Casey Stoner holds off Dani Pedrosa for Aragon GP win

Highlights – Stoner wins at Aragon

Casey Stoner held off Dani Pedrosa to win his first race of the season at the Aragon MotoGP, but championship leader Jorge Lorenzo had to settle for fourth.

The Australian Ducati rider got away smoothly from pole but was challenged strongly by Spaniard Pedrosa (Honda).

However, Stoner put in a series of fast laps to win by more than five seconds from home favourite Pedrosa, with Nicky Hayden (Ducati) taking third place.

It was the first time this season that Lorenzo had not finished on the podium.

Lorenzo, who was caught on the last lap by Hayden, leads Pedrosa by 56 points in the overall standings with five races to go.

Former world champion Stoner’s win was his first since last season’s Malaysian GP and was enough to move him from fifth to third in the overall classification.

MotoGP paid its respects to Moto2 rider Shoya Tomizawa, who was killed when he was hit by two trailing bikes in San Marino two weeks ago, having fallen off his bike.

All riders across each racing category wore a patch featuring Tomizawa’s No. 48, which was retired from Moto2 racing in honour of the Japanese rider.

606: DEBATE The championship is pretty much decided unless Jorge throws it up the road at least once, which seems unlikely these days MrWonderful

Stoner, who was notching up Ducati’s maiden MotoGP victory of the season, said: “It’s been too long between wins, that’s for sure.

“We started out pretty well this weekend, and we got on with the track. We progressed and got better. I was a little bit nervous this morning, but I’m really happy to bring it home. It was unexpected for us.”

Pedrosa said: “Ducati were very strong, with both riders on the podium. I tried everything, I didn’t start well but I recovered.

“But I was too far from Casey. We did many laps at the same pace but couldn’t get him on corners. He did good.”

Six-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi of Italy, who is struggling with a shoulder injury, came in sixth, more than 27 seconds off the pace, and sits fourth in the standings on 140 points.

The Italian team has also been referred to the sport’s governing body, the FIA, after Felipe Massa slowed down to allow team-mate Fernando Alonso past to win.

However the result of the race, won by Alonso from Massa,will not change.

Ferrari continued to insist the incident was “a driver decision” and no instructions were given to Massa.

Team boss Stefano Domenicali said: “As for the stewards’ decision, given after the race, in the interests of the sport, we have decided not to go through a procedure of appealing against it, confident that the World Council will know how to evaluate the overall facts correctly.”

Ferrari have also been found guilty of breaching the sporting code, which states that “any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition, or to the interests of motorsport generally” can be punished.

The fine is the maximum the stewards are allowed to impose.

Team communications director Luca Colajanni said: “We didn’t give any instruction at all. I don’t think anything wrong has been done, or regulation breached.”

Colajanni added: “Fernando was slightly quicker at that stage, and we informed the drivers.”

Alonso passes Massa for German GP lead

Immediately following the race, Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali had suggested he did not think the instruction apparently issued by Massa’s race engineer Rob Smedley would be an issue with the FIA.

Smedley’s exact words to Massa were: “OK, so, Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?”

Massa, who finished second behind race winner Alonso, did not reply, but a few seconds later slowed his car on the exit of Turn Six, allowing Alonso to easily overtake.

Smedley then came back on the radio and said: “Good lad. Just stick with him now. Sorry.” Then, at the end of the race Smedley told Massa he had been “very, very, very magnanimous” in his actions.

However, Smedley subsequently suggested to BBC Sport he had not been apologising for ordering Massa to let Alonso past.

He said: “I was pushing [Massa], because I was telling him that he’s faster and he had to get on with it, and I was giving him the gaps, and you’re always talking in 10ths of a second, and the apology is just because I’m sorry it’s happened, I’m sorry he’s got past, and there you go, but we’re still in the pound seats, we’re still in P2, so keep pushing and hopefully keep Sebastian [Vettel] behind you.”

At the post-race news conference, Massa himself carefully avoided giving a specific explanation of the incident.

Asked whether it had been a driving error on his part that had enabled Alonso to pass, the Brazilian said: “He passed me. The only thing I feel is we’re working for the team, and doing a very good job for the team, and that’s the most important thing.”

Asked if Alonso had been faster, Massa replied: “I think everybody saw, no?”

Silverstone, Sunday, June 20, 2010

Weather Conditions:

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The first motorcycle I ever owned was a Suzuki DR500 with which I did my first Namib Desert Run, BikeSA, Motorcycle Magazine (1984). Then a DR600, Desert Run 1986, then a DR650, Desert Run 1996, then I decided to do more serious travelling by motorcycle and purchased a Honda XRV 750 Africa Twin (1st one) Desert Run 1997, then in 1997 I had a motorcycle accident and replaced the 1st Africa Twin with a new one which resulted in the idea of going to Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Two friends were drawn into the discussions and in June 1998 we did our first tour to Kilimanjaro, the three of us. Since that journey every year roundabout June I get the itches with the result that excursions were planned during that time of the year. In January 2006 we decided to travel to Kilimanjaro again, considering that the Mountain was covered in mist for days the previous occasion. Our one friend could not join us this time due to work commitments, so two of us set off end June 2006. To cut a long story short, in 2007 June I was in London with an itch and nowhere to travel, I rented a bike and went to Donington MotoGP and it was there that the seed was planted to do a journey around the planet and see/go/do everything that I would like to see/go/do.

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