Brno - The Czech MotoGP

After Donington, and the British MotoGP,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/8169509.stm

the racers have had the few weeks off that is the summer break, and now it's back to the action. Last season saw the first cracks in Casey Stoner's bid to win back his world championship of 2007. Although he stormed the qualifying sessions, and the early race laps, he fell off the Ducati while being brought under the pressure of the magnet that was Valentino Rossi and the Yamaha M1. I still remember the roar of approval and a sea of yellow flags as Stoner hit the deck and spun off.

This season has been a different story. Casey's Ducati, although extremely competitive, hasn't been dominant. The others have caught up, from a long way back, sufficiently in the area of overall straight line speed, while Ducati have made big improvements to the overall handling of the beast. It's still quite a contrast though to see the Ducati squirming under the power as Stoner opens the taps, while the Yamahas appear to be running on rails. That's all down to bike development between the engineers and the rider, and there's none better than Rossi at improving a bike. Of course, there's none better than Jerry Burgess [Rossi's chief engineer] at converting his information, and the logged data, into improved speed.

So why all the preamble..? Well, the illness that has stalked Casey for the last few months has finally made him cry enough. He's decided to take a break from racing the next three events, to sort himself out. It's an unprecedented move - a racer simply doesn't do this. But Casey is essentially the face of Ducati. Despite his illness, he is incredibly fast on a bike that, by all accounts except Ducati's, shouldn't be so. But he can't take the strain of an entire race. His teammate, and other satellite Ducati riders, can't get near to his speed, despite his illness. So, all the sponsors, advertisers, and Ducati have agreed to this break, even though Casey is right up there in the championship [3rd], and it essentially signs off this season. But Ducati value Stoner so very highly that they've agreed to it. They know he could walk into any team he chose to enquire about - probably even Rossi's at Fiat Yamaha - and it would possibly be better for his career if he did.

So pressure falls on teammate Nicky Hayden again, but in a different way. Now he has to lead the team, and have a Ducati satellite rider to beat as a teammate, because Mika Kallio has come over from Pramac Racing for the other works ride. He normally slightly embarrases Nicky on his slower Ducati. Should be interesting tomorrow. Oh, and in contrast, Randy De Puniet rides the Playboy Honda [yes Randy is his real name, and the bike has a big Playboy Bunny symbol on it] with a recently surgically inserted steel pin running through his ankle. He says it's fine. I call that being overly keen. Motorbike racers are a different breed. They're mad as hatters.

Qualification is today on the BBC Red Button. Again, anybody with Freeview can simply press either 301 or 302 and have it as a proper recordable channel, should they want. I don't know about Sky. Here are the times - they include all the 125 and 250cc qualifying too. The main 800cc bikes should be around 2.00pm.

Saturday 15 August

Qualifying

1150-1500, BBC Red Button/online

Sunday 16 August

125 and 250cc race

0950-1205, BBC Red Button/online

Race

1230-1400, BBC Two/online

MotoGP Extra

1400-1430, BBC Red Button/online

Oops, the 800s went out before the 250s, so I can already report that Valentino Rossi got pole position for tomorrow. Teammate Lorenzo went 2nd, with Dani Pedrosa in 3rd.

Czech MotoGP qualifying result:

1 V Rossi (It) Fiat Yamaha 1min 56.145 sec

2 J Lorenzo (Sp) Fiat Yamaha 1min 56.195 sec

3 D Pedrosa (Sp) Repsol Honda 1min 56.528 sec

4 T Elias (Sp) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1min 56.817 sec

5 C Edwards (US) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1min 56.954 sec

6 A Dovizioso (It) Repsol Honda 1min 57.108 sec

7 A de Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1min 57.775 sec

8 N Hayden (US) Ducati 1min 57.803 sec

9 L Capirossi (It) Rizla Suzuki 1min 57.811 sec

10 M Kallio (Fin) Ducati 1min 57.994 sec

11 C Vermeulen (Aus) Rizla Suzuki 1min 58.087 sec

12 N Canepa (It) Pramac Racing 1min 58.208 sec

13 R de Puniet (Fr) LCR Honda MotoGP 1min 58.298 sec

14 J Toseland (GB) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1min 58.331 sec

15 M Melandri (It) Hayate Racing Team 1min 58.477 sec

16 M Fabrizio (It) Pramac Racing 1min 58.680 sec

17 G Talmacsi (Hng) Scot Racing Team MotoGP 1min 58.749 sec

Couple of interesting points: Rossi lowsided, while pushing too hard, with about 4 minutes of the session to go. He looked down at his bent bike, and I almost thought he was going to pat it, as if to apologise to it, for ruining it. He then threw his fist in frustration, checked himself over and gave a thumbs up to the medic guiding him away. That bike will be the most valued wreck in racing, this season. Well, it has Rossi's number 46 on it.

