MotoGP – The British Grand Prix turn-based –

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The British Grand Prix turn-based

MotoGP - The British Grand Prix turn-based -

The race in Rossi’s garden, which has always won everything on the English circuit, had to hold many surprises and the "variable" weather greatly hampered the development of the machines … Exclusively interplanetary, the turn by turn of Moto-Net !

Donington Park is traditionally considered the garden of Rossi, who lives in London and has always won everything on the English Tour.

The weekend had to hold its share of surprises … The weather conditions which will be described as "variable" greatly hampered the development of the machines, while in the 250 Anthony West released his brand new KTM. Or West is an ace in tricky conditions, just like His Holiness…

On Friday, heavy clouds invade the sky over Donington Park. The morning remains dry but relatively cold, which poses problems in warming the tires. The afternoon saw the arrival of intermittent rain for the MotoGP which made any tuning almost impossible, as conditions were neither rain nor dry. And on Sunday morning, race day, it rains again…

Class 125

Attempts. After a Friday morning dominated by Luthi ahead of Kallio, the Finn took the provisional pole in the afternoon ahead of Luthi, Pasini, Talmacsi, Di Meglio, Poggiali, Simon and Koyama. On Saturday it was Kallio who took pole 1 / 10th ahead of Pasini and Simoncelli and 3 / 10th ahead of Luthi. Lai, Simon, Talmacsi and Koyama form the second row ahead of Di Meglio, Masbou who takes a liking to the outposts, Faubel and Bautista in 3rd.

During the warm up, it rains. Under these conditions, Talmacsi was the fastest, ahead of the unexpected Jordi Carchano 1.8 s behind the Hungarian, Pasini, Luthi and Simon more than 2 s, Nieto, Kallio, Hernandez, Espargaro, Linfoot, guest pilot and Lai for more than 3 s. Di Meglio sets 16th time over 4s behind Gabor, and Masbou is 27th over 7 seconds.

Departure . The start is dry, everyone goes on slicks. Giuseppetti is forfeited due to his crash in practice and Abraham has to start from the pit lane: first emotions! Kallio and Luthi were the quickest to start and saw in that order ahead of Talmacsi, Dovizioso, Pasini, Lai, Koyama, Simon and Di Meglio. In the descent, Talmacsi dives under Luthi’s wheel and passes 2nd, imitated by Pasini who takes 4th place in Dovizioso. Coghlan, guest driver, crash from the 1st lap.

A few drops of rain appear. At the halfway point, behind Kallio, Talmacsi and Luthi, Lai passed 4th ahead of Pasini and Koyama. Simon is 7th in front of Di Meglio, Simoncelli, Poggiali. Under braking in the chicane, Luthi won under braking on Talmacsi and Di Meglio attacked Pasini without success. At the entrance of the hairpin on the right, Lai passes Talmacsi but the better placed Hungarian comes out ahead of the Italian.

On the first pass, Kallio leads ahead of Luthi, Talmacsi, Lai, Pasini, Di Meglio, Koyama, Simon, Espargaro, Bautista, Simoncelli, Poggiali. Pasini passes Lai at the start of the descent. Koyama passes Di Meglio at the bottom of it. In front of them, Luthi takes the lead from Kallio. Masbou, whose bike did not want to start on the grid, started dead last and climbed to 32nd position. At the entrance to the chicane, Talmacsi passes 2nd in front of Kallio. Di Meglio, who sees Koyama being left behind by Lai, returns to Japanese, quickly imitated by Simon and Simoncelli.

In the second lap, Luthi, who had the best lap, leads ahead of Talmacsi, Kallio, Pasini, Lai, Di Meglio, Simon and Simoncelli. In the descent, Luthi, Talmacsi, Kallio and especially Pasini who attacks very hard and shows his wheel to the Finn, take a few lengths to Lai and his followers. Pasini passed Kallio on braking on the last corner of the descent, but the Finn passed him on the next braking. When braking the hairpin, Lai returned to contact with the leaders with Di Meglio in his wheel.

On the 3rd lap, everyone improved their lap times, but it was Simoncelli 8th who was the fastest. However, Bautista passes him under braking at the end of the straight line! Faubel, Espargaro, Poggiali, De Rosa, Nieto and Olive seem left behind. On the descent, Simoncelli passes Bautista again. Under braking from the hairpin to the right, the overly optimistic Lai tried to attack Kallio but had to pull away to avoid hitting the Finn. Simoncelli attacks and passes Di Meglio.

On the 4th lap, a group of ten riders broke away: Luthi, Talmacsi, Kallio, Lai, Pasini, Simoncelli again with the fastest lap, Di Meglio, Bautista, Simon and Koyama. Faubel at several lengths is forcing to join them. Bautista attacked and passed Di Meglio on the right which controlled the descent, but Mike stayed on the outside and got the better of it! Pasini tries to attack Lai from the outside, comes out into the dirt at full speed and miraculously returns to the track! Simoncelli immediately took the opportunity to steal 5th place. In the momentum, Di Meglio and Bautista also pass the impetuous Italian. When braking the hairpin, Bautista passes Simoncelli back.

On the 5th lap, Luthi is still ahead of Talmacsi, Kallio, Lai, Di Meglio, Bautista, Simoncelli, Pasini whose bike seems to be moving a lot, Simon and Koyama. At the bottom of the descent, Bautista passes inside Di Meglio. Masbou came back 20th. Angel Rodriguez falls and gives up.

