Round 4 of the 2011 MotoGP championship was held at the Le Mans circuit earlier today, and Casey Stoner (Honda) came away with a convincing win after starting from pole position. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) edged out Valentino Rossi (Ducati) to take second. Rossi gained his first podium on the Ducati. Late in the race, Marco Simoncelli (Honda) made a controversial pass on Dani Pedrosa (Honda) resulting in a crash by Pedrosa. Pedrosa broke his collarbone, and Simoncelli was required by the race stewards to ride through the pits as a penalty. Pedrosa was running second at the time of the incident.
Points leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) finished in fourth position. For additional details, results and points, visit the official MotoGP site.
just saw the race today. held off on gp news for weeks to see it unspoiled 😉
what a great race! any race when 26 gets 0 points is good. i will never forget how honda and 26 and puig continually sabotaged 69 in 2006 yet still 69 persevered and prevailed. honda even built a whole bike and dorna a whole rule book for 26 in 2007, but he’ll never win a championship. karma.
i don’t think 58 should have been penalized — rather, 26 should have been more cautious — like he used to be. in 2010 and 2011, 26 has started getting desperate, and pushing beyond his abilities.
props to 46 for making a podium. props to 1 for maintaining a hard fought championship lead.
mad props to 27, who is probably the fastest human we’ll ever see…
I don’t understand the penalty. I’ve watched and re-watched the incident. Marco outbraked Dani, was in front when tipping in, and went around the outside, the long way, leaving enough room for Dani to complete his turn. Dani stood the bike up and ran into the back of Marco’s, and Marco is penalised? Stoner ran away and hid.
re: “I don’t understand the penalty. I’ve watched and re-watched the incident. Marco outbraked Dani, was in front when tipping in, and went around the outside”
Q: do you have a sound reference to accurately process what you are seeing…? again, a “UFC mentality” would NOT be a proper reference. that’ll block your understanding every time. purge yourself of pop-culture influences like UFC, soccer, hockey, etc. before viewing.
Stonet ran away and hid?? To quote the great Mick Doohan – “What am I supposed to do – ride slower?” Stoner did what he can do – ride very fast so that none can catch him. All the top guys can do it; he is one.
Shameful decision to penalize Marco. He didn’t do anything wrong. Lorenzo, Rossi, and others have done worst without receiving penalties. It only shows how much Teams dictate the laws in MotoGP according to their interests. Marco and Casey are right now, the best riders. If it was Lorenzo or Rossi, for sure there had been no penalisations (See Lorenzo overtake to Dovi, or Rossi taking out Stoner at Laguna Seca and again this year in one of the most stupids and dangerous manouvers I have ever seen). So, the stupids are talking about Marco’s dangerous driving cause they know Marco is coming. And I tell you something: He is coming to stay as one of the best two ever riders is history. The other one is Stoner. I would like to see him on a Yamaha or an Off. Honda…. the rest would be 30 seconds far behind him. Marco: Do not listen to stupids that are terrified not about your driving but about your outstanding skills. Overtake them, and leave them deeply breathing the smoke of your tyres. May be it helps them to shut the f…up.
re: “Shameful decision to penalize Marco.”
shameful decision to UNDER-penalize Marco. he should receive a 1-race suspension (at a minimum). tamada and hopkins received that, having done less.
re: “cause they know Marco is coming. And I tell you something: He is coming to stay as one of the best two ever riders is history. The other one is Stoner. I would like to see him on a Yamaha or an Off. Honda…. the rest would be 30 seconds far behind him. Marco: Do not listen to stupids that are terrified not about your driving but about your outstanding skills. Overtake them, and leave them deeply breathing the smoke of your tyres.”
lemme guess, you split your tv time between watching MotoGP and watching UFC…? if so, let me be the first to tell you you can’t watch roadracing while harboring an “ultimate fighting championship mentality”. after watching a match, you should leave yourself 72 hours (min) to “decompress” before turning on a roadrace. this will help you accurately process what you are viewing. sadly, you’re making the same mistake (as many others) who unknowingly blend those 2 disciplines.
Where’s the Spies sycophants? Only 32 seconds behind Stoner! Did Spies’ team leader eat Spies’ homework…AGAIN?
given his points lead, team blue has officially “circled the wagons” around lorenzo. historically, the #2 rider has proven to be “immaterial” regarding title defenses. when you’re crashing becauses hoses are being left disconnected on your bike, that’s your first red flag as to your TRUE rank in the scheme of things. 🙁 when’s the last time you ever heard of a hose being left undone…? or a spanner being left in the works at the grand prix level…? if you’ve ever gotten to observe the sheer fastidiousness of the activity in and around the garage of a professional team, it’d become REAL obvious how those kind of mistakes simply don’t happen. if spies get’s ANY support this year…? it’ll likely be limited to laguna and indy.