Kallio lowsided as well, while recording better times than Hayden, but Nicky managed to get in front of his new/temporary teammate in the end. As Kallio's bike went end over end, commentator Steve Parrish counted... £20,000, £30,000, £40... £50.., he eventually stopped at £100,000 - ouch..! Elias has been told he'll be replaced at Gresini Honda next season, and so promptly showed them what they'll be missing by finishing 4th. He's fast, but inconsistent. Frankly, I think he could do better in another team where he'll be appreciated. Perhaps it would be better if Tech3 told JT he'll not be needed next season, as he recorded 14th, with the injured De Puniet doing better, and his teammate in 5th. I watched the session, and you could clearly see him not attacking the corners as his teammate and the two Fiat Yamaha riders did. He rides his MotoGP Yamaha like it is a World Superbike, and has too many neutral moments. On a Grand Prix bike if you are not accelerating then you should be deccelerating, and James is occasionally in between those hard parameters.

In the 125 class, Britain's Bradley Smith came in 5th and looks good for tomorrow. Fellow Brits Danny Webb, came in 15th, and the far-too-big-for-his-bike Scott Redding came in 22th. I think they may all move to MotoGP2 and the new 600cc bikes next season.

Shame about Lorenzo, that was shaping up to be quite decent. Good work by Elias though.

Check this out from Alvaro Bautista, who came in 3rd, in the 250cc race.

CRASH

His salary will take a hit this week, that's for sure.

Anyone see Kallio and Melandri coming together, during the main event..? I couldn't believe how close one of Kallio's legs or arms were to falling through the spinning back wheel of Melandri's Kwacker. I bet we'll hear a few calls from people suggesting solid wheels after that incident has been shown around the world.

Big news from yesterday's race was that Lorenzo cracked. As Charlie Cox said on the commentary; ...Rossi is inside Lorenzo's head... and it is now quite true. Good race that was shaping up to be a truly great one. Plenty of action down the order, Elias and Dovizioso for example, but the front two just buggered off. They are on the overall best machine, and one of them is the very best racer ever. The other is phenomenal too, but he's riding the bike his teammate helped make the best over several seasons. He knows it and it is getting to him. When Lorenzo's front tyre folded in, after he ran into a corner too fast, it was left to Vale to cruise around, with Pedrosa running a very isolated race in 2nd place. Nice to see JT make 9th, but he got there because of Kallio and Melandri's spectacular coming together, and 11th would have looked decidedly poor on a bike where his teammate was again very much in the top 10, although complaining of setup problems himself.

Rossi is now 50 points, or 2 whole wins without reply, in front of Lorenzo. I think only a really bad bout of swine flu, or a bad crash, which he just doesn't do, could stop him winning his 9th World Championship. We are witnessing motorsport history being made.

Czech Grand Prix result:

1 V Rossi (It) Fiat Yamaha 43min 8.991 sec

2 D Pedrosa (Sp) Repsol Honda 43min 20.757 sec

3 T Elias (Sp) San Carlo Honda Gresini 43min 29.747 sec

4 A Dovizioso (It) Repsol Honda 43min 30.409 sec

5 L Capirossi (It) Rizla Suzuki 43min 30.529 sec

6 N Hayden (US) Ducati 43min 34.535 sec

7 C Edwards (US) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 43min 34.667 sec

8 A de Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 43min 43.100 sec

9 J Toseland (GB) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 43min 44.608 sec

10 R de Puniet (Fr) LCR Honda MotoGP 43min 48.815 sec

11 C Vermeulen (Aus) Rizla Suzuki 43min 49.767 sec

12 N Canepa (It) Pramac Racing 43min 59.652 sec

13 G Talmacsi (Hng) Scot Racing Team MotoGP 44min 08.179 sec

World championship standings:

1 V Rossi (Ita) Yamaha 212 points

2 J Lorenzo (Spn) Yamaha 162

3 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 150

4 D Pedrosa (Spn) Honda 135

5 C Edwards (US) Yamaha 112

6 A Dovizioso (It) Honda 107

7 R de Puniet (Fr) Honda 80

8 M Melandri (Ita) Kawasaki 79

9 L Capirossi (Ita) Suzuki 77

10 C Vermeulen (Aus) Suzuki 72

11 A de Angelis (RSM) Honda 68

12 T Elias (Spn) Honda 63

13 J Toseland (GB) Yamaha 62

14 N Hayden (US) Ducati 57

15 M Kallio (Fin) Ducati 34

16 N Canepa (Ita) Ducati 32

17 S Gibernau (Spn) Ducati 12

18 Y Takahashi (Jpn) Honda 9

19 G Talmacsi (Hng) Honda 8