge has been riding fantastic, as has Dovi and Dani, but there is no doubt that the Honda suits this track, I’ve been looking forward to riding it here for a while now and I’m not disappointed! Tomorrow will be a tough race, but the team is working hard and we’ll do our best.”
Continue reading: MotoGP rider quotes from today's qualifying session at Motegi
Casey Stoner breaks pole position record at Motegi
Casey Stoner did it again. The Repsol Honda rider took his 10th pole position of the season at Motegi with blazing lap of 1’45″543 that broke not only Jorge Lorenzo’s 2008 qualifying record (before the one tire rule) but also lowering the same record that the Yamaha rider had set a couple of minutes earlier.
Jorge Lorenzo stopped the Repsol Honda domination that characterized this Japanese GP weekend so far. The Spaniard came back to take second and he was 0.256s adrift, the only other rider to go under the 1.46 mark and now he has an interesting race pace.
Closing the front row will be Andrea Dovizioso who moved into third on his last flying lap, demoting Repsol Honda team mate Dani Pedrosa to 4th and Valentino Rossi to seventh. With Pedrosa on the the second row will be a still recovering Ben Spies and Gresini Honda’s Marco Simoncelli who suffered a crash at turn 5 at the halfway mark of the session.
Continue reading: Casey Stoner breaks pole position record at Motegi
Casey Stoner once again leads Honda clean sweep at Motegi
Nothing really changed in MotoGP’s third free practice at Motegi, it was another clean sweep by the Repsol Honda riders. Just like yesterday morning, Casey Stoner was back on top of the charts with a best lap of 1’46″162, followed by team mates Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa who were adrift 0.139s and 0.267s, respectively.
Marco Simoncelli was again fourth with his Gresini Honda, while title rival Jorge Lorenzo is still fifth. Lorenzo bettered his lap times from yesterday morning, but it still wasn’t good enough to stay with the Australian and the dominating Honda’s as he was 0.647s off pace.
Ben Spies was in much better shape this morning, coming back from his food poisoning to grab sixth, right behind his team mate. Valentino Rossi pipped seventh from Alvaro Bautista on his last flying lap, and the Italian was 0.999s from the top of the charts. After a very promising Friday, Nicky Hayden this morning finished in 9th and with another two Ducati riders behind him, Pramac’s Randy de Puniet and Aspar’s Hector Barbera.
Continue reading: Casey Stoner once again leads Honda clean sweep at Motegi
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