MotoGP Race And Practice Results

Result and summary of the final MotoGP round of 2009 at Valencia:

Dani Pedrosa saved his 2009 MotoGP season by taking his second victory of the year in the final race at Valencia. Pedrosa did have a little help from Casey Stoner, the Australian highsiding off on the warmup lap, the bike too broken to remount and get back to the line.

Most of the credit for victory must go to Pedrosa, though. The Spaniard got his usual rocket start off the line, diving into Turn 1 ahead and inching away from the front. Toni Elias was 2nd into Turn 1, ahead of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. The two Fiat Yamaha men were clearly ready to sort out the pecking order inside the team for 2010, Lorenzo diving up the inside of Rossi to take over 3rd. 

Getting past Rossi may have been easy, Toni Elias presented a larger problem. The Spaniard resisted Lorenzo's very forceful attentions for two laps, but had to submit into the final corner, Rossi following Lorenzo past into Turn 1 at the end of the straight. Lorenzo put his head down to try and catch Pedrosa and drop Rossi, but he was pushing a little too hard, nearly losing the bike at the edge of the track at Turn 11, allowing Rossi past and into 2nd.

From then, the race turned into the usual MotoGP game of cat-and-mouse, with the gaps between Pedrosa, Rossi and Lorenzo growing and contracting without it ever producing a fight. Pedrosa came home first, well ahead of Rossi, while Lorenzo closed his team mate down on the very last lap, but not quite enough to take him out of 3rd.

There was more interest behind the remaining 3 aliens, Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden had edged past Elias in the first half of the race, but Hayden couldn't catch Edwards, and Edwards had no chance of catching the front three. Elias was left to finish 6th, while Ben Spies capped an extremely impressive MotoGP debut with a 7th finish, after dropping down to 12th in the early part of the race and elbowing his way past Melandri, Kallio, De Angelis and Dovizioso.

Results:

Results and summary of the last ever 250cc race, in which the World Champion is crowned:

Hiroshi Aoyama will go down in history as the last ever 250cc World Champion, after a bizarre and incident-rich race which saw Hector Barbera take victory. Aoyama got a decent start off the line, slotting in behind Barbera who took a fantastic holeshot. Thomas Luthi had followed Barbera into Turn 1, with Aoyama running in 3rd.

Barbera proceeded to open a sliver of a gap over the chasing group, consisting of Luthi, Aoyama, Jules Cluzel and Marco Simoncelli, who had a dismal start, dropping from the pole down to 8th and fighting his way through. Simoncelli was determined to do all he could to snatch the title from Aoyama, and to do that, he needed a victory. He battled his way forward, creating a group of five riders battling for the lead, containing Barbera, Aoyama, Simoncelli, Alvaro Bautista and Mike di Meglio.

Simoncelli got past Aoyama on lap 6, after an intense duel saw the two title protagonists swapping positions. Once past the Scot Honda rider, Simoncelli went after Barbera, getting past on lap 9, with the group still hot on his tail.

The first of the mistakes that characterized this race came on lap 10: Mike di Meglio dived up the inside of Barbera into Turn 1 at the start of lap 11, and as Aoyama had been beside the Frenchman, he suddenly found himself confronted with the sight of Barbera's wheel. He braked hard, ran wide, and was too hot into Turn 1, racing through the gravel barely hanging on to his Honda, rejoining the race in 11th, giving him a virtual 1 point lead in the title race.

Two laps later, Aoyama was up into 10th, with an extra point to cushion his lead, but at the front, Barbera was slowly closing on Simoncelli. Simoncelli's only hope was to win, he could not afford to let Barbera past. As the Spaniard closed, Simoncelli pushed on as hard as he could, his Gilera getting wildly out of shape on corner exit. 

That was to prove his downfall. On lap 20, Simoncelli's bike shook its head just a little too long, and too late for the Italian to brake for the next left hander. The front folded and Simoncelli ended in the gravel, taking his title chances along with him.

Barbera cruised home to take a comfortable victory, ahead of Alvaro Bautista and Raffaele de Rosa, who had pushed Bautista hard in the latter part of the race, securing the Rookie of the Year title in 250s to add to Hiroshi Aoyama's world title. Aoyama's championship lead was helped by a couple of crahsers, Mike di Meglio and Jules Cluzel hitting the dirt and retiring.

Results and summary of the 125cc race at Valencia:

Julian Simon capped off a triumphant year with victory in front of his home crowd, after a last lap tussle with his team mate Bradley Smith. Smith got away from the start, taking a big lead into the first corner, while Simon got entangled with Marc Marquez, swapping places for 2nd. Smith exploited his lightning getaway to the maximum, crossing the line over a second ahead at the end of the first lap. Simon got past Marquez by the end of lap 1, and spent the next four laps chasing Smith down.

