Can anybody stop Casey Stoner winning the 2007 MotoGP World Championship? It’s very doubtful and they must start by winning the 13th round of the Championship, the Cinzano Grand Prix di San Marino e dello Riviera of Rimini at Misano on Sunday. The 21 year-old Australian arrives with a massive 60-point championship lead and seeking his eighth win of the season on the Marlboro Ducati. He’s won the last two grands prix with consummate ease and will have plenty of support from the partisan Italian Ducati fans. His nearest rival Valentino Rossi can guarantee the support with his home village around ten miles from the track, but the seven-times World Champion can guarantee little else.
Rossi just has not got the tools for the job at the moment with his Michelin tyres no match for Stoner’s Bridgestone’s and the Fiat Yamaha just not matching the acceleration of the Ducati. It appears a two-day test at Brno last week did little to appease the situation. It could be another frustrating afternoon for the Italian idol.
The last race in Brno was another good day for Bridgestone with John Hopkins producing his best result in MotoGP, a second place on the Rizla Suzuki. The Kawasaki-bound American shares fourth place in the Championship with his equally impressive team-mate Chris Vermeulen. They trail Spaniard Dani Pedrosa in third place by 44 points. The Repsol Honda rider is also beset by tyre problems and finished fourth in Brno, one place behind his team-mate American Nicky Hayden. The World Champion has finished on the podium three times in the last four races and with Pedrosa completed an encouraging two-day test at Brno but Honda still have a lot of catching up to do.
Marco Melandri looks likely to return to what he classes his home grand prix after missing Brno with a painful trapped nerve in his neck. German Alex Hofmann also hopes to race after making remarkable progress with the serious hand injury he sustained in Laguna Seca last month.
Colin Edwards raced at Misano in his World Superbike Championship days but it will be no advantage because the track is now run in the opposite direction. He will be looking to improve on his seventh place in the Championship after his Brno crash because he leaves Fiat Yamaha at the end of the season to join World Superbike Championship leader James Toseland at Tech 3 Yamaha.
Loris Capirossi raced at the old circuit in both the 125 and 250cc classes and he makes an emotional last appearance in Italy riding the Ducati before switching to Suzuki next season. Kawasaki are likely to announce who will join Hopkins in their team next season at Misano and their current riders Randy De Puniet and Anthony West will be looking to impress as will former rider Shinya Nakano who could return after a year with Konica Minolta Honda.
Australian West could be the dark horse on Sunday because he not only raced but won at Misano this season. He won the World Supersport Championship round for Yamaha at the track earlier this year and comes into the race on Sunday with a real advantage.
Another 21 year-old, Jorge Lorenzo is doing a ‘Stoner’ in the 250cc class. The Fortuna Aprilia rider chases his eighth win of the season to increase his 40-point championship lead over the consistent Kopron Team Honda of Italian Andre Dovizioso who has scored points in his last 31 races. Alex De Angelis has waited a long time to ride in his home grand prix but he crashed out in Brno after a collision with the KTM of Mika Kallio. He remounted to finish 11th but slipped to third in the championship. Kallio could be the major threat on Sunday after finishing on the podium in the last two races.
Fans at Misano will be hoping for a repeat of the superb 125cc race in Brno. Spaniard Hector Faubel was the eventual winner on the Bancaja Aspar Aprilia and he regained his lead in the championship over team-mate Gabor Talmacsi who was fourth behind Mattia Pasini and Lukas Pesek.
The Day The Music Died
A warm September afternoon with a slight breeze off the nearby Adriatic 14 long years ago. The sheer pleasure of watching a truly great World Champion in action fighting to retain his 500cc title in the only way he knew, from the front.
Then on lap ten the crash at turn one. It looked bad but it was not until later the paddock and newly crowned World Champion Kevin Schwantz fully realised just how bad.
Our Champion had broken his back and was paralysed. Never again would he grace the race tracks of the world.
While we mourned he got on with re-building his life with the same zest and enthusiasm that made him such a great motor cycle racer. He was at Laguna Seca last month telling us how pleased he was that grand prix racing was returning to Misano. He will not look back this weekend on those events 14 years ago. Instead he will look forward to the future with his family and friends.
