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Donington Park MotoGP LIVE Coverage

Written by Staff

Sun, 22 Jun 2008

Welcome to the LIVE coverage of the Round 8 of the MotoGP World Championship in Donington Park Circuit, UK.

Local hero James Toseland has a very tough race ahead of him, as he is 15th on the grid. Probably all the pressure of the massive fan following has ruined the qualifying for his home race. His team mate, the American Colin Edwards, is 5th on the grid.

Fellow American and the current AMA Superbikes champion, Ben Spies may find it a little more difficult than yesterday’s qualifying , because the track is dry today. No rain in the 125cc and 250cc GPs too, so expect to see Aussie Suzuki rider Chris Vermuelen move rapidly backwards from the 3rd place as the race goes on.

The other two riders on the front row are Stoner and Rossi, and we are promised a good race for today. Nicky Hayden has the new Honda pneumatic valve engine in his bike and has put it to good use by qualifying in 4th.

All the riders are on the grid and ready to go.

Lap 1: Home hero down in Red Gate! James Toseland is out in the first corner. Dani is right on Nicky’s tail in 5th, up from 9th place. Dovisioso and Rossi swap paces for 2nd and Stoner keeps his lead at the end of Lap 1
Lap 2: Toseland about 30secs behind in 18 spot, riding alone, replays show that he fell off by himself, No Contact. Alex is down now and is back up. Stoner pulling a small lead over the rest. Ben Spies is down to 13th. Lorenzo is up to 9th overtaking Anthony West in Coppice’s blind corner.
Lap 3: Dani is ahead of Hayden, catching Dovisioso in 3rd.
Lap 4: Stoner in the 1’28s, but Dani gets the fastest lap.
Lap 6: Stoner 1.6 seconds ahead now. It’s just a long train now all spaced out. No position changes in the top 7-8 places.
Lap 7: Dani takes 3rd from Dovi in the Fogarty S’s, Rossi is the next target.
Lap 8: Spies, now down to 15th, Hopkins, up into 11th place. Rossi being caught very rapidly by Dani.
Lap 9: Dani Pedrosa took a whole .3 of a seconf off Rossi and right on his tail.
Lap 10: Stoner now 2.2 seconds ahead, looks like the old times are back. Especially at this track, because Donington is a horsepower track. Nicky had a go at Dovisioso and got by but immediately got taken back.
Lap 12: Hayden takes the position off Dovisioso finally. James Toseland is still down in 18th just riding around. Rossi went wide in the last corner and Dani Pedrosa is right on his tail now.
Lap 13: Very close riding between them all lap.
Lap 14: Dani Pedrosa takes 2nd places from Rossi in the first corner but Rossi takes it back at the bottom of Craner curves.Amazing moves from both!
Lap 15: same move by Dani Pedrosa again! Will Rossi get it back again?! No! Dani Pedrosa keeps it for now but Rossi on his tail. Rossi gets it back at the hairpin as Dani Pedrosa rides a bit wide.
Lap 16: Rossi is on the gas, as he tries to pull out a gap on Pedrosa. James Toseland lapped by the top 3 riders. Hopkins out, mechanical problems, he props it against the barrier.
Lap 17: Colin on the move, up ahead of Nicky Hayden and his new engine! He’s back to 5th and on Dovisioso’s tail. Looks like he will take 4th also and he does in the Fogarty esses!
Lap 18: Top 3 remain in the same positions. Pedrosa now a little bit behind Rossi, is his big move of the race over or will he be back?
Lap 21: Vermuelen ahead of Nicky now, into 6th. Stoner-Rossi-Pedrosa, top 3 nothing much changed there.
Lap 23: Nicky and Vermuelen changing places continually.
Lap 24: Lorenzo in the same battle for 6th now, takes Vermuelen and now is lining up Hayden.
Lap 25: Nicky is overtaken by Lorenzo in Red Gate, makes it look effortless. Lorenzo’s confidence seems to be back.
Lap 26: Stoner is now 6.1 seconds ahead of Rossi, who is half a second ahead of Dani Pedrosa.
Lap 27: 3 laps remaining, if Dani Pedrosa wants to do something, now is the time. But the gap is too much and does not look like much can be done.
Lap 28: Looks like the King of Donington park, Rossi with 7 wins, can do nothing about Stoner taking a second consecutive victory here.
Lap 30: Last lap, Stoner on his way to another win, seems like his championship defence is back on track. And he wins dominating the race, like he dominated qualifying and practice !