Toriano Wilson, a road racer from Bermuda, fell on the track during the first lap and was accidentally struck by another rider while attempting to get out of the way.

Toriano was airlifted to UNC Medical Center for treatment, but later succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead early Monday morning. The other rider was transported to Duke Medical Center in Durham, NC and suffered a broken left arm and broken left femur. He is in a stable condition.

The AMA and Red Bull have a long history in racing and every effort is made to create the safest possible environment for all participants. Unfortunately, racing also carries inherent risks. This was a tragic accident and our thoughts are with both families at this time.

Rossi continued with a programme of Bridgestone tire testing today, as well as working on electronics and general set-up. He did try some qualifying tires but his best time of the day, a lap of 1′56.613, was set on a race tire and was well inside the best lap from Sunday’s race. The Italian’s Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo also enjoyed a positive day and finished sixth with a best time of 1′57.600.

Valentino Rossi - Position: 2nd Time: 1′56.613 Laps: 66
“It’s been a long day today but we’ve found some important improvements in a few different areas so it’s been worthwhile, and I am leaving here feeling very happy. We’ve worked on electronics and it seems we’ve found some improvements under accelleration, then of course we’ve worked a lot with Bridgestone on both front and rear tires. We’ve definitely found some good things in this area as well, helping our agility and stability in the corners and we are faster with these new tires. It’s been a good test and now we are looking forward to the final six battles!”

Davide Brivio - Team Manager
“We’ve had a full couple of days testing and everyone has worked very hard, with great results. This is probably our last test of the season so it’s been very important for us to have this chance to check many small things, especially tires, electronics and setting. We have had a long week here in Brno but both the race and the test have been very successful and now we’re looking forward to Misano.”

Brno improvements build Lorenzo’s confidence for final run
Jorge Lorenzo left the Czech Republic in a somewhat better frame of mind today, having found some improvements on the last day of testing following his difficult Grand Prix weekend. The 21-year-old finished the day sixth in the standings, having improved on his best lap from Sunday’s race by more than a second.

The Fiat Yamaha rider and his crew concentrated entirely on rear tires today, testing a variety of Michelin rubber in an attempt to find more grip. They were able to improve the performance under acceleration and will hope that this can translate to a better weekend at the next race in Misano, in ten day’s time. Lorenzo completed 32 laps and set a best time of 1′57.600, whilst his team-mate Valentino Rossi was second fastest with a lap of 1′56.613.

Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 6th Time: 1′57.600 Laps: 32
“These have been two positive days, because we’ve improved our performance a lot in comparison to the race at the weekend. However we can not forget that we are still far from where we want to be, so we can not give up. We have tried a lot of new things but mainly tires with Michelin, and we have been able to find some tenths. Now we have to work with San Marino in mind, because we really need to change our situation there and have a good race, finally!”

Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager
“As planned yesterday, we have concentrated on testing rear tires today following our work on the front yesterday. From all of the Michelin material we tested today, we have been able to find some improvements and now we hope that they can provide us with these tires for Misano. We still have work to do but motivation in the team is still high for the final six races and everyone still has the same goal - to finish with some good races. We know that Jorge and the team deserve much better results than we had here in Brno, so we hope that we can turn things around in Misano.”

Test Times
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro 1′55.855
2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1′56.613
3. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1′57.132
4. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki 1′57.483
5. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1′57.559
6. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1′57.600
7. Niccolò Canepa (ITA) Ducati Test 1′57.639
8. James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha 1′58.007
9. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki Racing 1′58.483
10. Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro 1′58.927
11. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing 1′59.010

Brno: Record Lap
C. Stoner (Ducati) 2008, 1′57.199

Brno: Best Lap
V. Rossi (Yamaha) 2006, 1′56.191

“During post-technical tear-down at VIR, only Mat Mladin’s crankshaft was examined,” explained Rockstar Makita Suzuki Team Manager Don Sakakura. “The AMA determined that further examination was necessary and asked Suzuki to submit two additional samples to the Ohio office by Wednesday, August 20. We are in the process of doing that now and the samples will go out today.”

At VIR, Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mladin, two-time and defending AMA Superbike Champion Spies and Hayden dominated the double-header weekend. The Suzuki threesome swept the AMA Superbike podium in both races on Saturday and Sunday, finishing first, second and third, respectively.

“At the start we (the front pack) kind of got held up by one of the riders,” said Rapp. “We kind of lost momentum, but the battle was really good. It was hard to hold on at the end with the grip. I’m just bummed that we were held up in the beginning otherwise I think it would have been a good race up front.”

Own Race
After going down hard in practice on Friday, Davies came out and qualified sixth on his Kawasaki ZX-6R. He got off to a good start and settled into a good pace. After getting held up by a lapper and having little room to push his tire, he decided to ride a comfortable speed and bring it home in sixth.

“I knew that tire choice was going to be pretty important,” said Davies. “We went with something different than Steve (Rapp) and it held on for awhile. I was a little disappointed with my start, but after my crash yesterday I was happy to be able to race.”

