Lorenzo vainqueur au MotorLand et à 14 points de Rossi / Lorenzo takes a bite out of Rossi’s lead

             

Jorge Lorenzo a décroché la 60e victoire de sa carrière en Grand Prix devant Dani Pedrosa et Valentino Rossi au MotorLand Aragón.

             

Après avoir subi les caprices de la météo deux courses de suite et une très coûteuse chute à Misano, Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) a quasiment réduit son retard sur son coéquipier Valentino Rossi de moitié en s’imposant en solitaire au Grand Prix Movistar d’Aragón. 

Deuxième sur la grille de départ derrière Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda), le Majorquin est parti comme une fusée pour prendre une demi-seconde d’avance dès le premier tour. Distancé au classement général, le Champion en titre n’avait rien à perdre et a pris beaucoup de risques pour revenir sur Lorenzo mais est allé trop loin et est tombé dès le deuxième tour, dans le virage n°12, abandonnant pour la cinquième fois de la saison.

Suite à la chute de Márquez, Lorenzo s’est retrouvé bien seul en tête de la course et s’est concentré pour accomplir sa mission et décrocher la 60e victoire de sa carrière en Grand Prix. Mais plus que la victoire, ce seront certainement les neuf points repris à Rossi que retiendra le pilote espagnol, qui réduisait son retard de 23 à 14 points avant les quatre dernières courses de la saison 2015.

                 

Qualifié en sixième position, Rossi a dû patienter sur les premiers tours avant de pouvoir dépasser Andrea Iannone (Ducati) et a ensuite fait toute sa course, ou presque, sur les talons de Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda). 

Plus rapide sur la longue ligne droite qui débouche sur la dernière courbe du tracé aragonais, Pedrosa n’a pas eu de problème à garder l’avantage sur Rossi, jusqu’à ce que ce dernier ne passe à l’attaque sur les cinq derniers tours. S’en est suivi un duel de haut vol entre les deux prétendants à la seconde place, que Pedrosa a fini par décrocher suite à dépassement par l’intérieur aussi osé que réussi dans l’enchaînement des virages 13 et 14.

Passé devant le Catalan à plusieurs reprises mais a chaque fois rapidement repris, Rossi a tout tenté pour concéder le moins de points possible à Lorenzo mais remontait au moins sur le podium suite à sa décevante cinquième place à Misano.

Présent sur la première ligne de la grille, Iannone est resté aux avant-postes aussi longtemps que son épaule le lui a permis et a ensuite légèrement baissé en cadence pour faire sa course en solitaire et prendre la quatrième place, son onzième Top 5 en quatorze courses cette année, cinq secondes derrière Rossi.

Son coéquipier Andrea Dovizioso, qui avait complètement manqué sa qualification et partait treizième, a terminé en sixième position, à une quinzaine de secondes de Iannone et avec quelques dixièmes d’avance sur Aleix Espargaró (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) et Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech3).

                 

Quatorzième à l’arrivée, Eugene Laverty (Aspar MotoGP) s’est offert la victoire en catégorie Open devant son coéquipier Nicky Hayden, Héctor Barberá (Avintia Racing) et Loris Baz (Forward Racing) tandis que Mike Di Meglio (Avintia Racing) a fini 20e.

                

Suite à cette quatorzième manche, le paddock MotoGP™ va se préparer pour une tournée Asie-Pacifique qui comprendra trois courses en trois semaines et commencera le 11 octobre au Japon, lors de la quinzième des dix-huit manches de la saison, que Rossi abordera donc avec quatorze points d’avance sur Lorenzo.

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Jorge Lorenzo takes his sixth win of the season ahead of Dani Pedrosa and championship rival Valentino Rossi as Marc Marquez crashes out.

Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo rode brilliantly to secure his 60th career GP victory in front of 67,000 fans at the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragón. Repsol Honda’s Pedrosa was involved in an excellent fight with Rossi over the final few laps for the second step of the podium at MotorLand Aragon. Eventually Pedrosa would beat Rossi to the line by just a tenth of a second, while his teammate Marc Marquez crashed out of the race.

This means that Lorenzo has reduced Rossi’s advantage in the standings by 9 points to just 14 heading into the flyaway rounds, with just four races remaining. Movistar Yamaha’s first double podium since Brno saw them lift the team title for the first time since 2010.

                

There was drama at the start, as Marquez seemed to make a mistake allowing Lorenzo to lead into the first corner with Iannone in second, as the pole man dropped down to third. The Spaniard recovered to make a move on Iannone into second through the first few corners and set off after Lorenzo at the front.

