Edwards thanks 'karma' for third place

Colin Edwards said his last gasp third place at Assen was the perfect recompense for losing victory at the track at the final corner in 2006.

Two years ago Edwards was battling for the Dutch TT win with Nicky Hayden when he crashed within yards of the chequered flag while dicing with his compatriot.

Ironically this year his last lap elevation to third came at Hayden's expense, as the former champion's Honda faltered on the way into the last chicane and crawled across the line in fourth, allowing Edwards onto the podium.

"What do you say? What goes around, comes around. He who laughs last, laughs hardest," Edwards said. "Whatever you want to say, it's karma, I guess.

"There is not one single shred of me that feels sorry for Nicky Hayden!"

The Tech 3 Yamaha rider made a remarkable recovery to reach the podium despite tumbling to the back of the field when he had to go wide avoiding Valentino Rossi's tangle with Randy de Puniet at the first corner.

"It was a difficult race," said Edwards. "I thought I got a good start, then I came out of Turn 1 and realised I hadn't had a good start...

"And then Valentino crashed in front of me and I basically had to stop the bike. I possibly could've gone left but I knew Valentino was on the ground there and I didn't want to run over him or run over his bike, so I just sort of stopped it and let everything go. Next thing you know, I was dead last."

Edwards took fourth place just after half-distance, but with Hayden eight seconds ahead at that point, it looked like he had reached the limit of his charge.

However Edwards continued to push and then benefited when Hayden encountered his last lap problem.

"I had to come through the field and saw Dani (Pedrosa) and Nicky coming back to me," said Edwards.

"I kept getting closer and closer, and I was pushing as hard as I could. There was nothing I could really do but keep pushing.

"Sure enough at the last corner, that same little section that got me a couple of years ago got Nicky this year. I guess that's racing. We ended up on the podium and I'm happy."

Edwards' team boss Herve Poncharal was overjoyed with the result.

"When he got to fourth, we thought 'okay, no way (he can get a podium),'" Poncharal told BBC television. "The other two were a bit slower but too far in front. I don't know what happened to Nicky's bike, but it was a present from God."

He also hinted that Edwards' current strong form was likely to see him retained by the team for 2008.

"I think we know who's going to be our second rider next year," said Poncharal.

MotoGP: Edwards tops Le Mans warm-up

Hayden baffled by dismal race

Jakes wins chaotic race at Pau

Rossi takes victory in China

Bautista takes commanding Assen win

Aprilia's Alvaro Bautista took a commanding win over Thomas Luthi in the 250cc Dutch TT at Assen, with this second victory of the year putting the Spaniard in fourth position in the championship.

The race was deemed wet after a little bit of rain hit the track shortly before the start, forcing a further five-minute delay on top of a re-scheduling due to the 125cc race running late. Despite that, the riders chose to take the start with dry-weather tyres.

Bautista, who made a bad start from pole position and dropped down to ninth position, was the only rider able to close an early gap opened early in the race by the Swiss.

The quickest off the line and leading at the first corner was third-on-the-grid Marco Simoncelli, but an overtaking move by Aprilia's Luthi, who started sixth, forced the Gilera rider to close the gas and lose several positions, eventually finding himself in 12th by the end of lap one.

Meanwhile, Luthi started opening a gap over second-placed Alex Debon. By the end of lap six Bautista had recovered lots of positions and had just managed to overtake his compatriot to slot into second, albeit over three seconds behind Luthi.

That gap was closed six laps later, and on lap 13th the two riders exchanged position, while the rest of the pack, headed by Debon, Hector Barbera and an impressive Simoncelli, was eight seconds behind the leading duo.

Luthi took the lead back from Bautista for three laps after more rain briefly hit the track around lap 15, but Bautista had none of it and after taking first place back on lap 19 he opened a gap that by the end of the 24-lap race was almost five seconds.

Simoncelli made a fine recovery from his first-lap problems and almost managed to threaten Luthi's second place, eventually finishing 1.4 seconds behind. Simoncelli is now just one point away from KTM's Mika Kallio at the top of the standings, with the latter classifying only seventh.

Three seconds behind Simoncelli, Debon managed to beat Barbera for fourth place by less than half a tenth, after the two Aprilia riders had a hard battle throughout the race.

On lap 14 Barbera went wide while overtaking Debon, cut through a turn and almost crashed into Kallio upon rejoining the track. That overtaking attempt at that same corner happened again on the last lap and had the same outcome, minus the near-miss.

KTM's Hiroshi Aoyoma took sixth position away from teammate Kallio with less than three laps of the race remaining.

Russel Gomez had a crash on lap one, while Mattia Pasini had another on lap eleventh while he was eighth.

CLASSIFIED: Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 40:54.117 2. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 4.597 3. Marco Simoncelli Gilera + 6.003 4. Alex Debon Aprilia + 9.034 5. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 9.079 6. Hiroshi Aoyama KTM + 11.515 7. Mika Kallio KTM + 12.874 8. Yuki Takahashi Honda + 13.622 9. R.Locatelli Gilera + 21.168 10. Julian Simon KTM + 28.789 11. Hector Faubel Aprilia + 37.607 12. R.Wilairot Honda + 37.741 13. Fabrizio Lai Gilera + 38.729 14. Alex Baldolini Aprilia + 39.165 15. Lukas Pesek Aprilia + 43.037 16. Eugene Laverty Aprilia + 54.171 17. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia + 54.334 18. Frederik Watz Aprilia +1:24.430 19. D.T.Pradita Yamaha + 1 Lap 20. Imre Toth Aprilia + 1 Lap NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS: Rider Bike On lap Manuel Poggiali Gilera 18 Mattia Pasini Aprilia 12 Russell Gomez Aprilia 1 Karel Abraham Aprilia DNS FASTEST LAP: Bautista, 1:40.340 on lap 12

Kallio leads KTM 1-2 at Shanghai

Simoncelli snatches win from Bautista

Chilton takes wet pole at Rockingham

Hartley takes Snetterton pole

Mustonen takes Rockingham victory

Bautista takes home pole in Spain

Stoner relieved to convert pace into win

Casey Stoner said his dominant Dutch TT victory came as a relief as he had feared he might squander his speed advantage in the race.

The Ducati rider had been fastest for most of the Assen weekend and duly led every lap of the race to take his second consecutive victory.

But Stoner admitted that his strong form in practice and qualifying had actually made him more anxious about the race, especially as the weather forecast was uncertain.

"We've known we've had the pace to do it, but coming to race day it makes you more nervous when the only thing that can go wrong is you," he said in the winner's press conference.

"I really didn't want to make any mistakes today. I didn't want to have the weather in the mix, maybe throwing a few spits and spots (of rain) here and there, but it managed to stay clear for the race so I'm pretty happy about that.

"I've got to really take my hat off to my team: they've been doing such a good job these last few races to get us back on the pace and competitive again."

Stoner's ultimate winning margin of 11.3 seconds was actually narrower than his practice form had indicated it might be, but the world champion said he had been deliberately conservative and could have pushed harder.

"It wasn't necessary to go faster," he told Italia1 television. "I was pulling away by almost one second per lap. On the last lap of the race the tyres and everything were working well enough to take the lap record again.

"But it's not necessary, because we have the fuel consumption to think about and things like this. The more you push at the end, the more difficulties you have, as you saw with Nicky (Hayden).

"Also, the wind conditions were not good today and there was a chance of rain, so in your mind you don't really want to push 110 per cent because you're afraid of making a mistake."

The Assen win has also improved Stoner's title prospects, closing him to within 29 points of new series leader Dani Pedrosa, and 25 of second-placed Valentino Rossi, who fell on the opening lap in the Netherlands.