Charging Forward
Hayden settled into 12th after the first lap and was charging forward much of the race. He went by several riders and eventually made it up to eighth by the checkered flag.

“I’ve been fighting some sort of bug this weekend,” said Hayden. “I couldn’t really concentrate during the race and I think I got a little dehydrated pretty early. My main goal was to get a top-10 so I’m happy I was able to come away with that.”

Not As Planned
Hacking got a decent start from his seventh-place starting position and was pushing to make clean passes to the front. After getting up to fifth, Hacking went into turn one “the same way as all the laps before” and went down. He was uninjured, but couldn’t get the bike going again.

“You know today didn’t go as planned,” said Hacking. “I felt like I was making a pretty good charge to the front and for some reason the bike didn’t take to the turn that lap. I went in the same way as the laps before. It was a little strange, but I’m hoping to do much better tomorrow and try and learn from today.”

Hot Day
The temperatures in Alton, Va. were reaching the high 80s by the time the racing began. Hacking had a new neck cooling system to try and keep his temperature down.

Jake Holden continued his podium charge at this weekends AMA National at Virginia International raceway, taking his Corona Extra Racing SuperStock Honda CBR1000RR to second place in a drama filled race. Matt Lynn took his Honda CBR1000RR SuperBike to a best tenth in the second double header following an eighteenth in the first race, held back by a mechanical hiccup.

Matt got down to business and lap times in SuperBike taking his new-from-the-ground-up Honda CBR1000RR to an excellent 12th on the grid, right next to the factory Honda of DuHamel. In the first race Matt got a good start and was making up some places when a brake problem slowed him down for a short while. The problem corrected itself and he set to catching the bikes ahead when his gear shift shaft broke bringing him into the pits. The crew did a frantic change and got him out again in short order. He put down a good pace and made time eventually bringing home the Honda in eighteenth place and in the points! Things did not go so well on Sunday with a high-side and hard get off in the morning practice. The crew rebuilt the bike in time for the start and a bruised Matt took to the grid. He rode a solid, conservative race and finished a fine tenth.

Jake Holden was his usual lightning fast in SuperStock practice and qualifying, dicing with Yates for the top slot on the grid. A slight set-up issue coming off the corners robbed him of quick time by a few tenths and he settled for second on the grid. At the green flag Jake made his best start of the season but found himself squeezed into third at turn one. He charged for the next four laps nipping at the two in front until a red flag stopped the race. In the restart Jake did not duplicate his start and found himself in fourth. If took him a few laps to get past third place Chris Peris and go after the Yates and May who had broken away a little up front. The pressure on May told and he ran off the track leaving Jake to pick up the second slot, which he held to the finish. Jake said; I took too long getting around Chris (Peris) and by then Aaron and Geoff had opened up a gap. I saw Geoff run off and was happy to take the spot! Holden remains second in the points.

Young Steals the Superstock Show, Passing 19 Bikes to Finish Fourth

The racing in Sunday’s AMA Superstock at Virginia International Raceway was dominated by Pirelli rider Blake Young on his M4 EMGO Suzuki. Starting from pit lane due to technical difficulties experienced with his “A” bike during the warm-up lap, Young ripped through the field of one-liter bikes working his way up to 14th when the race was red-flagged with 11 laps remaining. On the restart Young made up another eight positions immediately, closing in on the leaders. At race’s end Young had done the “impossible” going from 23rd to fourth, one place from the VIR podium.

Other top-ten finishing riders on Pirelli Diablo Superbike Slicks include Scott Jensen in eighth, the healing Chris Ulrich in ninth on his Roadracingworld.com Suzuki, and David Anthony in Tenth. Ryan Elleby finished just adrift of Anthony in 11th. Race winner in Superstock was Aaron Yates.

Supersport saw another exiting Blake Young show, the young Young again finishing fourth for the M4 EMGO Suzuki team, but this time on a set of Pirelli Supercorsa DOT racing tires and this time on a GSX-R600. Young was joined in the Supersport top ten by his teammate Cory West finishing ninth. Usual front-runner Martin Cardenas, of the M4 EMGO Suzuki team who earned a podium finish in Saturday’s Formula Xtreme race, experienced an untenable coefficient of friction that resulted in his motorcycle succumbing to Newtonian mechanics. Cardenas was unable to continue. The Supersport race winner was Joshua Hayes.

Pirelli Tire North America specializes in the manufacture and marketing of high-performance tires for passenger vehicles, motorcycles and motorsports. An industry leader in technology and quality, Pirelli operates its highly advanced Modular Integrated Robotized System (MIRS) in Rome, Georgia, to better serve the North American OEM and Replacement markets. For more information please visit: www.us.pirelli.com, or www.us.pirellimoto.com.

With his win in Sunday’s AMA Superstock race at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, VA, Yates’ becomes tied for the second winningest rider in Superstock wins.

He is currently first in the overall AMA Superstock points standings.

Congratulations Aaron!