Good points all…isn’t the #2 guy sometimes helpful for blocking, etc, to save the #1 guy some points?
that’s a strategy left over from the 90’s. when was the last championship in WSBK or MotoGP that the team-mate of whoever bagged the title been a factor…? damn sure none of rossi’s team-mates…? not biaggi’s team-mate in ’10…? not spies’ team-mate in ’09…? not bayliss’ team-mate in ’08…? not stoner’s team-mate in ’07…? in modern day race budgets, the second seaters are all “ne-er-do-wells”. 🙁 i think you have to go all the way back to the pairings of hodgson/toseland or fogarty/corser when a team finished a season 1/2 points…? i could be mistaken on that.
Good, hope you’re right, and it seems you are! You convinced me anyway. Let Spies rot in the #2 spot for several years till he tires of it and he demotes himself back to WSB to check his chances there again.
(chant) Stoner! Stoner! Stoner!
Oh Dani, Karma’s a bitch isn’t it? Remember what he did to his TEAM MATE, Nicky Hayden back in 2006? If it wasn’t for extreme bad luck for Rossi, Pedrosa’s take out of Nicky would have cost Hayden the championship in 2006. I say what goes around, comes around and it came back to Pedrosa at Le Mans.
re: “I say what goes around, comes around and it came back to Pedrosa at Le Mans.”
negative… everybody seems to forget dani already made his penance for estoril. at valencia (the very next round), he deliberately gave up track position to hayden allowing him to go on to take the title. this was a home race and to deny himself was probably one of the hardest moves he ever had to make in his priviledged life as “near spanish royalty” up until that point. in my book, “he did the right thing” and earned his forgiveness 5 years ago. if anyone’s not sure of what i speak…? i encourage you to go back and check the tape.
Kind of ironic, recalling Pedrosa taking out Hayden when Hayden was fighting for the championship, now the table was turned, albeit with Simoncelli taking out Pedrosa. Hopefully Danny is back in time for the next round, albeit it’s hard to picture him at 100%. There will be lot’s more talk about Simoncelli’s riding style, perhaps too aggressive at times.
I don’t get the ride thru penalty? Rossi didn’t get a penalty for taking Stoner out. It was Simoncelli’s fault no doubt but since when do you get a penalty for it?
It’s the Michael Jordan rule. Star players/riders can get away with more. Jordan can take travel, foul etc. Rossi can do the same thing. That is why I like hockey better than basketball.
Simoncelli/Pedrosa has nothing to do with Rossi/Stoner. Simoncelli cut in front of Pedrosa from the outside of the line. Rossi lowsided by mistake while passsing Stoner. Sure they all are aggressive riders, hello? we are watching the premier class in motoGP, not your schoolyard race!
Stoner didn’t think so…
kpaul, you’re still just making things up for the sake of what you think is a snappy response.
Are you the only person in world who hasn’t heard or read that Casey, himself, considers it a “racing incident”?
Here, try these:
http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/racing/casey-stoner-valentino-rossi-jerez-crash-spanish-gp-motogp/
http://www.motorcycledaily.com/2011/04/%E2%80%9Cjust-racing%E2%80%9D/
Simoncelli doesn’t think he was at fault either.
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2011/May/110515sicstate.htm
hehe…No it has nothing to do….only for retardeds. It was by a mistake that Rossi took out Stoner at Laguna Seca. It was by a mistake that in one of the most stupids and dangerous manouvers I have ever seen, he took out again Stoner early this year when Stoner was going to add another victory to his outstanding career. Marco overtook Pedrosa in the same way Lorenzo, Pedrosa himself, and Rossi, use to overtake riders: at the limit. But this is racing not goint to mass. So stupids that are talking about dangerous driving shall have a look at themselves first. Marco is better than all of them, and they know Marco is coming. And coming to stay !!!!
Are you Marco’s girlfriend?
re: “I don’t get the ride thru penalty? Rossi didn’t get a penalty for taking Stoner out. It was Simoncelli’s fault no doubt but since when do you get a penalty for it?”
when your pass is blatantly wrong (outside pass on a 90 degree turn) and results in bodily injury to a fellow compeitor.
Really exciting race to watch, lots of passing and close racing until the crash. Too bad for Dani. I had him picked to win it all this year. Then he had the surgery and I figured he was done. Then he came back at the next race and won. Then he pulled another holeshot yesterday and I thought he was on his way. Then the pass/crash and broken collarbone.I have Lorenzo next in line to win but it looks like he may have his hands full with the Honda crew this year, particularly Stoner. I had Stoner finishing 3rd for the year. May be a bad predicition year for me, and I’m usually pretty good at it.Nice to see Rossi on the podium even if it was befenit from a crash and penalty. Simoncelli is getting faster all the time, now if he can just learn to quit running into people or crashing.What’s with the Americans? They are certainly having a poor season and lok to be mid pack runners at best. I piocked Spies to finish 5th in the championship behind Rossi. Like I said may be a bad predicition year for me if this keeps up.
re: “What’s with the Americans?”
they’re Americans… (not to be confused with lacking in talent).
Not to be confused with riding particularly well either. Nicky is a former World MotoGP Champion , Edwards is former 2 time Superbike Champion, Spies , 3 time AMA Superbike Champion and World Superbike Champion is supposed to be the second coming of Agostini. One would hope that one of the three of them would be battling for a podium once in awhile. Nicky did get a podium this year noly because everyone in front of him crashed out. He certainly hasn’t passed anyone to get to the front.
no argument there. to that end, theres no one more perfect than “Monsieur spies” to hold up as an illustration of the highly political/business nature of racing. one second he was on the “fast track” (pun intended), then the next second he’s crashing helmet first into the motogp version of a “glass ceiling”. until such time american motorcycle consumers and fan base close the economic loop on the business model (come off the dime this)…? all ‘merican riders will be tagged with “2nd class status” for the foreseeable future. 🙁 the power to change things rests with us.
Looks like the factory Hondas are (at the very least) around 0.3sec per lap faster than everyone else. With Pedrosa injured, looks like Stoner’s championship at this point. More worryingly, the Yamaha’s seem to be going backwards. One has to wonder how much Rossi’s defection has hurt their development, and being a Yamaha man myself, I fear for them in the coming 1000cc era.
I was going to make the same commment…with Pedrosa out, and the Honda’s being so clearly dominant, the only thing that can stop Stoner now is a crash and injury.
I can’t wait until they go back to the bigger bikes next year. They should mean more competitive racing. The worst thing MotoGP ever did was downsize the bikes.
Awsome race. While Stoner “checked out” and won by a masive margin, i can’t remember a more action packed race for a long time. Hard passing, lots of crashes, ride through penalties, Stoners whacking Randy and being fined then bike having starting problems on the line, the list goes on. It will be interesting to see what the Repsol team has to say about Simoncelli’s move on Pedrosa. Im sure they will not be impressed. Go Stoner
sure hope simo and elias are friends…? because there will now be 2 hondas back marking the grid. [soup nazi voice]”no more transmission for you”[/soup nazi voice].
Simoncelli is out. of. control. The San Marco bosses need to reign him in before he does more damage. Look, I hate Pedrosa, but he was totally screwed over by Marco. His season (career?) is now finished due to an irresponsible pass, one of 3 for Simoncelli this season. Absolutely absurd. Repsol Honda will be out for blood, and I personally hope they find it.
San Carlo. Not San Marco. I am kind of glad to not see Dani for a while.
re: “The San Marco bosses need to reign him in before he does more damage.”
no worries, the HRC bosses will beat them to that punch. his factory support is finished. he won’t be given a 2nd chance to take out stoner.
“his factory support is finished. he won’t be given a 2nd chance to take out stoner.” Interesting comment, Norm. Obviously Honda will be pinning everything on Stoner at this point but don’t count Sic out. He has the raw talent that’s needed, he just needs to temper it. This may take another year or more. I think Rossi said that if you are fast but crash a lot, you can get better, but if you are slow you are f****d, or words to that effect. It’s true, and Stoner himself is proof. Don’t get me wrong, I am an Aussie and I admire Stoner. Simoncelli’s passing move was actually a good and brave bit of riding, it was just badly timed and a little recklessly executed. Another split second and it would have been one of the best moves of the race. I am not a Dani fan but I feel very sorry for him. In my opinion the ride through penalty was a knee-jerk by officials, especially in light of recent anti-Simoncelli sentiment.