"As for Valentino crashing, it's very unfortunate," Stoner said in the press conference. "I don't want to catch up in points in that way. But I've had my run of bad luck as well from the beginning of the season, so it's time that we started to have some decent results."

But having played down his championship hopes after winning at Donington Park last week, Stoner now intimated that he felt he was part of a three-way title contest with Rossi and Pedrosa.

"We seem to be the only three battling with each other," he told Italia1. "I cannot predict the future, we just have to wait and see. But for sure I think I'll keep fighting at the front and so will Dani and Vale."

Stoner surprised to take pole

Rossi relieved to end winless streak

Rossi prepared for wet race

Jakes relieved after securing pole

FCD players relieved with hiring of new coach

Hartley relieved to be back on track

Vermeulen relieved to salvage seventh

Chris Vermeulen was relieved to salvage a seventh place from today's MotoGP Dutch TT at Assen.

The Australian, the only Rizla Suzuki rider in the race after teammate Loris Capirossi injured himself in a practice crash, managed to avoid the accident between rivals Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) on the first lap after starting from eighth on the grid.

By lap seven he got up to fourth place before dropping back due to a lack of grip. Three laps before the end Vermeulen managed to claw back one position from the eighth he was in by overtaking Shinya Nakano's Honda Gresini.

"I got a good start and moved into a good position through the first two corners," said Vermeulen, "but I was nearly involved in the crash and had to run wide causing me to almost lose the front.

"The bike worked really well in the beginning part of the race and I had a lot of grip from the Bridgestones. I felt like my pace was better than the guys in front and I could see them and thought I could get up to them, but once I got past and up into fourth the grip went off a bit and it became quite slippery out there.

"Unfortunately I lost a bit of time and dropped back a few positions, but I was still quite strong at the end of the race and managed to get back to seventh.

"Considering the problems we have had this weekend and losing a couple of sessions - one to problems on the first day and another to the rain - it is a decent result and we have managed to salvage something from it.

"Full congratulations to the team they did a great job again, and I'd like to say get well soon to Loris, I hope he is back at Sachsenring so he can give me a run for my money!"

The German Grand Prix will take place in two weeks' time.

Hohenthal triumphs in wet race two

Vermeulen laments lack of dry running

Vermeulen targets Le Mans resurgence

Vermeulen laments lack of dry running

Chris Vermeulen rued the loss of dry track time in final practice after taking eighth on the Assen grid.

The Australian is Suzuki's only representative this weekend after Loris Capirossi suffered an arm injury on Thursday.

Vermeulen, who took pole in the wet at Assen last year, had struggled to finalise a set-up at the start of qualifying due to the rain this morning, but felt he was making progress by the end of the session.

"It was a difficult qualifying session because we had so much work to get through after losing so much time this morning," he said.

"We had a lot of set-up changes that we wanted to try but it was too wet earlier and we lost a lot of time sitting in the garage just waiting to see what the weather was going to do - so really from the morning session we didn't learn anything at all.

"In the qualifying session we got a little bit lost with set-up because we tried so many things, and in the end we went back to what we ran yesterday and that seemed to work well."

Having been encouraged by his pace at the end of qualifying, Vermeulen hopes he can gain ground in the race.

"My last couple of qualifying laps were pretty good and I managed to get on to the third row and scrape something out of the session," he said.

"At least we are up there and if we get a good start and a strong first few laps, I think we can be competitive and fight for at least a top five finish."

Team boss Paul Denning reckons Vermeulen had done well to salvage eighth on the grid.

"It was a difficult session and we never really achieved the rhythm that we hoped we'd be able to," he said. "However, right at the end he did a great job to get the GSV-R into the top eight and on to the third row of the grid.

"The guys know exactly what is needed for the warm-up and race so hopefully we'll be able to replicate that improvement and run a decent race pace tomorrow. We know that Chris has great potential and that he is ultra hungry for a good result."

Vermeulen relieved to salvage seventh

Hayden laments set-up problems

Qualifying rained off at Monza

Chilton to start on race two pole

Jakes takes pole at Pau

Kawasaki frustrated by West's crash

Kawasaki team boss Michael Bartholemy said Anthony West's crash at Assen was a 'disheartening' way to end a tough weekend.

West was the squad's sole representative in the Dutch TT after a qualifying crash left John Hopkins with leg injuries that could sideline him for the next two races.

The team hoped that West - who has struggled for much of the first half of the season - could build on the resurgent form he showed at Donington Park and take another top ten finish, but he was delayed avoiding Alex de Angelis' crash on the first lap, and then fell when running 11th.

"We've made a lot of improvements this weekend, so it is quite disheartening to come away with no points," said Bartholemy.

"John's injuries from the crash yesterday ruled him out of the race, so all of our hopes were on Anthony, who I felt sure was capable of repeating his top ten Donington success.

"The incident at turn one left him quite a long way back, but he rode hard to pass a few people into 11th place, and was catching the group ahead of him."

Bartholemy was particularly annoyed because he believed the Kawasaki was much more competitive at Assen than in recent races.

"His lap times were consistently fast and it's a real frustration because with the upgrades we've made this weekend, he was very capable of achieving a good result," he said. "We now have to focus on taking advantage of the developments we've made at the next round."

West felt his first lap delay had forced him to push beyond the limit.

"I was sure I could catch the group ahead of me and be well within the top ten, but we were lapping at a similar pace and with the incident at the start, I had to push just that little bit harder," he said.

"Unfortunately I lost the front of the bike and crashed out, which is a real disappointment because we were quite strong today.

"The new engine upgrades have made a difference and we still have more grip than previously, despite struggling a little bit in places with cornering. We just need some luck on our side and, hopefully, we'll be fighting for good positions next time out at Sachsenring."

Kawasaki frustrated by qualifying slump

Kawasaki evaluates in-line five engine

RSL left wanting more after draw

Ducati celebrate 'big step' in title bid

Ducati believe Casey Stoner's win and Valentino Rossi's first lap error at Assen could prove to be very significant in this year's title battle.

Reigning champion Stoner has now won the last two races, but with title rivals Rossi and Dani Pedrosa consistently finishing on the podium, the Australian had suspected it would be almost impossible to close the points deficit that had developed when he was struggling in the early part of the season.

However, the Dutch TT result has brought Stoner back to within 25 points of Rossi, and 29 points of new championship leader Pedrosa.

"We kept losing points and losing points, and the last few weekends we've been quite stationary," said Stoner. "We've all had a first, second and third each.

"Today was a big step for us to close the championship gap. We've finished every race except for Le Mans. We've had some bad luck and some bad management by myself. It's nice to come back and still not be too far from the front of the championship, considering the season we've had."

Stoner urged his team to keep pushing now that they had rediscovered winning form.

"We're still quite a way off. We're definitely more within reach now, but we still need to keep the pressure on and keep moving forward," he said.

"If we start getting the same results that we were before, then we're just going to stay even and where we are. We still have quite a lot of points to catch up, but I'm definitely a lot more confident for the rest of the season that we can gain some points."

Ducati team boss Livio Suppo agreed that while the current situation was still a far cry from their dominant 2007 season, Stoner was starting to look like a title contender again.

"It's different (to 2007). Now we have to catch up - it's more exciting," Suppo told reporters at Assen.

"Of course what happened today was something unexpected. It's difficult to expect Valentino to make a mistake, and today he did it and crashed by himself.

"Now the championship's more open. There's still a long way to go and it's too early to speak about it. But it would be stupid to say it didn't help."

Stoner has been a dominant force since changes to the Ducati's engine management system allowed him to take a big step forward in the post-race test at Barcelona earlier this month.

"He found half a second on the Tuesday at Barcelona and since then he's kept it," Suppo said. "Let's hope he keeps it for the rest of the season."

The reigning champion believes he can maintain his current momentum at the forthcoming Sachsenring and Laguna Seca races.

