I thought Ben wasn't allowed on the Factory bike because he's a rookie?

Ben to Yam possible.
Elias to Tech3 impossible. Elias is contracted to Gresini's Moto2 operation. Tech 3 Moto2 riders would be more likely: reminder they are Raffaele de Rosa and Yuki Takahashi.


But first of all, let's wish Vale a speedy and full recovery. Hopefuly we'll see him back on his Yam after the summer break, ready to prepare a 2011 title challenge.

Gazzetta dello sport has all the latest. Vale in good mood on operating table. Fracture has been reduced.


Here's the detail :

14.55 Operation starts — Surgical op at CTO Florence has started : Valentino Rossi is on the table. Next to him, his father Graziano, ex rider.

14.18 Costa gives no prgnosis — "Valentino Rossi has started smiling, he's done the first in depth examinations and there are no vascular lesion in the legs". Thus spoke Dr Claudio Costa before Rossi's operation at CTO Florence. "Valentino will be operated by Dr Roberto Bucchi. A plate with 4 screws will be inserted on his shin bone. For the first time in my life, I will make no prognosis. (...) operation should last 90 minutes".

13.17, Arrival in Florence — Valentino Rossi's helicopter has landed in Florence at CTO hospital.

(...)

11.45 (...) Yamaha Jerry Brugess is bitter "For us 2010 is already over, we look forward to Valentino's speedy return".

(...)

I was just guessing.
Elias has enough 800cc experience and has been riding well in Moto 2.

True. We'll see. He might get Dorna's green light though. Who else on Rossi's bike ? Wait a minute... Edwards has all credentials

Someone (preferably with a Yamaha contract) who isn't a rookie and doesn't have a Honda, Suzuki, or Ducati contract.... Edwards, Toseland, Bayliss there aren't many.

Maybe Ben isn't a rookie anymore if they count his wilcard rides from last year and 2008?

Astonishing pace by Dani, Dove is 1.2 seconds behind him on same bike. FIM should investigate Dani's Honda, it might have got extra 200ccs before time.

Season is far from over. Dani and Casey are going to keep it interesting for sure. Besides Jorge has this habit of riding in suicide mode, he could join Valentino in the hospital any given corner. Given how hard he has been riding the bike it is amazing Jorge hasn't had a big one this year. With The Rossi out, Yamaha better coach him to calm the f down, otherwise Jorge is going to let Dani or Casey steal the championship from under their nose.



This guy Costa is a comedian he should have his own TV show, someone should read out to him the "prognosis" he has given in past when other riders have been injured!

On a more positive note the Superbike TT at the Isle of Man is now due to start in 10 minutes following delays from 12.00 due to mist on the Mountain Course.

Follow at http://ttlive.iomtt.com/index.htm

Going to be some good racing!!

And TT 2010 is go!!! :D

The TT is on ITV4 at 9pm if anyone is interested. They seem to be showing a program at that time each day this week.

On lap 4 and Conor Cummins leads by 21 seconds from Hutchy after doing two 131mph laps in a row! McGuinness out on lap one with bike problems. Guy Martin is third with Micky Dunlop in fourth.

Such a shame about Vale. Really need the Dani and Dovi to step up to the plate now just for the sake of the championship. Might seem a bit hasty for speculation but it wouldn't suprise me to see Cal or JT on the Tech 3 at Silverstone with Colin on the FIAT, just to appease the fans that inevitably turn up just to see Vale.

Vale is gonna miss out on some of the coolest tracks

Also heck of a lap by Stoner. Ducati has looked mediocre since Qatar. I dont buy Stoner could have stuck with Jorge in France. But still its really close between Nicky and Casey

Hutchy wins from Michael Dunlop with Cameron Donald completing the podium. If you can watch the coverage tonight on ITV4 I recommend it. From the sounds of things Amor, Donald and Micky had an almighty scrap on the road over the last lap!

Rossi underwent a 3-hour surgery, first words from Dr Costa are they it was "perfectly successful".

Two 131mph laps in a row? too easy nowadays ..

Only kidding, that's amazing.

Would like to see the onboard footage from this soon on youtube.

Andy

McGuinness' 130mph lap on wednesday was set with a camera on it. Should be good to watch...

Dear beany,

I share your sorrow, wish you were here so we could have a 46 hug


Feck those motocrossers, Vale only falls off when he was trying too hard against the odds, I am sure the shoulder injury coupled with the location of this race made him go over the mark. He is God, but he is not God.

Dorna will be crying too I think, viewers will go down. On a positive note Stoner has improved and Nicky is right there as well, Randy doesn't seem to have many issues with the Honda either. I don't think it would be very classy to put Ben in Rossi's seat when Colin is doing so well, best to put Colin there as a thankyou.

Finally, Moto2 looks interesting again, with Rossi out it looks like Moto2 might highlight the reduced field in MotoGp even more for the next few races, especially if Lorenzo runs off with it. I expect him to do so tomorrow, forget Dani and Casey, they will be chopped up and diced by him unless he has an "issue".


Andy

Indeed Jambo, Guy Martins 128mph I watched the other day was pretty good too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVXc29ZgutI

I don't think I could remember the corners at that speed either.

Andy

I watched that last night! I learnt the track using the game so can follow the lap pretty well nowadays! 140mph lap in game for me!!

Thats a hell of a lot of exclamation marks...

