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Rossi leads Yamaha 1-2-3 at Le Mans

Valentino Rossi took a dominating victory in the French MotoGP leading a Yamaha 1-2-3, with the still-recovering Jorge Lorenzo finishing second and Colin Edwards in third.

This is the Italian's 90th Grand Prix victory, slotting him in second on the all-time winners list, tied with Spaniard Angel Nieto.

Rossi and 61-year-old Nieto celebrated this historic victory with the former stopping on his parade lap, and the latter, who wore overalls saying 'Bravo Valentino 90', jumping on Rossi's M1 bike and taking them both back to the pits, with Rossi waving a flag saying '90+90'.

Rossi, who now tops the championship table, took the lead with his Fiat Yamaha on lap seven of the 28-lap race from Ducati Marlboro's Casey Stoner and never relinquished it, opening a gap as wide as ten seconds over man-of-the-day Lorenzo.

The Spanish rookie, who dropped down to tenth at the start from fifth on the grid, began to really make an impression in the race on lap nine, when in a single lap he overtook John Hopkins's Kawasaki, Loris Capirossi's Suzuki and Nicky Hayden's Repsol Honda to slot into sixth.

The works Yamaha rider then made up a gap to Chris Vermeulen's Suzuki to overtake him for fifth place on lap 15, five laps before passing Edwards in fourth place and challenging Stoner for third.

When Lorenzo made a move on the Australian on the Le Mans front straight, the reigning champion's Ducati suffered a mechanical problem that dropped him down the order on lap 21. On the same lap the Spaniard overtook arch-rival and compatriot Dani Pedrosa's Repsol Honda for second place.

After his injury in China Lorenzo had to walk to the podium on crutches and sat on a chair during the celebrations.

Today's race was affected by the weather, with rain drops prompting the stewards to show the white flag on lap 16, thus allowing the riders to switch to bikes fitted with wet-weather tyres.

Bowyer wins as Hamlin, Junior come oh so close

[ Source:www.nascar.com ]


 RICHMOND, Va. -- In a heartbreaking race for Virginia native Denny Hamlin and victory-starved Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer stole a win in Saturday night's Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

In fact, Bowyer's victory was merely a footnote during an evening that produced high drama in NASCAR's top series.

 Within three laps of a victory that would have ended a two-year, 71-race drought, Earnhardt Jr. smacked the outside wall in Turn 3 after Kyle Busch slid up the track into Junior's No. 88 Chevrolet as the two drivers battled for the lead on Lap 398.

Busch held off Mark Martin to finish second, after angry fans threw beer cans over the catch fence onto the track as the cars circled under the caution period leading up to a green-white-checkered finish. Tony Stewart posted a solid fourth-place finish, followed by Martin Truex Jr.

Bowyer, who won for the first time this year and the second time in his career, pulled away on the two-lap dash that extended the race 10 laps beyond its scheduled distance.

Hamlin had the race's dominant car, but the No. 11 Toyota wasn't a factor at the end. Hamlin led a track-record 381 laps before surrendering the top spot to Earnhardt on Lap 383 after developing a slow leak in his right-front tire . Hamlin finished 24th, three laps down. Earnhardt salvaged a 15th-place result and remained third in the championship standings.

"We took advantage of a misfortune," Bowyer said, "but our Chevrolet was fast all day. ... It was pretty wild up there -- it was bound to happen. They were racing hard. That's what racing at Richmond is all about, in my opinion. It just didn't work out [for either]."

But the story was the near-win for Earnhardt, who came tantalizingly close to his first points victory as a driver for Hendrick Motorsports.

"I've seen the replay, and Tony [Eury] Jr. [Earnhardt's crew chief] said it looked like Kyle got loose underneath me," Earnhardt said. "We'd been racing each other before, and we had no problem. I've been priding myself on running good all year, and [Saturday night] we got wrecked. It's disappointing."

Busch had his own version of events.