"These next two circuits seem to be quite good for us," Stoner said. "We rode well last year, and with the way the bike and tyres are working at the moment, we can hopefully expect to have some really good results."

Suppo stays positive despite problems

Ducati boss cool despite increasing gap

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RSL still bitter over Wizards draw

Hopkins fractures ankle in crash

John Hopkins is doubtful for tomorrow's Dutch TT after fracturing his ankle in a qualifying crash this afternoon.

The Kawasaki rider dropped his Ninja ZX-RR at very high speed in the final minutes of the session and fractured the internal medial malleolus bone in his left ankle.

He stretchered away from the scene of the crash and taken to the medical centre in a wheelchair, although he was able to walk into the mobile facility.

MotoGP doctor Claudio Costa set Hopkins' foot in a temporary cast and a decision is to be made shortly on whether the American will be able to take any further part in this weekend's event.

Cochrane recovering from grisly collision

Red Bulls draw inspiration from Angel

Hopkins sure he will be fit for France

Toseland determined to end slump

James Toseland says he is doing all he can to end his current slump following another disappointing weekend in the Netherlands.

After a bright start to his MotoGP career, the reigning World Superbike champion has struggled for pace in recent races, and suffered a number of crashes during his home event at Donington Park a week ago.

Although he got back into the top ten by finishing ninth at Assen today, he had only qualified 13th and was not on the pace of his Tech 3 Yamaha teammate Colin Edwards, who came from the back to third after being delayed at the first corner.

"We're just having a bit of a tough period at the moment," Toseland told BBC television. "Donington was obviously tough, and then here we just tried doing something a bit different with the bike and it wasn't quite right.

"I apologise to everybody. It must be frustrating watching it, and it's frustrating for me."

Toseland pledged to keep working to turn his form around and get back on the pace in the next two races.

"We'll keep at it," he said. "I'm back in the top ten, but I've got some work to do. But I'll put the work in.

"I'm looking forward to going to the Sachsenring and obviously to Laguna Seca, which I know from years before. But it's a tough time."

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Back in form, Emilio leading D.C.

Champions League format unveiled

Toseland hugely disappointed with race

Toseland devastated by crashes

Guintoli delighted with top ten slot

Sylvain Guintoli was delighted to qualify a season-best 10th at Assen and believes his Alice D'Antin Ducati team are now making good progress.

The satellite Ducati squad have struggled all year, with Guintoli and teammate Toni Elias generally qualifying on the back two rows.

But Guintoli showed better pace in practice at Assen, and proceeded to earn a top ten start for the first time since joining the Alice team from Tech 3 Yamaha.

"It's been a good weekend so far," Guintoli told the official MotoGP website.

"This qualifying was actually a little bit more difficult than I thought. The lack of grip at the start of the session after the rain this morning made it feel really weird and I lost my feeling a little bit. But then at the end of the session the track improved and it went better."

The Frenchman added that the Assen qualifying result had come as a major morale boost. The Frenchman had qualified 12th in the wet at Donington Park last week, but his best starting position in a dry session was 15th in Barcelona.

"So far I'm having a lot of fun, and that's been rare this season," said Guintoli. "I've had a good first two days and now I've got a good position on the grid - my best qualifying of the year and in the dry this time.

"It's good - we're getting better and I'm enjoying myself on the bike. The Netherlands has been really brilliant for us so far."

Guintoli's best result of the season so far was 11th position at Mugello, although his teammate Elias managed an eighth place in China.

Guintoli hoping for home crowd boost

Dovizioso tops wet Donington practice

Qualifying rained off at Monza

FIM outlines 250cc replacement plan

The process of replacing the 250cc class has taken a step forward today after a meeting of the Grand Prix Commission at Assen.

Four-stroke engines of 600cc and four cylinders maximum look to replace the current 250cc two-stroke class, with the FIM and Dorna calling for manufacturers to express their interest in the plan before the end of July 2008, just over a month's time.

The absence of any mention of either production or prototype engines in the announcement came as a surprise, as it has always been assumed that the GP world is bound not to use any 600cc engine block that is currently being used in World Supersport, a championship solely for production based bikes whose rights have been franchised by the FIM to the FG Sport Group run by the Flammini brothers.

It is believed that FG Sport has a specific deal with the FIM that prohibits a Grand Prix bike using anything but prototype parts, something that was brought to a head when WCM made their own MotoGP engine at the start of the 2004 season.

That engine was built from a variety of production parts, but initially with an engine castings that were standard Yamaha R1, and therefore not prototype.

The bike was only cleared to race when prototype castings had been created for it.

Hayden to continue with pneumatic engine

Ericsson tops Rockingham test

Perez eyeing title after first win

Edwards rues 'strange' tyre problems

Colin Edwards said a confusing tyre problem preventing him from staying in pole contention at the end of qualifying for the Dutch TT.

The Tech 3 Yamaha rider had briefly held provisional pole after putting in an early qualifying tyre run, but slipped to sixth by the end of the session.

"I put my first qualifier on and did a 1:36.2 and I thought 'awesome,'" Edwards said.

"I told my team I could do a mid-1:35 because that first qualifier is always just getting used to the extra traction, so I was really confident and I expected to be on the front row. But on my next set of tyres it just never happened.

"Most corners at this track are right-handers and I had an issue with the right side of the front tyre. It wasn't chatter and it is really strange. I'm not blaming anybody but I can't remember the last time I had this problem.

"But I couldn't go fast and I didn't have the same issue with the first set and I didn't change the bike. I wasn't too worried because I had another set and went out and it was the same problem but even worse on the left side of the front tyre.

"The right was perfect but I was struggling to get my knee on the ground on the left and it was weird. We need to have a look at the data and talk it over with the guys but it has really thrown me because I'm not sure what caused it."

But despite his qualifying problems, Edwards feels he is well prepared for the race.

"I'm ready for tomorrow whether it's raining or not," he said. "I was pleased it rained this morning because we got the bike set-up good for the rain. I can't complain too much being on the second row with some of the problems I had."

His teammate James Toseland will start only 13th. The Briton blamed an error on his final lap.

"I wasn't on a bad lap on the last lap but I had a big moment coming out of the last chicane and lost all my time," Toseland explained.

"I was only eight tenths off the leader in the first three splits so it was looking good for the third row. But that mistake cost me and it is a bit unfortunate. The third row would have been a good result."

Toseland hopes he can now improve the bike for the race, and admitted he is in need of a strong finish after his disappointing British Grand Prix weekend.

"I'm hoping warm-up is going to be dry because at the moment we seem to take a long time to get the set-up," he said.

"We are still looking to improve it again on the day of the race. The bike needs to be sorted for the race after qualifying and we have got to improve in that area.

"I'm still holding my breath at every corner and that's not the way to be riding. I need to get back into the comfort zone.

"I got into the 1:37s at the end on race tyres and other than Casey (Stoner) I think race pace will be high 1:36s and low 1:37s. I'm sure I've got mid-37s in me and that is likely to be fighting for the top six. That's the target tomorrow but I just want a good solid result at the moment. I have got to finish and get a good race under my belt and be back in the top ten."

Stoner rues bad tyre compound choice

Edwards content despite falling to fifth

Qualifying rained off at Monza

Rossi rues poor track conditions

Hayden to continue with pneumatic engine

Former world champion Nicky Hayden says he is happy to continue developing and racing Honda's new pneumatic engine for the rest of the MotoGP season.

The American, who has struggled to match the pace of HRC teammate Dani Pedrosa, finished seventh on the new bike in Donington and says its power delivery suited his style better than the conventional 800cc motor he has used up until now.