Photo by Brian J. Nelson

FOURTH PLACE FROM PIT LANE START FOR BLAKE YOUNG IN VIRGINIA

Blake Young beat the odds to deliver Team M4 EMGO Suzuki a pair of fourth-place finishes on Sunday at Virginia International Raceway.

After qualifying in the fifth spot for both the Superstock and Supersport finals, Young’s race day hopes for a pair of strong finishes seemed all but ruined when he was forced to start the Superstock final from pit lane.

Discovering a problem with his machine on the warm-up lap, the Wisconsinite came in and jumped on his backup bike and started the race from dead last. Frantically trying to make up positions, he put himself in a deeper hole by running of course.

However, he regrouped and starting working forward again. A red flag helped reduce the gap to the frontrunners, and Blake stormed into the top five.

Adding a last bit of drama to the race, Young grabbed an additional position on the race’s final lap when Geoff May slowed momentarily, allowing Blake to steal away fourth on his Pirelli-shod GSX-R1000.

Young immediately jumped on his GSX-R600 and ran near the front of the pack in the 17-lap Supersport contest, ultimately out-dueling title contender Jake Zemke for fourth at the checkered flag.

Cory West also finished in the top 10, claiming ninth place at the conclusion of the race. Unfortunately Martin Cardenas crashed out of 6th on the lap six.

Young talked about the hectic Superstock final, saying, “When we rolled out for the parade lap the bike seemed pretty good but I never really got on it too hard. But on the warm-up lap, we came rolling around and had some problems. We didn’t 100% power. I came in and had to get on my backup bike, which wasn’t quite set-up 100% like the ‘A’ bike but at least it did have 100% power.

“I started from pit lane and started making progress but I ran off the track. I had to calm myself down and the red flag helped. I restarted from the fourth row, got a good start, and put my head down. On the white flag ‘99′ decided his race was over and we ended up going by him for a position. Fourth place from pit lane? We’ve got to be happy with that.

He added, talking about his Supersport ride, “I knew we had a pretty good bike. We got up there and were running third for a little bit and then Ben Bostrom and Jake Zemke came by. We got in a pretty good race with Jake and ended up getting him in the end. We finished the weekend off strong and I’m happy for my guys following some frustration early in the Superstock race.”

Young is currently ranked fourth in both classes with two races remaining, boasting 203 points in Superstock and 230 in Supersport. West is seventh in the Supersport title chase at 185 while Cardenas is 15th with 107 despite missing a large chunk of the season due to his Auto Club Speedway crash and subsequent injuries.

The next race on the AMA calendar for Team M4 EMGO Suzuki will take place at Road Atlanta in two weeks on August 29-31.

American Honda

American Honda teammates had mixed fortunes at Virginia International Raceway, with Miguel Duhamel carding a sixth and a fifth, while teammate Neil Hodgson recovered from a vicious Saturday high-side to finish seventh on Sunday.

The nature of the 18-turn, 2.25-mile road course doesn’t suit the strengths of the Honda CBR1000RR. Rather than flowing, sweeping corners where the Honda excels, the track has a number of hard braking corners and rapid transitions. From the beginning of the weekend, the teams struggled to find a workable set-up.

Duhamel had one of his most consistent weekends of the year. He would have been fifth both days, if not for being passed by Yamaha rider Jason DiSalvo on the final lap of Saturday’s race in turn one. There was some irony in the pass, since Duhamel was strong on the brakes in the slippery corner than bends right.

Hodgson was in front of the Duhamel/DiSalvo battle until he high-sided in the first turn on the ninth lap while running sixth. Though the crash was spectacular, Hodgson didn’t suffer serious injuries.

The Honda teammates ran together for much of Sunday’s race. Hodgson was making a run at Duhamel for fifth when he ran off the track in the first turn on the 27th of 28 laps. That dropped him from sixth to seventh, with Duhamel finishing fifth.

Both races were won by Mat Mladin (Suzuki) from teammates Ben Spies and Tommy Hayden.

Miguel Duhamel 6th, 5th

Well, you know the set-up today was quite a bit better and had a really good race today. We ran out of a little bit of rubber on the right side there at the end, because I think my bike was really good there. I was trying to catch Eric (Bostrom) and on the right side we just ran out of rubber. I just used it up a little too much. But it was a great race and happy there was no red flag and the team did a great job and looking forward to Road Atlanta. Yesterday, I had a little bit of bad strategy on my part going into turn one. I was kind of in the middle of the racetrack, trying to block the angles and
(Jason) DiSalvo got inside me on the brakes. And then I just tried to stay close to him. And he really put a good lap in at the end. And I was hoping for him to do a little mistake so I’d have a shot. But his last lap was a 26.7 and my fastest before that was 27.3, and I matched him my last lap. So it was alright. I think I could have probably still stole fifth, which would have been better.

