I cannot understand how Bautista managed to get caught in that accident. He was barely powering out of the corner, he had more than enough time to brake or change direction. Looks like he tried to capitalize on the chaos and find a clean line through instead of slowing down, and paid the price.

Espargaro hit De Puniet's bike which then probably moved as a result of the impact and by then Bautista had probably committed to a line and couldn't avoid hitting the bike.

I've read that Rossi went over to Stoner immediately after the race and pretended to be angry (à la Stoner at Laguna Seca) before laughing and telling a confused Casey 'Just kidding'. Did anyone see that?

He seems to need a bit of distance from those he considers his rivals.

Rossi and Stoner both want the same thing and that is winning, and as laguna seca proved at all costs also for the great Rossi.

It's just that Rossi can provide much better PR statement like talk while he means exactly the same as Stoner but Casey just says it the way it is. I didn't see anything crazy, sure he pushed him a bit off line but hey that's racing, it certainly wasn't anything like laguna seca style. Too me it seems more like Rossi was a bit angry and didn't expected Casey to do it.

This isn't going to end well....



From http://www.motoracereports.com/5459/lcr-ho...iet-update.html

Randy should have waited until arriving in California before going surfing.

Does yesterday's race make a strong case for increasing the fuels tanks for the racing to get better?

Hope this is not too morbid a suggestion, having just watched the action from Sachsenring - supposing Marquez tagged Espagaro when he came off just before the end of the 125cc race my guess is that he would have been killed - not that I am wishing this on any racer or rider - The race would have been red flagged and result declaired from the previous lap which, as far as I remember would have made Espegaro the leader/Victor, would this be the first instance of a dead racer/rider "winning" a race?

I apologise again for the rather morbid tone but curiosity got the better of me.

Jesus, you can just picture the grimacing face of de Puniet, judging from that body language as Kallio is about to crush his legs.

It's a nasty injury, he's going to be out longer than Rossi.

I've only paying proper attention to this motorcycling business for the last few years, however aren't we having a bit of an abnormal streak of injuries? Can't remember so many broken legs, fingers, whatever. Moto racing has always been dangerous, but is there something wrong with this generation of bikes or is this just bad luck - or good luck that nobody's getting killed?

This. There's always been injuries, every single year. However, the effects are more obvious because the MotoGP grid is so ridiculously small.

Then again if there's fewer bikes there should be fewer injuries?

That doesn't change the fundamental laws of physics when a rider hits the road at several hundred kph...

hahaha fantastic if thats true

3.09pm.

Imagine the comical screams coming from Italy...

http://www.gpone.com/index.php/en/news/bra...ssi-stoner.html

I still believe there were other factors at play for the empty seats in Spain. Surely it cannot be because of Rossi.

Uh--no. Sorry, primer, but the empty seats in Spain were indeed (mostly) about Rossi. Catalunya was the first race where there wasn't any carryover--for instance, Silverstone was a sellout because most people had bought their tickets before Rossi got injured. And that isn't the Vale fan in me talking--Dorna tracks this sort of data.

Well I find this hard to believe for two reasons:

• There are Spanish riders in contention, so local interest should have been strong
• Motorcycle racing is immensely popular in Spain, so there should have been a good turnout even without Rossi, Jorge and Dani

Seriously, if Rossi has so much influence on viewership, then he is dangerous to the sport. Someday he will retire and what will become of motoGP? Dorna should sabotage him and cut his 'aura' down ASAP if they are to save motoGP.

Whatever. <shrug>

Believe it or not, Rossi is more popular in Spain than Lorenzo and Pedrosa combined.

I know it's probably hard to believe, but I'm actually not talking out of my ass for once. Seriously.

It is one of the factors at play. The other is the Spanish economy is in the toilet. So with two races in close proximity to each other, and only limited money to scrape together, which one would you chose? The one with Rossi in it or without?

I wouldn't pin the drop in TV ratings on Rossi's absence though. I'd imagine those stats are meaningless with the World Cup going on.

I think there is a difference between lacking the charisma of someone like Rossi, and acting as bitter as Casey does seems to these days. And I'm well used to the Aussie moan or two.

Races (MotoGP and F1) were scheduled to not clash with any World Cup matches, and Italian TV numbers immediately nose-dived when Rossi was injured. Both comparing year on year, and to 2010 races that he was in. Haven't yet seen Sachsenring numbers, but I imagine they'll come back up slightly before doing the typical dip Dorna gets from the August holidays, the run of fly-away races, and the championship no longer being interesting.

Dorna could always chuck in a few more races in the Spanish peninsula.......

It wouldn't make a difference really, even the EU races get a drop when the Italians and Spaniards go on holiday, and though Valencia/Estoril do better than Malaysia/Australia they're still not as good as the mid season where the TV ratings are huge. This run where we have 6 races in 8 weeks or whatever is where the meat of the TV ratings are. Which is why Rossi's absence put such a hole under the waterline.