On lap 6, Luthi, Talmacsi, Kallio, Lai, fastest lap time Bautista and Di Meglio took several steps ahead of Simoncelli, Pasini, Simon and Koyama. Bautista, faster than the others at this point in the race, passed Lai and Kallio successively. Di Meglio passed 4th in front of his teammate Lai at the bottom of the descent. Bautista passed Talmacsi on the braking of the hairpin 2nd, then took the lead from Luthi at the entrance to the last left! Faubel falls and gives up. Kallio returns to 3rd in front of Luthi at the bottom of the descent.

The rain then makes its appearance! At the bottom of the descent, Bautista was the first victim, who went high-side and fell under the wheels of Kallio and Talmacsi, who had to brake very hard to avoid it. Koyama is also at fault. The red flag is out: it’s the end of the race! We therefore take the classification from the previous passage on the line and we give a new start, not taking into account the gaps.

The classification is therefore as follows: Bautista, Kallio, Luthi, Talmacsi, Di Meglio, Pasini, Lai, Simoncelli, Simon, Poggiali, Olive, Nieto, De Rosa, Espargaro, Pesek, Gadea and Masbou who came back 17th. For the 2nd start, everyone puts on rain tires. The unfortunate Koyama, who unlike Bautista does not have a second machine, is forced to retire. All the teams feverishly change the tires and modify the machine settings. The pilots put on rain suits and put on anti-fog masks. It’s a bit of confusion on the grid. Finally, the new start is given: after another warm-up lap, the 36 surviving drivers (missing Coghlan, Rodriguez, Faubel and Koyama) will set out again for a sprint of nine laps in conditions close to horror! Twist: Pasini, co-leader of the championship, made a mistake in this warm-up lap with the acceleration! It’s elimination for the Italian driver, contender for the title !

The red light goes out, the drivers set off: Talmacsi takes the best start but Lai burns his politeness for the hole shot. Luthi, Di Meglio, Bautista, Simon, Espargaro, Simoncelli and Olive follow. Kallio and Poggiali set off from the pit lane as their bikes were not ready in time for the 2nd start. At the first corner, Iannone fell under the wheels of Pirro, the front wheel of which tore the Aprilia’s tank: it was abandonment. Pesek and Nieto pass Simoncelli. Talmacsi takes the lead in front of Lai before the hairpin on the left, Simon passes 4th ahead of Bautista. Pesek falls and gives up, forcing Masbou on the way to the grass.

On the first lap, Talmacsi leads past Lai after a pass between the two leaders at the entrance to the straight, Luthi and Di Meglio follow a few lengths behind. A little further on come Simon, Bautista, Espargaro, Nieto, Simoncelli, Guiver, Olive and De Rosa. Espargaro passed Bautista outside at the start of the descent. At the bottom of it, Talmacsi, Lai, Luthi, Di Meglio and Simon have regrouped. At the entrance on the right at the bottom of the descent, Simon, Di Meglio and Luthi are abreast and Simon comes out 3rd ahead of Di Meglio and Luthi. Di Meglio passed 3rd in front of Simon in the hairpin.

In the second lap, Talmacsi, who had the fastest lap in the race, took a good lead over Lai, then Di Meglio took the chase with Simon, Luthi, Espargaro, Bautista and Nieto a little further. At the end of the straight, Talmacsi in the lead loses the rear on the first straight, falls and tries to restart but has to retire, his KTM too damaged in the crash. Lai then loses his footing and it is Di Meglio who takes the lead ahead of Simon, Espargaro, Bautista and Lai! In the long straight before the chicane, Luthi sets off at right angles, almost being ejected by his machine when he regains grip, falls back into the saddle, gets off the track, manages to maintain control through the grass and gravel and comes back to the race just in front of Kallio who makes a superb comeback after having to start from the pits !

On the third lap, Di Meglio leads ahead of Simon, Bautista, Lai, Espargaro, Simoncelli, Guiver and Nieto. In the descent, the French lead with a lead of around 30 meters over Simon and Bautista. They themselves got ahead of Espargaro who passed Lai. Guiver, the guest driver, fell and retired when he was 7th just behind Simoncelli. Bautista passes 2nd in front of Simon. At the entrance to the hairpin, Bautista and Simon almost came back in Di Meglio’s wake.

On the 4th lap, the young Frenchman still leads but ahead of Bautista, who had the fastest lap in the race, who brought Simon back behind him. Espargaro is only 4th, Lai only 5th. Simoncelli, Nieto and Luthi hang on.

On lap 5, Di Meglio still leads ahead of Bautista and Simon and it is Espargaro who sets the fastest lap in the race, coming back very hard on the leaders. Lai is still alone 5th ahead of Simoncelli, Nieto and Luthi who are battling for 6th place. Kallio is 9th. Overly optimistic Bautista loses the rear on the acceleration and is thrown off in a spectacular high-side, thankfully with no damage other than the loss of points associated with his retirement. Espargaro also made a mistake in this descent, his motorcycle continuing its race after having thrown it straight into the air fences: he in turn gave up, his machine refusing to start again.

In the 6th lap, Di Meglio and Simon then find themselves alone in the lead, far ahead of Lai alone in 3rd! Simoncelli and Nieto got a bit ahead of Luthi, Kallio is 7th, Olive 8th, Linfoot, guest driver, 9th, Masbou 10th, Elkin 11th, Schouten 12th, Gadea 13th, Carchano 14th and Kuzuhara 15th.

On the descent, Simon who more and more often shows his wheel to Di Meglio turns around several times, not coming back from having so much ahead of his pursuers! On the 7th lap, Di Meglio and Simon are still leading wheel after wheel, Lai 3rd feels Simoncelli and Nieto come back, then Luthi is alone 6th ahead of Kallio alone 7th. At the bottom of the descent, Simon takes the lead in front of Di Meglio who immediately jumps in his wake.