"It's aggressive, I like the feel of the engine that reacts strongly when I get on the gas," he told Italian magazine Motosprint. "It has a bit of a lag in the delivery, so the power comes violently, but I like it more than the other one.

"It's quicker too, and that's good to have. The engineers have found a good electronic management set-up, so I think this is the right time to start using it."

"I went to [Tadayuki] Okada and asked him in a direct way: 'is this bike able to race in a Grand Prix?' He told me it isn't, more time was needed.

"But it's not true: this bike already goes fairly well and it has sizable margin for development, we just need to carry on working on the electronic management and on weight distribution, which is not optimal yet."

The magazine suggests that Honda was reticent to begin racing the new engine, and laid conditions on Hayden for using it.

"They told me I can't go back: they told me this is my bike for the second half of the season," he was quoted as saying. "That's fine by me, I don't want to go back. I accept the risk of doing the development on track because it's worth it. This bike suits my style better, and that's what I needed."

Hayden admits to riding struggles

Perez eyeing title after first win

Mortara, Volkswagen savour first win

Mercedes threaten to pull out of F3

Bautista secures provisional pole

Alvaro Bautista took provisional pole for the 250cc race at Assen on Thursday after coming on top of a three-way battle with Hector Barbera and Marco Simoncelli.

In the end, the Aspar Aprilia rider's 1:39.510 lap was too good for Barbera, on the Toth Aprilia, and the Spaniard was left punching his thigh in frustration as he rolled back to the pits.

Simoncelli had spent most of the 45-minute session trading places with Bautista, but eliminated himself from the scrap with a fall that rendered his Gilera unusable. The two-time winner was thus forced to settle for third.

Aleix Espargaro was fourth fastest ahead of Thomas Luthi and Julian Simon.

Lucas Pesek managed a last-gasp flier to go seventh on the Auto Kelly Aprilia, and by dint of this, championship leader Mika Kallio was bumped down to tenth on the KTM.

Kallio's teammate Hiroshi Aoyama was the only other significant faller in the session, though the Japanese rider was uninjured.

Pos Rider Team Time Laps 1. Alvaro Bautista Mapfre Aspar Team 1:39.510 22 2. Hector Barbera Team Toth Aprilia 1:39.741 + 0.231 21 3. Marco Simoncelli Metis Gilera 1:39.978 + 0.468 18 4. Aleix Espargaro Lotus Aprilia 1:40.210 + 0.700 22 5. Thomas Luthi Emmi - Caffe Latte 1:40.455 + 0.945 22 6. Julian Simon Repsol KTM 250cc 1:40.686 + 1.176 20 7. Lukas Pesek Auto Kelly - CP 1:40.742 + 1.232 21 8. Alex Debon Lotus Aprilia 1:40.744 + 1.234 20 9. Yuki Takahashi JiR Team Scot 250 1:40.796 + 1.286 21 10. Mika Kallio Red Bull KTM 250 1:40.849 + 1.339 19 11. Fabrizio Lai Campetella Racing 1:40.862 + 1.352 19 12. Hector Faubel Mapfre Aspar Team 1:41.178 + 1.668 20 13. Manuel Poggiali Campetella Racing 1:41.180 + 1.670 22 14. Roberto Locatelli Metis Gilera 1:41.285 + 1.775 20 15. Hiroshi Aoyama Red Bull KTM 250 1:41.406 + 1.896 18 16. Ratthapark Wilairot Thai Honda PTT SAG 1:41.543 + 2.033 20 17. Mattia Pasini Polaris World 1:41.633 + 2.123 21 18. Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing 1:41.680 + 2.170 21 19. Imre Toth Team Toth Aprilia 1:43.108 + 3.598 21 20. Eugene Laverty Blusens Aprilia 1:43.245 + 3.735 17 21. Alex Baldolini Matteoni Racing 1:43.264 + 3.754 18 22. Doni Tata Pradita Yamaha Pertamina Indonesia 1:45.467 + 5.957 22 23. Frederik Watz Jaap Kingma Racing 1:45.836 + 6.326 6 24. Russel Gomez Blusens Aprilia 1:45.974 + 6.464 8

Kallio leads KTM 1-2 at Shanghai

Bautista takes home pole in Spain

Hulkenberg secures pole at Mugello

Simoncelli snatches win from Bautista

Capirossi to make return at Assen

Italian MotoGP rider Loris Capirossi will return to the fray in this weekend's TT at Assen after missing the British Grand Prix at Donington with an injured right hand.

He was replaced in Britain by AMA Superbike champion Ben Spies after crashing with Alex de Angelis in the Grand Prix of Catalunya, in Barcelona just over three weeks ago.

"I'm 100% certain that I am able to ride and I just can't wait to get back on my bike again," said Capirossi. "It was really difficult watching at the last race, but I want to say well done to Ben as he did a good job in his first GP.

"It certainly felt very strange seeing him working with my crew and sitting in my chair in the garage!

"I missed the test in Catalunya because of the injury, but I know Chris made some improvements to the bike so I will be looking at those and seeing if they will help me," he added.

"I need to carry on from where I left off and continue to make the bike better and I know that top result is just around the corner."

Revs’ Joseph makes surprise return

Spies pleased with debut performance

Capirossi surprised by Melandri's form

Loris Capirossi says he has been surprised by how poorly Marco Melandri has fared since replacing him at Ducati.

The reigning champion team dropped Capirossi at the end of 2007 after five seasons and recruited Melandri from Gresini Honda in his place.

Capirossi had struggled to match teammate Casey Stoner and to acclimatise to the 800cc version of the Ducati last year, but Melandri has been even further off the pace, with fourth in China his only remotely competitive performance.

"It's a particularly difficult season, and it's difficult to even talk about it, because Ducati wanted Marco 100 percent, that's clear, but unfortunately he isn't getting the results everyone and most of all he expected," Capirossi told Italia1 television.

"So it's tough. I don't think anyone expected these results from Marco, but then he's never managed to find a good feeling with the bike: every time he's tried to push a bit harder he would slide off, so it's a difficult situation."

Last weekend's British Grand Prix marked a new low for Melandri. He showed better form in practice in Britain only to qualify at the back again and then finish a distant 16th - almost lapped by his victorious teammate Stoner, and behind even early crasher Alex de Angelis, who rejoined and passed the man he replaced at Gresini.

Afterwards, Ducati team boss Livio Suppo said he was utterly baffled by Melandri's poor form.

"On one side of the garage we are delighted: Casey has done one of his weekends like in Qatar this year and many times last year, so we really have to congratulate him," Suppo told Italia1.

"Unfortunately Marco has done a really difficult race. He wasn't able to do the lap times he did in practice, where he ran in the high 1:29s, while today he was more in the 1:32s than in the 1:30s. So we must understand what's happening to him and how to help him. It's certainly a very difficult moment."

Suppo said Alice d'Antin Ducati duo Toni Elias and Sylvain Guintoli's recent progress raised even more questions over Melandri's riding on the works machine.

"We are doing our best, but I'm really struggling to understand why Marco absolutely can't ride this bike," he said.

"Today both Toni and Guintoli did some definitely better lap times, with Toni fighting with Randy de Puniet. So I don't think there is this impossibility to ride this bike except for Casey. Marco however can't, or rather he can sometimes like in practice when he lapped in the 1:29s but then falls into the 1:32s, so we really need to understand why."

Melandri admitted at Donington Park that the best solution for both parties might be for him to split with Ducati, and Capirossi believes he now expects to be dropped.

"I think Marco is thinking of his future outside red colours," said the Suzuki rider, who was at Donington Park to support his team while recovering from a hand injury.

Back in form, Emilio leading D.C.

Ducati vow to help struggling Melandri

Melandri upbeat after breakthrough

Toseland devastated by crashes

James Toseland felt he threw away a potential top six start at his home Grand Prix after a pair of crashes at the end of Donington Park qualifying.

The Tech 3 Yamaha rider fell at the exit of the last hairpin as he prepared for his final flying lap, and although he managed to rejoin and continue, he then had another accident further around the lap.

"Basically I made a mess of it," Toseland admitted. "It was difficult conditions and the potential was there for a top six. Everything was going in the right direction but unfortunately I tried a few things that didn't work.

"I tried to change some things but we never really went in a positive direction. We were running out of time and put ourselves under pressure to get a lap in right at the end and I got on the throttle too early out of the last corner and high-sided myself.

"I got back on but it damaged the rear brake. I was going through Schwantz Curve and I think it engaged the rear brake and decided to chuck me off again. I think somebody was telling me they didn't want me to do the lap."

Although Toseland, who had also been off the road in practice, escaped significant injury in the accidents, he said he had some pain in his knees.

"Both my knees are a bit sore," he said. "In the crash this morning a handlebar hit me in the right knee and the second one this afternoon was in a fast place and it bashed me up a bit.

"It is going to be tough but my fans can rest assured that I will still be giving it everything tomorrow."

While Toseland struggled, his teammate Colin Edwards took fifth place, and is aiming to finish on the podium having led much of this race in 2007.

"My team did an awesome job today and I just keep getting more and more impressed with them," Edwards said.

"We all did about 10 days of work in two hours to get to where we were this afternoon because this morning it just wasn't right. It was a disaster to be honest and it felt like I was sitting on the rear tyre with no front contact.

"Once I got the right feeling I was dropping a second a lap this morning and we didn't really touch the bike much this afternoon. The front tyre I used this morning is the same front tyre I used all afternoon, so I did about 50 laps on a front tyre.

"I'm confident I can run at the front if it is full wet. Michelin has been doing a lot of work with the performance of the rain tyres on a drying track, so if it does get half and half I should be at the front.

"Rain or shine we are looking good and I want to get on the podium. This is my most successful track in MotoGP and I'm definitely looking to continue that good record."

Stoner rues bad tyre compound choice

Abay tops Thruxton test

Dovizioso downplays slow start

Mygale drivers eye Monza victory

Spies pleased with debut performance

Ben Spies was pleased with his performance in his maiden MotoGP race, the British Grand Prix at Donington Park.

The reigning AMA Superbike champion, who qualified in a stunning eighth position in the wet yesterday, finished the sunny but windy race in the points in 14th place for Rizla Suzuki while replacing injured Loris Capirossi.

Spies was particularly happy with the way his lap times improved as the race progressed.

"It was a tough race as I was still trying to learn the tyres, the bike and the track in the first few laps," said the American.

"The first half of the race felt like garbage to me, but the second half was really good! I was running times towards the end that would have put us in the top-10 so I'm quite pleased with that. I was catching the guys in front and reeling them in lap-by-lap, but I just didn't have enough laps to get up and past them.

"I was definitely getting more comfortable on the bike and even though the result wasn't what I wanted the times at the end were really fast and I'm happy with that!"

Suzuki's team manager Paul Denning praised Spies's error-free weekend and made clear the rider should be racing at Assen next week if Capirossi is still sidelined with his injury.

"Ben did a good job here this weekend and he looked comfortable and quick on the bike towards the end of the race," said Denning.

"He turned in lap times that were good enough for the top-10 - and that is a credit to him. He hasn't made a mistake all weekend and has improved consistently no matter what has been thrown at him. He has done very well indeed.

"It's not yet clear whether Ben will race at Assen to continue his learning curve, but he will be there ready to step in if Loris is not able to ride."

Spies is scheduled to also race as a Suzuki wild card in the two upcoming events in the United States, at Laguna Seca in July and at Indianapolis in September.

Stoner upbeat about improved pace

SLC chassis to debut at Snetterton

Rossi prepared for wet race

Dovizioso tops wet Donington practice

Toseland hugely disappointed with race

James Toseland branded his first home race in MotoGP as 'one of the biggest disappointments' of his career after having finished last at Donington Park.

The Briton, who had a difficult qualifying in the wet yesterday, made a good start from the 16th slot and gained a few places but crashed at the first corner.

Despite banging his right hand and losing the right footpeg of his Tech 3 Yamaha, Toseland got back on the bike and carried on with a lonely race that saw him finish a lap down on the leaders.

Having won at this track in World Superbikes, Toseland says he 'soldiered on' for his home fans.

"It is hard to explain just how disappointed how I am," he said. "I really wanted to get a good result for my home crowd but it was always going to be difficult after the problems of yesterday.

"Starting from 16th was always going to be tough but I decided to attack from the start. I made a good start and passed a few people and didn't think I was too fast into the first corner but the rear end came round and I was down.

"I could have just cruised back to the pits but a lot of people had come to see me ride. I was hurting because I hit my head pretty hard and I smacked my right hand down on the tarmac.

"And the right footpeg had snapped off, but I soldiered on because I wanted to get to that chequered flag more than anything. I was going to finish for all those fans, who have been unbelievable supporting me since I arrived here.

"I will bounce back from this but it has got to be one of the biggest disappointments of my career. It is not in my nature to give up and I didn't today, and I know my turn will come.

Despite his disappointment, Toseland paid tribute to fellow Briton Scott Redding, who won the 125cc race - his first at just 15 years of age - earlier this morning.

"I am obviously disappointed, but I have to congratulate Scott Redding. He did an amazing job and it was great for the British fans to see him do that."

Dovizioso blames Toseland for collision

Devaney hoping for better luck

Jakes wins chaotic race at Pau

Chilton to start on race two pole

Stoner dominates British Grand Prix

Reigning champion Casey Stoner took a dominant victory over rivals Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa in the British MotoGP at Donington Park.

This is the Ducati Marlboro rider's second victory of what has turned out to be a difficult season. Today's win allows him to take third in the points table ahead of Fiat Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo, but still 45 points behind Rossi.

Stoner made a perfect start from pole position and after four laps he already had a one-second gap over Rossi, which doubled five laps later and steadily increased to over six by lap 25 of the 30-lap race.

Starting from the second slot of the grid, Fiat Yamaha's Rossi immediately fought and defended his second place with JiR Honda's Andrea Dovizioso, who had a fine start from sixth.

Behind them, Pedrosa had another good start with his Repsol Honda from ninth on the grid to take fifth within the first corners. After overtaking teammate Nicky Hayden on lap four and Dovizioso on lap eight, the Spaniard slotted in third place behind championship rival Rossi, who led him by seven points before this race.

Mid way through the race the two exchanged positions a few times, after which Pedrosa seemed content with his third place, eventually ending the race 2.5 seconds behind Rossi and eight behind Stoner.

Colin Edwards took a solid fourth place with his Tech 3 Yamaha, ahead of Dovizioso who just managed to fend off a stunning Lorenzo, who made an amazing recovery from injury.

The Spanish rookie, who missed the last race at Barcelona after a crash in practice, had a cautious qualifying session in the rain yesterday and started the race from the 17th slot.

But by the end of the first lap he was in the top ten, and with six laps of the race to go he closed the gap to Hayden and Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen, who were fighting hard for sixth position, and passed them both in the following lap.

Behind Hayden and Vermeulen, in seventh and eighth position respectively, came the Honda Gresini of Shinya Nakano and the Kawasaki of Anthony West to complete the top ten.

After his victories at Donington in Superbikes, Tech 3's rookie James Toseland had a nightmare home race with a crash in the first corner that also forced Kawasaki's John Hopkins wide.

The Briton held his wrist in pain but rejoined the track to finish 17th and last over a lap down, while the American carried on but retired on lap 17 when his Ninja bike broke down.