And often injuries are sustained not in incidents like Randy's, but ones like Vale's where it happens all by themselves, so numbers of bikes around them will only affect how many are left when the usual amount injure themselves...

13 riders (including all three classes) have participated in every race between the start of 2007 and current date. And that number goes down by one when de Puniet misses Laguna Seca race...

I don't think we are seeing any more injuries now than in the 90s with those wild 500cc powered highsides.
It's just that the field is so much thinner.

What's charisma have to do with anything?

how many people watch motogp compares to F1?

Depends on the country. In Italy sometimes more people watch MotoGP than F1. That was often the case last year when Ferrari weren't winning very often.

Above all else, for the factories, racing is a marketing exercise.

See the discussion above re: the drop in TV ratings when Rossi was out (thanks, Ross--you're the coolest dude ever.)

Charisma plays a bigger role than you might realize.

According to "Solo Moto" Jeremy Burgess will be with Stoner at HRC next season. And AS is reporting that Lin Jarvis has been in Spain last week looking for sponsors, probably Telefonica.

Obviously Stoner and Rossi do things differently. Stoner says it how he thinks, he doesn't care about marketing or PR as it is pretty obvious with all the people that slam him constantly. I wish more riders were like that - just not giving a damn.

I don't think Burgess would ever go back to HRC. I'm under the impression that he's snug at Yamaha and is close to retirement.

For real?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85397
No probably not for real.

The problem is, their salaries are funded by sponsors, and sponsors expect a certain level of cooperation (at minimum) for all of the gazillions that they're paying out to these guys. That's just . . . reality. These little prima donnas like Stoner and Pedrosa who think they should be able to call the shots and not do PR when they're getting paid millions to ride a bike around in circles give me a pain right in my ass. And no, I don't work for a sponsor--but I do think they should be more gracious and forthcoming, considering how much coin they're getting to do a job most people would give their right arm to do.

As well as losing prized asset Rossi, the latest rumour is that cash-strapped Yamaha will also lose Fiat as title sponsor.

MCN understands Suzuki has been given special dispensation to increase its engine allocation from six to nine in 2010 having encountered issues with the new mileage restrictions in MotoGP.

non of this is surprising. Im not totally sure Petronas would want to back a squad without Rossi either. Rossi is quite big in Malaysia and Asia. Id like Yamaha to be yellow again. Maybe they can get a phone company to sponsor them. I really liked the 2006 M1. Looked really good.

If they get Movistar as rumoured you should expect something like this:

http://www.bikehps.com/acatalog/42281.jpg

Beautiful.
FIAT Ducati Rossi is a done deal to me. I'd be surprised if it didn't happen.

Eh? How did Yamaha become cash-strapped all of a sudden? Lorenzo might not be having much fun as the number one Yamaha rider next year if that's the case...

It's not all of a sudden. Yamaha corporate has been having financial problems for the past few years, since the bottom dropped out of the economy. I can't remember the exact figures, but their financial losses have been quite staggering (as is the case with most bike manufacturers).

haha Marlboro would give them a tiny spot on the nose like they do with Ferrari lol. Remember last year? Movistar was gonna go with Lorezo or Pedrosa depending on who left the factory team so Im not surprised if they show up in GP again next year.

As a fan of Rossi, I don't like the talk of him moving without his crew and team.

From what I've heard basically any 2010 motorcycle that you see on a showroom floor was produced as a 2009 and then had the tags changed to 2010 for the new year. In other words some produced twice as many bikes in 1 year as they ended up needing in 2.

Without Rossi, Yamaha don't really need Fiat sponsorship.

these "little prima donnas" and their families have put everything on the line to get into motogp and worked their asses off their whole lives to get where they are. Its true they get paid to do a job many people would like to do, but how many people would be willing to go through what they have done to get there? dont act like they just got given a bike and told to ride around in circles for a few million bucks.

Very true

Even with FIAT Yamaha couldn't afford two megastar salaries with what Jorge was demanding. For 2011 (2010) it was rumoured to be Rossi 10 million (15 million) and Jorge 8 million (4 Million)
Some forget that Rossi's move was precipitated by him having to take a huge pay cut (that was subsequently given to Jorge).

BTW Telefonica are rumoured to be going to financing the 3rd Honda, probably for Pedrosa.

I don't normally cover MotoGP, but picked up on the Ducati GP10 fairing winglets fitted for the Sachsenring, Toby Moody told me they were not for downforce, but simply to reduce lift on the straights. so last night I got drawing and run up these quick illustrations of the Ducati and its rivals fairings.

http://scarbsf1.files.wordpress.com/2010/0...togp_ducati.jpg

http://scarbsf1.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/motogp_array.jpg