Neil Hodgson DNF, 7th

Nothing really worked to be honest. I were way off the pace and then I ran off the track, just at the end, just the second to last lap in turn one. I was just trying to outbrake Miguel. When I got in there, I couldn’t risk tipping it in so I had to go straight, like everybody else did. We did the same lap times as yesterday, so not very good really. But better than yesterday. Yesterday it were a weird, weird crash, because obviously I’ve got traction control and everything. I’m not the sort of guy who trusts traction control all the time, so I’m never going to just twist the throttle open. I was just squeezing it on, 30% throttle, then touched it a little bit further and just went and said, oh no. It’s a shame, because I landed pretty hard; it winded me, which is always the worst. Instantly knocked the wind out so I couldn’t breathe. Sort of banged every other corner of my body. My shoulder’ was killing me. At first I wasn’t too sure what was the worst. I banged both of my hips, which is random, then I realized I’d done something in there.

American Honda Road Race Manager Ron Heben

We came here to VIR and for some reason the Honda team can’t have very good luck, it seems like. We struggled yesterday, we struggled all weekend, honestly. Miguel (Duhamel) put in some consistent rides and certainly showed that he’s the man for showing the guys how to into turn one on the brakes. No one seemed to be able to keep up with him on that. other parts of the track we weren’t able to keep up with the competition. And where we’re finishing we’re not satisfied. We have a week off to go back and look at what we need to do. Try to learn from this weekend and learn from the tests that we had at Atlanta and go out there and see if we can’t put this CBR1000 back up on the box.

From a press release issued by VIRginia International Raceway:

Mladin Makes it Eight in a Row With Big Kahuna Victory
Victory Provisional Until Final Tech Inspection

DANVILLE, VA – Mat Mladin added another notch in his near-perfect record at VIRginia International Raceway with his eighth consecutive victory at VIRginia International Raceway’s Suzuki Big Kahuna Nationals presented by Dunlop, RockStar and Makita AMA Superbike races. However, the win will not be official until AMA headquarters in Pickerington, Ohio completes an inspection of the crankshaft out of Mladin’s Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Results of the inspection will be released as soon as possible by the AMA. The parts from Mladin’s bike will be compared with the same parts from production bikes.

If the win stands, it will move Mladin to within only 18 points of his teammate Ben Spies, current points leader, but a healthy 121 points ahead of Denver, NC’s Jamie Hacking. Sunday’s win is Mladin’s sixth in a row for the 2008 Superbike season, and carries his momentum in to the next race, where he is touted to tie Ben Spies’ record of seven consecutive victories.

Mladin commented on the possibility of repeating his win at Road Atlanta and posting a new consecutive win streak record: “Obviously that would be great,” the Australian said. “Right now winning races is my priority and my goal in my racing career, to stack up as many as I can. If we go eight in a row, obviously that would be fantastic.

Following Mladin and Spies home was their teammate Tommy Hayden, making a clean sweep of the top three positions in both races for their team of Suzukis. Fourth went to Eric Bostrom, mounted on a Yamaha YZF-R1, followed in fifth by Miguel DuHamel on his Honda CBR1000RR.

The Supersport race went to Josh Hayes, mounted on his Erion Honda, ahead of the pair of Yamahas ridden by Ben Bostrom and Josh Herrin, with Blake Young and Jake Zemke finishing the top five.

In the AMA Superstock Series presented by Dynojet, Aaron Yates took the victory by nearly ten seconds over Jake Holden, while Chris Perris, a privateer from Calgary was so stoked after his podium finish that the team almost drove off from the paddock without one of their awards. “Broke guys do good,” was Chris’ comment when stopped to deliver the items. “This is the way racing should be. This place blows San Diego away.”

The Red Bull AMA U.S. Rookies Cup race started as scheduled in the morning, but a first lap crash that sent two riders to the hospital caused it to be delayed until the final event of the day. Toriano Wilson, Luciano Ribodino and Garet Tomlinson were all involved in a crash that saw Ribodino taken to Duke Medical Center in Durham, NC and Ribodino taken to UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill, NC, while Tomlinson escaped relatively uninjured. Hayden Gillim, took his second straight win, riding just a few days after mid-week surgery to repair a broken collarbone. “I’m just really happy to get my second win. I didn’t think I’d do well here with my broken collarbone but when we showed up and I went out and qualified third, I knew I had a chance.”

VIRginia International Raceway is a multi-purpose road racing facility, located on the Dan River between Danville and South Boston, Virginia. Reopened in 2000, VIR hosts a wide range professional and amateur auto and motorcycle racing and track events, and is well established as “America’s Motorsport Resort.” In addition to its historic 3.27 mile natural-terrain road racing circuit, VIR is the cornerstone of VIR Club, America’s first motorsports country club; the VIR Raceplex Industrial Park and Motorsports Technology Park, which includes the Virginia Institute for Performance Engineering and Research (“VIPER”); the Plantation Valley Kart Track, a 5/8 mile paved natural terrain karting circuit; an expanding variety of on-site lodging (including 45 hotel rooms and the trackside Villas which are for sale); Camp Motorsport for enthusiasts of all ages; and the Oak Tree Tavern, a full-service restaurant located within the circa-1840 Plantation Clubhouse.