Alex de Angelis also had a crash on his Honda Gresini on lap two. He too rejoined the race and ended 15th ahead of an even more disappointing than usual Melandri, who ended the race one and a half minutes behind his winning teammate Stoner.

Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Casey Stoner Ducati (B) 44:44.982 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (B) + 5.789 3. Dani Pedrosa Honda (M) + 8.347 4. Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) + 12.678 5. Andrea Dovizioso Honda (M) + 14.801 6. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha (M) + 15.690 7. Nicky Hayden Honda (M) + 18.196 8. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki (B) + 21.666 9. Shinya Nakano Honda (B) + 29.354 10. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) + 41.030 11. Toni Elias Ducati (B) + 44.426 12. Randy de Puniet Honda (M) + 46.199 13. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati (B) + 48.731 14. Ben Spies Suzuki (B) + 49.591 15. Alex de Angelis Honda (B) +1:22.186 16. Marco Melandri Ducati (B) +1:30.021 17. James Toseland Yamaha (M) + 1 lap Retirements:Rider Bike Laps John Hopkins Kawasaki (B) 16

Stoner tops wet warm-up

Abay dominates second Croft practice

Dovizioso tops wet Donington practice

Stoner says title still too far away

Casey Stoner says he does not consider himself a title contender despite his dominant victory at Donington Park.

The reigning champion had endured a run of frustrations since winning in Qatar at the start of the year, but moved back up to third in the championship by winning last weekend's British Grand Prix.

However, Stoner still trails championship leader Valentino Rossi by 45 points and is 34 points adrift of second-placed Dani Pedrosa, and thinks that gap is probably too large for him to think about overturning in the second half of the season.

"We're not really in a position to worry about the championship at the moment," said Stoner. "That's for these two (Rossi and Pedrosa) to worry about at the moment, not me. Maybe at the end of the season if we can try and gain some points, it will be great."

But Rossi believes Stoner's Donington performance shows that he cannot be discounted as a title threat - and that Yamaha must raise their game to keep him at bay.

"The championship is very long, and Casey is not out of the game for sure," Rossi said. "We know we have to be very strong. Our pace and rhythm in all the races is good - we have a lot of podiums in a row, a lot of good races and three victories - but we have to try to make the bike better."

The championship top three have now monopolised the podium positions for three straight races, and Stoner feels their consistent advantage over the rest of the field will make it hard for him to close in.

"At the moment, when all three of us seem to be getting all the podiums, it's very difficult to gain an advantage even when you do take a victory," he said.

"So I think there might be a bits of points swapping, but maybe not too much change. It would be nice to try and do more races like this, but we can only do our best and see what happens at the end."

Stoner's Donington resurgence came after successful changes to the Ducati's engine management system at the Catalunya post-race test. Having made that breakthrough, he now expects to be a regular victory contender again.

"This whole weekend has been a big step for us," he said. "It's been very nice that when we do push hard, the lap times come a lot easier than they have been in previous races. It's been a very nice feeling - I can really have a lot of fun and not make as many mistakes.

"I think now with this new engine management system we can definitely try to improve our results a bit and maybe give them more of a fight."

He admitted that he will be anxious to see if the set-up changes work just as well for Ducati at Assen next week.

"I think we'll be like that as almost all the tracks going on for the rest of the year - just hoping it works at all the circuits," Stoner said. "It's mainly just to smooth the bike down and keep it from bucking and weaving everywhere. It's what we've been missing."

Rossi aims to carry momentum

Mortara, Volkswagen savour first win

Rossi relishing Donington prospect

Rossi aims to carry momentum

Mortara, Volkswagen savour first win

Rossi relishing Donington prospect

Rossi prepared for wet race

Valentino Rossi says he is better prepared for wet weather than dry conditions in tomorrow's British Grand Prix.

The Yamaha rider will start from the middle of the front row after claiming second place with his final lap of qualifying, although he was 0.649 seconds slower than pole-winner Casey Stoner.

Rossi had not been happy with his bike in any weather conditions during practice, but felt he made progress during the damp qualifying session.

"We'll have to see what kind of weather we'll have tomorrow," he told Italia1 television.

"However I'm very happy because this morning we needed the entire session to sort out the bike, while this afternoon we found a good set-up and I immediately went fairly well. But we further improved little by little, and in the end I had a good feeling with the bike.

"Now we know we have a good set-up in the wet. We'll try to do the same with the dry one if it's dry tomorrow, otherwise we are ready for a wet race."

He was relieved to take a front row position after having to fight through the field to earn second in Spain a fortnight ago.

"I'm happy because to start on the first row is vital," Rossi said.

"I tried to do the maximum because it's very important: at Barcelona I started from the third row so it was fundamental to start from the front here."

Rossi confident of good race pace

Rossi rues poor track conditions

Chilton takes wet pole at Rockingham

Qualifying rained off at Monza

Dovizioso tops wet Donington practice

Andrea Dovizioso topped the times of the final practice session ahead of qualifying for the British MotoGP at Donington.

The JiR Honda rookie snatched top spot from the factory Repsol Hondas of Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden after the time had run out in the wet one-hour session.

Dovizioso, whose best time of 1:43.957 was over 15 seconds slower than yesterday's time in the dry, ended the session 0.038 seconds faster than Pedrosa and over half a second faster than Hayden

Kawasaki's Anthony West also put in a late lap to slot into a surprise fourth position, as did Alice Ducati's Sylvain Guintoli who ended up fifth.

Reigning champion Casey Stoner settled for sixth-fastest one second behind Dovizioso, but the Ducati Marlboro rider's quickest lap time was set almost ten minutes before the end of the session.

Honda Gresini's Alex de Angelis was seventh-quickest ahead of the works Fiat Yamahas of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi.

Rizla Suzuki's Ben Spies, who is having his MotoGP debut while deputising for injured Loris Capirossi, ended up tenth-fastest 0.142 seconds ahead teammate Chris Vermeulen.

Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Andrea Dovizioso Honda (M) 1:43.957 2. Daniel Pedrosa Honda (M) 1:43.995 + 0.038 3. Nicky Hayden Honda (M) 1:44.526 + 0.569 4. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) 1:44.528 + 0.571 5. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati (B) 1:44.817 + 0.860 6. Casey Stoner Ducati (B) 1:45.031 + 1.074 7. Alex de Angelis Honda (B) 1:45.208 + 1.251 8. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha (M) 1:45.372 + 1.415 9. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (B) 1:46.012 + 2.055 10. Ben Spies Suzuki (B) 1:46.046 + 2.089 11. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki (B) 1:46.188 + 2.231 12. Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) 1:46.281 + 2.324 13. John Hopkins Kawasaki (B) 1:46.944 + 2.987 14. Toni Elias Ducati (B) 1:47.685 + 3.728 15. James Toseland Yamaha (M) 1:47.975 + 4.018 16. Randy de Puniet Honda (M) 1:49.133 + 5.176 17. Shinya Nakano Honda (B) 1:50.406 + 6.449 18. Marco Melandri Ducati (B) 1:52.571 + 8.614

Pedrosa tops first practice in France

Abay tops Thruxton test

MotoGP: Edwards tops Le Mans warm-up

Stoner tops wet warm-up

Abay dominates second Croft practice

Donington refutes aircraft fuel fears

Donington Park owners have rejected claims that the track's surface has been contaminated by fuel, which was allegedly dropped by aircraft using the nearby East Midlands airport.

The circuit came under heavy criticism after last year's rain-soaked MotoGP event, with riders saying it has become to dangerous in the wet and calling for a track resurface.

But after riders resumed their complaints today following practice, and with the suggestions about the aircraft fuel rising again, Donington CEO Simon Gillett moved to refute these claims, saying they are tantamount to an "old wives' tale."

"A specialist firm has been working on some problematic sections of the race track following the adverse comments made during last year's rain soaked Grand Prix," Gillett commented.