At the start of the last lap, Simon leads just ahead of Di Meglio. Lai sees Simoncelli come back very strongly who let go of Nieto in front of Luthi 6th, Kallio 7th, Olive 8th. Simon takes a few steps ahead of Di Meglio, who looks set to settle for a nice second place. Simoncelli very lively passed 3rd in front of Lai on the right which goes up just after the descent. Alexis Masbou fell on this final lap as he battled for 9th place. Simon took his first victory at the age of 18, ahead of a Di Meglio who climbed the podium for the first time on the second step at the age of 17! Lai got back on Simoncelli and passed him to finish 3rd just ahead of his compatriot. Nieto is 5th, Luthi 6th, Kallio 7th, Olive 8th, Linfoot 9th, Kuzuhara 10th, Gadea 11th, Elkin 12th, Carchano 13th, Zanetti 14th and Cortese 15th.

In the championship, Pasini and Talmacsi remain leaders with their 100 points, Luthi comes back to a small point at 99. Kallio 91, Simoncelli 85, Simon 80, Lai 79 come back close to the championship lead. Poggiali is 8th with 59 points ahead of Koyama 52, Faubel 50 and Di Meglio 45. Masbou is 16th with 20 points. On the manufacturers’ side, KTM leads with 168 points ahead of Aprilia 164 and Honda 141.

Class 250

Attempts. In the 250, the big news is the arrival of the KTM in the hands of Anthony West, well known for having often been among the best privateers in the category. Tested for the first time two weeks previously at Vallelunga, the Austrian machine should not be included in the standings: the objective is only the tuning for 2006. We must however underline West’s excellent 17th fastest time on Friday, at only 2.5 s from provisional pole !

The said pole is the case of a Lorenzo already dominant in the morning, who confirms by setting the best time in the first qualifying session ahead of Pedrosa, Porto, Stoner, De Angelis, Dovizioso, Aoyama and De Puniet. On Saturday, Pedrosa took pole, 1 / 10th ahead of Lorenzo, but more than 6 / 10th ahead of De Angelis and Dovizioso! Porto, De Puniet, barbera and Takahashi follow in the 2nd row. Stoner, Aoyama, Locatelli and Guintoli form the 3rd row. Leblanc is 24th, Vincent 26th.

In the warm up, in the rain, it was Aoyama who stepped forward, half a second ahead of Guintoli, who we know is fast in the wet. Barbera, Pedrosa improving in the rain, Takahashi, Stoner and De Puniet are relegated to over a second while De Angelis, Baldolini, West with the all new KTM, Debon and Dovizioso are over 2s behind. Arnaud Vincent took the opportunity to show himself in 16th place 3.9 s from pole. Gregory Leblanc is 20th time at 5.6 s.

Departure. The 250 set off in the rain and the umbrella girls, frozen, carry more umbrellas than parasols! From the warm-up lap, we see the motorcycles raising an even greater fog than during the second race of the 125: that promises! On the grid, Randy De Puniet strangely places his bike at an angle: would he like to start very hard and be immediately on the right axis to disengage the riders in front of him? ?

The fire went out and gave us the answer: a superb start from Dovizioso who made the hole shot in front of Aoyama and De Puniet, who had therefore planned his shot well! De Angelis, Porto and Pedrosa followed, but Pedrosa, better placed inside the two straight stretches at the start of the circuit, quickly moved up to 4th. Porto tosses him politeness in the next acceleration. Takahashi is 7th, then Guintoli started very well ahead of Stoner. De Angelis passed 5th in front of Pedrosa but widened and had to let the Spaniard pass. Aoyama attacked and passed Dovizioso in the lead. De Puniet imitates him when braking the chicane: he is 2nd. Pedrosa, with the same braking, passed Porto for 4th place. Stoner passes 7th ahead of De Angelis, quickly imitated by Anthony West and the KTM !

In the first lap, Aoyama took several lengths ahead of De Puniet, Dovizioso, Pedrosa, Porto, West who passed Stoner, De Angelis, Guintoli, Barbera, Davies and Corsi. In the last corner before the straight line, Takahashi and Debon hang on, crash and give up just like Arnaud Vincent. Aoyama seems on a cloud and takes off. Randy De Puniet is only 2nd. A few pitches follow Dovizioso and Pedrosa, and even further West past 5th ahead of De Angelis, Stoner, Porto and Guintoli. Leblanc is 22nd. When braking in the chicane, Pedrosa confirmed his progress in the wet and took 3rd place in Dovizioso.

In the second lap, Aoyama, who set the fastest lap, further increased his lead over De Puniet. Pedrosa, Dovizioso and West followed back on their heels. A little further, De Angelis and Stoner left Porto and Guintoli behind. West very lively passes Dovizioso at the bottom of the descent: he is 4th! Stoner passes De Angelis when braking the hairpin on the right.

When braking from the left which commands the 3rd straight line, West passes 3rd in front of Pedrosa. In the lead, Aoyama set the fastest time again: he was 2.3 seconds ahead of De Puniet. Stoner rushes inside Dovizioso to the end of the descent right. De Angelis took advantage of Dovizioso’s gap to pass him to the acceleration that followed. Heidolf falls and gives up.

On the 4th lap, Aoyama made another fastest lap ahead of Randy de Puniet and West. Stoner passed Pedrosa who slipped on acceleration from the straight line. De Angelis, Dovizioso and Porto follow a little further. Guintoli is still 9th ​​a few lengths more. On the descent, De Angelis passes 5th in front of Pedrosa. Guintoli returns to Porto.

In the acceleration following the chicane, West turns to see his compatriot Stoner coming back to him. Cardenas, the Colombian, goes high-side in the first straight of the circuit under the eyes of Lorenzo. His bike continues to roll after ejecting its rider, follows the track and crosses it before the 2nd right, luckily without any rider arriving. She ends up falling in the grass, slides down to the track and comes to a stop just at the start of the descent: hot !

On the 5th lap, Aoyama sets a new track record! De Puniet went 7/10 slower than pursuers West, Stoner and De Angelis on offense. Guintoli is still 9th, Leblanc for the benefit of the falls is 19th.

On lap 6, Aoyama was still the only leader 3.6 s ahead of De Puniet but West, Stoner and De Angelis, who had the fastest lap in the race, approached the French. Pedrosa and Dovizioso do not leave each other, then Porto and Guintoli hold their positions. In the descent, De Angelis returned to the wheel of Stoner is very hot but stays on his wheels.

On the 7th lap, Aoyama sets another fastest lap. He is 4.4 s ahead of Randy De Puniet and 6.6 s over West. Stoner contains the ardor of De Angelis. Aoyama also gets his heat on the acceleration. Guintoli is 9th at 21.9s behind the Japanese and continues to come back to Porto. Dovizioso in turn suffered a bloody blow: he slipped out of a corner and had to straighten his bike, forcing him to exit into the very slippery English grass! He arrives in the gravel where he manages to keep control of his bike, foot out like a crossman, and finally returns to the track !

On the 8th lap, Aoyama was 5.1s ahead of De Puniet, 6.2s on West, 8.7s on Stoner, 9.5s on De Angelis, 14.4s on Pedrosa, 24s on Porto and 24.8s on Guintoli. The two men passed Dovizioso, now 9th at 28.3 s after his gardening game. De Angelis returns to the Stoner wheel again.

In the 9th lap, Aoyama sets another fastest lap. De Puniet, still 2nd, saw his lead over West shrink tenth after tenth … Stoner effortlessly got rid of the De Angelis threat: the San Marinese crashed as they accelerated down the straight. Pedrosa is therefore 5th, Porto 6th and Guintoli 7th.

On entering the 10th straight, West got back into De Puniet’s wheel but it was Stoner who set another fastest time. West passes 2nd in front of Randy on the descent that follows! The Frenchman does not give way and gets back inside the Australian on the last corner of the descent.

On lap 11, Aoyama crosses the line as Randy gets a little heat on the acceleration at the start of the straight, turns around and sees West muzzle in Stoner’s April! Pedrosa is still only 5th, Guintoli 7th, Leblanc is 17th at the gates of the points. West is second ahead of De Puniet on the descent! As they entered the chicane, Stoner practically came back to the two men. In front, Aoyama begins an impressive slalom between the retarded, in conditions which probably do not allow them to see the blue flags waved by the marshals..

Twelfth turn: the Japanese arrive on Gregory Leblanc while West, De Puniet and Stoner are grouped together. Aoyama, leader, delayed his braking to pass the young Frenchman before the end of the straight line, but he lost the front end, fell and gave up! West is then the leader of the Grand Prix for the first outing of the KTM 250! Arriving on the same laggards, West manages to get a head start by overtaking two of them without Randy being able to follow. But when braking the chicane, the two leaders who in turn overtook Leblanc are together again thanks to a big boost from the French.

On lap 13, West leads in front of De Puniet, Stoner, Pedrosa alone 4th, then Porto and Guintoli. Randy regains the lead under braking in the chicane, then Stoner scares himself as he accelerates from the start of the straight when he was almost in contact with the leaders.

On lap 14, West and De Puniet were again a few steps ahead of Casey Stoner. Pedrosa alone in 4th seems to secure his place. In the descent, West returns in a rather manly way in front. Randy, who doesn’t want to be counted, comes back under braking in the chicane. West stays on the outside, the two men are almost in fair-to-fairing contact but the Australian has to give in to acceleration: Randy is in a better position. In the brawl, Stoner took the opportunity to come back: he was in West’s wheel braking the hairpin. On the left at the end of the circuit, West was on the inside under braking but Randy stayed on the outside and again emerged as the leader on lap 15 !

Pedrosa 4th sees his stand announcing OK-OK: in these conditions, a 4th place is good for the title! At the bottom of the descent, West goes high-side, manages to fall back on his saddle and stay on track but sees Stoner take the opportunity to take second place. At the bottom of the descent, De Puniet and Stoner take a turn to Locatelli, the Australian’s teammate, who departs to let them pass but returns to the path just in front of West, who turns to the Italian to signify him his displeasure at having lost a few tenths in the maneuver! In the hairpin to the right, Stoner, who delayed his braking, nearly collided with De Puniet but managed to pull away. We were hot !

On lap 16, Randy is still the leader ahead of Stoner, 1.7 seconds ahead of West. Pedrosa 4th is at 17.6 s, Porto at 36.8 s, Guintoli at 41.3 s. At the bottom of the descent, De Puniet got hot on the acceleration but managed to stay ahead of Stoner who in turn made an impressive glide on the acceleration but stayed on his wheels. At the hairpin entrance, Stoner heads past De Puniet who turns to see if West is still there. Entering the straight, Stoner slips again as he takes a turn in Giansanti. On the 17th lap, behind De Puniet and Stoner, West, who attacked to come back, had the fastest lap in the race! When braking at the end of the straight, Stoner slips on the white stripes at the pit exit, gets out of the way and has to let De Puniet, West on his heels again! Stoner has created an additional handicap by forgetting to wear an anti-fog mask, which forces him to open his screen regularly to eliminate this one: unforgivable at this level! At the bottom of the descent, West gets a new heat on acceleration: it’s Holiday on Ice on the English track! Polzer and Barbera fall and give up.

On the 18th lap, Randy De Puniet picked up a bit of air by turning half a second faster than his two pursuers. Pedrosa is still securing his 4th place, Porto 5th takes a lap from Leblanc who came back in the points in 15th position, then Guintoli 6th gradually returns to the Argentinian.

At the 19th lap, De Puniet still leads ahead of Stoner and West but the two Australians have returned to the French wheel. Randy gets hot in the first corner at the end of the straight, has to get out of the line but keeps the lead. On the descent, West shows his front wheel to Stoner who resists. Randy De Puniet took the opportunity to gain some distance. Guintoli in turn made a mistake by coming back to Porto but managed to start again in 9th position, 1’21s from the leader, 4s behind Lorenzo.

In the 20th lap, De Puniet, Stoner and West are grouped again. On the descent, West, who cuts the line by delaying his braking to pass Stoner, finds himself forced to pass Randy as well, but he is in bad shape to approach the next turn. His two opponents did not disassemble and immediately resume their positions. Coming out of the right before the chicane, Stoner comes out a little wide and slips on the vibrator, does not let go and maintains his position !

At the entrance to the hairpin bend he even took the lead from Randy De Puniet under braking. Randy delays his braking at the entrance to the last left, passes Stoner back, but sees West trying to get inside! Randy closes the door on the Australian and keeps the lead in the 21st straight! Pedrosa is still 4th, Porto 5th, Dovizioso 6th, Corsi 7th. In the right which commands the descent, West ends up finding the opening and takes the lead in front of De Puniet who stays on the outside and recovers his good !

The three men take a turn for the Swedish Martensson, who is excluded and must return to the pits, apparently for having overtaken under the yellow flag without returning to his original place. In the hairpin to the right, West attacks De Puniet again. The French resisted, moved aside to let the KTM pass but came back inside, took the lead again for a moment, lost it again when accelerating and went inside West in the left, who commanded the straight line. . Randy comes back but sees West staying at his height! The two men accelerate together down the straight and West is leading the line with one tire, but Randy comes back to braking !

In the 2nd right of the circuit, West goes inside, Randy resists by staying outside, accelerates a little too early, goes sliding, his bike makes several round trips from left to right between his legs, he miraculously returns to his saddle but heads for the advertising banner placed inside the next left! He then manages to turn towards the grass just enough to pass inside the banner with extraordinary responsiveness and rejoins the track after the left in a spray of water !

With five laps to go, West and Stoner have taken a hundred meters ahead of the Frenchman, whose bike is moving even more after his incredible rodeo, worthy of Mamola in his heyday! Suddenly, Randy takes the knife between his teeth and comes back to the two Australians at the pin !

On the 23rd lap, West, Stoner and De Puniet gathered together pass a few retarded. Pedrosa still secures his 4th place 32.5 s behind West. In front, in the descent, Randy attacks and passes Stoner then West at the cost of the same magnificent interior: great art! In front of them, Davies made a mistake on the long straight before the chicane and retired, just like Sekiguchi who had just returned from an injury. In this same turn, West slips under acceleration, which Stoner immediately takes advantage of to pass 2nd a few lengths from Randy who has taken a comfortable lead and turns to appreciate the positions! On the last left, Randy pulls away, wanting to quickly pass a retarded person. Stoner took the opportunity to take the lead at the entrance to the 24th straight, but Randy stayed out of Stoner the entire straight, delayed his braking and took back the lead! Stoner in turn slips under acceleration into the second straight which controls the descent and West returns to 2nd! Pedrosa is then 4th at 32s and Porto 5th at 50s! Guintoli is 9th, Leblanc 15th.

On the descent, Randy again took some 20 meters ahead of the two Australians. Between the hairpin and the left at the end of the circuit, Stoner wipes his screen and screen, no doubt a victim of the fog without the necessary mask in these conditions. Suddenly, De Puniet and West got back into the Frenchman’s wheel to pass the 25th row with about fifty meters ahead of him. At the end of the straight, Stoner misses himself completely, almost losing the front end, straightens his bike, goes out to garden in the grass and crosses the gravel! He managed to control his machine to avoid the air fences (the replacements for the bales of straw, inflatable structures placed in front of the tires) and started the race again in 3rd position, but well far from the two leaders. Meanwhile, West took the lead in front of Randy, but with the overtaking of late Jenkner, De Puniet regained the lead from an assertive interior.

At the start of the last lap, Randy De Puniet and Anthony West were wheel to wheel ahead of Stoner 3rd at 15s. After the descent, the two leaders took a turn for Guintoli who was also preparing to take a turn for Smrz and Rous in a fight for the point of 15th place! De Puniet got a new heat on acceleration just after taking his second lap in Rous! When accelerating down the long straight halfway, West slips off and recovers after losing his footrests: hot !

On the right at the end of the circuit, Randy De Puniet takes a second lap at Leblanc yet in the points in 14th place! At the end of the last left which commands the finish, Randy who has turned again to check his lead slips under acceleration and places his Aprilia in line for a magnificent standing wheelie, which marks his first victory of the season after an incredibly fertile race of twists and turns !

Anthony West, for his first outing with the KTM 250, finished superb second while Casey Stoner completed a podium. Pedrosa secures a very good 4th place for the championship, Porto is 5th more than a minute away, Corsi 6th at 1.30 ’’ just ahead of Dovizioso 7th. Lorenzo 8th is the last driver classified in the same lap as the winner! Sylvain Guintoli is 9th in one lap, Ballerini 10th, Giansanti 11th, Locatelli 12th, Baldolini 13th, Leblanc 14th on 2 laps and it is Rous who wins the point for 15th place.

This 5th victory for Randy de Puniet allows him to beat the four of Dominique Sarron and to approach the seven of Olivier Jacque, moreover in a dazzling way !

In the championship, Pedrosa leads with 156 points ahead of Stoner 122, Dovizioso 111, Porto 85, De Puniet who comes back 5th with 79 just ahead of Lorenzo 78 then Aoyama 71, De Angelis 67, Corsi 54, Barbera 51 and Guintoli 38. On the brands side, Aprilia takes the lead in the standings with 176 points ahead of Honda 173 and KTM, the "new kid", 20 points in a single race !

MotoGP Category

Attempts. On Friday Nicky Hayden was trapped by losing the front end and Makoto Tamada, in the left entry of the famous downhill, made a spectacular high-side under braking, luckily without consequences. Colin Edwards dominated this first day ahead of His Holiness Rossi (read). The afternoon practice is cut short by the rain.

On Saturday, His Imperial Holiness offers himself a record pole, the 5th of the season: the one who has won all the last English Grands Prix is ​​the only one to drop below the 1’28 ” bar … Gibernau and Melandri the accompany in the front line in front of Barros, Hayden and Edwards. Bayliss, Biaggi and Tamada form the 3rd row ahead then Hopkins, Capirossi and Nakano.

In the warm-up, still on a very tricky track, it was the most inconstant of the field, Kenny Roberts, who took the best time: let’s hope that for once he keeps up a pace during the race! His Excellency was not far away and posted the 2nd fastest time a quarter of a second ahead of Melandri, Checa, Capirossi, Biaggi, Bayliss, Barros, Gibernau and Hayden.

Departure. While the marshal has just cleared the track, he immediately returns with his red flag: Nakano’s Kawasaki stalled! An additional minute and a new warm-up lap is allowed before the start, which implies one lap less in the race. Nakano starts from the same position on the grid.

The pilots got back after the new warm-up lap, the red light went out and it started in the English rain in a temperature of 17 °. What a summer … Rossi remains stuck on the grid a little while Gibernau takes the hole shot ahead of Melandri, Bayliss, Barros, Biaggi, Edwards, Hayden, Rossi and Tamada. Rossi passed 7th in front of Hayden, Biaggi immediately fell to the right at the bottom of the descent and started racing again after the safety car !

In the lead, Gibernau quickly took several steps ahead of Melandri, Barros and Edwards who passed Bayliss. Byrne is 9th on the KTM just behind Tamada.

When braking the chicane, His Holiness Rossi beat Bayliss, Edwards and Barros in one fell swoop – masterfully, of course – and took 3rd place! Bayliss takes advantage of the windfall to retake 5th ahead of Edwards. When braking from the hairpin, Barros came back to 3rd in front of Rossi then immediately followed the braking on the last left in which he took 2nd place from Melandri !

In the first lap, Gibernau passed with a 2.3sec lead over Barros, Melandri, Rossi who had a little heat in the acceleration at the start of the straight, Bayliss and Edwards. Byrne passed 7th ahead of Tamada, Roberts, Hayden, Xaus and Hopkins. On the descent, Rossi won ahead of Melandri and returned to 3rd. The Dottore’s motorbike moves a lot and Rossi gets a new heat, right under the eyes of Melandri who does not manage to take advantage of it. Xaus sets new record with 22nd fall of the season … and retires.

Entering the straight line, Hayden, who just passed Tamada, slips under the acceleration, loses a back, falls and goes straight to the pits to retire !

On the 2nd lap, Gibernau briefly took the fastest lap in the race, Barros 2nd immediately took over from him, but it was Rossi 3rd who finally established it, getting everyone to agree! Behind the three fastest men on the track, Melandri, Bayliss, Edwards, Roberts who passed Byrne and then Hopkins are on the prowl.

In the lead, Barros in great shape takes Rossi in his wake and returns to Gibernau. Behind them, Melandri 4th at several lengths is now under direct threat from Edwards who passed Bayliss. Roberts climbed back up, then Hopkins passed 8th in front of Byrne. Edwards also gets hot on the acceleration and has to let Bayliss pass. Barros failed under braking, stepped out like a supermotard and left Rossi second place just before the chicane. Melandri returns and brings back Bayliss, Edwards, Roberts and Hopkins with him. A few lengths away, Byrne is under threat from Tamada.

Melandri crashed at the start of the 3rd straight and slipped under the wheels of Bayliss, forced out into the grass to avoid him and who in turn fell trying to get back on the track! It’s abandonment for two more Honda! At the crossing of the line, Gibernau still leads but Rossi comes back. Barros 3rd picked up some air from the crash behind him, then Roberts who clocked the fastest lap passed Edwards for 4th. Hopkins is 6th with several steps ahead of Byrne and Tamada.

But at the end of the straight line, it was Gibernau’s turn to make a mistake: the Catalan was thrown when accelerating, fell and slipped, his leg stuck under his bike, while the rain redoubled in intensity. .. Only Barros and Tamada are still in the running to defend the Honda colors! Suddenly Rossi who did not ask for so much found himself leader in front of Barros who returned, Roberts even faster, Edwards and Hopkins. Nakano falls and gives up in turn.