The next big event at VIR occurs on the weekend of October 3-5, when GT Live and the KONI Challenge bring a thrilling combination of motorcycle stunts, drifting, ‘track attack’ events and endurance sports car races. The KONI Challenge sports cars run their six-hour season finale endurance races on Saturday and Sunday. There is no real break in the action however, as September has back-to-back weekends of action with the Championship Cup Series motorcycle races on the 20th and 21st, while the next weekend VIR welcomes the vintage sports car of Sportscar Vintage Racing Association, joined by a reunion of the IMSA Radial Sedan series. The weekend of November 1 closes out VIR’s spectator season with the Sports Car Club of America’s ‘Charge of the Headlight Brigade,’ a 13-hour enduro. These events are all combined with a wide variety of motorcycle and sports car amateur and vintage road racing and schools throughout the year.

Ben Spies

POLE AND PAIR OF SECONDS IN VIRGINIA PUTS SPIES IN GOOD POSITION

Inching ever closer to third AMA Superbike title

ALTON, Va. (Aug. 17, 2008) – Ben Spies came away from Virginia International Raceway this weekend missing one goal, yet moving closer to another of greater importance. After finishing second to Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammate Mat Mladin in both legs of the Suzuki Big Kahuna Nationals, presented by Dunlop and Rockstar, Spies missed out on winning his first AMA Superbike race at VIR in what could be his final appearance at the scenic track. In spite of missing that goal, his pole position and points gained over the weekend moved Spies ever closer to a third consecutive AMA Superbike Championship.

Earning the pole at VIR proved a major step towards this year’s title. Spies clocked a record-breaking lap of 1:23.403 on the 2.25-mile road course Saturday to add an important championship point to his advantage. That point meant that Spies could finish second in the remaining races and still clinch the 2008 championship.

“It was an important pole,” said Spies, who has won more poles than any other rider during the time he’s been in the Superbike series. “Not that I necessarily want to finish second in the rest of the races, but it’s good to have that option if I need it.”

On Saturday Spies led the early laps before being passed by Mladin. Spies then had a near crash on lap six and lost touch with the leader.

“No one can say I wasn’t trying to win,” Spies said after Saturday’s near get off. “That was a pretty big moment and I knew right then I didn’t have the set up to run with Mat.”

The team tried different settings on Spies’ GSX-R1000 Superbike for Sunday’s race in hopes of finding additional speed, and while they succeeded, it made little difference. Spies still found himself unable to match Mladin’s pace.

“I rode as hard as I could the whole race and didn’t make any mistakes and had a quicker pace than yesterday, but so did he,” Spies explained. “So it was kind of the same story.

“Mat just happens to go really good at VIR and for some reason I still haven’t got it figured out the way I’d like to. It’s a bit frustrating, especially since I proved I could get around the place fast in qualifying. We searched for a good race set up all weekend and we never found anything I was totally comfortable with. We move on to Road Atlanta to see if we can stop Mat’s streak.”

In spite of his desire to win more races this year, Spies said he’s not going to let his emotions override his dedication to winning a third consecutive AMA Superbike Championship.

“If we go to Atlanta and find a good set up and I have a shot at winning then I’m going to go for the win,” he said. “My main goal is the championship though and if that means I have to cruise around in second at Road Atlanta it won’t bother me. This series runs from March to September and Mat and I have both had our problems this season. Fortunately when I crashed early this year it didn’t cost me as much as his crash did. I’m doing what I need to do to win the title. Ten years down the road people are going to remember who won the championship and I want to be the one they remember.”

Spies will next race at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga., on Aug. 29-31 at the Suzuki Superbike Showdown.

Ben Spies is close to signing up with the satellite Gresini Honda team, with Honda US contributing to the Italian team’s budget in return. According to Spies manager Doug Gonda: “There are discussions, and things are moving fairly rapidly right now. But there are some decisions that are beyond our control. We hope to know in about ten days.” Asked why Suzuki was not trying harder to keep him, he said: “That’s hard to figure. They tell me they’d like to keep him, but they haven’t indicated to me how they would like to do it. There’s been no firm offer.”

This would leave Alex de Angelis looking for a job. One possible slot might be that vacated by Dovizioso, but the San Marino rider will have to adjust his asking price - one reason why the cash-strapped Gresini team are prepared to let him go.

Shinya Nakano is expected to stay with the team next year, as Honda’s nominee … unless he is taken back to Japan as a test rider.

Rizla Suzuki is close to completing contract renewal with Loris Capirossi, who will stay with the team for a second year. But Chris Vermeulen’s position is still under negotiation, with no guarantees he will stay.

“It’s not clear yet,” said team manager Paul Denning. “It’s based on Suzuki’s approval from Japan. We have a strong understanding that he is under consideration. “Chris is the only rider to win a four-stroke GP on a Suzuki, and has been on the podium wet and dry. He’s very likeable, and his career path has been one of steady progress.” This being so, why not sign him up at once? “Team Suzuki and the Suzuki corporation are not the same. My recommendation is that Chris is one of the best options we have. The decision is Suzuki company’s.”

