Noriyuki Haga put himself firmly in the World Superbike championship picture with a superb double win at the Nurburgring. A thrilling battle in the rain between the Japanese rider and his Yamaha team-mate Troy Corser was brought to a premature end by the red flags. Corser was leading the second race as the flags came out, but with the count-back rule the race was deemed finished after lap 15, at which point Haga was ahead of the Australian rider. The victory was made even more special by the fact that two weeks ago Haga broke his collarbone in three places in a practice crash in Salt Lake City.
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) ha dominato la settima prova del Mondiale Superbike al Nurburgring (Germania) ma Troy Bayliss (Ducati) con due piazzamenti – secondo e quarto – consolida il primato in campionato dopo il triplice passo falso che aveva riportato sotto gli inseguitori. Max Biaggi, caduto nel warm up, parte acciaccato e finisce solo 13°. Poi si riscatta con il settimo posto nella manche conclusiva: con la Ducati privata è impossibile fare miracoli.
Valentino Rossi escaped from the pack to claim his magnificent seventh consecutive home Mugello victory in dominant style in Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix. Rossi, riding under bright sunshine and in front of almost 100,000 trackside fans, got a bad start from pole position an was only fourth through the first sequence of corners, behind Dani Pedrosa, Casey Stoner and Loris Capirossi. But The Doctor worked his way clinically forwards, passing Capirossi’s Suzuki on the opening lap and immediately closing the slight gap to his title rivals. Stoner’s powerful Ducati got the better of Pedrosa along the home straight on lap 2 of 23, with Rossi dropping the Repsol Honda rider back to third later on the same lap. The Fiat Yamaha star then took the race lead from Stoner with a clever inside move through a downhill turn and the face painted on the top of Rossi’s special Mugello helmet never looked back.
Come se corresse nel cortile di casa. Pole e vittoria, la settima consecutiva su questa pista. Valentino Rossi ha domato per l’ennesima volta il Mugello e i suoi rivali, e così ha allungato ancora in testa al Mondiale MotoGP. E’ lui l’uomo del giorno al GP d’Italia. E con lui, che ha messo in fila Casey Stoner (Ducati) e Daniel Pedrosa (Honda), va celebrato anche un grande Alex De Angelis, quarto sul traguardo con la Honda del team Gresini. Il tutto dopo una rimonta strepitosa dopo una partenza poco felice.
Valentino Rossi fought from fourth on the grid to win the French MotoGP at Le Mans by almost five seconds from Fiat Yamaha team-mate and rookie sensation Jorge Lorenzo, who began in fifth. Briton James Toseland of Yamaha Tech 3 retired only two laps in while his team-mate Colin Edwards took third.
The finish means that Italian Rossi takes over at the top of the riders’ standings with 97 points, while Spaniards Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa - who finished fourth after a battle with American Edwards - are level on 94.
Reigning world champion Casey Stoner was fifth after holding a podium position for several laps and is fourth overall, a massive 38 points further back.
Valentino Rossi ha vinto il GP di Francia classe MotoGP, quinta prova del Mondiale 2008. Il pesarese della Yamaha ha dominato davanti ai compagni di marca Jorge Lorenzo e Colin Edwards. Quarto Daniel Pedrosa, sesto Andrea Dovizioso, settimo Loris Capirossi. Nel Mondiale Rossi ha così conquistato la testa.
Five-time champion Valentino Rossi won his first MotoGP race of 2008 with a superb performance in Shanghai. The Italian legend set a succession of lap records in cool, slightly damp conditions, shaking off the persistent Dani Pedrosa, who takes over the championship lead. Ducati’s Casey Stoner finished some way back in third ahead of the heroic Jorge Lorenzo, who broke his ankle in a horrifying crash on Friday but raced on to claim fourth.
Nel GP di Cina Valentino conquista il successo sette mesi dopo l’ultima volta all’Estoril. Splendida cavalcata a colpi di giri record. Alle sue spalle Pedrosa, 3° Stoner. Ottimo Melandri 5° dietro a Lorenzo, incredibile 4° con la frattura alla caviglia sinistra.
Jorge Lorenzo’s ‘inevitable’ debut MotoGP victory has come at only his third attempt, after the reigning 250cc world champion fought past arch-rival Dani Pedrosa and team-mate Valentino Rossi during Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix. Having qualified on pole for a perfect third time in a row, Lorenzo lined up on the front of the Estoril grid with sporadic rain drops falling - adding further drama to the proceedings - before fellow front row starters Pedrosa and Rossi stormed ahead of him into turn one. Rossi wasted no time in shuffling ahead of the world championship leader, with Lorenzo also taking advantage - then passing the fellow Fiat Yamaha of Rossi to take the lead by the end of lap one.
Lorenzo felice per la prima vittoria in MotoGP: “Ringrazio il team. Rossi? Dovevo passarlo in quel momento”. Pedrosa: “Complimenti a lui”. Valentino: “Risultato giusto ma la mia moto è veloce, ho fiducia per le prossime gare”.
Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team rider Noriyuki Haga could not have had two bigger contrasts in his raceday at Valencia, taking a superb win in the second 23-lap contest, but crashing out of the opener at high speed.
His team-mate Troy Corser was rewarded for a consistent first race ride with a podium finish in third, and then went on to score a fighting fifth in race two.
Corser’s podium came in a race where 20 riders finished and there were many high profile incidents. Corser was a lonely third eventually, some seven seconds from the win. Haga crashed out of race one, losing the front at the first corner on lap four as he tried to make up for qualifying 10th in Superpole.
In race two Haga led for the second half of the race, and his margin of victory over championship leader Troy Bayliss was 1.551 seconds. Corser, who had been pushing hard throughout and got tangled up with Ruben Xaus for some time, found it impossible to keep his early pace and finished eight seconds from his team-mate.
Il pilota italiano Lorenzo Lanzi si e’ imposto in gara-1 del Gran Premio di Valencia, terza prova stagionale del Mondiale Superbike. Il pilota azzurro, in sella alla Ducati 1098 RS 08, ha approfittato dello scontro che ha visto protagonisti all’ultima curva il tedesco Max Neukirchner e lo spagnolo Carlos Checa: i due piloti hanno dato vita ad un ultimo giro ricco di emozioni, prima della caduta avvenuta a pochi metri dalla bandiera a scacchi. Lanzi ha preceduto al traguardo gli australiani Troy Bayliss e Troy Corser. Solo 16esimo Max Biaggi.
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha YZF-R1) ha vinto gara 2 a Valencia nel terzo appuntamento del Mondiale di Superbike. Haga ha preceduto di 1”551 l’australiano Troy Bayliss (Ducati F08) e di 2”903 lo spagnolo Carlos Checa. Nono posto per Max Biaggi (Ducati RS08). Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati RS08), che aveva vinto gara-1, ha chiuso invece dodicesimo. Race 1:
