Lawson next on Stoner win list

Casey Stoner's victory in last Sunday's Indianapolis Grand Prix was the 30th time he has stood on the top step of the podium in the MotoGP class. 

That is just one less premier-class win than Eddie Lawson, who is fifth in the all-time premier-class win list, shown in the table below. 

The number of premier-class world titles won by each rider is shown in brackets. All five riders above Stoner, who leads the 2011 standings by 44 points, have won at least four 500cc/MotoGP titles.

Stoner has 37 victories across all three grand prix classes, which is the same number as rivals Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa.

Riders with most wins in 500cc/MotoGP:

79 wins - Valentino Rossi (7 500cc/MotoGP titles)

68 wins - Giacomo Agostini (8)

54 wins - Mick Doohan (5)

37 wins - Mike Hailwood (4)

31 wins - Eddie Lawson (4)

30 wins - Casey Stoner (1)

25 wins - Kevin Schwantz (1)

24 wins - Wayne Rainey (3)

22 wins - Geoff Duke (4), Kenny Roberts (3), 9 John Surtees (4)

Hayden hoping to get past the first corner

Nicky Hayden has only finished one of the four San Marino Grands Prix since 2007 - and hasn't got around the first corners unscathed for the past two years.

The American finished 13th after being forced through the gravel at the start of the 2007 race, withdrew from the 2008 event due to injury, was taken out by Alex de Angelis at the first turn in 2009, then clashed with Loris Capirossi at the same corner in 2010!

Hayden arrives at round 13 of the 2011 season fresh from a disappointing home race at Indianapolis, which saw him drop down the order to 14th and last with front tyre problems.

“Indy was a bad race, but some how, some way, you've got to try to get over it and move on," said the Ducati rider. "Misano has been a tough track for me, because it seems like I can't ever get through the first corner. It would be nice to catch a bit of a break, because I don't feel like we're always getting the results we deserve. 

"We learned a lot about the new bike in Indy, so I hope we've got a good starting point there. We'll see what the weather's going to do. Hopefully it won't be too hot, as that makes things more difficult for us. Anyway, we need to do our best and try to improve our bike.”

Misano will be Ducati's second and final home round of the season. Like Valentino Rossi, team manager Vittoriano Guareschi has warned it could be another tough weekend for the Italian team.

“Misano is a round that means a lot to all of us, and it's the home race for Valentino. We'll have many fans there, and we'd like to put both Vale and Nicky in position to get good results," he began.

"Naturally, we'll try our best, as we do at every race weekend, although we know that the type of work we're doing on the bike pays off over the long term. 

"It's definitely a difficult moment for us because the results aren't what we'd like, but it's very gratifying to see the great effort and determination from our riders, the team and everyone at Ducati."

Bautista: Misano a real fun track

Rizla Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista, eighth at Misano last year, heads for this weekend's 2011 event looking to continue the upward curve from Indianapolis last Sunday.

The Spaniard claimed his best dry result of the season with sixth in the USA and has high hopes for a circuit that suits both his riding style and the GSV-R. 

“I think we have a good reference at Misano from last year and we had a good race there in 2010. I want to improve on that and think that we can," he said.

"It is a track that has every type of corner, it involves lots of hard braking and plenty of changes of direction – it is a real fun track to ride. 

"I want to start with a similar rhythm to that which we had in the race last year and try to be as close as I can to the top as early as possible. 

"I believe we have the package now to do that and we will keep working hard until we achieve our goals.”

Bautista will start round 13 holding twelfth in the world championship.

HRC want Dovizioso at LCR Honda

HRC wants Andrea Dovizioso to remain on a Honda next year that they have asked Lucio Cecchinelli to do everything possible to include the Italian in the LCR team in 2012.

Doviszioso has remained loyal to Honda since the early years of his Grand Prix career, including winning the 125GP championship in 2004. "Well, the leaders of HRC have asked me to do everything and more to organise a team for Dovizioso," Cecchinelli said on Moto.it, "It is a project we're working on, but that requires a greater financial commitment."

Having a dismal year so far with Toni Elias, he said: "Meanwhile, we are focussed on trying to straighten out the difficult season we are experiencing. That said, thinking of 2012 when you work with a company like Honda, the pilot did not choose to be alone, but of course you have to agree with the HRC."

Dovi has not been offered a factory RC213V, as that seems to be going to Marco Simoncelli - if they can agree on the contract - despite Andrea outperforming the Gresini rider this season, he currently sits in third in the championship with a chance of taking second from Jorge Lorenzo compared to the ninth in the table for Simoncelli.

Instead HRC are willing to give a bike that isn't unlike the top-spec prototype machines, at the start of the season the technical specifications for all the Honda 1000s are expected to be fairly similar and throughout the season they will ensure that Dovi's bike is constantly updated by the factory.

However, as noted by Andrea himself, this would be a step backwards for the Italian. The goal for finalising the deal was originally set for the end of August but has been given a further 2-3 weeks given that this is an 'exceptional case'.

Should the deal fail an alternative appears to be John Hopkins and a name thrown out by Lucio to persuade Dovi to lower his fee, the Anglo-American is liked by Cecchinello as a talent - having impressed the team manager with his displays in BSB and the wildcard rides for Rizla Suzuki in MotoGP.

Commenting on the status of their RCV for 2012, Lucio added: "Honda is still defining the technical specifications of the bike: for what I know, the RCV will be all the same beginning.