Simon caught Smith with relative ease, but the Briton has simply not prepared to let his team mate past. Simon sat in Smith's draft for almost the entire race, but with four laps to go, the pressure got to Bradley, the Briton making a big mistake, running wide and handing Simon the lead. He quickly recovered, and within two laps was back on Simon's tail and preparing to attack. He waited for the last lap, lunging through the rear loop of the circuit with a very brave move to take the lead, but as the circuit turned back on itself to head towards the final turn, Simon dived back straight back. Smith chased Simon through the long final left, but could never get close enough to make an attempt in the final corner, leaving victory Simon and settling for 2nd, much to the relief of Aspar team boss Jorge Martinez.

Pol Espargaro came home in 3rd, after escaping from the huge battle which had ensued over the right to chase the Aspar riders about halfway through the race. Behind Espargaro, a typically terrifying and entertaining spectacle unfolded, with a huge group scrapping over 4th. In the end, Simone Corsi grabbed 4th, finishing ahead of German wildcard Marcel Schrotter, Joan Olive, Efren Vazquez and Sandro Cortese, after Marc Marquez crashed out trying too hard.

Results

Results:

Alex Debon went out for a test lap, but was in too much pain. So the final 250 race ever will start with a different polesitter. Debon qualified on pole, but because he won't be starting, Marco Simoncelli will be starting from pole, alongside Hector Barbera, Ratthapark Wilairot and Hiroshi Aoyama, who moves up onto the front row.

Results: 

Results: 

Results of qualifying for the 250 class at Valencia:

Alex Debon took the last ever 250cc pole position at Valencia, but it brought the Valencia native little luck. Debon, who carries sponsorship from a regional airport, located just up the coast from Valencia, crashed heavily with just a couple of minutes left in the session caused by what looked like a seized engine. The Spaniard went straight on into the gravel, and was thrown off his bike just before he ran out of space and hit the barrier. Debon was then stretchered away, his condition as yet unknown.

Debon finished three tenths up on Marco Simoncelli, the Gilera rider having solved his earlier woes to improve his times significantly. His 2nd fastest time is his best result of the weekend so far, and was vital if Simoncelli is to keep his title hopes alive, as he needs to win the race to have any chance of the championship. Hector Barbera will start from alongside Simoncelli in 3rd, ahead of Ratthapark Wilairot, the Thai rider putting in yet another strong qualifying performance. Hiroshi Aoyama heads up the second row, the Japanese rider setting the 5th fastest time of the session.

Result

* Have qualified for the race having achieved a time within 107 % of the fastest rider in a free practice session.

Results of qualifying practice for the MotoGP class:

Casey Stoner's weekend continues as it started: By dominating almost from start to finish. The Australian took provisional pole at the start of the session, and only relinquished it once, when Jorge Lorenzo took over with 13 minutes to go. Two minutes later, Stoner was back on top, and a quarter of a second faster than anyone else on the track.

Lorenzo could not hang on to 2nd place either. Dani Pedrosa was up to speed, and edged ahead of Lorenzo with a few minutes left. Lorenzo had nothing more, and had to settle for 3rd, and last place on the front row. He did better than his team mate, however, as Valentino Rossi's unhappy relationship with Valencia continued, the Italian managing only the 4th fastest time, and sitting behind Stoner on the second row of the grid. Colin Edwards won the American Civil War, edging out Nicky Hayden, who had found some extra pace in the morning and finished the day in 6th. Ben Spies continued his improvement, finishing the day in 9th, just under half a second off his team mate for next year, Colin Edwards.

Result:

Results of Qualifying Practice for the 125cc class:

Julian Simon capped his championship year with pole position in the final qualifying session of the season. The Bancaja Aspar rider faced some stiff opposition, though, as his team mate Bradley Smith found the speed he had been missing in the morning to lead for much of qualifying. Only in the last 15 minutes did Simon take over the lead to clinch pole, holding off a very tough challenge by Simone Corsi, the Italian getting within four thousandths of a second. Smith will start from 3rd on the grid, while Marc Marquez completes the front row.

The session was full of incident for the other British riders, Danny Webb crashing heavily and breaking bones in his right foot, to match his already broken left foot. Scott Redding ran off the track once, then crashed later on, and was lucky to escape injury when Sturla Fagerhaug slid off as Redding sat in the gravel, the Norwegian's KTM just missing Redding.

Results:

Mike di Meglio topped the timesheets in  the second session of free practice for the 250cc class, relegating the Valencian riders into a battle for 2nd. Alex Debon was the fastest of the local boys, edging out Hector Barbera by just fifteen hundredths of a second. Championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama finished the session in 4th, in good shape for this afternoon's qualifying. Marco Simoncelli, the only man capable of denying Aoyama the final 250 crown, had a more difficult time, ending the session in 8th.

Results: