Bradley Smith

Scott Jones took too many fantastic photographs at the Sachsenring, so many that we've had to split our review of them over two days. Double the quantity, double the pleasure, and what better way to get 2010 started?

Wheelies whatever the weather

Colin Edwards takes the art of looking through the corner to the extreme

Best helmet of the year for Niccolo Canepa

The weather at the Sachsenring was best described as changeable

Another day, another set of beautiful photographs taken by MotoMatters.com snapper Scott Jones. That weekend saw the weather play a major role, with race day finally drying up and producing three great races, including a scintillating MotoGP contest. Relive it all again in glorious color:

Valentino Rossi had things well under control in Germany

Still probably the best looking bike on the grid

58, the number of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brother

As we were working our way through the backlog of administration and other horrors which fill the off-season at MotoMatters Towers, we stumbled across some more photos kindly contributed to us by our good friend Tammy Gorali. Tammy was fortunate enough to have a grid pass for the 125cc race, as well as pit lane access for the post-race tests. So just to tide you over through the start of a long dark winter, here's a few of her photos.

Valentino Rossi never misses a chance to make a chicken joke

His teammate takes testing a lot more seriously

Marco Simoncelli had fun, fun, fun till they took the T bike away

While the grid in MotoGP is all but settled, in the junior classes everything is still wide open. A few key pieces are falling into place, but the grid still remains far from certain.

One major piece slotted into place today, though: Bradley Smith signed a new one-year deal with his Bancaja Aspar team, making him the odds-on favorite for the 2010 125cc title. His championship assault will be no cakewalk, however, as Aspar announced at the same time that Nico Terol, the man who finished in 3rd behind Smith, had also been contracted to ride alongside smith.

Smith's current team mate and 2009 125cc World Champion Julian Simon will be moving up to the new Moto2 class. Simon will feature alongside Mike di Meglio, the French rider who partnered Alvaro Bautista so impressively in the 250cc class this year. Both men will be riding an Aprilia-badged Moto2 bike for the Mapfre Aspar team next season.

Smith was close to a Moto2 deal, with Fausto Gresini very interested in signing the talented British youngster, but one of the conditions demanded by Gresini was that Smith bring sponsorship to the tune of 500,000 euros to the team. That kind of money is hard enough to raise even when the economy is good, and so Smith chose to stay in 125s and claim the title, with the hope of moving up in 2011 as World champion.

The Repsol Posse

The Red Bull Rookies produced great racing, as ever

Bradley Smith, flying the flag

MotoGP, brought to you by these people

Donington Park is still beautiful in the summer

Casey Stoner had a tough day on Saturday

Bradley Smith - a very popular pole sitter

Earlier today, we posted a bunch of photos that Scott Jones took at Donington. There's plenty more where those came from.

Alvaro Bautista, against a stunning backdrop

Rain or shine, Valentino Rossi is always fast

Thomas Luthi likes his coffee cold

The photos from Qatar taken by Scott Jones have been extremely popular, just as we expected. And luckily for us, Scott still has plenty more where they came from. Below are some of Scott's photos taken during practice and qualifying, and over the next couple of days, we'll put up some more from race day. Enjoy, and stay tuned!

Nicky Hayden had an awful weekend, including a blown engine during practice

The waiting really is over for MotoGP fans, as the MotoGP bikes finally took to the track at Qatar to compete in earnest. First blood in the 2009 campaign went to Casey Stoner on the Marlboro (and at Qatar, it really is a Marlboro) Ducati, a fact that shocked absolutely nobody. As ever, Stoner was fast from the moment he rolled out onto the track, getting down into 1'57 territory within ten minutes, and slashing a further 0.8 seconds off his time with 12 minutes of the session left. 

For a long time, Stoner's advantage seemed insurmountable, but in his final run, Valentino Rossi closed the gap from a second to get to within 0.4 of a second, with the potential for more if he hadn't run into traffic on a very fast lap. Though four tenths is a sizable gap, Rossi will feel he is at least in touch with Stoner, and with two more sessions to go, and no qualifying tires to distort the grid, the reigning world champion will be confident of staying with Stoner away from the line.

Third fastest man in the opening session of 2009 was Colin Edwards, the only other rider capable of getting within a second of Stoner, and looking as strong here as he looked last year during practice. Rossi's Fiat Yamaha team mate Jorge Lorenzo makes it three Yamahas in the top four, Lorenzo 1.2 seconds behind but with more likely to come.

The session threw up plenty of surprises. Such as Alex de Angelis in 5th, for example, but de Angelis also showed his Mr Hyde by running wide into the gravel during the session, a harbinger of what is to come, perhaps. An even bigger suprise was Mika Kallio finishing 7th, after having been as high as 5th earlier in the session. Though we've only had one 45 minute session of practice to judge him by, Kallio's single fast lap at the IRTA test at Jerez could possible be the rule rather than the exception.

Results for the final test of the year for 125 and 250 classes, before the MotoGP series kicks off in earnest at Qatar on Friday night.