"Then development will start in winter testing, with pieces that will be tested by the two riders and when the pieces are approved, they will come for Dovizioso and Simoncelli, should they be part of Honda's programs.

So, I can not say that we have a factory bike to 100%, but half that with a couple of weeks later than the internal team will have all the necessary updates."

Reportedly one of the reasons why Honda have overlooked Dovi for a factory bike and chosen SuperSic is that they believe the former has plateaued whereas the hairy-one is still on the rise. Have they made the right decision?

source: visordown

Misano renews MotoGP participation for a further five years

San Marino will continue to be a MotoGP World Championship venue for at least the next five years after a renewal of the contract currently held between the circuit and Championship organisers Dorna Sports was announced on Thursday.

On the day before the 2011 Gran Premio Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini got underway at the Misano World Circuit, San Marino Secretary of State for Tourism and Sport, Fabio Berardi, and Dorna Sports CEO, Carmelo Ezpeleta, were both present at a special press conference to announce the continuation of an event at the circuit until at least 2016.

Commenting on the deal Mr Ezpeleta said: “It is a pleasure to be here to renew the contract with the Misano World Circuit, to continue working with the Republic of San Marino, Riviera di Rimini and Santamonica S.p.a. and to be able to sign a deal in an economic period such as this.”

“We are highly satisfied with our relationship and we first started to speak about a renewal last year. The San Marino Grand Prix is a very important one for us and I am certain it will continue to get better and better with every year.”

Following the press conference those present went to the Parliament of San Marino to meet the Capitani Reggenti, Maria Luisa Berti and Filippo Tamagnini, to celebrate the contract renewal.

This year’s Gran Premio Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini will be the 15th Grand Prix held by the Misano World Circuit.

source: MotoGP official websites

Misano poised for action following press conference

Casey Stoner arrives at this weekend’s Gran Premio Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini at Misano guarding a healthy 44-point lead in the Championship, with six rounds remaining in the 2011 campaign.

The Repsol Honda rider will be going for a fourth consecutive win this weekend having taken victory at Laguna Seca, Brno and most recently Indianapolis and despite his advantage at the top of the standings is taking nothing for granted.

“So far things are going well but we’ve had a fair lead taken down a bit in the Championship before, and we had to grow it back again,” said Stoner, who was joined by Dani Pedrosa, Ben Spies, Valentino Rossi and Loris Capirossi in the pre-event press conference. “There are still quite a few races to go and we need to make sure we stay as competitive as we can.”

He continued: “I hope to be able to fight for the win here and if not minimise the damage to the points. I think it’ll be another hot weekend here, and we’ll have to see how the track conditions and the tyres are.”

Stoner’s team-mate Pedrosa made it a Repsol Honda one-two at Indianapolis and the Spaniard, who won here last year, is targeting a better lead into the race having started from the second row last weekend.

“I hope here we can have a better qualifying,” said Pedrosa. “Of course if it’s warm again it’ll be harder, also with the jetlag, but it’s the same for everybody and hopefully we are fit enough to perform at our best.”

Pedrosa is also aiming for a strong final run in the campaign as it enters its final third: “In the Championship I’m really far down but I hope I can have some good races before the end of the season. I hope I can get some wins and podiums and have a good end.”

This weekend will see plenty of focus fall on Rossi with the Misano circuit so close to the Italian’s hometown. It will also have the added significance of the nine-time World Champion racing for the first time here on the Ducati.

“For me, Ducati and the fans this is important,” he said. “A lot of people will try to fight with us, but unfortunately this year we’ve been unable to give the right results. We have to try, not just for us but all the people here. It’s a difficult season and we come from a bad race last week, but we’ll have great support from the fans.”

Spies comes into Round 13 full of confidence after his podium finish in his home race where, despite a mistake on the opening lap which cost him many positions, he managed to finish third having run a good race pace.

“This is a track I like and it’s a special atmosphere,” said the Yamaha Factory Racing rider. “It was a good race for us in Indy, I made a mistake at the start but we had good speed and it’s a confidence booster. I just need to take that to this weekend and have fun again. Hopefully we have the same feeling with the bike as we did at Indy and we can challenge at the front throughout the weekend.”

Last to speak was Capirossi who announced that after a long and illustrious career in the World Championship, which has delivered three titles, 29 Grand Prix wins and 99 podiums, he will retire at the end of the current campaign.

“It’s difficult for me to say this because after 22 seasons this will be my last race in Italy as I have decided to stop,” said an emotional Capirossi, who received a standing ovation from the media present. “I have thought a lot about stopping and I think this is the right decision for me.”

source: MotoGP official website

Pedrosa: We must be stronger on Saturdays

Dani Pedrosa has pin-pointed Saturdays as an area for improvement from this weekend’s San Marino MotoGP. At Indianapolis last time out, the Spanish Honda rider qualified over a full second slower than team-mate Casey Stoner before finishing just under five seconds behind the Australian in Sunday’s race.

“After the good race we had at Indy, we arrive at Misano in a very positive mood,” Sabadell’s Pedrosa comments. “The circuit is so different compared to Indy, but last year we had a very good race there and we will try to repeat that.

“We must be a little stronger on Saturday and prepare for the race the best we can. Misano is a track where you need good acceleration and hard braking, so this will be our priority to start working on with the bike setup.

“After the success in America, it's good to head directly to Misano. I hope we can continue working well with the team and take another step forward.”