MotoGP – The Australian Grand Prix MotoGP turn-based –

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Round-based MotoGP Australian Grand Prix

MotoGP - The Australian Grand Prix MotoGP turn-based -

Admittedly, Rossi’s title acquired three races before the final in Valencia removes some salt at the end of the MotoGP season … But the duel between the eight-time world champion and Stoner is not yet over. ! Especially since behind the scenes, 2009 is looming !

Approaching this antepenultimate event of the 2008 season with the satisfaction of a job well done, Valentino Rossi nonetheless remains focused on his goals: to continue winning to get closer to the last records of a certain Giacomo Agostini, and above all to reconnect with his status. of "winning machine" by trying to take the 75 points available before the end of the season !

Zoom on…

Michelin’s withdrawal in MotoGP, after 36 years of presence, 26 titles in the premier class and more than 350 GP victories: "Michelin has decided not to bid on the call for tenders"for the choice of a single manufacturer, indicates the brand of Clermont-Ferrand in a press release, because this decision"de facto excludes competition that generates progress. Competition between several tire manufacturers is a valuable stimulus to develop ever more efficient tires, which will one day be used on customers’ vehicles.", explains the Bibendum who had already approached the single-brand in F1 in the same way in 2007.

Sure that the performances of Stoner and Rossi – not to mention the latter’s title – and the defection of Pedrosa during the season should not have encouraged the Auvergne house to respond to the call for tenders set for October 18 in the later. Dunlop having already announced not to participate, Bridgestone therefore wins the market a priori.

A shame when we know that behind the scenes, the Japanese manufacturer shares exactly the same reservations as Michelin about the mono-brand….

The only driver really capable of countering "Hurricane Rossi", Casey Stoner appears freed from the pressure of the title, impressed by his rival’s season but above all determined to pocket pole, records and victories until the final outcome in Valencia! Behind the two tenors of this 2008 season, Hayden, Lorenzo and Pedrosa continue to hang on, while dreaming of taking their revenge in 2009: now confirmed as a single-brand, not to say Bridgestone (see box opposite), this one will see Toni Elias returning to Fausto Gresini, Dovisiozo racing at the HRC, Hayden at Ducati, the Suzuki Boys reappointed and, why not, Kawasaki engaging a third motorcycle…

Under the aegis of the charismatic Jorge Aspar Martinez, this third ZX-RR could be driven by Carlos Checa, Shinya Nakano or Alex Debon (delete the unnecessary mention) … Still assumptions, the Nieto family would enter an 800 Ducati as early as the year next, piloted by … Sete Gibernau himself! In short, while the fastest Kangaroo on the board pounded his opponents on Friday morning, the whole paddock went about his commentary and his guesswork. !

Applied, enthusiastic, playful, Casey Stoner leaves nothing to shine about the loss of his title: after all, few drivers can boast of such a fine track record in just three premier-class seasons! Overwhelming his rivals from Friday morning on a dry track, the Ducati official concedes the provisional pole to his future teammate in the afternoon on a wet track.

However, Nicky Hayden will have to bow following a thrilling qualifying session during which Stoner seizes pole with an incredible time of 1’28.665: a new record which sends the previous one to oblivion of almost 4 tenths of a second! By pocketing his eighth pole, Stoner thwarted Jorge Lorenzo’s remarkable offensive by just 0.069 seconds. !

Third on the grid, Nicky Hayden hoists his Honda to the front row ahead of the swift Randy de Puniet, James Toseland, Dani Pedrosa, Colin Edwards, Andrea Dovizioso and Shinya Nakano. Valentino Rossi qualifies only in 12th position following a violent fall during a qualifying lap: the n ° 46 loses control of his M1 in the gravel at high speed and relieved with a serious neck injury, he will however resume the track at the end of the session and remain confident for tomorrow’s race…

The race !

Departure : Under a bright sun, Casey Stoner signed the best start ahead of Hayden, Pedrosa and Toseland. The English tries to pass the Spanish through the interior, then gives up, but Pedrosa – distracted? – deviate from its path and its front wheel will bite the grass outside the track! The sanction is immediate and little Asimo goes to the mat !

The Spaniard does not seem injured and he has plenty of time to watch it go – on either side of his motorcycle! – Sylvain Guintoli and Chris Vermeulen who also got out, but without falling! Before Stoner dictates his law to Hayden, Toseland, Edwards, Lorenzo, de Puniet, Nakano, de Angelis and Rossi who passes Capirossi under braking a right !

2nd and 3rd rounds : Casey Stoner precedes a Nicky Hayden determined to shine, James Toseland, Jorge Lorenzo, Colin Edwards, Shinya Nakano, Randy de Puniet and Valentino Rossi who has just gained a place following the fall of Alex de Angelis, just ahead of the catch air of his M1! The Italian turns at an impressive pace and he has no trouble getting rid of Randy de Puniet, before – quickly – picking up Shinya Nakano and Colin Edwards !

The Italian is up to Nakano’s Honda in the pit straight and the n ° 46 has the luxury of taxing the Japanese and Edwards on the only braking of the fast first straight! Even louder: the on-board camera on Rossi’s motorcycle shows him adjusting his clutch freehold, while passing Nakano !

The brand new eight-time world champion has clearly noticed the drop in speed of the two drivers and the slight gap between them and James Toseland and Jorge Lorenzo, themselves already well behind by Stoner and Hayden. Very lively, the American indeed easily follows the pace of the vice-world champion and even achieves the fastest lap in the race. !

4th and 5th rounds : Casey Stoner takes Nicky Hayden on his wheels, while Toseland overtakes Lorenzo under braking a few cables away! Valentino Rossi continued his recovery on the two drivers, gradually taking down a lonely Shinya Nakano. A little further away appear Andrea Dovizioso and Colin Edwards – who has dropped sharply – Randy de Puniet and Loris Capirossi.

Rossi is now in the wheel of his teammate in Michelin and the Italian is already showing signs of overtaking! Cautious, the new man’s record for victories in the premier class takes the time to observe Lorenzo’s trajectories, before placing himself in the middle of the track under braking a tight right downhill. The n ° 46 infiltrates under the fairing of its stable mate, without the latter being able to retort !

6th and 7th rounds : Despite his fantastic comeback, the (over) gifted Yamaha rider is already 5.501 seconds behind Casey Stoner who is making the powder talk! If their times are more or less the same, Rossi still has to get rid of a James Toseland visibly in great shape, then a Hayden who has a fantastic end of the season! Sylvain Guintoli and Chris Vermeulen are in 15th and 16th positions following their exits from the track.

The fight between Rossi and Toseland starts and if the Italian has the speed in curves, Toseland opposes him braking loggers and routes cut to the maximum to contain at all costs the assaults of n ° 46! The Tavullia pilot nevertheless manages to take the best of "JT" at the entrance of the first big curve on the right, but the English clings to the basques of his leader !

Shinya Nakano is gradually left behind by the group closed by Jorge Lorenzo, while Andrea Dovizioso gradually returns to contact with the Japanese. Colin Edwards and Randy de Puniet are already several lengths behind the Italian and precede Loris Capirossi.

8th round : Casey Stoner gradually manages to let go of Nicky Hayden, whose RCV 212 starts to move a lot at the end of the curve. Behind the 2006 and 2007 world champions, the 2008 world champion pays a certain shyness at the start of the first curve, by overtaking James Toseland! Very nice maneuver of n ° 52, which must please his team manager, Herve Poncharal and the whole Tech 3 team !

Rossi immediately tries to recover his position, but the Tech 3 pilot slams all the doors in his face! Certainly a tad annoyed to see his ascent interrupted (and the gap with the leading men growing), the Italian champion becomes distracted by a right, misses his trajectory and loses balance on his M1! Big heat for the n ° 46, which did not go far from the correctional, under the greedy eyes of Jorge Lorenzo !

The Yamaha trio just precedes Shinya Nakano who will have to explain herself shortly with Andrea Dovizioso’s Honda "Sat" !

9th and 10th laps : The leading order does not change, but the gaps between the groups continue to climb: almost four tenths now separate Stoner, Hayden, himself more than six seconds ahead of Toseland, Rossi, Lorenzo, Nakano and Dovizioso. Colin Edwards, Randy de Puniet and Loris Capirossi are already more than eleven seconds behind Stoner! Toni Elias and Anthnoy West are almost 20 seconds behind the leader ahead of Hopkins, Melandri, Guintoli and Vermeulen.

Valentino Rossi stumbles on Toseland at the start of the turn, but the Englishman brakes like a demon and tangles his trajectories, so that he holds the dragee high on the Italian champion! Andrea Dovizioso overtakes Shinya Nakano on a change of angle.

11th and 12th rounds : While Casey Stoner takes his gap on Hayden to almost two seconds, Rossi climbs alongside Toseland at the entrance of the first large right: the Italian passes the English from the inside and holds his trajectory until the exit. But Toseland – a sleuth! – was better placed to tackle the next left and the n ° 52 did not hesitate to dive under Rossi’s fairings to regain third place !

The Doctor diagnoses a furious desire to shine coming from the double Superbike world champion and after a few failed attempts, the n ° 46 finally overtakes n ° 52 under braking on the straight line: immediately, Toseland tries to get inside the next left, but Rossi has learned the lesson and slams the door in his face !

Behind them, Andrea Dovizioso passes Jorge Lorenzo to the same braking and here is the order of the group completely upset! Much further now, Randy de Puniet is in a very good 8th place, after having dispossessed Colin Edwards of his property !

Despite all his efforts, James Toseland can no longer keep pace with Valentino Rossi who seems to have decided to seriously step up the pace to get rid of this pugnacious Toseland once and for all. !

13th, 14th and 15th days : Casey Stoner continues to stun the competition to the great delight – one suspects it – of an entire public committed to his cause! Valentino Rossi gradually wins Toseland, Dovizioso, Lorenzo and Nakano, while at more than six seconds Randy de Puniet still leads Edwards and Capirossi.

Andrea Dovizioso is pressing on Toseland and – in addition to his talent – the Italian may benefit from a choice of tire mounting harder at the rear than the other Michelin drivers. However, the future HRC pilot seems to hesitate to enter the curve, hampered by the protective trajectories of Toseland !

16th and 17th rounds : Casey Stoner now has 3.8 seconds ahead of Nicky Hayden, who sees the new 2008 world champion come back gently on him: Valentino Rossi turns a few tenths faster than the American, but still lags more than five seconds on the official HRC !

For his part, Loris Capirrossi tries an attack on Colin Edwards at the end of the straight line, but the "old lion" gets carried away a little and has to let the double Superbike world champion pass him easily. !

18th round : The first three leading positions do not change, but behind Toseland, Andrea Dovizioso bears the brunt of an attack from Jorge Lorenzo braking the pit straight line: the Italian retorts immediately and dives inside in this curve taken drum beating and with a stubborn angle !

The two rivals of the 250cc are still ahead of the Japanese Shinya Nakano, whose rest of the MotoGP career seems to be resolved with two options: test driver for the HRC – which does not excite the n ° 56 -, or a resounding comeback at Kawasaki on the third bike officially announced by Michael Bartholemy this weekend !

However, the announcement should be taken with a grain of salt: besides the fact that the budget for this third ZX-RR has not been completely finalized, the instigator of this initiative, the 125/250 team manager, Jorge Aspar Martinez, wants to run a Spanish rider, with regard to the Iberian sponsors that he brings back to MotoGP…

19th, 20th and 21st laps : Casey Stoner is still ahead of Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi who is getting some heat in his – slow – recovery on the American: the extremely high race pace of his competitors, combined with his neck injury in qualifying should not facilitate the task !

James Toseland contains Jorge Lorenzo who has regained the ascendancy over Dovizioso, under the eyes of Shinya Nakano. Randy de Puniet is now 10 seconds behind the group that precedes him, ahead of Edwards and Capirossi by a good second. Toni Elias gradually returns to the two experienced drivers, while West slowly downgrades.