It is understood that a clause in this year’s contract required him to be in the top six by the mid-point, whereas he is in fact seventh. But rumours that his contract will be terminated were, said Denning: “at this point, very premature. There are certain conditions that might change things.”

As for Ben Spies, he was under consideration, if a place became available. “The factory has been dealing with Ben and his management more than I have,” he said.

Yamaha is all settled: Valentino recently signed for two more years and Lorenzo has a year to run. Both Tech 3 riders are also contracted to stay next year.

Veteran Sete Gibernau is a surprise candidate for the second Kawasaki seat. The Spanish rider is currently on a second sabbatical year, after being dropped by Ducati in favour of Stoner, but has been testing effectively for the Ducati factory.

Another strong possibility to replace Anthony West is Marco Melandri, after Dovizioso rejected the green team’s advances. John Hopkins has one more year of his contract to run, but the team is seeking a replacement for Anthony West. But the Australian rider, who has struggled to find form, may stay with Kawasaki, riding the factory-backed World 600 Supersport machine.

Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) put one hand on the 2008 World Championship here at Brno when he won from Toni Elias (Ducati) with seasoned campaigner Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) third. With Casey Stoner (Ducati) falling on lap seven and failing to score, and with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) collecting just one point for a gutsy 15th place riding with little grip and even less confidence from poorly performing tires, Rossi has all but secured the title. With six rounds left and holding a 50-point lead, it is effectively now his to lose.

Stoner romped into the lead from pole as extinguished lights signalled the start of a 22-lap race around the majestic dips and curves of this 5.403km woodland circuit. Hopkins and Rossi chased him from the front row with Rossi eventually getting the better of the unyielding Hopkins for second.

Dani had powered from 12th on the grid to sixth from the start, his trademark rapid launch serving him well after qualifying so low. But as the pace hotted up it was abundantly clear his rubber was not up to the demands of this newly resurfaced track and he dropped back lap by lap.

Anthony West (Kawasaki) moved up to fourth from sixth on the grid as Stoner established a 0.6 second lead by the halfway point of lap one. By the end of that opening lap it was a 1.1 second lead and Rossi was giving it everything to stay in touch with the flying Aussie.

Dani was hanging onto sixth but by lap two he’d slipped back to eighth. There was nothing he could do about abject lack of grip, from his front tire in particular. All the Michelin riders were suffering here to a degree not seen before in MotoGP.

By lap four Rossi had stabilised Stoner’s lead. Having pushed his advantage to 1.3 seconds Stoner now had to find more to put distance between his Ducati and the chasing Rossi. He found it with a fastest lap on lap five, but on lap seven Stoner’s title challenge derailed.

He lost the front end of his machine, tumbled into the gravel, and despite frantic efforts to restart and rejoin the race he parked his bike and trudged back to the pits. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) also crashed on this lap but managed to get back on track to finish the race in 16th place.

Rossi now led the Suzukis of Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi by 12 seconds. There was no way he was going to be caught and, with no pressure from title rivals, unlikely he would make an error. Sure enough he kept his composure to win by 15 seconds from Elias.

There was action aplenty downfield. Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Scot Honda RC212V) had hoisted himself to seventh, Shinya Nakano (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) lay ninth and Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) tenth, while a four-rider fight for fourth ensued.

Capirossi, Vermeulen, Hopkins and the rapid Elias were battling it out before it became clear that Elias had the measure of them all. He eased away to secure second while a hard-charging Nakano hauled himself up from seventh mid-race to fourth at the flag, and highest Honda finisher.

Dovizioso was the highest-placed Michelin-shod Honda rider in ninth place, one place behind De Angelis. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) did not ride this weekend after injuring his foot at the Los Angeles X Games earlier this month.

Rossi now has 237 points, Stoner 187 and Dani 172. The next round of six remaining is at San Marino, Italy on the weekend of August 31st.

250cc Grand Prix

Alex Debon (Aprilia) took a finely judged win ahead of Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) who was second and Marco Simoncelli (Derbi) who was relegated to third after being in the hunt for the win for much of this 20-lap race.

Simoncelli led into turn one before Thomas Luthi (Aprilia) stole past him to exploit an open track. Luthi would then drop back a place before crashing out while trying to hold second place. The race then became a Debon, Bautsista, Simoncelli show as they headed Mika Kallio (KTM) and Hector Barbera (Aprilia) in fourth and fifth by 1.5 seconds with five laps to go.

Yuki Takahashi (JiR Scot Honda RS250RW) finished a strong sixth, nudging ahead of Mattia Pasini (Aprilia) as they crossed the line. Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT SAG RS250RW) rode to 11th after starting from 20th on the grid.

The World Championship points table now shows Simoncelli out in front with 180 points to the 164 of Mika Kallio, who was fifth here today. Debon lies third with 139 points and Bautista is fourth on 138.