Rossi, who knew he couldn’t let Lorenzo get away, started making his way through the field from sixth on the grid immediately, moving up to fifth at the end of the first lap at the expense of Pol Espargaro. The Italian was already two seconds behind Lorenzo in second.

Unbelievably, just as he was closing down Lorenzo at the front, Marquez lost the front at turn 12 and crashed out of the Aragon GP for the second year in a row. It was Marquez’s fifth DNF of the year - the most he has ever had in a World Championship season - which sees him now trail Rossi by 70 points in the standings with only 100 up for grabs.

               

Marquez's crash moved Iannone up into second, but not for long as Marquez’s teammate Pedrosa passed the Ducati man on the 3rd lap. All the while Lorenzo was looking untouchable at the front as he opened up a 2.4s lead by the end of lap 3.

Rossi knew he had to get a move on and he passed Iannone to move into 3rd on the 4th lap, although at this point he was lapping 0.3s a lap slower than Lorenzo as his teammate opened up a 3 second lead at the front. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Espargaro was involved in the battle for fourth with Iannone when he ran wide on lap 6 and dropped down to 11th.

                

By lap 8 both Pedrosa and Rossi started to lap faster than Lorenzo and the gap had been reduced to 2.6s. Lorenzo got the “hurry up” signal from his pit board and responded, managing his pace beautifully over the next few laps.

Further back through the field Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Aleix Espargaro had caught Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) in sixth and was starting to attack, while Cal Crutchlow and Danilo Petrucci also started to close in on the duo in front of them. That was before Petrucci trailed the brakes too much into turn 14 with 13 laps to go and lost the front, leading to Petrucci’s first DNF since the Malaysian Grand Prix last year. Smith, Espargaro and Crutchlow caught up with Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso in fifth with 12 laps to go and an excellent battle ensued between the four riders. However Smith ran wide at turn 1 and dropped to the back of the group, undoing all of his hard work.

                 

With 10 laps to go the gap at the front between Lorenzo and Pedrosa was up to 3.3s, with Rossi still hanging onto the back wheel of the Repsol Honda in third. Lorenzo was riding a simply brilliant race at the front, consistently running in the 1’48s and increasing his lead on every lap.

Rossi meanwhile, was starting to size up Pedrosa ahead of him in an effort to secure a vital extra 4 championship points by finishing in second. With 5 laps to go he made his first move in anger into turn 4 but Pedrosa immediately responded to re-take the Italian. Undeterred, Rossi tried it again into turn 1, but he couldn’t get it stopped and once more Pedrosa fought back as the two became embroiled in a spectacular duel over the final few laps.

On the penultimate lap, once again Rossi made a move under braking into turn 1, but once again he could not get his M1 stopped and couldn’t make it stick as Pedrosa showed incredible grit to fight back. It was shaping up for an epic final lap battle between the two and it didn’t disappoint, Rossi went past in turn 4, before Pedrosa stuffed it up the inside into turn 7. It seemed as though Pedrosa had second in the bag, before Rossi made an outrageous move through turn 15, but once more he couldn’t make it stick. The Italian sacrificing the drive onto the back straight in an effort to make the pass, meaning Pedrosa could power his way back past Rossi. 

In an incredibly exciting finish Pedrosa managed to hold on through the final corner to take second by just nine-hundredths of a second from Rossi. All the while Lorenzo rode the perfect race at the front as he took his 39th premier class victory by over 2.6s.

                 

It was Pedrosa’s 97th premier class podium, but only his third of the season and first since the German GP. Rossi claimed his 14th podium from just 15 races this season and the 209th in his illustrious GP career, although the damage done to his championship lead could prove to be costly in his bid for a tenth title.

Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone ended up in an excellent fourth despite having to ride through the pain due to the shoulder he re-dislocated earlier in the week. He crossed the line 16 seconds ahead of his teammate Andrea Dovizioso who finished in fifth after holding off the charging pack behind him.

Aleix Espargaro came out victorious in the battle for sixth, crossing the line ahead of Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith in a frantic dash to the line. Pol Espargaro managed to fight his way back into ninth, while Yonny Hernandez on the Octo Pramac Racing Ducati completed the top ten.

                   

EG 0,0 Marc VDS’s Scott Redding finished in twelfth, while Aprilia Racing Team Gresini's Alvaro Bautista crossed the line in 13th in his 100th GP. Eugene Laverty (Aspar MotoGP Team) took his first Open victory in 14th as he beat his teammate Nicky Hayden to the line by less then a tenth of a second. Forward Racing’s Loris Baz was in 17th having earlier announced he will make the switch to the Avintia Racing team for 2016. Australian Jack Miller on the Open LCR Honda finished in 19th while there were crashes for Karel Abraham and Alex De Angelis.