FIM GP of France - PQP

MX1: Cairoli 25:28; Booq 25:38; Desalle 25.46; Ramon 25:50.... Sebastien Pourcel (9th) 26:13

MX2: Osborne: 1:50.52 (Still on a high from USGP); Musquin 1:50.57; Roczen 151.17... Herlings (6th) 1:52.28

Why are Dorna so anal retentive with videos os Rossi's crash?
C'mon, this is of general and great interest. It's not like people are ripping them off of their last pennies.

I thought it was available to view for free on their site?

Yeah but if someone uploads a copy to youtube it is not the end of the world. It is not as if people are uploading entire races or anything. They could put a copy in their own youtube channel, instead of hoping everyone will visit motogp dot com (and perhaps subscribe to some or other service).

Yes, that was the conjecture on the part of the broadcast team. And my husband. It's all still rumor at this point, though.

The issue is, Ben's contract is with the factory, while Colin's is with Tech 3. The only stumbling blocks right now are some reserve contracts the factory has with a couple of Japanese riders, and the rookie rule re: Ben (which everyone seems to be fairly sure he would be exempted from in a case like this).

Alas, Vale is human after all. With like, blood and stuff.

At last! Klaffi wins the chairs TT by 2secs from Dave Molyneux. Fantastic race.

IMO it is only a matter of time before Rossi announces that this is his last season in motoGP. More than the injury, it is the long recovery which will give him plenty of time to think how he can keep himself occupied when he choses to retire. For someone who has ridden the bike harder than others for so long, he has enjoyed a remarkably injury free career, so why risk becoming the next Doohan just to chase some stats...

I don't think Rossi races for stats, he does it for fun.

The next Doohan?
Is that a compliment or what, I don't get it.

GPONE quotes a Professor Buzzi of the Careggi University Hospital as saying that Valentino's recovery will take four or five months. The site thinks he's out for the season (although I suppose that if a complete recovery takes four or five months he could still decide to race before then).

He is referring to Doohan's career-ending injury (he broke his leg in several places).

You mean when he broke his forearm... not his leg.

What might confuse you is Mick Doohan's worst ever injury was when he almost lost his leg at Assen 1992.
He came back stronger.

Unfortunately Mick broke his arm in Jerez in 1999 and never came back.
The injury offered the crown to his Spanish team mate Criville... a la Lorenzo in a way.

edit: Fact check. Mick Doohan broke forearm and (Wouter was right) his leg at Jerez. But it's complications in the arm that prevented his comeback, and ended his career.

This will make the off season very interesting assuming Lorenzo wins the title.

This seems to be a snippet from it

http://www.crash.net/road+racing/video/160...t_on-board.html

at 130mph the front is a lot lighter than I remember it from slower lap footage. Apparently he was held up on that lap too!

Andy

It will be worrying to see what happens to TV numbers with the championship pretty much over, at least in people's minds, and the biggest name not racing for quite a while.

Has there ever been a season where we're all assuming the championship is over after just 3 rounds

Best wishes Vale. Gona miss you.

It's a real shame because this year could have been an epic Lorenzo vs Rossi duel. In the last couple of races, Lorenzo had the upper hand, but probably it was also down to Rossi's shoulder injury. A 100% fit Rossi could have had great battles with Lorenzo, I think they were pretty much on the same level now. Maybe Lorenzo a bit faster, but Rossi stronger in racing conditions.
And now, Lorenzo can just walk away with it... in a way, I feel sorry for him too, because I think this year he would have been capable of winning the title against Rossi, and that would have given him a great reputation - beating Valentino Rossi with the same bike! But now, he will win the title and lots of people will say that it was only because Rossi's injury.

Anyway, I hope Pedrose can step up and maybe become a real threat for Lorenzo. I still have some hope that this season won't be a borefest!

What tv numbers here in holland? .....

Thank god we have the bbc here or else i wouldn't be able to watch a single race this year.

Who will replace Rossi? I suppose they will not race with 1 bike at Fiat Yamaha. Ben Spies to factory team and replace him at Tech 3?

I don't even have bbc (satellite dish) Luckily I've got German or French Eurosport or something which broadcasts it.

Yes, 2002, 2003 and 2005

1992. Mick Doohan. Then he nearly lost his leg and Wayne Rainey won instead

Wow, Terol & Espargaro were 2.5s ahead of Marquez & Smith, but there's now a 4 man battle up front

Smith and Marquez gapping the other 2 a little

or not

What Lin left unsaid was just as significant. Yamaha's priority must be to sign Jorge Lorenzo on a long term contract, he is their next Rossi. If Jorge signs with another manufacturer and Rossi announces 2010 to be his final season, Yamaha will look very foolish indeed. They would have lost two aliens. Ben has not even begun to mutate into an alien, and Colin will never be one.


Rookie rule, so BS stays with Tech3. Colin would be the best choice really, and he is also popular with fans in US (which is Yamaha's single biggest market). Or they could pull something wild and get Elias on the factory bike. I am sure he will not want a seat at Tech3 for a few races, will do his long-term aspirations to compete in motoGP more harm than good. We'll see, priority must be to lock Jorge up ASAP.

And it wasn't rookie who replaced Stoner last year?

I thought the rookie rule was new for 2010

whoever wins will have everyone not giving them due credit as Rossi wasnt there - that is stupid in my eyes but thats the way the world works. Whos to say Jorge wouldnt of bet him anyway? with Jorge tallent isnt an issue...has it in spades!?

Besides, We are only a handfull of races into the season so im not giving up on Casey just yet