CAFÉ RACER 76: 07/15/12

DTM: Munich hors championnat ...

Après le succès de Mercedes-Benz samedi lors de la course par équipe, Ralf Schumacher et Jamie Green ayant défait de justesse les A5 de Timo Scheider et Adrien Tambay, Audi a répliqué aujourd'hui avec la victoire de Mattias Ekström dans l'opposition entre tous les pilotes, en présence de 45000 spectateurs.

Cette compétition, organisée sur deux tracés parallèles, inscrits dans le Stade Olympique de Munich se sont déroulés par une météo maussade, avec une piste humide et des averses fréquentes.

Valentino Rossi: My riding style is diametrically opposite to the Ducati

from : http://www.twowheelsblog.com/

After being thoroughly dissed after his disastrous qualifying at Mugello with both Hector Barbera and team mate Nicky Hayden finishing in front of him on the starting grid, Valentino Rossi had the small satisfaction of finishing fifth in today’s race at Mugello and his best finish in the dry.

The Italian even joked about all the negative comments he received and asked journalists where Barbera finished, because he didn’t see him … , but he turned serious when he talked to Sportmediaset about his commitment which he says “is always 110%” adding “I certainly don’t like be slower than the other Ducati’s and finding myself in 10th -11th. “The Ducati bike is diametrically opposite to my riding style: I’d like to win this challenge, or at least try to be better than today, so we must we try to the end. For me there’s a way: it isn’t easy, but we have to find the right idea to solve these problems. Compared the last few races we have improved, but it’s hard to fight with Yamaha and Honda because they are scarily fast and have taken another step forward. “

“Overall, I think today was the best dry result of the year for Ducati, because Nicky had a great race as well,” commented Valentino Rossi. “We’re quite happy, as our pace was very good, especially toward the end. Unfortunately, I lost time at the beginning. Not only was I on the fourth row, but I also had a bad start. I got by some riders pretty quickly, but by then I had already accumulated too much of a disadvantage. Otherwise, I think it would have been possible to make the podium. We’re having too much trouble in practice. Normally we’re able to have a decent rhythm with the hard tyres, but when we put on the soft, we can’t manage to cut those six or seven tenths that the others drop. For two races, we’ve worked on a setting that allows us to be consistent until the end of the race, but at the same time, it gives me more trouble with the front. When I put on the soft tyre, the extra grip makes that problem worse and I’m not able to effectively initiate corner turn-in. We have to work on that area. We have a test day tomorrow, so we’ll see.”

Jorge Lorenzo runs away with Mugello victory

As it was highly expected Jorge Lorenzo ran away with today’s MotoGP race at Mugello to take his fifth victory of the season. It took the Yamaha rider exactly one turn to take the lead and never give it up riding almost constantly under the 1.48s and he even started waving to the crowds halfway through the last lap and he crossed the finish line with a 5.223 second margin.

Dani Pedrosa tried his best to stay with Lorenzo, but he just didn’t have the pace to stay with him but he kept his second place in the standings as team mate Casey Stoner struggled all weekend long with tire problems. The Australian decided to start the race with the extra hard tire was running in fifth, but he missed his braking mark and ran off track and rejoined in tenth and when he passed Alvaro Bautista for 9th he harshly pushed the Gresini rider wide at the Luco-Poggio Secco and touching the Spaniard’s leg and shoulder leaving some tire rubber on his leathers, Stoner finished the race in 8th.

The battle for third was highly entertaining between Andrea Dovizioso and Stefan Bradl. The MotoGP rookie gave the vetran rider a ride for his money, the two exchanged the third spot several times, but with three laps to go Dovizioso put in his decisive pass at the San Donato that would in the end let him take the third spot on the podium. The battle for fourth spot was also exciting as Bradl found himself with his hands full on the last lap with Nicky Hayden, Valentino Rossi (who came from 12th after the first lap) and Cal Crutchlow who caught him.

MotoGP Mugello Race results:

01- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – 23 laps in 41’37.477
02- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 5.223
03- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 10.665
04- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 10.711
05- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 11.695
06- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 12.060
07- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 12.235
08- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 30.617
09- Hector Barbera – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 31.728
10- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 34.589

Hammarhead bikes

James Hammarhead is one of the top custom motorcycle builders in the USA. In June 2011, he returned to the small Pennsylvania farm where he grew up, visiting his childhood refuge for the first time in 30 years. He took three Hammarhead bikes with him—the Jack Pine, the Solo X and the Woodsman.
Grant Ray, creative director and co-founder of the influential Hell For Leather website, was on hand to record the occasion using a Leica M8 with vintage Leitz lenses.