MotoGP - Great Britain - Donington - 24/06/2007

Returning to the scene of his first ever road race appearance, MotoGP World Championship leader Casey Stoner took win number five of the 2007 season and his premier class career at the Nickel & Dime British Grand Prix.

The Australian extends his lead at the top of the standings to 26 points courtesy of a great performance at a tricky circuit, prompting Ducati MotoGP project manager Livio Suppo to describe his 21 year-old protégé as ‘a genius'. Like all genii, Stoner did things very much his way at Donington Park, having to make up a number of positions after an atrocious start.

Back up to seventh by the end of lap one, Stoner needed just three more laps to put himself amongst the podium spots during the ‘wet weather' stage of the proceedings, finally passing leader Colin Edwards at the halfway point. From there he never looked back; knowing when to back off as a dry line was established on the track and saving his tyres to take his Desmosedici GP7 through to victory.

Once again, the rider on pole failed to win the race, but Colin Edwards at least had a better race than at Le Mans where he took his maiden top spot. Finishing second in his best result of the past two years, ‘The Texan Tornado' will have confidence at an all-time high when he returns to Assen next Saturday to avenge some of his personal demons from 2006.

Having crashed three times over the course of the weekend, Chris Vermeulen rewarded the mechanics that he had kept so busy over the weekend with the final podium position. A fantastic start from twelfth on the grid gave the wet weather expert the chance to show his stuff, and he didn't disappoint with a masterful display.
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Overtaking seven-time Donington victor Valentino Rossi at the death, the second Australian on the rostrum held off any attempt at an immediate comeback from the Italian to earn his second top three finish of the year.

Rossi's tyres were destroyed at the end of the race, as the Italian pushed his Yamaha M1 to the limit, and he had to be wary of any mistake allowing the second Suzuki of Anglo-American John Hopkins to close him down.

Randy de Puniet followed up his fifth place at Catalunya with another top six finish onboard the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR. The Frenchman has had little time to recover from an operation on his knee, making his gritty showing all the more impressive.

Alex Barros took seventh on the last lap, ahead of 2006 race winner Dani Pedrosa. After a good start, the factory Honda rider was –in true British schoolyard style- bullied out into eighth by some of MotoGP's ‘bigger boys', as first the Suzuki riders and then Barros imposed themselves on the 21 year-old Spaniard.

Alex Hofmann and Marco Melandri completed the top ten, with the latter only coming into form as the track dried to suggest that perhaps his tyre choice was not quite what was required.

Making his debut for Kawasaki in MotoGP, the Nickel & Dime British Grand Prix was Anthony West's first chance to show what the premier class has been missing over the past six years. The 25 year-old had been fastest in the warm-up, and was one of the outstanding riders of the day. Showing no respect for reputations, West passed the likes of World Champion Nicky Hayden, fellow Australian Vermeulen and five-time MotoGP title holder Rossi to ascend to fourth position in the early going, and almost impressed just as much after a crash soon after.

Dusting off his bike, West returned to the track and set about salvaging something from the race, eventually finishing a respectable eleventh.

1. C.STONER
2. C.EDWARDS
3. C.VERMEULEN

F1 USA GP - Race - 17/06/2007 Indianapolis

Britain's Lewis Hamilton won the United States Grand Prix on Sunday, underlining his extraordinary talent with a near-perfect display of racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The rookie managed to resist a strong challenge from his Spanish McLaren teammate, and reigning world champion, Fernando Alonso and record his second consecutive victory.

Hamilton claimed his maiden win in Canada last weekend and has yet to finish off the podium after seven races.

The 22-year-old has also extended his lead at the top of the world championship to ten points from Alonso who was second, 1.5sec behind Hamilton who took full advantage of his pole position.

Brazilian Felipe Massa was third for Ferrari ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

Another Finn, Heikki Kovalainen, was fifth for Renault and Italian Jarno Trulli finished sixth in a Toyota.

The Indianapolis crowd was estimated to be over 100,000 and, judging by the amount of replica McLaren team uniforms on display, Hamilton has struck a chord with the American people.

Victory also increased Hamilton's chances of becoming the first rookie world champion since Italy's Nino Farina in 1950.

Hamilton worked hard to stay in front of his teammate but the major drama was further back where under-pressure Toyota driver Ralf Schumacher, Honda's Rubens Barrichello and Red Bull's David Coulthard all had their races ended prematurely by a crash.

The incident could be particularly damaging for Schumacher whose race seat is rumoured to be under threat after a poor season so far.

Much to the delight of American hip-hop star Pharrell Williams, who watched the race alongside Hamilton's father Anthony, Hamilton opened up a 2.2sec lead from Alonso after ten laps with Massa 4.5sec behind.

Hamilton continued to creep clear, regularly setting fastest laps before the first round of pit-stops after 20 laps.

After the cars emerged from their stops in the same order, Alonso began to attack Hamilton cutting the gap to under a second after 32 laps, Massa, in third, was now over 13 seconds behind the leaders.

Ferrari have been dominant in recent races at Indianapolis, winning six of the previous seven, but they never threatened the McLarens on this occasion.

Alonso pulled alongside Hamilton at the start of lap 38 but Hamilton dramatically, desperately, and skilfully, resisted his more illustrious teammate.

The leaders went into the pits for their second and final time on the 51st lap and once again the pit crew did their jobs well and there was no change in the running order.

Raikkonen closed in on Massa but could not quite edge past his teammate and on to the podium.

Up ahead Hamilton showed great composure to close out the race and force Alonso to settle for second.

It was McLaren's third win in a row (after Hamilton in Canada and Alonso in Monaco last month), their third 1-2 in a row and their 152nd grand prix victory.

1. L.Hamilton
2. F.Alonso
3. F.Massa

F1 Canada GP - Race 10/06/2007 Montréal

Take out no less than four safety car periods, two black flags, other problems for many in the 70-lap Canadian Grand Prix and Lewis Hamilton had no issues leading away from the Pole Position to secure his first Grand Prix win on what was just his sixth Formula One race start. It was a stunningly calm performance from the Rookie driver as Championship rivals Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen all hit troubled of their own.

As a Grand Prix, the Canadian event was a real mess in terms of the calmly plotted strategies from the race teams. The only two drivers to avoid incident, accident or penalties in Montreal were the top two and it was Hamilton ahead of Nick Heidfeld in his BMW Sauber.

To run through the incidents and accidents and penalties will be a separate article as they are far to complex and as the author of this article minutes after the chequered flag, it need a calm couple of hours to watch the VT and understand exact why and how some people finished where they did!

Cutting to the chase and the main thing from the sixth round of the championship was the fact that Robert Kubica survived a massive accident with what seems to be minimal injury. The BMW Sauber driver had just pitted and got together with Ralf Schumacher before catapulting into the wall, shedding much of the F1.07 before coming to halt with just the safety call remaining at the Casino hairpin.

It was a terrifying accident and it is a testimony to the strength of the modern day Formula One car that he will be back in action before too long.


Back to the race and aside from Hamilton and Heidfeld who finished one-two, it was a real case of survival. Starting 19th, Alex Wurz finished third for Williams Toyota stopping just the once, ahead of Heikki Kovalainen who started the race from 22nd and last. Kimi Raikkonen was classified fifth in his Ferrari ahead of Takuma Sato and Fernando Alonso.

Alonso started the event as joint championship leader, but a mistake into turn one at the start saw the Spaniard run off track and drop behind Raikkonen. Alonso would take another two trips off track and was then awarded a penalty for stopping under the safety car. Back on track and with a damaged car, Alonso was unable to hold back the Super Aguri Honda of Sato and takes just two championship points away from Montreal.

Over at Ferrari and it was even worse as Felipe Massa was disqualified for leaving the pit lane with the red lights showing, a similar fate for Giancarlo Fisichella over at Renault, while Kimi Raikkonen lost ground in the pits under the safety car while he awaited Massa's service before he could take his own. Ralf Schumacher who took the final point for the Toyota team after an eventful Grand Prix.

The race result was determined by pit stop strategy and the call of the yellow flags for position three down to eighth, and one man that ran all weekend, Mark Webber, was out of luck as he finished ninth after running so well in his Red Bull Renault. Team-mate David Coulthard retired with a gearbox failure.

Nico Rosberg should have and probably could have finished well into the points but he pitted under a caution periods when the pits remained closed and dropped to tenth ahead of Anthony Davidson in his Super Aguri Honda - who pitted late in the race to find no one ready to service him. The final runner was Rubens Barrichello who would have finished much higher up were it not for a late pit stop. The non-finishers were numerous as just 12 drivers took the chequered flag.

Jarno Trulli ran well and was in the points before he nosed his Toyota into the tyres exiting the pits. Tonio Liuzzi hit the wall in his Toro Rosso; Felipe Massa was disqualified as was Giancarlo Fisichella. The Spyker duo of Christijan Albers and Adrian Sutil both crashed out in separate events, Coulthard had a gearbox problem while Speed crashed out and Kubica had his massive accident. Jenson Button suffered a mechanical failure at the start and did not take part in the race.

All credit to Hamilton who dominated the event while Alonso was never able to recover from his lap one error. Ferrari were never a factor for the win and took themselves out of contention.

A confusing race but there is no denying the fact that Lewis Hamilton has made his mark on Formula One. The rookie driver has 48 points heading to Indianapolis, eight ahead of Alonso. Felipe Massa remains on 33 points while Raikkonen now has 27. McLaren Mercedes meanwhile have extended their advantage over Ferrari to 28 points.

Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International

1. L.Hamilton
2. N.Heidfeld
3. A.Wurz

MotoGP - Catalunya - 10/06/2007

Casey Stoner took his fourth victory of the 2007 season this afternoon at the Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya after an immense battle with Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi, in front of a crowd of more than 110,000 spectators at Barcelona - with local hero Dani Pedrosa finishing a close third.

The young Ducati Marlboro rider produced one of the best performances of his career on a hot Spanish afternoon, closely contesting the race lead with five-time former premier class World Champion Rossi in an enthralling duel – the Australian eventually crossing the line just 0.069s ahead of the Italian.

MotoGP's current pole jinx sequence extended to nine races as Rossi was unable to take advantage of starting at the front of the grid, having seen Catalan Repsol Honda rider Pedrosa delight the crowd at the first corner to take the hole shot.

Pedrosa may not have won a Grand Prix for nearly a year but he is finding form at present and was ready to pounce in the event of any errors from the leading pair – ultimately finishing just 0.390s behind Stoner, who increased his World Championship lead to 14 points.

There was another decent points haul for Rizla Suzuki's John Hopkins who repeated his fourth place from Catalunya last year, while a brave ride from Kawasaki's injured Randy de Puniet saw him secure his best ever MotoGP result in fifth as the top five comprised riders representing five different constructors.


There was disappointment for the Catalan supporters who had hoped to see home rider Toni Elias challenging for the podium as the 24 year-old Honda Gresini man retired due to engine failure when in sixth place with ten laps to go.

An excellent ride from Stoner's Ducati colleague Loris Capirossi saw him exorcise the demons after his 2006 crash at this venue, as the Italian came from 17th on the grid to finish in sixth place.

Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen, Pramac d'Antin's Alex Barros, Honda Gresini's Marco Melandri and Fiat Yamaha's Colin Edwards completed the top ten - whilst World Champion Nicky Hayden will be frustrated to have crossed the line 11th after qualifying seventh.

DORNA / CAPSIS International

1. C.STONER
2. V.ROSSI
3. D.PEDROSA

MotoGP - Italy - Mugello - 03/06/07

Valentino Rossi set yet another record in his extraordinary racing career today, becoming the first rider in the history of the sport to take six consecutive wins at his home circuit. The 85,480 adoring fans who had braved the threat of rain and turned the green hillsides of the Mugello valley bright yellow were rewarded in style as the Italian scored an emphatic and emotional victory, his fourth here for Yamaha and eighth in total from twelve years of racing.

Under miraculously dry skies, the Fiat Yamaha Team rider got a poor start from third on the grid and found himself down in eighth position at turn one. Once he had built up enough heat in his Michelin tyres however he set out in earnest, picking off riders one-by-one and moving up to second behind Dani Pedrosa by lap seven of 23.

Two laps later Rossi made his move on the Spaniard and from then on the pair were racing just a few tenths of a second apart, with Rossi extending the advantage around the twistier parts of the circuit and Pedrosa closing it slightly down the long home straight.

Little by little however Rossi began to pull away and he eventually crossed the line 3.074 seconds ahead of Pedrosa. A late pass by Alex Barros on series-leader Casey Stoner for third place helped Rossi's points deficit and he now lies just nine points behind Stoner in the standings, with some of his favourite races coming up in the next few weeks.

It was a less successful day for Rossi's team-mate Colin Edwards, who despite showing a strong race pace in the dry today was heavily penalised by starting from the sixth row of the grid. The Texan has yet to enjoy a successful race at this circuit and was only able to make up a few places on his starting position, finishing 12th and slipping one place in the championship standings down to tenth.

1. V.ROSSI
2. D.PEDROSA
3. A.BARROS