125cc Grand Prix

Stefan Bradl (Aprilia) won the first Grand Prix of his career ahead of World Championship points leader Mike Di Meglio who finished second and Joan Olive in third (both Derbi). Bradl’s father Helmut won here on a 250cc Honda in 1991.

Bradley Smith (Aprilia) launched off the line to head the pack into turn one but as early as lap three Bradl took charge of this 19-lap race and always looked as if he’d be in the mix for the podium places at the end. So it proved.

By mid-race Bradl set a fastest lap of 2m 08.923s and barring any lapses in concentration or mechanical disasters it was his race. Di Meglio collected useful points in second while Olive deprived Hungarian ‘local’ Gabor Talmacsi (Aprilia) of a podium.

Di Meglio heads the World Championship with 186 points to the 142 of Simone Corsi (Aprilia) who finished tenth here today. Bradl is third with 126 points and reigning World Champion Talmacsi fourth with 122.

MotoGP:
Shinya Nakano, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 4th.
“We took another step forward with the new bike today although I have to say that it has not been easy to get this result. We came to Brno without any test data but the team did a great job with the set-up. I want to thank Honda and Team Gresini for giving me the chance to ride this bike, which represents a great opportunity for me to improve on the results we’ve managed so far. I’m just disappointed that I lost positions at the start because I made contact with another rider but at the same time satisfied to have recovered and finished the race in fourth – a result I can be pleased with.”

Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 8th.
“Even I finished the race as the best of the RC212V satellite riders today’s result isn’t too satisfying because we were expecting to finish in the top six. We weren’t too far off that target but this wasn’t the race we’d imagined. Unfortunately after the first lap, when I lost several positions, I made several passes but lost the position to other riders who were faster down the straights. Tomorrow we’ll make the most of the test here at Brno to continue to improve ahead of the San Marino Grand Prix, which is of special importance to me.”

Andrea Dovizioso, JiR Scot Honda: 9th.
“My goal for the race was to be the first Michelin rider home, which is what I have achieved, but things were too difficult to do better. I started fully motivated and wanting to give the maximum and exploit fully the material at our disposal, but today I cannot be satisfied with the result. I had difficulty with the front tire and was forced to change my style of riding, which meant not being able to exploit my speed in the corners. I had to stop hard and fire the bike out of the corners, rather than have a smoother style. This difficulty penalised us in the race.”

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 15th.
“This weekend has been a complete disaster. Today’s race was the probably worst of my career. In fact I couldn’t even race today, all I could do was ride. I couldn’t control the bike, I didn’t feel safe. I was riding so slow, I felt impotent and ashamed. I considered stopping but I stayed out there to get some points. We really need a drastic improvement from the tires. I had no grip at the front and no grip at the rear, from the first lap to the last. It was therefore impossible for me to push any harder, even though I was going very slow, three or four seconds slower than the leader. I almost crashed twice, so I just tried to finish the race. I did my best in very difficult circumstances, at the end the tire performance was even worse than it had been during the early laps.”

Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda: 16th.
“Honestly I’m very angry. I made a good start but couldn’t race as I wanted and was struggling a lot for front-end feel. Many riders passed me in the corner entries and in the first laps I lost the front a few times. So I decided to slow down but the feeling with the front was very bad. When I tried to pass Pedrosa in the chicane I crashed out in the gravel but rejoined the race. I suffered the same crash of Friday afternoon and, although my crew worked hard to find a solution, we did not solve the problem with the front tire.”

Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda:
Will not race due to injuries sustained at X Games Supermoto event in Los Angeles on August 1.

250cc:
Yuki Takahashi, JiR Scot Honda: 6th.
“I am very satisfied with the result today, because I have taken important points for the standings and I gave my very maximum in the race. I started well but in the third corner I ended up on the dirt and in danger of crashing, this made me lose time and I was down in eleventh position. It was difficult, but I never gave up and on the last lap I reached Pasini and I managed to pass him before the chequered flag. It was an important weekend for the team and I, because we continually improved and the result today motivates us to continue to do so. We are all encouraged now to do as best we can the next Grand Prix at Misano, my ’second home race’ because I live in Italy near the circuit. I thank the team today that has done an excellent job over the whole weekend.”

Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT SAG: 11th.
“It was a strange weekend, practice sessions were really complicated because of the rainy weather and a lack of feeling with the bike, I was suffering until I thought I would not qualify. Today everything changed a lot, I’ve made a good start, but in the first five laps it was difficult for me to pass Fabrizio Lai because he rode at a slow pace but he braked very late, and this fact made it complicated for me to pass him. Finally I’ve got passed and I got to finish the race in 11th position, for this I’m really happy and I am pleased with my the whole team who have worked very hard and never lost the trust in me to have a good race.”

125cc:
Louis Rossi, FFM Honda: 29th.
“This race was pretty hard as this was my first time on this difficult racetrack. Insofar as we had a lot of rain during the practice session, I was missing riding in dry conditions. Nonetheless during the race I improved by 3.5 seconds on my qualifying time, which is enormous. I had a good start and was part of a group with Alexis Masbou, Robert Muresan, Hugo Van den Berg and Bastien Chesaux. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to keep up with them until the end of the race. I had some chattering when leaned over with my Honda and I failed to keep up. It’s a real shame but I wasn’t able to catch up with them.”