"We also categorically refute any suggestion that aircraft fuel is dropped on the circuit causing problems - that is something I have never believed, given both the highly fertile market gardening industry beneath the flight path and also the prohibitive cost making dumping of fuel a no-go.

"We're just fed up with hearing this old wives' tale trotted out again."

Gillett was further backed by a statement issued by surface specialists, Ringway: "TrackJet retexturing of the Melbourne hairpin showed a significant improvement in surface friction.

"The survey results don't support the theory that there is an external contaminant, such as aircraft fuel from the nearby airport, at the root of the problem."

The initial works at the Melbourne Hairpin have been completed around the full 2.5-mile circuit ahead of the British Grand Prix this Sunday.

Qualifying rained off at Monza

Rossi relishing Donington prospect

Rossi rues poor track conditions

Valentino Rossi thinks that tricky track conditions at the Donington Park circuit were to blame for a difficult opening day of practice for the British Grand Prix.

The Fiat Yamaha rider was third quickest in second free practice but was baffled by a lack of grip from tyres throughout the day.

And he thinks the state of the asphalt on the track may be the root cause of his problems.

"This morning we were struggling and we're not in perfect shape yet," said the Italian, who will celebrate his 200th Grand Prix start on Sunday. "Fortunately, however, this afternoon on the last run things improved a lot and we are now third.

"The main problem here is the asphalt because it doesn't have any grip any more and riding on it is very difficult. Of course the temperature was quite low, which didn't help, but in some parts of the track the asphalt is finished. It's a pity because this track is great, one of my favourites."

He added: "We have to hope that the weather stays dry because if it's wet it will be even worse. We have a couple of ideas to try tomorrow; we will try some different tyres and also some other solutions for the setting, in order to be faster in the direction changes.

"We had a very long meeting after the session in order to try to understand the problem, it's very strange because we used some tyres which are usually very good for us, but here they don't seem to work as they normally do. Third position is okay however, we're not so far from the top and tomorrow we will try to make some more steps forward."

Rossi relishing Donington prospect

Rossi ‘90 percent’ sure to stay at Yamaha

Mortara wins for VW at Pau

Hopkins still suffering from back injury

John Hopkins has admitted that the back injury he picked up in practice for the Catalan Grand Prix is still troubling him as he fights the pain barrier at Donington Park this weekend.

The Kawasaki rider was 11th fastest on the opening day of practice for the British Grand Prix and, although happy with his bike, confessed it was hard to ride as he wished to because of his back.

"This circuit is quite demanding and it's pretty tough on my back injury," said the Anglo-American. "I'm having trouble lifting my leg and shifting through the gears in the tight, quick changes of direction. It's a fight, but we're working through it and the bike feels really good.

"We've got a few areas to improve on the chassis, but the post-race test at Catalunya has definitely proven positive. We ran through different tyre options today to see what would be a good race tyre in the dry, as the weather is quite unpredictable and we're not sure what the conditions will be like tomorrow.

"We have a few changes to make to the machine overnight, but I'm confident we can step it up a gear and we'll be working hard to qualify well here."

Hopkins's positive feelings about the bike have been mirrored by teammate Anthony West, who feels he has made a breakthrough in getting to grips with the machine.

"Finally I can say that we've managed to make a real step forward with the rear traction problems we have suffered with for so long," said West, who finished just one place behind Hopkins today.

"The recent test in Japan was positive and this has been proven on the track today, as we're not so far off the pace. The setting we have found does mean the bike now wheelies more, however this is much easier to deal with than not being able to exit the turns.

"We still need to improve the first part of corner exit, but the rear is gripping much better and driving forward out of the turns rather than spinning so much, which means it feels a lot more controllable and stable than previously.

"I hope that this improvement can be reflected on qualifying rubber tomorrow, and although there is still a lot of work to do, I feel confident that we are heading in the right direction."

Vermeulen positive ahead of Le Mans

Hopkins sure he will be fit for France

Coletti replaces Kimball at Prema

Kawasaki frustrated by qualifying slump

Red Bulls hope injury woes subside

Dovizioso downplays slow start

Andrea Dovizioso believes his 13th position on the timesheets in second practice for the British Grand Prix is not representative of his true potential this weekend.

The Italian was fourth fastest in the morning session but slipped down the order in the afternoon as he focused on tyre comparison work in the cool conditions.

Despite his placing on the timesheets, however, the JiR Team Scot rider feels his race pace will allow him to deliver a strong performance at Donington Park.

"Obviously I'm not satisfied with the final position but I am optimistic because with hard work we'll go quicker tomorrow and we obviously can do a better pace in race configuration and I do think that we can find all the solutions we need to be competitive," he said.

"We did a good lap time in the morning and in the afternoon our approach was different as we looked at the right tyre choice to make between the Michelin material I had at my disposal.

"We also tried something in case the weather conditions would change. It is also necessary to find the right balance of the bike and to find rear stability and get the bike efficient in corner speed.

"I have also to work on the overall rhythm, as the layout of racetrack is very particular, with part of the track fast and another part very narrow and start/stop which breaks the rhythm a little."

Hartley on pole for race two

Abay tops Thruxton test

Dovizioso aims to shine at Le Mans

Corsi grabs provisional pole

Simone Corsi took provisional pole position for the 125cc round at Donington Park this weekend after a session-long battle with Gabor Talmacsi.

Talmacsi and Corsi controlled the majority of the 125cc qualifying session before a frantic last five minutes, when four different riders briefly held the top spot.

Marc Marquez and Sergio Gadea each took a turn up top before Talmacsi returned to the top of the pile with his penultimate lap of the session. But Corsi came round and squeeze a fraction more time out of his Aprilia as he passed the chequered flag.

Gadea ended up third, ahead of Scott Redding, who was the top Briton on home soil in fourth. Pol Espargaro and Andrea Iannone completed the top six, ahead of Nicolas Terol and Marquez, who plummeted out of the top three in the final two laps.

Pablo Nieto and Tomoyoshi Koyama completed the top 10, with Bradley Smith and Danny Webb provisionally 12th and 14th for their home round.

Pos Rider Team Time Laps 1. Simone Corsi Jack & Jones WRB 1:37.488 16 2. Gabor Talmacsi Bancaja Aspar Team 1:37.520 + 0.032 15 3. Sergio Gadea Bancaja Aspar Team 1:37.649 + 0.161 15 4. Scott Redding Blusens Aprilia Junior 1:37.766 + 0.278 17 5. Pol Espargaro Belson Derbi 1:37.949 + 0.461 15 6. Andrea Iannone I.C. Team 1:37.950 + 0.462 14 7. Nicolas Terol Jack & Jones WRB 1:38.034 + 0.546 16 8. Marc Marquez Repsol KTM 125cc 1:38.044 + 0.556 16 9. Pablo Nieto Onde 2000 KTM 1:38.104 + 0.616 15 10. Tomoyoshi Koyama ISPA KTM Aran 1:38.153 + 0.665 15 11. Raffaele De Rosa Onde 2000 KTM 1:38.186 + 0.698 15 12. Bradley Smith Polaris World 1:38.347 + 0.859 16 13. Esteve Rabat Repsol KTM 125cc 1:38.355 + 0.867 16 14. Danny Webb Degraaf Grand Prix 1:38.473 + 0.985 17 15. Joan Olive Belson Derbi 1:38.554 + 1.066 16 16. Stevie Bonsey Degraaf Grand Prix 1:38.606 + 1.118 16 17. Sandro Cortese Emmi - Caffe Latte 1:38.724 + 1.236 14 18. Stefan Bradl Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing 1:38.775 + 1.287 15 19. Randy Krummenacher Red Bull KTM 125 1:38.856 + 1.368 12 20. Michael Ranseder I.C. Team 1:38.916 + 1.428 15 21. Mike Di Meglio Ajo Motorsport 1:38.938 + 1.450 5 22. Takaaki Nakagami I.C. Team 1:39.007 + 1.519 15 23. Stefano Bianco S3+ WTR San Marino Team 1:39.037 + 1.549 15 24. Lorenzo Zanetti ISPA KTM Aran 1:39.386 + 1.898 13 25. Pere Tutusaus Bancaja Aspar Team 1:39.538 + 2.050 15 26. Jules Cluzel Loncin Racing 1:39.760 + 2.272 16 27. Dominique Aegerter Ajo Motorsport 1:39.806 + 2.318 16 28. Alexis Masbou Loncin Racing 1:39.986 + 2.498 11 29. Hugo Van Den Berg Degraaf Grand Prix 1:40.357 + 2.869 16 30. Robin Lasser Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing 1:40.525 + 3.037 16 31. Robert Muresan Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing 1:41.070 + 3.582 15 32. Louis Rossi FFM Honda GP 125 1:41.320 + 3.832 15 33. Roberto Lacalendola Matteoni Racing 1:42.182 + 4.694 15 34. Matthew Hoyle SP 125 Racing/Mackrory 1:42.316 + 4.828 17 35. Connor Behan Connor Behan Racing 1:42.593 + 5.105 17 36. Luke Hinton Buildbase/Knotts 1:42.966 + 5.478 16 37. Lee Costello Vent-Axia 1:43.149 + 5.661 14 38. Paul Jordan KRP 1:43.227 + 5.739 16

