No less than two Australians were on the podium after the weekend's wet and difficult MotoGP at Donington, in the UK. Ducati rider Casey Stoner won the race, and countryman Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) came third. Sandwiched between them was American Yamaha rider Colin Edwards, who was delighted to at last get a decent result this season, and beat team-mate Valentino Rossi.
It was a big weekend for the Aussies -- Anthony West had his first ride on the Kawasaki. He qualified strongly and was placed as high as fifth at one stage, dicing with Valentino Rossi. However he speared off into a gravel trap about halfway through the event and eventually had to settle for 11th spot. His team is nevertheless delighted with his efforts, as West has had barely two hours of experience on the machine, his first modern MotoGP mount. It was the first time both Kawasaki bikes scored points -- lead rider de Puniet scored an excellent sixth place.
The tyre war has also hotted up, with Bridgestone bracketing the formerly dominant Michelin by scoring first and third place.
Multi-time champion Valentino Rossi (fourth) had a miserable race and was clearly very unhappy with his bike, which he said is sub-standard in anything other than perfect conditions. He got off to a poor start, worked his way up towards the lead group in the field, but was constantly harassed by riders he normally leaves in his wake. His tyres rapidly shredded as the track started to dry in the second half of the event.
He now trails Stoner by more than a full race win -- 26 points.
Weirdly, though, Rossi's team-mate (Edwards) had his best ride of the year on similar machinery.
Reigning champ Nicky Hayden had yet another lousy event on his Honda, like many falling victim to the slippery conditions. His crash put him out of the running and he completed the session by putting in some test laps. Honda is now in the embarrassing position of not having won a race this season.
Here is what the riders had to say...
Casey Stoner (Ducati):
"This proves to people that the Ducati doesn't just have power. We've been improving the bike and now it doesn't have any particular weak points, we just need to improve it as a complete package. Obviously today it was the best bike out there. I got a perfect jump at the start, a perfect clutch release, but then I must've hit a white line and it spun up straight away. I was panicking a little bit because everybody was zooming past and I thought I'd be last into the first corner. We still got in there in a reasonable position and we were able to pick our way through. Colin seemed to be nice and smooth, but I knew I could go quicker. Then I saw the track getting drier and drier. I was worried about destroying the rear tyre, so I started going over all the wet patches. When we got to the last five laps the tyre still had a pretty good feeling and it looked pretty good at the end of the race, considering it was our softest option. I'm not looking at the championship yet, I'm just enjoying all these races whether I win or don't finish on the podium. It's just nice to be out there, I've got the confidence in myself and in the bike to really get involved in the race and really enjoy it."Colin Edwards (Yamaha):
"We had good race! I had a great start, better than any of my practice ones during the weekend, and then I just got my head down and kept pushing lap after lap. My bike was feeling good in the wet but then it started to dry out. I started braking a bit harder and feeling more confident, but then the front locked once into the chicane which gave me a bit of a scare. Then at the next corner, down at the hairpin, I locked it again, ran wide and Casey came through. After that I tried everything but I couldn't stay with him and it was clear that I didn't have the grip he had. It was pretty tough, but then I guess it was tough for everyone! You could see the dry line forming and rain tyres with a dry track don't work well! I just had to pay attention and take care not to spin it too much, using half throttle instead of spinning it up. Anyway, we did the best we could today and it feels good to be back on the podium, so a big thanks to all my guys. We've made a lot of progress this weekend and now we'll carry the momentum on to Assen next week! Hats off to Casey too, he did a great job today."Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki):
"It was very wet to start with and then dried out later on and that made the conditions very difficult. But my team and Bridgestone deserve full marks for picking the best tyres for today - they certainly knew what they were doing! I also want give my crew an extra special thank-you because for the second day running I crashed heavily in the morning and they again managed to get the bike rebuilt in time, so thanks guys! As far as the race went, I felt comfortable early on but then had some trouble seeing through my visor. A couple of riders came past me and I ran off the track, I was struggling to see so much that I could have hit a wall or a spectator or anything and not have known! When the rain stopped I was able to lift my visor up a bit and that cleared the misting and I was able to push harder again. I passed John and Valentino and very nearly caught Colin but I ran out of laps. I am very happy to be on the podium and now let's go and do it again - preferably in the dry!"Valentino Rossi (Yamaha):
"Unfortunately today the conditions were not good for us at all and we had a lot of problems. In the full dry we would have been at our strongest, in full wet we would have been also quite good, but with a drying track like this we struggled a lot. I made a mistake and ran off the track when I was going the best I went during the whole race and then as the track began to dry I had less and less grip; it seems that this year, when the conditions aren't perfect, we suffer a lot. I had to go very carefully just to be able to finish and, because we were riding with a wet tyre on a dry track, my tyre was destroyed by the end. Colin did a great job in difficult circumstances so congratulations to him. We've had a very long meeting tonight and now we have to try to improve the situation for Assen."Anthony West (Kawasaki):
"I felt really strong in the wet and it didn't feel like I was pushing too hard. Nicky Hayden crashed right in front of me in the same place a few laps before and there was no grip there. I'd struggled with it all weekend. But the rear came round so quickly and I don't really know what happened. After that, when the track started drying out, I found it hard to get any traction and couldn't lay the power down. Later, it started to feel better but by then it was too late to make a move back on Melandri. I'm disappointed I crashed because I wanted to get a good result for these guys but I'm happy I finished and got some points."Results:
1 Stoner
2 Edwards
3 Vermeulen
4 Rossi
5 Hopkins
6 de Puniet
7 Barros
8 Pedrosa
9 Hofman
10 Melandri
11 West
Points:
1 Stoner 165
2 Rossi 139
3 Pedrosa 106
4 Vermeulen 88
5 Hopkins 83
6 Melandri 81
7 Edwards 65
8 Barros 60
9 Capirossi 57
10 Elias 49
11 Hofman 45
12 Hayden 41
