Marco Melandri has an interesting post on his blog this weekend about Jorge Lorenzo’s Le Mans victory celebration. In case you missed it, after the race Lorenzo seated himself in a lawn chair with a bag of popcorn and soda right smack in front of one of the giant televisions that broadcast the race to the crowd. Considering the last race Lorenzo won, he jumped into a pond, this celebration was a bit more demur, but as Melandri points out there may be more than meets the eye on this celebration.
Alex de Angelis had some rotten luck last weekend while competing in the Moto2 race at Le Mans, France. Minding his own business, de Angelis was unaware that wildcard Xavier Simeon had crashed behind him. He was also unaware that Simeon’s bike hadn’t crashed, and was careening straight for de Angelis. The rest writes itself, check it out in the video above.
MotoGP action was back this weekend, with racing for the French GP coming from Le Mans, France. Fiat-Yamaha looked very strong coming into Sunday’s race, with a 1-2 qualifying session. Casey Stoner also looked like he had the French track’s number, as the Australian was the fastest rider in the warm-up session. Not to be counted out though, the Repsol Honda’s were sporting new frame configurations, which they were hoping would be the remedy to a lackluster start to the season. Read after the jump to see how it all panned out.
After seeing numerous crashes during qualifying and practice sessions, the rider grid for Sunday’s French GP is finally set, with a 1-2 qualifying position by Fiat-Yamaha. Valentino Rossi will lead the pack from the pole position, likely to be followed closely by teammate Jorge Lorenzo. Rounding out the top four are the other two aliens, Dani Pedrosa (3rd) and Casey Stoner (4th). More and full qualifying results after the jump.
Alvaro Bautista found himself at the wrong end of a nasty highside during FP2 at Le Mans this race weekend. The Spanish rider was already suffering from a broken collarbone, an injury he had surgery on only a week ago, but looked ready to ride Le Mans despite this injury. However after crashing today, Bautista has now retired from tomorrow’s race, complaining of pain in his shoulder. Rizla Suzuki is not looking to replace Bautista for Sunday, and expects him to make be ready to race at the Mugello in two week’s time. Video of Bautista’s crash after the jump.
Andrea Dovizioso will be running a new chassis this weekend at Le Mans, France. Dovi, who usually does well at Le Mans, has been battling the Honda chassis all season, showing only moderate competitive success with the RC212V that has him three points behind teammate Dani Pedrosa in the Championship Series. The new chassis is the same setup that HRC tested at Jerez with good results, which should bode well for the Italian rider.
Racing for third place, Honda National Motos wass rushing to fill their CBR1000RR when all of a sudden gallons of race fuel come out of the refueling hose, and slathered the bike in flammable liquid. What happens next is completely predictable to even the most casual race enthusiast.
Likely hitting the super-heated header pipes, the fuel ignites while crew members with minimal fire protection are crowded around the motorcycle trying to dry it with mechanic’s rags. Luckily it would appear no one was injured, but check the video out after the jump to see how close this could have been to a real disaster.
This weekend France played host to the FIM’s first round of the e-Power Championship, which took place in Le Mans. Starting before the Le Mans 24 Hours Endurance World Championship race, only five riders took to the starting line, with Belgian rider de Ridder not making it to venue. Taking the first win in the FIM’s first zero-emission motorcycle race was Thomas Betti, the son in the father-son duo of Betti Moto.
The electric sportbike season is rapidly approaching us, and the first event is the FIM’s e-Power Championship race at Le Mans. With six bikes and five teams on the entry list, the race will be sparse with entrants and could see the field shrink further if rumors are right that suggest one bike might be jumping ship to the Italian TTXGP series. Despite all this, the FIM’s first race has a great venue. Set to take place April 16th, the e-Power Championship launches just ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans World Endurance Championship race in Sarthe, France.
Valentino Rossi is the unofficial King of Mugello, winning at the Italian circuit seven times out of seven appearances at the track. This weekend marks Rossi’s eighth visit to his home track, with all eyes watching to see if The Doctor can win again.
Normally, Valentino would be the heavy favorite on Sunday’s race, but after finishing last for the first time in his MotoGP career at Le Mans a fortnight ago, there might just be a little doubt in the paddock about Rossi’s ability.
After Round 4 at Le Mans, The MotoGP Championship is still up for grabs, if not more so than before. Four riders: Lorenzo, Rossi, Stoner, and Pedrosa, are all in a dead heat for the Championship title. Running down the list are further surprises, with Marco Melandri in 5th place (tied with Andrea Dovizioso), just 23 points (or a race win) away from the top of the field.
Colin Edwards can claim the title of best in the US, with his 7th place slot, 31 points back from leader Lorenzo. Meanwhile, Nicky Hayden, a former MotoGP Champion himself, is disappointedly 15th out of 18 riders, 57 points behind first place.