Casey Stoner is heading "serenely" towards a second success in a row on his national circuit, ahead of Nicky Hayden who is only 3.4 seconds behind Valentino Rossi: the Italian can now see him in front of him and it seems motivate him a little more! Jorge Lorenzo tries to attack Toseland on the brakes, but the English is simply bluffing in this area! Sylvain Guintoli and Chris Vermeulen arm themselves severely behind West and John Hopkins, who is not really in his place at the back of the peloton…

22nd and 23rd laps : The "Kentucky Kid" is now more than six seconds behind Stoner, while "Vale" keeps coming back. Caught up in their fight, Lorenzo and Toseland drop "Dovi" and Shinya slightly, but the perpetual attempts to pass No. 48 slow the pace somewhat and the other two drivers come back. !

24th round : While Valentino Rossi literally swoops down on Nicky Hayden – from whom he took more than six tenths in one lap – spirits are heating up behind: Jorge Lorenzo takes the outside of the track at the end of the pit straight and sees himself well on his way to taxing English by his side! But a gray torpedo appears to the right of Toseland and here Dovizioso overtakes the two pilots from the inside !

Glued to his exhausts, James Toseland tries "his" usual overtaking from the inside of the following left, but the n ° 52 puts too much strain on his bike and is forced to widen … and let Lorenzo pass! Randy de Puniet continues to lose ground on this group, while Edwards returns to a higher pace: the "Texan Tornado" is screwed to the frenchie’s seat back !

25th round : While Valentino Rossi is only a few cables away from Hayden, Lorenzo and Toseland shamelessly overtake Dovizioso on the straight line thanks to the power of their motorcycles! But Toseland rules out once again and the Scot-JIR rider takes fifth place behind Lorenzo !

Last round : Casey Stoner tackles this last loop with nearly eight seconds ahead of Hayden … who is glued by Rossi at the start of the final lap! The Italian does not take the time to assess the situation: at the end of the pit straight, he goes inside the brave American and plunges into the first straight with amazing speed. !

The two pilots precede Lorenzo, Dovizioso, Toseland and Nakano. Tenacious, the n ° 69 tries an attack on Rossi in a tight curve to the right: the future ex-pilot of the HRC starts however from too far and by the time he reaches the height of Rossi, he is already ready rope, forcing the Honda rider to straighten out slightly so as not to risk snagging. The ace ! Hayden lost touch with Rossi and he won’t be able to try his luck again.

Casey Stoner therefore wins another victory at home, ahead of Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, Jorge Lorenzo, Shinya Nakano, James Toseland, Andrea Dovizioso, Colin Edwards, Randy de Puniet, Loris Capirossi, Toni Elias, Anthony West, John Hopkins, Sylvain Guintoli , Chris Vermeulen and Marco Melandri.

In the world championship, Rossi is at 332 points, while Stoner (245 points) solidifies his lead over Pedrosa (209) with two races remaining. The Spaniard realizes a disturbing performance that could be fatal for third place, since Lorenzo is only 27 points behind his rival! Dovizioso and Hayden are only separated by 14 points and we can only salute the great comeback in the ranking of the American! Sylvain Guintoli is in 13th position, ahead of Alex de Angelis and Randy de Puniet.

They are explained:

Casey Stoner (1st) : "I was not so disappointed in Japan, I had already lost the championship with my two crashes. Valentino has driven really well and has been tough to beat this year. This morning we made some changes on the bike and I felt more comfortable. We knew the race was going to be tough, normally we can’t escape, but we did. Nicky followed me for a moment before letting go. To have been World Champion last year and vice-champion this year is fantastic. I hope we will fight for the title again next year, but in any case, I am very happy with this victory at home".

Valentino Rossi (2nd) : "I had a really exciting race. I didn’t have a single second of respite. Unfortunately, I had to start from the fourth row due to my mistake in qualifying, but I was confident because I knew I had a good pace. There were some good battles. De Angelis fell in front of me and I passed a few inches from him, then I pushed, pushed until I caught up with Lorenzo and Tosalend. I wasted some time with James, but when I got past I increased my pace to escape. I was seeing Nicky better and better and thought I could catch up to him. I finally made it on the last lap".

Nicky Hayden (3rd) : "It was really fun at first. It was good to be in front and put the pressure on Casey. This track is very restrictive for the tires, and I knew I had to make a bet: I had chosen a harder tire and we finally changed it on the grid. This season has been very tough, but we will fight until the end to get good results".

Alexandre BARDIN – Photos DR

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