"Junior and I were just racing hard into Turn 3," said Busch, who took over the championship lead by 18 points over Jeff Burton. "It was just a product of good, hard racing. If I had wanted to do it deliberately, I would have waited till the last lap, when I probably still could have won the race."

Hamlin led 229 of the first 230 laps in a race that produced little carnage until contact between Carl Edwards' Ford and J.J. Yeley's Toyota on Lap 230 triggered a massive pile-up in Turn 3 that necessitated a stoppage to remove debris from the track.

Sustaining severe damage in the 14-car melee were the Dodges of Kurt Busch and Patrick Carpentier, the Fords of Matt Kenseth and David Gilliland and the Chevrolet of two-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. Burton also caught a piece of the crash but sustained only minor damage; he remained on the lead lap and finished 11th.

Jeff Gordon went a lap down to Hamlin on Lap 43 of the opening green-flag run, but Gordon got the lap back on a free pass for a restart on Lap 145 and rallied for a ninth-place finish.

Rossi wins Chinese Grand Prix!

[ Source:moto.gpupdate.net ]


Valentino Rossi has won Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix. The Italian dominated the race and finished ahead of Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner. Racing with a broken ankle Jorge Lorenzo showed an amazing pace finishing in fourth position.

While in the morning the MotoGP Warm Up took place at a damp track the track completely dried for the Chinese Grand Prix race. Tech 3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards started the race from pole position and managed to enter the first corner still in first position. The American though didn't manage to keep the lead for long as Pedrosa overtook him in the second lap, followed by Valentino Rossi.

Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi took the lead and created a big gap with the rest of the field. As Valentino Rossi closed in on Pedrosa it didn't take long before the Italian managed to overtake the Repsol Honda rider. Apart from a mistake when braking at the hairpin Pedrosa was never close enough to battle Rossi for P1.

Pedrosa finished four seconds behind on Valentino Rossi with Casey Stoner in third place, well behind Pedrosa. Jorge Lorenzo fought hard during the race and finished fourth. At Ducati Melandri surprised a few. He drove the best race of the season so far and finished fifth.

Lorenzo hurt in heavy practice crash

[ Source:www.autosport.com ]


Jorge Lorenzo has been taken to hospital after a massive highside crash during this morning's first free practice for Sunday's Chinese MotoGP race.

Lorenzo is suspected of having broken or at least severely injured his right ankle in the crash.

He was taken from the circuit to hospital, as Dr Costa said that the X-ray equipment at the track was not of a high-enough specification to fully investigate the injury.

"I don't think Jorge will be able to ride this afternoon because he has pain in both ankles and needs a further X-ray at the hospital, so it will take time to get there and back and to do the tests," said Lorenzo's team manager Daniele Romagnoli after talking with the Clinica Mobile.

"Dr Costa wants to be absolutely sure about the injuries as it looks like there could be possible small fractures in both ankles. The knee injury is not too serious, just a bit of a cut."

Rossi eyes Chinese victory

[ Source:moto.gpupdate.net ]


In 2005 Valentino Rossi himself made history by taking victory in the first ever MotoGP race to be held in China, which was affected by heavy rain. The Italian was forced to retire in 2006 but he bounced back with second place last year and his focus for this weekend is to go one step higher on the podium. Rossi is confident that his blossoming relationship with Bridgestone tyres is ready to bear fruit and see him join Lorenzo, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa on the winners' list for the season.

"After Estoril we had a test and the primary focus was tyre testing with Bridgestone, working on material for Shanghai," said Rossi. "We found some good things and I hope that we'll be starting in good shape. We've had three races together now and I think the last two podiums, especially in Estoril which isn't such a good track for Bridgestone, have shown that we're making good progress in our relationship and I hope that Shanghai is going to be the place where it finally all comes together."

"We're not in such a bad place in the championship and there is a very long way to go, but our rivals are very strong so we can't afford to make mistakes and we need to try to take as many points as possible from now on," he added. "Last year in China we weren't quite able to win but this year our bike is working very well and, together with our tyre package, I think we should be fighting for the victory. The race in 2007 was very exciting I think, a long battle with Stoner; this year I hope for a similar battle with my rivals but with a different outcome!"

Busch wins at Talladega ahead of final-lap wreck

[ Source:www.nascar.com ]

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Superspeedway racing makes for strange bedfellows, as Kyle Busch found out Sunday in winning the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.

With pushes from the Chevrolet of Jeff Gordon and the Dodge of Juan Montoya, Busch had his No. 18 Toyota in the lead when a wild wreck in Turn 2 on the final lap brought out the eighth and final caution of the race, freezing the field and giving Busch his first win at Talladega.

Montoya finished second, and Denny Hamlin, Busch's teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, was third. David Ragan finished fourth, followed by Brian Vickers, as Toyotas captured the first, third and fifth spots in the running order.

"First Jeff Gordon and then Juan -- those guys behind us were just awesome," said Busch, who won for the second time this year and the sixth time in his Cup career. "We just kept blocking the way we needed to stay up front.

"I don't think I've ever finished here without wrecking, or at least, without getting torn up. ... The 42 [Montoya] was just my savior [Sunday]. He pushed me all the way to the front."

Cumulatively, Busch won for the seventh time in NASCAR's top three series this year. He has three Nationwide victories and two Craftsman Truck Series wins to go with his Cup successes. The win at Talladega also enabled him to gain ground on points leader Jeff Burton, who leads Busch by 22 points.

Busch's Toyota was strong enough to recover from a mistake on pit road. On Lap 63 of the 188-lap race, he missed his stall while attempting a green-flag pit stop and had to return to pit road for service a lap later. But Busch got a free pass as the first car a lap down after Carl Edwards' blown tire brought out the second caution of the race on Lap 116.

From that point, he surged back to the front, ultimately with help from Gordon, who faded to 19th, and Montoya.

It was the best finish of the season for Montoya, who moved into 12th place in the point standings, the first time the former open-wheel star has occupied a Chase-eligible position in the Cup standings .

Montoya restarted ninth on Lap 169, after the fifth caution of the race for debris in Turn 1, and worked his way toward the front.

"I made a couple of moves to get to second, and then I managed to get on [Busch's] bumper," Montoya said. "When you can get on someone's bumper, you can push him all the way around the lap and really make up some ground."

Hamlin had one of the strongest cars in the field, and in the early stages of the race, he and teammate Tony Stewart dominated. But Stewart cut a tire and brushed the wall while leading on Lap 144 and then with 15 laps to go was a casualty of an accident that ended his day .

"I had a car that could do whatever I wanted it to," Hamlin said. "We were right there in the lead with 20 [laps] to go and made a bad move there and got shuffled back. With all the cautions [three in the final 16 laps], we could only make it back to third, but that just shows you how strong the car was."

After a caution for Bobby Labonte's solo spin in Turn 4 on Lap 180, Michael Waltrip led the field to a restart with five laps left. With help from Gordon, Busch surged past Waltrip and Jimmie Johnson, who was running second at the time, to take the lead for good at the line on Lap 184.

Notes: Dale Earnhardt Jr. led 12 times for 46 laps and finished 10th. Stewart, who finished 38th, led the most laps, 61. ... Despite racing among the leaders most of the afternoon, David Stremme was caught up in the final wreck and finished 28th. Stremme was making his first Cup start of the season, subbing for Dario Franchitti in the No. 40 Dodge. Franchitti suffered a broken ankle in Saturday's Nationwide race at Talladega . ... A.J. Allmendinger, also making his first start of the season, finished 30th. ... Burton finished 12th. He has finished in the top 15 in all nine races.

Raikkonen storms to Spanish victory

27 April 2008,17:20 GMT .. Posted in F1 .. 3 comments .. Link

[ Source:f1.gpupdate.net ]


Kimi Raikkonen stormed to victory in the Spanish Grand Prix, starting from pole position and never looking back. The Finn took his second win of the season to extend his championship lead to nine points. Massa finished second and Hamilton third, while local hero Fernando Alonso's hopes went up in smoke with an engine failure.