                 

All of this means that Rossi (263pts) saw his advantage over Lorenzo (249pts) in the MotoGP™ championship standings reduced by nine to just 14 points with four races remaining. Marquez (184pts) remains in third, but now he is only 8 points ahead of fourth placed Iannone.

Check out the full MotoGP™ race results and the latest championship standings.

Citroën Racing winning the second ROSNEFT WTCC Race of China and put the French make’s second WTCC Manufacturers’ title

Course 1 : López remporte un premier round animé en Chine

José María López décroche son huitième succès de la saison dans le Championnat du Monde FIA des Voitures de Tourisme au terme d’une première manche menée de bout en bout lors de la ROSNEFT WTCC Race of China sur le Shanghai International Circuit.

Le héro local Ma Qing Hua était attendu pour se battre contre le champion du monde en titre, mais un mauvais envol le fit rétrograder dans la hiérarchie. Cette première séquence dans l’épreuve fut également marquée par des accrochages qui ont nécessité l’intervention de la voiture de sécurité pour dégager la Chevrolet de Tom Coronel.

Alors que López était ensuite en mesure de prendre le large, ses équipiers chez Citroën, Yvan Muller et Sébastien Loeb, se sont livrés une superbe lutte pour la deuxième place, qui s’est conclue en faveur du premier. Un podium cependant occupé à 100% par la marque française qui s’assure sa deuxième couronne consécutive au championnat Constructeurs.

Nicky Catsburg se classe 4e pour le compte de LADA Sport Rosneft après avoir mis la pression sur Loeb pendant le premier tiers de la course. Mehdi Bennani, 5e, remporte le Trophée Yokohama, tandis que Norbert Michelisz, qui s’était élancé en 15e position, délogea Nicolas Lapierre de la 6e dans le dernier tour.

Ma Qing Hua occupait  la 8e place avant qu’une tentative de dépassement sur Michelisz se solde par l’abandon du Chinois. Son malheur fait ainsi les affaires de Hugo Valente qui hérita de cette place après avoir pris le meilleur sur Tiago Monteiro et Grégoire Demoustier. Le Portugais parvint néanmoins à reprendre les devants alors que Demoustier abandonnait pour le compte, permettant à Stefano D’Aste de compléter le Top-10.

Rob Huff fut éliminé dans la collision du premier tour avec Gabriele Tarquini et  Tom Chilton l’a rejoint sur la liste des abandons à cause de soucis sur la lame avant de sa Chevrolet, endommagée dans un contact avec Monteiro. Déception, enfin, pour John Filippi, 7e et leader du Trophée Yokohama au départ, qui fut envoyé en tête à queue dans le premier tour et contraint de jeter l’éponge.

Course 2 : Muller conclut un week-end de rêve pour Citroën

Yvan Muller met un point final au week-end idyllique de Citroën dans le Championnat du Monde FIA des Voitures de Tourisme en remportant la deuxième manche de la ROSNEFT WTCC Race of China. Sous réserve de confirmation du résutat, le constructeur français remporte ainsi son deuxième sacre consécutif.

Gabriele Tarquini a mené huit tours au volant de sa Honda, mais ne fut pas en mesure de priver Muller de la première marche du podium dans la boucle suivante. L’Italien se console cependant en résistant à José María López qu’il devance sur la ligne de 0 »025. A quatre manches de la fin de saison, López compte désormais 75 points d’avance sur Muller.

Sébastien Loeb termine aux portes du tiercé de tête devant la LADA de Rob Huff, Tiago Monteiro et Mehdi Bennani, victorieux du Trophée Yokohama. Suivent ensuite le héro local Ma Qing Hua, Nicolas Lapierre et John Filippi. Norbert Michelisz et Grégoire Demoustier ferment ensuite le classement des pilotes qui ont rejoint l’arrivée.

Le poleman Hugo Valente a perdu la tête à l’extinction des feux, mais repris les devants face à Tarquini dans le premier virahe. Un contact entre les deux hommes vit le Français partir dans une longue glissade, endommageant la Chevrolet qui finit par partir en tête à queue. Nicky Catsburg dut également jeté l’éponge prématurément, tandis que les Tom du ROAL Motorsport, Chilton et Coronel, n’ont pu se présenter au départ.

