Cycle Torque Grand Prix Special - Saturday

IVECO Australian Grand Prix 2009

Stoner Takes Pole

Saturday eMag

MotoGP qualifying

Stoner on pole a Casey Stoner

at slippery island Casey Stoner has taken pole position for his home GP, the Ducati rider showing his time off the bike while recovering from a mystery illness hasn’t slowed him down.

Stoner set the fastest lap during the dying minutes of qualifying after Valentino Rossi had pipped his earlier mark just moments earlier, but by just five onehundredths of a second. It’s only Stoner’s second pole of the year; the other was for the first round at Qatar, where the Australian would win easily.

It’s unlikely to be easy in tomorrow’s big race: Valentino Rossi is looking forward to doing battle with the local hero and is especially glad his only real title contender, Jorge Lorenzo, was slower during qualifying, ending up fourth, just a thousandth of a second behind Dani Pedrosa.

For Lorenzo it’s his first second-row start of the year as he shrugs off a lingering mild illness and the crash yesterday, so he’s predicted to be fast but not to run away with the race as he did at the last round in Portugal.

Expect the race to be fought out between these four tomorrow: they have been the top four for nearly all of the weekend - Alex De Angelis snuck in in front of Lorenzo by the end of Friday’s single practice session, but Lorenzo did fall off.

Dani Pedrosa was a notable crasher today, the Spaniard experiencng an unusual fall at the entry to Turn Two (Southern Loop).

Although a heavy blow at a fast pace, Pedrosa made it back to the pits and onto his spare bike to continue – indeed, coming back from such a crash to still make the front row is a big effort.

“I’m pleased to be on the front row because it’s

Vale

always good to have a clear track ahead of you at the start of the race – and especially since it came after I had quite a big crash in qualifying. It was at high speed on the way into Turn Two so it’s a relief that I wasn’t injured and I was able to go straight back out on track for the second half of the session. I’m not sure yet why I fell – I just touched the brakes and boom – I was down. We’ll take a look at the data and try to find out exactly what happened. For tomorrow we’ll work on finding a little something in terms of pace to allow us to compete for the win because the

See over>

MotoGP qualifying riders in front are going quickly – and of course it will be important to see what the weather does.

Fifth fastest qualifier was Colin Edwards on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 entry, but he’s over half a second slower than Stoner. De Angelis is next, then Nicky Hayden, looking faster than in previous outings on the Ducati but still nearly a second off pole.

Chris Vermeulen, in his last MotoGP ride at the Island, will start from 15th and, with a best time two seconds slower than Stoner’s, is probably praying for rain.

The wet stuff did interrupt today’s free morning practice session: but this could be a good thing if the race is wet weather affected, for it has given the riders the chance to experience just how slippery the circuit is - Stoner, for one, hasn’t been happy with the traction offered by the track (a problem being attributed to a long-distance car race run at the Island recently).

– Nigel Paterson Photo Nigel Paterson

Jorge Lorenzo

250cc

De Rosa’s maiden pole Italian Raffaele de Rosa has shocked the 250cc field for the 2009 Iveco Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, recording a last-gasp pole position lap at Phillip Island on Saturday afternoon.

Honda’s De Rosa, who hadn’t qualified better than sixth all season, set his pole time of 1min 33.389secs after the chequered flag had fallen, edging fellow Italian and reigning 250cc World Champion Marco Simoncelli by 0.225secs. The pole is the first of de Rosa’s 250cc career, and just his second in 80 starts across the 125cc and 250cc categories since 2004.

Simoncelli dominated much of the 45-minute session before being pipped at the post. The lanky Gilera rider took control of the session with 24 minutes remaining, and consistently chipped away at his sessionbest time before de Rosa’s stunning final lap. Simoncelli, the winner here last year from pole position, wasn’t too despondent after being beaten by his compatriot.

“I’m happy. This afternoon, I get a good rhythm which is very important for the race. I am confident to have a good race tomorrow,” Simoncelli said.

