August 20, 2006 - MotoGP Round 12 Results from Brno

GREAT RACE!!!! My plan was to wait until 11 and watch the coverage on SpeedTV.... but, alas, I have absolutely no self control. I will watch it again though at 11... it was that good.

Loris Capirossi won the race at the start. Hey! How's that for an anti-climactic spoiler??? Sorry, but sometimes you just can't side-step the obvious. He and his big red Duc dominated from start to finish.... a brilliant performance.

The real race was for 2nd place, and then on back in the field a little further, for 4th. Dani Pedrosa came off the line in 9th position and proceeded to overtake every rider in his path, setting his sights on Nicky Hayden who was in third place from the start.... right behind Valentino Rossi. Casey Stoner (the loose canon by my own admission) launched a tremendous start going from 12th to 4th before the first lap was behind him!!!

By lap 11, Pedrosa and Melandri both had overtaken Hayden who was having apparent problems with his race set-up. Shall I stick my foot in my mouth now after making my assertion about the "Team Repsol Template" yesterday? Nay... because the story does not end here. Melandri, Hayden, Stoner and Roberts, Jr. all stayed in a neat little clump for most of the rest of the race, swapping positions and fighting for 4th.

Dani Pedrosa powered through the festival of fairings and latched on to Rossi's ankle for what would be THE BEST PART of the race!! Dani stayed close, hovering behind Rossi and biding his time.... yea, for a minute!!! He poked the bear!! Rattled Rossi's cage... taunted the master. It was one of the best shoot-outs I have seen in quite some time.

**Tangent: Pedrosa is a perfect example of what I like to call "controled chaos". I have used this description at times to label a few drivers that run in my racing circuit (the four-wheel circuit). He rides on the edge.... I feel nothing but anxiety when I watch him. Loris Capirossi, Sete Gibernau and Nicky Hayden are solid riders... they give you an overwhelming sense of confidence when you watch them. You know they are in total control of their machines. Valentino Rossi, although definitely a solid rider, has an edge to him.. a little on the wild side, fun to watch... but you know he has the ability to get to the front, and ride a clean, fast race. Dani's quick.... damn quick... but he never fails to produce that chaotic feeling. One of those "he never should have hung on to that" riders. Complete chaos... yet 99% of the time remains in control. Casey Stoner on the other hand... we can drop the "controled" and label him "chaos"!!! Although, he did shine today in his own right. A fine performance from Stoner.... golf clap.** End Tangent

Okay, back to the race. Rossi and Pedrosa provided sterling entertainment, but in the end, Vale pulled it out and crossed the line in 2nd, leaving third to Dani. Nobody said it, but I believe Rossi was playing a little cat and mouse with Dani. I bet he didn't even break a sweat.

Nicky struggled hard, and in the end was eaten up by not only Melandri and Roberts, Jr, but Stoner, Shinya Nakano and Hopkins as well, leaving him in a hard-to-swallow 9th place. Clearly, this race was not his finest moment, but I think it can be fairly attributed to bad tires... or at least a bad rear tire. It's hard to run if you can't stick to the surface!!

The Bridgestones that were such a hot topic during yesterday's QP seemed to hold up very well today. Case and point.... Capirossi was running them. Hayden was dancing on Michelins, which really doesn't say much other than the fact that nothing is 100%.

Here are the results from Round 12 at Brno:

Position	Rider	Manufacturer
1	Capirossi	Ducati
2	Rossi	Yamaha
3	Pedrosa	Honda
4	Roberts, Jr	KR211V
5	Melandri	Honda
6	Stoner	Honda
7	Hopkins	Suzuki
8	Nakano	Kawasaki
9	Hayden	Honda
10	Edwards	Yamaha
11	Elias	Honda
12	Vermeulen	Suzuki
13	Tamada	Honda
14	de Puniet	Kawasaki
15	Checa	Yamaha
16	Hofmann	Ducati
17	Ellison	Yamaha
18	Silva	Ducati

Until next time......

Rubb'er Down :)

Kristen