Qatar night test 250 results, day 2, Tuesday

Qatar night test 125 results, day 2, Tuesday

In the 125cc class, the afternoon session of the final day at Jerez followed the same pattern of almost every other session here so far. Bancaja Aspar's Julian Simon dominated completely, leading the field by over 7/10ths of a second. Simon has opted to fit an older version of the forks to his Aprilia RSA, whilst others, such as Danny Webb, are using the 2009 version, which are causing problems for some riders. For now, Simon's decision has paid off very well indeed.

The race for second was a lot closer, KTM's Marc Marquez taking second spot by just two thousandths of a second from Sandro Cortese on the Ajo Aprilia, while Derbi's Pol Espargaro - riding hurt after a crash - took fourth just a few hundredths behind. Simon's team mate Sergio Gadea rounded out the top 5.

In the morning, Bradley Smith got to within one tenth of a second of Simon's fastest time, but the British rider didn't take part in the afternoon hour. This left Scott Redding the fastest Briton in 8th, one spot ahead of Danny Webb. American Cameron Beaubier, moving up to the MotoGP class through the MotoGP Academy program finished 16th.

The teams have one final test left, a two night affair at Qatar, before the season kicks off. If you don't have Julian Simon in your fantasy MotoGP team, now would be a good chance to switch.

Session 2 times (afternoon session)

The final day of testing for the junior classes at Jerez is well underway, and after a cloudy and chilly start, the sun is out and it's warming up nicely. Out on track, the riders are filling the air with the sweet smell of two stroke fumes, but the lap times set so far are still slower than the faster times of yesterday and Wednesday.

In the 250 class, it's Marco Simoncelli who's topping the timesheets as of midday ahead of Hector Barbera, who has just pushed Hiroshi Aoyama down into third. Alvaro Bautista is down in 11th, though the Spaniard has yet to run many laps.

For the 125 boys, Julian Simon just leapt to the top of the timesheets, deposing Andrea Iannone from the top spot he had held previously. Stefan Bradl is in third, a huge improvement after a few difficult days, and after crashing and bruising his hand yesterday. Britain's Bradley Smith is sixth fastest,  two places ahead of Scott Redding. American Cameron Beaubier is yet to take to the track.

More updates after the end of the session at 2:50pm.

The sun is shining, temperatures are soaring, and you'll never guess who's the fastest of the 125 riders on the second day of the official IRTA test at Jerez. Coming as a complete shock to absolutely no one, Bancaja Aspar's Julian Simon continued to top the timesheets, leading from Red Bull KTM's Spanish flyweight Marc Marquez in the morning, and Ongetta Team's Andrea Iannone in the afternoon. The only bright spot on the horizon - apart that is from the hot Andalucian sun - is that Simon's margin over the competition has dropped, with Marquez getting to within a tenth of a second, while Iannone closed the gap to just 0.065 seconds. 

The good news for Bradley Smith was his pair of third places, though the British rider was over three quarters of a second slower than his team in the afternoon. The other two Britons also saw an improvement from yesterday, Scott Redding setting the 6th fastest time ahead of De Graaf's Danny Webb in 7th. American rookie Cameron Beaubier finished 18th fastest in both sessions.

The China cup ended in a draw again, with Haojue's Michi Ranseder fastest in the morning, while Tomo Koyama was quickest on the Loncin in the afternoon.

Testing finishes tomorrow, and as MotoGPMatters will be at the track, we'll have a round up of all three days testing.

Session 2 times (afternoon session)

The first day of testing for the 125 class at Jerez saw Julian Simon continue his domination of preseason testing. The 125 class returnee - Simon raced in the 250 class with Repsol KTM last year - has topped almost every session of 125 testing he has participated in this winter, and he doesn't look like slowing down.

Only Andrea Iannone managed to better Simon this morning, but the Italian Aprilia rider had to cede over a second to the Spaniard in the afternoon. Simon's compatriot Marc Marquez was the other man to be near the top of the timesheets, finishing third fastest in the morning, and fourth fastest in the afternoon.

British rider Bradley Smith was the worst of the Bancaja Aspar riders, finishing in 11th and 7th spot behind his team mates Julian Simon and Sergio Gadea. Smith is one of the title favorites for 2009, but he has yet to make the kind of impression in testing that his team mate Simon has. Fellow Brits Scott Redding and Danny Webb were further down the order, Redding finishing 9th and 10th, while Webb only managed the 20th and 18th fastest times, despite having an Aprilia RSA at his disposal.

Haojue won the battle of the Chinese manufacturers in the morning, Michi Ranseder finishing ahead of Loncin rider Alex Masbou, but the roles were reversed in the afternoon, with Masbou taking the 24th time, just ahead of Ranseder.

Cameron Beaubier, the sole American in the 125 class, finished a respectable 14th in the afternoon, up five places from the morning. Beaubier, who came up from the Red Bull Rookies cup last year, is having a solid debut so far.

Testing continues tomorrow.

Session 2 times (afternoon session)