Behind Simoncelli was Championship leader and de Rosa’s team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama, while Aprilia veteran Alex Debon rounded out the front row in fourth. Debon’s effort was particularly impressive after he crashed at Turn 11 on his first flying lap in the session, which commenced in driving rain before drying out after the first 15 minutes.

Friday’s 250cc pace-setter Hector Barbera (Aprilia), Frenchman Mike di Meglio (Aprilia), Thai Ratthapark Wilairot (Honda) and Italian Mattia Pasini (Aprilia) will make up the second row on Sunday’s grid.

Like Debon, Pasini crashed on his first lap in treacherous conditions at Turn 11, and elected to push his bike back to the pits. He didn’t record a flying lap until 10 minutes remained in the session, and was as

high as second place until being shuffled down the order in the final two laps.

Aprilia’s Alvaro Bautista entered the weekend 26 points behind Aoyama in the title race, but will start Sunday’s race from 10th place after a lacklustre qualifying. It was the worst qualifying result of the season for the Spaniard, holder of the 250cc lap record at Phillip Island.

Frenchman Jules Cluzel, who impressed with top-four results in the two free practice sessions, crashed heavily between Turns 7 and 8 inside the last three minutes of the session. The Aprilia rider will start Sunday’s race from 12th position.

The 25-lap race will begin at 2.15pm.

– Matthew Clayton

125cc

Espargaro thrills Pol Espargaro claimed his first pole position of the season in a superb qualifying session in the 125cc class at the 2009 Iveco Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island on Saturday afternoon.

The 18-year-old Derbi Racing Team rider continued his current hot streak of form with a last-gasp flying lap of 1:37.770 to take his third career pole in a frantic last three minutes in which the pole position changed hands five times.

Simone Corsi on his Fontana Racing Aprilia – looking for his first pole – seemed to have one hand on it with a 1:38.136, but Bradley Smith’s Bancaja Aspar machine then edged him out, only for the young Englishman to low-side out of contention at Turn 4 next time round.

Next, Nico Terol looked to have settled things in his favour with a 1:38.049 with just over a minute to go, but then Espargaro fired in his final lap and watched as neither Corsi nor title favourite Julian Simon could better it after the flag fell.

“Very happy for my team and for me,” said Espargaro, winner of two of the last three races before the Island.

“It’s a very good result, but I hope tomorrow will be even better and we will be working hard to win this race. I like so much this track, and the track is better than it was in this morning’s session, a lot warmer.”

Simon, who was quickest at the halfway point of the 40-minute session, finished third-fastest but also content with his lot.

“I’m very happy with this front row,” said the man who had taken six of the season’s previous poles. “I hope tomorrow will be a nice race, a lot of spectacle for all the people.”

“Tomorrow I can win the Championship but I will not be thinking about that, just thinking about the race lap by lap. If it’s possible it

will be perfect, if not, I will wait till Malaysia.”

Turn 4 claimed its usual high number of victims, Smith first and foremost, while Australian wild card Dylan Mavin crashed out after just one lap. Like Andy Lawson and Levi Day, he misses out on the race.

In better news for local fans, both 18-yearold Brisbane rider Brad Gross on the only Yamaha in the field and 17-year-old Nicky Diles from Melbourne on his Aprilia made it through to the Grand Prix in 30th and 31st places respectively out of the 32 who were within the 107 percent cut-off time.

Espargaro’s pole-winning time is just twotenths slower than Mike di Meglio’s here last year but over a second outside Mika Kallio’s pole time in 2006.

– Stuart Sykes

Australian Superbikes

Maxwell holds off Waters Honda rider Wayne Maxwell has held off a persistent Josh Waters (Suzuki) to make it consecutive Superbike support category victories in the 2009 Iveco Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island.

The 27-year-old Maxwell just can’t do wrong at the moment and after he passed Waters at Turn 10 on lap one he simply put up the shutters for the balance of the eightlapper despite constant pressure from his adversary.

It was a flawless performance from the Melbourne rider, and has tightened the battle for Australian championship honours between himself, Waters and defending champion Glenn Allerton (Honda).

“I couldn’t be happier at the moment,” said Maxwell. “My confidence is at an all-time high, and I know I’ve got the bike to get the job done.”

“But it still wasn’t easy, and Josh kept me honest the whole way – but I was proud that I didn’t really give him a sniff.”

Maxwell also set a new lap record (1:32.316), breaking the previous benchmark set by Waters when the superbikes raced alongside the V8 Supercars at Phillip Island last month.

Waters and Allerton also dipped into the 32-second bracket in race two, with the

latter doggedly keeping the leaders in sight until his rear tyre started tearing with a few laps to go.

Allerton then had no choice but to limp home to the finish, but he still finished over two seconds ahead of Craig Coxhell (Honda), who wrapped up this year’s privateer title with a strong fourth place.

Robbie Bugden got the better of Suzuki team-mate Shawn Giles on the last lap to finish fifth, with siblings Daniel and Jamie Stauffer (both Yamaha) completing the top eight.

There were 30 finishers, and just three DNFs. Races three and four will be held at 8.35am and 11.45am on Sunday morning.

– Stuart Sykes

Sunday’s Races

8.35 – Australian Superbike Championship, Race 3

9.40 – 125cc Warm-up • 10.10 – 250cc Warm-up 10.40 – MotoGP Warm-up

1.00pm – 125cc Race

2.15 – 250cc Race 4.00 – MotoGP Race

Supersport

Staring wins a three-way tussle

Yamaha’s Bryan Staring has eked out a spectacular victory in the third and final Supersport race at this year’s 2009 Iveco Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

In a race where lead changes were plentiful, Staring prevailed in a typical Phillip Island drag to the finish line, defeating team-mate Jamie Stauffer by just 0.108secs with Shannon Johnson (Honda) just a whisker behind in third.

The triumvirate was a class above the rest of the pack, and all of them broke the previous lap record of 1:35.822 during the eight-lap journey.

Fittingly, the race winner now owns the new lap record of 1:35.200, which he set on a breathtaking lap five.

Suzuki’s Troy Herfoss completed the finale in fourth, well ahead of the spirited argument for fifth between Kawasaki’s Ben Attard and Yamaha’s Scott Charlton, which went in favour of the former.

All up, 31 riders completed the race.

With just one round remaining in the 2009 Australian Supersport Championship, back at Phillip Island in November, Staring will take in a 17-point lead over Stauffer, while Attard and Johnson will fight over third overall.

- Mark Fattore

Beaton’s Historics clean sweep Vincent rider Beau Beaton has produced the perfect weekend at Phillip Island, clean-sweeping the Glen Cameron Historic program at the 2009 Iveco Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

After two victories on Friday, Beaton completed his towering performance in Saturday’s eight-lapper, again proving too polished for veteran Rob Phillis (Suzuki).

Recently-crowned Australian champion Laurie Fyffe (Suzuki) was awarded third after Scott Webster (Moto Martin), who crossed the finish line behind Phillis, was penalised 10 seconds

for a jump start.

Phillis bolted from the start, but once Beaton had engineered a path through the riders in front of him, he quickly latched onto the tail of the leading Suzuki.

Beaton then swooped on lap five, before powering to his biggest win in all three races – by a margin 5.611secs.

“This weekend has just been the best fun,” said Beaton. “The Vincent is an amazing machine, and racing against a rider like Rob Phillis has been a real eyeopener.”

Phillis, for his part, was

just happy to get through race three after his glasses fogged up in the opener, and then his rear tyre started shredding in race two.

“One of the best things I ever did was to get back into historic racing four years ago,” said Phillis.

“It would have been great to win this weekend, but congratulations to Beau on doing a great job.”

“I had my chances, but that’s racing.”

– Stuart Sykes

What to see

Beyond the racing

Photos Nigel Paterson

What to see

Beyond the racing