Fernando Alonso slipped off track on the parade lap and paid for dirtying his tyres as Felipe Massa got ahead of him at the start to follow Kimi Raikkonen into the first corner. Lewis Hamilton passed Kubica to take fourth.

Raikkonen looked comfortable up front but his efforts were for nothing when Sutil crashed into Vettel and the safety car was deployed. The race resumed on lap four as Nelson Piquet went off track and fell back through the field before. As he recovered and tried to make his way back up the field Piquet came together with Bourdais and ended both of their races.

Fernando Alonso was the first of the front-runners to pit from third place, but only two laps before Felipe Massa, three before Raikkonen and four before Hamilton and Kubica. It was then that McLaren encountered a major fright as Heikki Kovalainen's front left tyre suddenly deflated in the middle of the 150mph turn nine, sending the Finn head-first into the tyre barrier.

The safety and medical cars were immediately deployed and it took twenty minutes to extract the McLaren from the five-deep tyre wall and get Kovalainen to the medical centre. The Finn managed to give a thumbs up to the concerned crowd as he was stretchered off and after initial examination in the medical centre revealed no major injuries beyond concussion, Kovalainen was airlifted to a Barcelona hospital.

Meanwhile on track Nick Heidfeld served a ten-second stop-go penalty after he was forced to pit during the safety car period for fuel and Fernando Alonso's hopes of a dream result in front of his home crowd ended with engine failure while he was running fifth.

Having a far less eventful race out front, Kimi Raikkonen continued to lea team mate Felipe Massa with Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica holding on in third and fourth with just 15 laps of the 66-lap race remaining. Webber was up to fifth ahead of Button and Nakajima who both benefited from the safety car period.

Raikkonen went on to take his second win of the season and extend his championship lead to nine points over Lewis Hamilton who ended up third, behind Felipe Massa. Robert Kubica drove another strong race for BMW to finish fourth while Mark Webber proved Red Bull's pace was no flash in the pan to finish fifth.

Jenson Button made the most of circumstances to bring his Honda home in sixth ahead of Kazuki Nakajima, who took another two points for Williams. Jarno Trulli took the final point in eighth.

Nemechek earns Talladega pole with late-session lap

27 April 2008,04:38 GMT .. 5 comments .. Link

[ Source:www.nascar.com ]


 TALLADEGA, Ala. -- It's been all about Tony Stewart at Talladega Superspeedway, where he's planted himself inside the spotlight by entering free agency.

He's backed up the high level of interest being shown in NASCAR's two-time champion with strong runs on the racetrack, including a stout qualifying lap Saturday that seemed to lock down the pole position.

Some three hours later, Joe Nemechek stole his thunder.

Nemechek, the 46th of 47 drivers to make a qualifying attempt, knocked Stewart off the pole with a lap of 187.386 mph . It was the first pole since 2005, a span of 93 races, for "Front Row Joe," and was his fourth career pole at Talladega -- best among active drivers.

 Nemechek credited his Furniture Row Racing team, a single-car operation based out of Denver, which prepared a car that had to qualify on speed to make Sunday's race. Nemechek is ranked 42nd in the points, and has missed two of eight races this season.

"It takes a lot of work and a lot of innovative thinking to get your cars to go fast, and to get them through the air," Nemechek said. "And it's paying attention to all the details. The cool thing about us is we're just a small team. We don't have that many employees.

"Yates, Roush, Joe Gibbs Racing, Childress, there's some big companies there, and we were able to beat them [Saturday]. I'm very proud of that."

Stewart, a six-time runner-up at Talladega, had to settle for the second starting spot. He was the seventh driver to make his lap, and his 186.896 held almost the entire session. He's now qualified inside the top 10 in eight of his 19 Talladega starts, but is still searching for his first win at the track.

Talladega is one of just four tracks where Stewart has yet to score a win.

"It is important to me," he said. "We've run second here six times in nine years, so a third of the races here I've run second. I'm ready to get one more spot finally."

Ken Schrader, the final driver to make his qualifying attempt, grabbed the third spot. Driving in his first race for Haas CNC Racing, which has used a revolving door of drivers since Jeremy Mayfield left the No. 70 Chevrolet earlier this month, Schrader ran a lap at 186.499 mph.

He then joked that NASCAR had to scramble to print his nameplate in time for the post-qualifying news conference.

"We knew we had a decent racecar [Friday]. We thought it ought to be a solid top 10, but you don't know what everybody else is running because they had the advantage of being able to do a little drafting practice," Schrader said. "We did some stuff for qualifying that we'll probably have to undo, but first thing first and that was to be in the [race] for sure."

A.J. Allmendinger will start fourth Sunday in his season debut. He failed to qualify his Red Bull Racing car for the first three races of the year, and the team replaced him with Mike Skinner for the next five events. Allmendinger spent his time out of the seat learning everything he could from Skinner, who was also charged with giving the No. 84 team a playbook to work off the rest of the season.

"I would like to say that it was all driving skill, but it really wasn't," Allmendinger said. "It was important for everybody at the team to make this race, but it was probably double important for me to make it -- just getting back in. I don't think I've ever been so nervous to shift a racecar as I have been [Saturday]."

Kyle Busch, Stewart's teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, was fifth to give Toyota three cars in the top five. David Ragan was the highest-qualifying Ford at sixth, but Denny Hamlin and Brian Vickers followed in two more Toyotas.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top 10.

Among the drivers needing to qualify on speed who did were Nemechek, Allmendinger, Schrader, Jon Wood, Sterling Marlin, Kyle Petty, Patrick Carpentier and Dario Franchitti. But Franchitti was later injured in a hard accident in the Nationwide Series race and was transported to a local hospital for observation. There was no immediate word on his status for Sunday's race.

Failing to qualify were John Andretti, J.J. Yeley and Dave Blaney.

Hamilton shocked but still hopeful

27 April 2008,04:34 GMT .. 0 comments .. Link

[ Source:f1.gpupdate.net ]


Lewis Hamilton looked shocked after he ended up qualifying in fifth place for the Spanish Grand Prix. The McLaren driver had been as high as second, but in the final seconds Kubica, Alonso and Raikkonen all went faster.

"We seemed to be quite quick on a single lap and I'm just shocked and stunned we didn't have the pace on a heavy fuel load," Hamilton said after qualifying.

On whether he would struggle being further back on row three for the start he added, "Starting shouldn't be a problem because you're against all the professional experienced drivers who want to finish. I think our race pace is still good so we should be ok for tomorrow, but I am a bit shocked."

Raikkonen steals last gasp pole from Alonso

27 April 2008,04:32 GMT .. 0 comments .. Link

[ Source:f1.gpupdate.net ]

Kimi Raikkonen stole a last gasp pole position from a flying Fernando Alonso in the final moments of qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix. The result, nevertheless gave thousands of Alonso's home fans something to celebrate for the first time this season. Felipe Massa ended up third.

The circuit was very slippery at the start of qualifying with those going out early struggling for grip, particularly in the final sector. At the end of it though Kimi Raikkonen led Trulli and Alonso while Coulthard, Vettel, Fisichella, Sutil, Davidson and Sato all dropped out.

The second qualifying was a very close run event with less than 0.7s separating the six cars that were knocked out: Barrichello, Nakajima, Button, Glock, Rosberg and Bourdais.

Felipe Massa set the early pace in final qualifying but it all came down to the closing moments as Alonso bumped the Brazilian down a place and then Raikkonen pulled one out of the bag when it really counted to steal pole by less than 0.1s.

Robert Kubica held on for a strong fourth for BMW, 0.2s off Raikkonen's pace while Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen got pushed down to fifth and sixth. Mark Webber confirmed Red Bull's pace in seventh ahead of Trulli, Heidfeld and Piquet.