MotoGP World Championship Round 12
Czech Republic Grand Prix at Brno

line
MotoGP
1 Valentino ROSSI (Fiat Yamaha Team)
2 Toni ELIAS (Alice Team)
3 Loris CAPIROSSI (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP)
4 Shinya NAKANO (San Carlo Honda Gresini)
5 Anthony WEST (Kawasaki Racing Team)
6 Chris VERMEULEN (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP)
7 Marco MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team)
8 Alex DE ANGELIS (San Carlo Honda Gresini)
9 Andrea DOVIZIOSO (JiR Team Scot MotoGP)
10 Jorge LORENZO (Fiat Yamaha Team)
11 John HOPKINS (Kawasaki Racing Team)
12 Sylvain GUINTOLI (Alice Team)
13 James TOSELAND (Tech 3 Yamaha)
14 Colin EDWARDS (Tech 3 Yamaha)
15 Dani PEDROSA (Repsol Honda Team)

250cc
1 Alex DEBON (Lotus Aprilia)
2 Alvaro BAUTISTA (Mapfre Aspar Team)
3 Marco SIMONCELLI (Metis Gilera)
4 Hector BARBERA (Team Toth Aprilia)
5 Mika KALLIO (Red Bull KTM 250)
6 Yuki TAKAHASHI (JiR Team Scot 250)
7 Mattia PASINI (Polaris World)
8 Hector FAUBEL (Mapfre Aspar Team)
9 Roberto LOCATELLI (Metis Gilera)
10 Aleix ESPARGARO (Lotus Aprilia)
11 Ratthapark WILAIROT (Thai Honda PTT SAG)
12 Julian SIMON (Repsol KTM 250cc)
13 Hiroshi AOYAMA (Red Bull KTM 250)
14 Lukas PESEK (Auto Kelly - CP)
15 Alex BALDOLINI (Matteoni Racing)

125cc
1 Stefan BRADL (Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing)
2 Mike DI MEGLIO (Ajo Motorsport)
3 Joan OLIVE (Belson Derbi)
4 Gabor TALMACSI (Bancaja Aspar Team)
5 Nicolas TEROL (Jack & Jones WRB)
6 Bradley SMITH (Polaris World)
7 Sandro CORTESE (Emmi - Caffe Latte)
8 Pol ESPARGARO (Belson Derbi)
9 Andrea IANNONE (I.C. Team)
10 Simone CORSI (Jack & Jones WRB)
11 Scott REDDING (Blusens Aprilia Junior)
12 Sergio GADEA (Bancaja Aspar Team)
13 Esteve RABAT (Repsol KTM 125cc)
14 Dominique AEGERTER (Ajo Motorsport)
15 Robin LASSER (Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing)

Michael Jordan Motor Sports Suzuki’s Aaron Yates won today’s AMA Superstock race at Virginia International Raceway (VIR). This is Yates fourth win for the Jordan Suzuki team and his eighth consecutive Superstock podium finish in the class.

Yates, who qualified for the pole position with a time of 1:24.874, was the only rider to get into the 24s, narrowly missing (by .064 seconds) a new track record on the 2.25 mile VIR North course. His strong qualifying time earned Yates an additional point toward the overall championship, increasing his lead to 32 points before race time. “I was amped up about the session and I wanted to go out there and get that extra point,” said Yates. “I had to settle down and cool out a little bit. I ended up getting it done.”

On the green flag of the 17-lap event, Yates got off to a good start, quickly grabbing the hole-shot on his Suzuki GSX-R1000. Heading into turn one, teammate Geoff May was able to catch the tow behind Yates for second place, bettering his starting position by two. The Jordan Suzuki duo shadowed each other for three laps before May snuck past Yates, taking the lead on lap four. A trackside incident caused officials to stop the race. With 11 laps remaining on the restart, it was May who captured the hole-shot ahead of Yates, who followed closely in second position. Yates stalked his teammate for eight laps before retaking the lead, where he remained through the waving checkered flag. “It’s good to get the win,” said Yates. “I’m trying to get the championship for the Jordan Suzuki team!” Yates is currently leading the AMA Superstock championship by 36 points.

On lap 12, May ran wide on the course, and remaining upright, he quickly returned to the track in fourth place. While charging hard toward the finish line, May mistook Yates’ pit board as his and rolled off the throttle. “I thought it was my board,” said May. ”His is written differently than mine, so I thought I had a three second gap.” Understanding his error, he rapidly returned to speed and captured fifth place in the event. A rookie with Jordan Suzuki, May has earned three Superstock podium finishes, including his first AMA National win, in eight outings with his new team. In today’s event, May was awarded an additional point for leading the most laps, in addition to 27 points for his top five finish. He remains third in overall points in the AMA Superstock championship.