Race 1: López wins action-packed WTCC opener in China

José María López has claimed his eighth victory in this year’s FIA World Touring Car Championship with a lights-to-flag win in the opening ROSNEFT WTCC Race of China at Shanghai International Circuit.

Local hero Ma Qing Hua had been expected to take the fight to the reigning world champion but a slow getaway dropped him out of contention as an incident-packed opening lap resulted in the safety car being deployed while Tom Coronel’s damaged Chevrolet was recovered.

While López was able to edge ahead out front, fellow Citroën drivers Yvan Muller and Sébastien Loeb became embroiled in a close fight for second with Muller prevailing in a podium lockout for the French firm, which has all but secured the WTCC Manufacturers’ title for the second time in a row.

Nicky Catsburg finished fourth for LADA Sport Rosneft having pressured Loeb for third after the restart. Mehdi Bennani took the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy honours in fifth with Norbert Michelisz, who started P15 on the grid in his Honda, grabbing sixth from Nicolas Lapierre on the final lap.

Ma Qing Hua was a dejected eighth until an attempted passing move on Michelisz ended with an off-track moment after which his Citroën faltered, forcing Ma out. The Chinese driver’s misfortune let in Hugo Valente (Chevrolet Cruze) for eighth after the Frenchman overtook Honda driver Tiago Monteiro and Grégoire Demoustier. However, Monteiro fought back to snatch the place with three laps remaining, while Demoustier pitted. Stefano D’Aste rounded out the top 10.

Rob Huff was eliminated in an opening-lap collision with Gabriele Tarquini. Tom Chilton also retired with damage to the front of his Chevrolet after contact with Monteiro. John Filippi’s career-best seventh on the grid ended in disappointment after he was punted into a spin on lap one and retired soon after.

Race 2: Muller completes dream China WTCC weekend for Citroën

Yvan Muller has completed a dream weekend for Citroën in the FIA World Touring Car Championship for Citroën by winning the second ROSNEFT WTCC Race of China and put the French make’s second WTCC Manufacturers’ title success beyond doubt subject to confirmation of the final results.

Honda’s Gabriele Tarquini had led for eight laps but was unable to prevent Muller from snatching top spot on the following tour. But the Italian gained some consolation by fending a determined José María López for second place with the Honda taking the place by 0.025s. It means López heads the standings over Muller by 75 points with four races remaining.

Sébastien Loeb took fourth with Rob Huff the top LADA home in fifth followed by Tiago Monteiro and Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy winner Mehdi Bennani. Local hero Ma Qing Hua was eighth, Nicolas Lapierre ninth and John Filippi P10. Norbert Michelisz and Grégoire Demoustier completed the finishers.

Pole-sitter Hugo Valente lost the lead at the start before squeezing ahead of Tarquini when the Italian ran wide at the first turn. However, contact between the pair put Valente sideways and although he recovered, damage to his Chevrolet in a subsequent collision caused him to spin before he limped back to the pits to retire. Nicky Catsburg also failed to go the distance. Toms Chilton and Coronel were unable to start due to damage picked up in race one.

Loris Baz signe avec Avintia Racing pour 2016

Le Français courra sur Ducati Desmosedici GP14.2 l’an prochain.

          

Le team Avintia Racing a trouvé un accord avec le Français Loris Baz pour que ce dernier pilote une Ducati Desmosedici GP14.2 l’an prochain dans le Championnat du Monde MotoGP™ 2016.

Le Français avait entamé sa carrière en Espagne, en participant à diverses compétitions régionales dont la Coupe Bancaja à Valence et avait ensuite remporté le Championnat d’Europe Superstock 600 en 2008. Il était ensuite passé au Superstock 1000 puis au British Superbike jusqu’à 2011, avant de rejoindre le Championnat du Monde Superbike, dans lequel il a remporté plusieurs victoires et avait fini cinquième du classement général en 2014.

Baz fait ses débuts en MotoGP cette année avec le team Forward Racing et est actuellement en tête du classement Open, devant Héctor Barberá, qui sera son coéquipier l’an prochain chez Avintia Racing.

Honda CB550 – Old Empire Motorcycles

The ever-useful Wikipedia notes that the ‘Ripon’, or ‘Blackburn T.5 Ripon’ to use its correct name, was a ‘British carrier-based torpedo bomber and reconnaissance biplane which first flew in 1926.’ Naming their creations after Britain’s rich aviation history has become quite the thing with Norfolk’s Old Empire Motorcycles, as has creating bloody amazing custom bikes, and drinking cups of tea. And rest assured, this one is no exception to the rule. You may know it as a Honda CB550, but they know it by another name…

Alec Sharp, one half of OEM’s dream team, fills us in on the details. “The Ripon build started when we were approached by a customer who had seen some of our previous work and decided that our take on a 4 cylinder café-brat was the order of the day. A large capacity engine was not needed and the opportunity came up to purchase a ’79 CB550 which was promptly stripped and the surgery began.”

