Corsi wins hard-fought Valencia race

Simone Corsi took a hard-fought victory in the 125cc Valencia Grand Prix ahead of Nicolas Terol to lead an Aprilia Jack&Jones one-two, after a race-long battle against new world champion Mike di Meglio.

Italy's Corsi, starting the race from third, took the lead from Spanish teammate Terol on lap two of 24 and held it until lap twelve, when Frenchman di Meglio completed his recovery from the seventh spot on the grid to take first.

From then on, Corsi and di Meglio exchanged the lead on every lap except for lap 20, until the Ajo Derbi rider relinquished the lead for the final time on the penultimate lap when he briefly lost the rear and went wide, with Corsi going back at the front and Terol slotting into second.

Corsi managed to keep an advantage of a few metres in the last lap to win the race by one tenth of a second over Terol, with di Meglio a further tenth down.

Today's victory means that Corsi is the runner up in this year's championship, with last year's champion Gabor Talmacsi - who was six points ahead before this race - falling to third in the standings.

The Hungarian, who qualified on pole position, crashed out on lap seven from sixth position after breaking his Aspar Aprilia's gear level on the first lap while on the lead.

Polaris World Aprila's Bradley Smith ended the race in fourth place after holding third place for two laps from lap 19, when he took advantage of a scrap between Terol and Sandro Cortese. The latter ended up fifth with his Emmi Aprilia.

Andrea Iannone had a lonely race to sixth with his I.C. Aprilia after Stevie Bonsey crashed his Degraaf Aprilia on lap 16.

Red Bull KTM's Tomoyoshi Koyama classified seventh ahead of Bluesens Aprilia's Scott Redding, and the KTMs of Pablo Nieto (Onde) and Esteve Rabat (Repsol).

Stefan Bradl had a high-side and crashed his Kiefer Aprilia on the third lap, taking Sergio Gadea's Aspar Aprilia with him. Danny Webb also crashed his Degraaf Aprilia on lap seven, while Raffaele de Rosa did the same with his Onde KTM two laps later.

Belson Derbi's Pol Espargaro, who was briefly knocked out in a crash in yesterday's qualifying, was deemed fit to race today, but during this morning's warm-up didn't feel in perfect conditions and abandoned the event.

CLASSIFIED: Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Simone Corsi Aprilia 40:45.715 2. Nicolas Terol Aprilia + 0.106 3. Mike Di Meglio Derbi + 0.223 4. Bradley Smith Aprilia + 0.776 5. Sandro Cortese Aprilia + 1.333 6. Andrea Iannone Aprilia + 21.578 7. Tomoyoshi Koyama KTM + 29.387 8. Scott Redding Aprilia + 29.419 9. Pablo Nieto KTM + 38.059 10. Esteve Rabat KTM + 38.481 11. Lorenzo Zanetti KTM + 38.941 12. Efren Vazquez Aprilia + 48.466 13. Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia + 48.802 14. Alexis Masbou Loncin + 50.340 15. Enrique Jerez KTM + 50.575 16. Takaaki Nakagami Aprilia + 52.220 17. R.Krummenacher KTM + 55.047 18. Jonas Folger KTM + 55.139 19. Jules Cluzel Loncin + 55.546 20. Marco Ravaioli Aprilia +1:00.289 21. Robert Muresan Aprilia +1:10.142 22. Bastien Chesaux Aprilia +1:26.165 23. Louis Rossi Honda +1:26.407 24. Daniel Saez Aprilia +1:41.720 25. C.Trabalon Aprilia + 1 Lap NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS: Rider Bike Laps Pere Tutusaus Aprilia 23 Julian Miralles Aprilia 22 Steve Bonsey Aprilia 15 Joan Olive Derbi 14 Adrian Martin Aprilia 11 Raffaele De Rosa KTM 8 Gabor Talmacsi Aprilia 6 Daniel Webb Aprilia 6 Robin Lasser Aprilia 6 D.Agerter Derbi 3 Sergio Gadea Aprilia 2 Stefan Bradl Aprilia 2 Ricard Cardus Derbi 0 Pol Espargaro Derbi 0 H.van den Berg Aprilia 0 FASTEST LAP: Di Meglio, 1:40.901 on lap 4

Talmacsi wins as di Meglio crashes

De Puniet not happy with sixth

Randy de Puniet was disappointed with his performance in qualifying for the Valencia Grand Prix, despite taking a fine sixth place on the grid.