On the 4th lap, Rossi leads and Barros nibbles meter after meter. Roberts posted another fastest lap, Hopkins took 4th to Edwards and Byrne clung to 6th place ahead of Tamada. Approaching the descent, His Holiness makes a nice square, empties the stirrups when his M-1 hangs up, finally regains control but allows Barros to take command from him on the second right. At the bottom of the descent, Roberts and Hopkins almost in his wheel came back into contact with the leaders, not without a scare for Roberts on the acceleration. Edwards seems let down. Hopkins took advantage of Roberts’ slip to take third place. When braking the hairpin, Hopkins brakes Rossi and takes second! Colin Edwards takes advantage of the fight in front to come back in contact with the leading group. Hopkins attacks and passes Barros under braking from the left which commands the straight line.

On lap 5, it was therefore the young American on Suzuki who led ahead of Barros on Honda, Rossi on Yamaha, Roberts on Suzuki and Edwards on Yamaha! Tamada, 6th at a good distance, balances the forces. Checa moved up to 7th, Hofmann 8th and Capirossi 9th. Biaggi falls again and this time is forced to retire: the (slim) hopes of the HRC are over. Hopkins attacks and tries to escape, takes a few steps ahead of Barros, but Rossi doesn‘t hear him that ear and goes second under the braking of the chicane! Shane Byrne is also the victim of a fall, the eighth since the start of the race !

On the 6th lap, the Club of Five – Hopkins, Rossi, Barros, Roberts and Edwards – further increased their lead over Tamada alone in 6th. In the descent, Barros attacks and passes Rossi for second place then takes the lead from Hopkins at the bottom of the descent.

At the start of the 7th straight, Hopkins in turn made a very good square and lost his second place to Rossi, who was not asking so much there either! For the benefit of better speed, Roberts also passes his teammate.

At the end of the straight, it was His Holiness who got a new heat and almost lost the front end, which Roberts immediately took to take second. Tamada is still alone in 6th, ahead of Checa and Capirossi who overtook Hofmann. Barros picks up the pace on the descent and takes a few steps ahead of Roberts and Rossi. Edwards follows in 4th position ahead of Hopkins who has dropped significantly since his fright at the start of the straight. Ellison made a mistake at the start of the descent on the Blata WCM and retired: there were only thirteen riders left in the race, five of which were in the lead !

At the hairpin, Roberts and Rossi on the outside try to attack Barros but the Brazilian comes out ahead ahead of the American and the Italian. Under braking from the left, an overly optimistic Roberts who took an attack path on Barros puts his foot on the ground and must stay 2nd.

On lap 8, Barros and Roberts had taken a few steps ahead of Rossi, Edwards was a little further behind and then Hopkins seemed unable to keep pace with the lead. Tamada is 6th almost 12s behind Barros, then Checa still 7th ahead of Capirossi and Hofmann. Hopkins also bears the brunt of Donington’s slippery track: he deviates from the path, stays on the vibrator for a moment, falls in the grass trying to get back on the track, then finally manages to raise his motorcycle and restart the race !

On lap 9, Barros and Roberts were 0.6sec ahead of Rossi and 0.9sec over Edwards. Tamada is 5th at 13 s, Checa 6th at 17 s, Capirossi 8th at 18.7 s, Hofmann 8th at 21.3 s. At the bottom of the descent, Edwards passed Rossi and passed Roberts in stride. Roberts came back to 2nd at the next turn, then Rossi in turn redoubled his teammate. When braking the hairpin, Barros regains the lead he had just lost to Roberts. Edwards let go of the three leaders after his last stand and it was Capirossi 7th who had the fastest lap in the race on lap 10! In the lead, Roberts attacked and released Barros and Rossi who struggled to overtake the Brazilian. It is done when braking the chicane: His Holiness is 2nd !

As he accelerates to the 11th straight line, Rossi gets a new fright and forms a sort of ballet with Roberts who is almost the same just in front of him! The Italian empties the footrests but once again manages to retain control like a genius balancer … Barros takes the opportunity to rise to his level and regain second place at the end of the straight. Edwards had his fastest lap in the race then Tamada 6th saw Checa come back on his heels followed by his teammate Capirossi. Hofmann is 8th.

At the bottom of the descent, Barros took the lead as Roberts and Rossi slowed down from their respective squares. Under braking in the chicane Rossi misses, pulls almost straight ahead, barely manages to take the chicane almost to a stop and lets Edwards pass.

On lap 12, Barros in the lead was a little ahead of Roberts. Edwards is not in contact with the American. Rossi was 4 seconds behind the leader. Checa 5th and Capirossi 6th overtook Tamada 7th. Hofmann is 8th.

In the 13th lap, Barros leader again stuck to his wheel, Edwards 3rd was about fifty meters behind and Rossi 4th, author of the fastest lap in the race, took 2 seconds at Barros! Checa, Capirossi and Tamada are still together in that order. In the long right before the chicane, Imperial Rossi passes Edwards who, however, had almost returned to contact with Roberts! Under braking in the chicane where he had missed two laps earlier, Rossi this time passed 2nd in front of Roberts at the cost of magnificent internal braking.

On the 14th lap, Barros only leads by 0.2 s in front of His Holiness right on his wheel, 0.7 s on Roberts, 1.5 s on Edwards, 14.3 s on Checa, 15.6 s on Capirossi, 18 s on Tamada and 23.6 s on Hofmann. At the bottom of the descent, Barros, Rossi, Roberts and Edwards take a turn in Battaini.

In the 15th lap, Barros, Rossi and Roberts again let go of Edwards. Checa 5th saw Capirossi return, the fastest on the track, then Tamada. The leaders take a turn for Hopkins who is careful to stay out of the way by signaling to let them go. Rolfo is also taken for a ride by the leaders.

On lap 16 Barros, Rossi, Roberts and Edwards doing a bit of accordion still leading in that order. Checa who sensed Capirossi’s threat picked up a bit of air. Tamada is still 7th.

In the 17th lap, Barros, Rossi, Roberts and Edwards slowed down slightly, probably because of the rain which redoubled in violence. Checa, for his part, took 1 s full from the leaders in this lap, 11 s behind the Texan. He is now 1.6 s ahead of his teammate.

In the 18th lap, Barros, Rossi and Roberts again took a few lengths from Edwards. Checa 5th, who improved his lap times, nevertheless lost a lead over Capirossi, who had the fastest lap in the race. Tamada is 7th, Hofmann 8th.

On lap 19, Barros and Rossi got some air on Roberts who was 1.5 seconds ahead of Edwards. Checa sets the fastest lap in the race. At the bottom of the descent, Roberts came back in contact with Barros and Rossi.

In the 20th lap, in the same order, Barros, Rossi, Roberts and Edwards still lead. Checa took a serious lead over Capirossi, himself sheltered from a return from Tamada.

On lap 21 Barros and Rossi wheel to wheel again took a few steps ahead of Roberts, himself about 30 meters ahead of Edwards who is accelerating again. Checa took 8 / 10ths from Barros in this lap. When braking the hairpin, Rossi brakes at Barros and takes the lead !

On the 22nd lap, after having achieved the fastest lap in the race, he was a quarter of a second ahead of Barros, 0.6 s on Roberts, 1.5 s on Edwards, 10.6 s on Checa, 14.7 s on Capirossi who had just taken a lap. in Hopkins and 20 s ahead of Tamada. Rossi takes the lead, far ahead of Barros, caught by Roberts.

On the 23rd lap, the verdict falls: Rossi, author of a new fastest lap in the race, put Barros 1.6 s in this lap and the Brazilian is now 2 s behind His Holiness … At mid-circuit, the lead of Vale is 3.2 s, then 3.7 s at 3rd intermediate !

On lap 24 Rossi improved his own best lap even further and crossed the line 4.3sec ahead of Barros and Roberts! Edwards 4th was let go, then Checa 5th took shelter from a Capirossi comeback. Tamada is 7th and Hofmann 8th.

On lap 25, after Rossi got a little square in the acceleration, he was 7.6 seconds ahead of Barros, turning 3.2 seconds faster than the Brazilian on this lap. Edwards was 2.1 seconds behind Roberts. Checa is 6.3 s from Edwards and 5.8 s ahead of Capirossi. Edwards and Checa are the fastest on the track after Rossi.

On lap 26, Roberts hit a big corner as he accelerated down the straight and lost contact with Barros. Rossi has switched to "genius management" mode, and is racing again in the same lap times as his pursuers. When braking the hairpin, Roberts came back into contact with Barros again and even tried to attack him, without success..

With two laps to go, Rossi took another lap in Battaini on the Blata WCM, far ahead of Barros and Roberts in the fight for second place who once again let Edwards go. At the start of the last lap, Rossi still manages his lead, Barros still contains Roberts and Edwards still secures his 4th place. Battaini falls and gives up. In the long straight ahead of the chicane, Roberts passed inside Barros who crossed the line and came back, but moved away again, which Roberts took to reclaim second place. At the chicane, Roberts took a slight advantage over Barros.

Victory for Rossi who mimics an archer’s movement on an imaginary violin, standing on his machine: an imperial maestro! Roberts took a nice second place and Barros 3rd can celebrate his 250th Grand Prix with dignity, the 219th in the premier class. Edwards 4th achieves an excellent operation in the championship. Checa is 5th, Capirossi 6th, Tamada 7th, Hofmann 8th, Elias 9th with a still sore wrist, Rolfo 11th and Hopkins takes the last points of 12th place after his fall. A total of ten drivers retired at Donington Park! With his 49th victory in the premier class, Valentino Rossi is just five victories behind Mick Doohan…

His Holiness – who announced his intention to race in 2007 with the new 800 cc regulations – makes a very big operation in the championship with the fall of his main opponents: Rossi now has 211 points, or 104 in advance – the equivalent of four Grands Prix! – on Melandri taped to 107 points for two races. Edwards is supporting his teammate’s challenge very well: to make Yamaha triumph in the race for the constructors’ title: with 106 points, the Texan passed 3rd ahead of Biaggi 100 and Gibernau 91! Barros with 90 points comes back on the heels of the Spaniard and passed Hayden who remained at 85. Capirossi follows with 65 points ahead of Nakano 55 and Checa 51.

On the manufacturers side, Yamaha with 215 points is more than one Grand Prix ahead of Honda 182 … Kawasaki 3rd with 83 points sees Ducati return to 8 lengths (75), thanks to the good classification of Checa and Capirossi. The official Gauloises Yamaha team follows the pace of its leader, first with 317 points, i.e. 105 ahead of Honda Movistar stuck at 202 and Honda Repsol stuck at 185…

Rossi and Yamaha are therefore in a very, very good position to win the challenge: Drivers ‘title, Constructors’ title and Teams title are within their reach! And to think that His Holiness wants to stay in Grand Prix with the arrival of the new 800 cc in 2007 … In 125 and 250, the French are sticking their noses. The 125 Championship features seven drivers in 21 points and in 250 the KTM proved to be well born from its first outing. Threatened by Stoner, Pedrosa still dominates, but not as insolently as last year. Finally in MotoGP, superlatives are broken: Rossi does what he wants when he wants, where he wants and disgusts all his opponents in the title race one after another….

So many different reasons in each category not to miss the next races, including the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring from next weekend which will see Olivier Jacque’s big return to the track … See you soon to follow the new adventures of His Holiness in the Land of Asphalt !

J. ARSOUILLE – Photos O. BERGAMASCHI and DR

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