Iannone claims maiden win

Bautista takes home pole in Spain

Oakes to make F3 debut with Eurotek

Chinese Grand Prix future in doubt

Chinosi grabs pole on guest outing

Wickens to Signature for Euro Series

Stoner happy after reverting to '08 engine

Casey Stoner has reverted to his original 2008 engine for this weekend's British Grand Prix after discovering a breakthrough in its performance during testing at Barcelona two weeks ago.

The reigning world champion had started using his older 2007 power-unit after the French Grand Prix but with some electronic engine tweaks being so successful in the recent test, he is now convinced the newer unit is much better.

"Off the bottom end it's not so lumpy and less susceptible to every bump (when exiting corners), which had caused the thing to pump," said Stoner, who was fastest in both Friday practice sessions for the British Grand Prix. "In the last few races it shook too much."

Although the older engine has more power and more acceleration, the latest spec of the newer version is actually quicker.

"In Barcelona we went instantly 0.5 seconds faster, and today everything came very easily. Even with a mistake at the first corner and then doing another lap to keep the tyres warm, it was still a good lap time. I had done 26 laps on a tyre that then did 1m 28.3secs."

Stoner seemed almost surprised that his lap time on race tyres was faster than last year's pole position, set on qualifiers.

"We feel fast and comfortable... It didn't feel like a qualifying lap; it felt easy and sweet to me."

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World champion Casey Stoner is upbeat about his Ducati team's form after topping both practice sessions for the British Grand Prix.

The Australian, who has scored just one victory so far this year, confirmed his improved pace following a breakthrough in performance at the post-race test in Barcelona.

Stoner admitted he had found something that had made his bike more competitive right away and the Ducati rider showed it was no fluke after dominating proceedings at Donington today.

"I'm really pleased with today," said Stoner. "In the past few rounds we've had trouble getting power to the ground - every time I opened the throttle the bike wanted to buck and that made the chassis look a lot worse than it really was.

"The bike has never been slow and we've been running for podiums, which isn't bad, but we always felt there was something missing.

"In the Barcelona test we tried something with the electronics that both (test rider) Vitto (Guareschi) and myself really liked straight away. It is great to see that the improvement has transferred here to Donington and I believe there is still more to come yet.

"I'm not sure if this change to the electronics will have such a major effect in wet conditions because that is more to do with adapting your set-up to get weight on the rear but we already have a good wet setting anyway so I'm confident we can be competitive whatever the weather decides to do."

Teammate Marco Melandri continued with his problems on the GP8 bike, the Italian finishing down in 14th place.

Despite that, Melandri felt he had made a positive start to the weekend.

"This weekend as started out in a more positive fashion," he said. "We started with two similar bikes, both with a fairly good setting and we continued to work by making small changes and testing tyres. We found something that worked well so I'm quite happy. We hope that the weather stays favourable tomorrow so that we can continue working.

"Track conditions were good today, they've 'roughed up' a couple of sections that were slippery and there are less bumps. The grip seems fine to me and it's good to say that we can at least compete in dry conditions. I remember last year that in the wet it got really slippery but we'll have to wait and see what happens if it rains tomorrow."

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Rossi relishing Donington prospect

MotoGP world championship leader Valentino Rossi is relishing the chance to race on what he describes as one of his favourite circuits, at Donington this weekend.

Rossi, a five-time British Grand Prix winner, says besides the emotional ties connected to the event for him, the track presents one of the greatest challenges on the calendar.

"This circuit is incredible," he said. "The first bend for me is one of the bends - like those at Mugello or Barcelona. It is very fast, technical, it is very difficult with the braking point and getting the right line down the hill.

"I like this circuit a lot. I have a lot of great memories, especially the first victory here in 500s, in the wet with a great battle with Jeremy McWilliams. Since then a lot of other victories, some problems. I have bad memories from last year because it was a difficult grand prix and just fourth place and not going on the podium.

"Here the podium is always a great emotion because there is a great crowd so we try to get back on the podium for sure.

The Yamaha rider says his target for the weekend is to maintain his lead in the championship, which currently stands at seven points over Honda rival Dani Pedrosa.

"For sure, we arrive here at the top of the championship so this is the main target, we try to continue to stay in the points," he said. "It is important for the championship and we also have to wait for the weather conditions, last year lot of water, low temperatures, difficult conditions and we hope this year is better."

Rossi also stated that he is closer than ever to signing a new contract with Yamaha that will extend his tenure with the team until the end of 2010.

"I think we are very close to signing because we speak about small things and we are ready maybe after Laguna Seca, before the summer break," he said. "Anyway it is not a big issue. We are agreeing with Yamaha, so close to signing the contract."

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Stoner bullish after 'big' step forward

MotoGP champion Casey Stoner thinks his Ducati Marlboro team have made a 'big' step forward with their GP8 machine that could kick-start his title challenge at this weekend's British Grand Prix.

The Australian, who last year scored ten victories on his way to the title, has not won a race since the start of the season and is already 50 points behind championship leader Valentino Rossi following the first seven races of the year.

But the Ducati rider is adamant his team took a very significant step forward in the post-race test at Barcelona, where the Italian squad also tested their 2009 bike.

"The first day we rode most of the new bike to make sure we were happy enough to continue with this bike for next year," said Stoner ahead of this weekend's race in Donington.

"Ducati being a small factory it is too difficult to get the bike out for this year so the next day we concentrated again on the '08 and we found a big improvement with engine management systems, to calm it down a bit and make it easier a bit to ride.

"So rather than shaking and wobbling everywhere we definitely toned it down. Hopefully this circuit will give us a small advantage."

The world champion, third in the Barcelona race after starting from pole, admitted he was expecting more at the Catalan Grand Prix.

But the Australian is now bullish on his chances for the rest of the season following the progress made in Spain.

"We expected a bit more from that race," he added. "Everything had gone wrong but basically we hit the limit of the bike in practice.

"This season has been pretty tough for us. We had enough bad luck in the races that followed the first one and we have started to bring ourselves back up to a more competitive state in the last few races.

"In the Barcelona test we made a big, big step. We took half a second off out laptimes with one improvement so we hope that transfers to all the tracks."

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