The LCR Honda rider, who set the pace in the early stages of the session, recovered from a crash to take a second row grid spot for the Monaco-based squad.

Despite this though, the former Kawasaki rider believes he could have done even better.

"It was a good last qualifying of the season but honestly I was expecting something better," said de Puniet. "Unfortunately I lost the front on my second run out after six laps but luckily I saved my wrist from the incident.

"After that we lost some track time but we fixed our tyres choice for the race and started to set good lap times on qualifiers."

The Frenchman, who is still suffering the effects of a wrist-fracturing accident at the San Marino Grand Prix in August, is unsure what to expect in the race.

"Starting from the second row is very important as nobody really knows the weather for tomorrow," he said. "I feel a bit worried about my wrist but will do the best to get the best result so far."

De Puniet baffled by accident

De Puniet aims to stay in top eight

Victory eases pressure for U.S.

Toseland aims to be top six factor in '09

James Toseland believes he will have to deliver consistent top six results in his second MotoGP season to ensure he has a long-term future in the championship.

The Tech 3 Yamaha rider has finished sixth six times during his rookie year and ended the season 11th in the standings. Now he hopes to use those results as a springboard to better things in 2009.

"We need to be competitive next year," Toseland told BBC television.

"We've got to build on this. I need to be battling in the top six consistently next year. I've had six of them this year, but I need to do it consistently next year to keep my job in MotoGP."

Toseland looked like he might manage a career-best finish after he qualified fifth for today's season finale at Valencia, but he tumbled down the order on the opening lap and could only manage 11th.

"I just misjudged (Jorge) Lorenzo off the line and lost some places," he explained. "I had a really good feeling in the first half of this race and was pushing so hard to get past, and I got past twice but made mistakes at the hairpin, which made me really mad with myself.

"Not a great last race, but this one was just to get out of the way so I can build on it next year."

Rest provides tonic for weary Revs

Toseland aims to finish on a high

Lorenzo announces 2009 title intentions

Jorge Lorenzo said he was relatively satisfied to finish eighth at Valencia after a difficult weekend on his home ground, but hopes to be a more consistent front-runner next season so he can challenge for the title.

The Valencia result confirmed Lorenzo's fourth place in the standings, making him the best of this year's newcomers.

"We're very, very happy with the rookie trophy, that was quite important for us," he told the BBC. "Next year we hope to fight for the big trophy."

He qualified seventh at Valencia and lost more ground at the start, before picking up pace later in the grand prix and recovering to eighth place.

"It's not the best finish of my career for sure," Lorenzo said. "We couldn't get a good pace or the right feeling all weekend.

"In the race it was getting better, and I'm happy because yesterday with the race tyre I was last (early in qualifying), and today eighth is not so bad. But it's not the best dream finish."

The double 250cc champion made a spectacular start to his first MotoGP campaign by taking three straight poles and then a maiden win at Estoril.

But Lorenzo fell off the pace in the summer after a series of violent accidents, and was also hampered by his Michelin tyres' inconsistent form.

"I learned many things, not only professionally, but personally too," he added to Italia1.

"It's been a very tough year, with many lessons, many crashes, and many internal problems, so this will make me a lot tougher in the head, and it will be good for the future."

Lorenzo admitted that he will need to be more consistent to mount a title challenge, but thinks he will benefit from next season's change to control tyres.

"Consistency is very important, but you have to be on the podium very regularly," said the Yamaha rider.

"If you are fourth or fifth it doesn't matter. You've got to be competitive, and for sure with the new regulations for the tyres it will be less confusing."

Lorenzo unhappy to miss podium

Tearful Reyna announces retirement

Stoner salutes 'fantastic' finish

Casey Stoner was delighted to end the MotoGP season with a dominant win in the Valencia Grand Prix.

The 2007 world champion started from pole position and, after dropping behind Dani Pedrosa off the line, grabbed the lead back before the end of the first lap and pulled away to take a commanding win.

The result allowed him to cement his second place in the world championship, behind Valentino Rossi.

"We couldn't ask for much more than to finish the season like this," said Stoner.

"It's been a very difficult season for us, there's been a lot of ups, a lot of downs, but we were competitive here last year and in the warm-up everything felt good and we were ready for this. It's fantastic to finish like this."

Stoner said that he was worried late in the race that he may not hang on to win, after he began to struggle with the broken scaphoid bone in his wrist.

"I started running wide a little bit, and I was lucky that I had a bit of a buffer at the front, because then I had to start carrying more corner speed," he told the BBC.

"I couldn't brake at the same points - by the end of the race I was braking probably 50, 60 metres earlier going into the first turn than I was at the beginning. It was hard work to keep the lap times going, but we managed to do it."

Stoner hopes for trouble-free run in Italy

Real avoid nightmare finish

Rossi hails emotional maiden Laguna win

Little-used Warren proves worth for Revs

Gibernau admits a lot of work needed

Sete Gibernau admitted there is still a lot of work to be done following his debut with the Onde 2000 Ducati team in testing at the Valencia circuit.

The 35-year-old Spaniard will return to racing next season after leaving MotoGP at the end of 2006.

The Catalan has joined the new Onde 2000 squad, who made their MotoGP track debut yesterday in the first test following the end of the 2008 season.

Gibernau finished two seconds off the pace set by Casey Stoner.

"All the other riders are too fast for me to follow at the moment," Gibernau told the official MotoGP website. "They are all pretty sure of what they are doing, and I'm not yet.

"I'm still in need of learning what I have to do to get this bike fast; I'm not scared, but I've got a lot of respect for what everyone is doing in this championship."

The Spaniard, who had tested for Ducati earlier this year, admitted he was thrilled to be back in action following his decision to leave the sport.

"I was so excited to be back again," he said. "It's been three years since I last rode at Valencia, which is a big gap, but I enjoyed it a lot.

"We're good professionals and have put a very good group together, but we need to work at some tests to see how to work best with each other.

"I'm going to bring all my experience and know-how and try to get us up to speed in the fastest possible way."

Watson impresses against former team

Gibernau set to confirm 2009 comeback

Rossi: Electronic aids make bikes boring

Eight-time world champion Valentino Rossi has blamed the increasing reliance on electronic aids in MotoGP as a key reason for the lack of wheel-to-wheel racing in 2008.

The Yamaha rider described the latest generation of 800cc bikes as 'boring' compared to their predecessors and that while other factors played their part, the ease at which they could be ridden on the limit was a contributing factor in creating processional races like the series finale at Valencia last weekend.

"For sure the 800cc is a more boring bike compared to the 990cc: there's too much electronics," he told Italian magazine Motosprint. "Now, if the electronics work well the bikes become almost perfect and the gaps increase, instead of reduce."

"The [Valencia] track is to blame too, because at no point you can take alternative lines, so you end up lining up one behind the other."

Asked to comment on the fact that it has been two years since there had been a last-lap lead change in a sport that prides itself on close racing, Rossi said: "That's a very bad thing. It's worrying.

"I don't think the single-tyre [rule] is the solution for this problem," he added. "I repeat: the electronics are very sophisticated, the technical evolution is incredible, and next year will be even worse.

"However, there have been some good races this year, so the track counts for a lot. But tracks like Valencia are not good for the show."

Rossi added that while he believed that reducing the reliance on electronic aids such as traction control would help to solve the problem, he didn't believe that it was likely to happen in the near future.

"These engines are designed considering the electronics, so the power output can afford to be aggressive because there are these systems helping out anyway," he said. "We'd need a smoother power output, to the detriment of power, but the engineers don't even want to hear that!

"So these days you can be aggressive, without being precise with the gas, because electronics helps you out anyway."

Ianni hopes for exciting summer