In terms of fabrication, Alec notes that it was a complex build. The engine-mounted parts of the frame stayed pretty much stock, however the entire rear subsection was removed and spliced into a bespoke frame and cowling, inside of which they then integrated the necessary LED lights an wiring.

“We had to break out the set square and protractor set for the suspension, as we ended up removing the rear shocks entirely. It was decided that there was plenty of room under the engine for a pull-type shock, so we duly obtained a second-hand Buell unit, created a jig on the bench and began extending the frame. Various other modifications were made to the front end of the frame and the swingarm to accommodate the new shock and damper unit. After many trials and tweaks, we got it bang on and couldn’t be more chuffed with the overall classic, uncluttered look it now possesses.”

In the tinware department, the tank was shimmied forward and knee scallops were added to stay in keeping with the classic ‘Empire Style’ the boys have become renown for. The front cowling was hand rolled from sheet steel and tidily integrates the headlight with the clocks and ignition barrel.

“As always, we started with the running gear, as this can greatly affect or even define the rest of the build. The front and rear wheels were replaced with 19’’ aluminium rims and fully rebuilt with stainless spokes, vapour blasted hubs and wrapped with some classic Coker rubber.”

At the sharp end you’ll find a stock set of forks that have been fully rebuilt and lowered right down with a rework of the internals to house a custom set of super stiff shocks from Hagon, along with a heavy-weight fork oil. They also decided to upgrade the braking system by opting for a twin disc set up rather than the standard single. “A note of caution to others,” says Alec. “We thought it was a simple case of just bolting on another caliper and disc; it most definitely wasn’t.”

“Our own aluminium clip-ons were fabricated, vapour blasted and rebuilt alongside the control units and levers and then finished with our laser-cut leather grips. We wanted a ‘cockpit’ looking dash, so we opted for twin Koso units and remounted a simple ignition barrel between them. LED indicators were mounted discreetly front and back and tied into our one-off loom that featured all upgraded or renewed components tied into the new Shorai battery which sits in a tidy leather satchel along with the starter relay.”

The engine had previously had the barrels honed and new rings installed, so they went about upgrading the usual weakest links in the chain; namely new seals, gaskets, a rewound generator and electronic ignition. The old lump was then soda blasted, repainted, the cases were vapour blasted and the fins polished to get what seems to be a fantastic-looking little engine.

“The exhausts, although simple, took quite some time to figure out. Initially we wanted high-level pipes, but in reality it would be a choice between high pipes or calf muscles so we installed them low, tucked neatly along the sides. They are just long enough to make it run nicely but short enough to give it some real bark.”

They matched the leather grips at the front with their “universal adjustable leather foot controls” which were made as rear-sets and mounted on two curved struts that have been carefully integrated into the stock frame. Everything was then connected up with stainless linkages and rose joints.

“Eventually we replaced the standard Buell shock for a completely custom-made unit from AST suspension, which has fully adjustable dampening and preload settings – meaning we could fine-tune the ride perfectly.”

“Finishing-wise, we enlisted the help of our specialist painter Greg from Black Shuck Kustoms to work alongside side us in creating the look we wanted. Safe to say the deep, smokey blue with gold highlights isperfect in every way. Everything else was powder coated black, vapour blasted or plated to get things looking suitably distinguished.”

Four pipes, and a bespoke suspension setup. Jolly good

Leather seems to be quite an important finish to all the OEM builds, and clearly that trend continues here. They’ve tied the grips and pegs in nicely with the leather battery satchel and the diamond stitched brown leather seat. All reports from the nether regions of the lads confirm our suspicions – it’s comfy as.

“After assembly, we were a little apprehensive to see if the shock would work as we intended it to, but we are proud to say that it functions flawlessly. It’s such a satisfying thing to see working and it keeps the whole bike super clean at the back and really ‘chunks’ up the main body of the bike giving it a vastly more aggressive stance.”

Rafe takes the Ripon out for a quick afternoon torpedo run

And there we have it. Another great build by the proud boys from Norfolk. We’re scared to think just how many cups of tea were downed in the making of this beast. So if you like what you see, and you like tea, make sure and check out their YouTube channel. It’s not half bad. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to put the kettle on.

[Photos by Vaughan Treyvellan]

via PIPEBURN