When many of us arrive at Misano for the first time since that September afternoon we are sure to think back. We will honour the skill and bravery of Wayne Rainey and the love and dedication of his wife Shae and son Rex.
British Riders
Good Finish Leads To Future
The four British riders competing at Misano will be looking for a good finish to the season as they think about 2008.
Sixteen year-old Bradley Smith is having a tough time in the 125cc class with his Repsol Honda struggling to match the power of the Aprilia and KTM machines. The Oxfordshire rider was 13th in Brno and slipped to eighth in the championship standings. He is determined to fight it out at the final six races and return next season on competitive machinery.
Another 16 year-old Danny Webb may have only finished 28th in Brno but he improved his lap times by 2.5 seconds from a recent test at the track on the De Graaf Grand Prix Honda.
Ulsterman Eugene Laverty is really looking forward to the 250cc race after a very encouraging test on the LCR Honda at Brno while Dan Linfoot just needs more dry time on the 250cc Team Sicilia Aprilia after finishing 20th at Brno despite a big practice crash.
Bradley Smith:
“Despite the disappointment at Brno I’m very motivated and looking forward to Misano. The fact that nobody has raced on the circuit the opposite way round and the new surface should be a great leveler. Also we have a longer practice session because of the new track which should also be a great help. I would like to see that at all grands prix.”
Danny Webb:
“I’m feeling very positive after a long chat with the team before Brno and also a couple of discussions with a sports psychologist. I was much happier and faster at Brno and I’m now really looking forward to those last six races with confidence starting at Misano which will be a new track for us all.”
Eugene Laverty:
“We made a good step forward in the Brno test. We got the balance of the bike so much better after we’d changed so much earlier in the season and it was not right. It’s been a very tough learning year and we have been up against it but with the new balance of the bike and the fact nobody has ridden there before I’m looking forward to Misano and a decent result.”
Dan Linfoot:
“I want to ride for Team Sicilia next year and so these next six races are very important to me. It was good to get a finish at Brno but now I’ve got to get going faster. The new circuit means nobody has prior data and I’ve had a good look at the map and I’ll be watching videos from the World Superbike race there. It’s a very important time for me.”
Track Facts:
Grand Prix racing returns to Misano after a 14-year absence on a completely different track. The main change is the fact the riders will now race in a clockwise direction after previously racing anti-clockwise. The World Superbike riders competed on the new track earlier in the year but it will be a new experience for the MotoGP riders.
The Misano circuit was built in 1972 and staged the big pre-season international meetings that previously were held on the sea front street circuits of the towns on the Adriatic coast before being deemed too dangerous.
The track situated on the Adriatic coast near Riccione staged it’s first Grand Prix in 1980 and hosted the Italian, San Marino and Nation Grands Prix during a 13 year period. The crash of World Champion Wayne Rainey and other safety considerations stopped grand prix racing until this year on the new track.
Interest in the return of MotoGP is enormous with the prospect of a massive enthusiastic Italian crowd celebrating the re-birth of the Misano circuit.
Length: 2.597 miles
Pole Position: Left
Width: 14m
Right corners: Nine
Left corners: Five
Constructed: 1972
Modified: 2006
New circuit, no lap records
Television:
Practice, qualifying and racing will be shown at the following times on British television.
BBC
Saturday:
Qualifying MotoGP 12.45 – 14.00 BBC i
Sunday:
125 and 250cc races 9.45 – 11.30 BBC i
MotoGP race 12.30 – 14.00 BBC i
MotoGP extra 14.00 -14.30 BBC i
Eurosport
Friday:
09.00 – 09.30 MotoGP
14.30 – 15.30 MotoGP
Saturday:
09.00 – 10.00 MotoGP
14.30 – 15.30 MotoGP
Sunday:
08.45 – 09.45 MotoGP Live
09.45 – 11.00 125cc Live
11.00 – 12.15 250cc Live
12.15 – 14.00 MotoGP Live
16.30 – 17.30 Highlights
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