Pedrosa wins after crash halts German GP

By Matt Roberts BBC MotoGP reporter

While the world marvelled at Valentino Rossi's powers of recovery, the unsympathetic Casey Stoner was happy to serve The Doctor with a taste of his own medicine at Sachsenring.

Stoner's aggressive late pass to steal podium glory from Rossi on the final bend was belated retribution for their bitter battle at Laguna Seca exactly two years ago, when the young Australian's view of a man he previously looked up to changed for good.

After roughing up the then-world champion to the point that he lost his cool and crashed, Rossi famously dismissed Stoner's fury in parc-fermé with the immortal words: "That's racing."

"That's racing?" responded Casey curtly. "We'll see."

As we head for another showdown in Laguna Seca this weekend, that incident is a timely reminder of the darker side of Rossi, a nuance of his character that lies hidden beneath the surface of his showmanship.

There can be no doubt that fierce determination is directly proportional to the success of such a unique talent, and in Germany it manifested itself in the speed at which he was able to return from serious injury.

Valentino Rossi - see no evil, hear no evil... speak no evil?

However, this uncompromising characteristic has also soured relationships with fellow riders in the past - namely those with the temerity to challenge Rossi's supremacy, including Stoner, Sete Gibernau and Max Biaggi.

It should come as little surprise, then, that Jorge Lorenzo is the latest to be targeted by the Italian, who has shown hostility towards the young upstart ever since Yamaha signed him back in 2008 - insisting on a wall to separate them in the garage.

Asked in Germany about Lorenzo's gesture when wearing a yellow VR46 t-shirt on the podium at Mugello, the day after he was injured, Rossi simply answered: "Next question."

A master of media manipulation, the outraged reaction in the Spanish press was exactly what Rossi will have hoped for. So what did Lorenzo think about it? "Next question," ventured the Spaniard with trademark cheek.

If mind games are Rossi's only real chance of rejoining the title chase with 10 rounds still to go, then we can expect a lot more to come over the next few weeks...

Whilst Rossi's latest miracle in returning so swiftly and so competitively from a broken tibia and fibula was beyond impressive, Randy De Puniet is staking his claim for the 'hardest man in MotoGP' title after suffering exactly the same fate.

MotoGP's spectacular three-bike crash

The Frenchman, who had been fortunate to avoid serious injury on Saturday when he cart-wheeled into Ben Spies' stricken bike after both riders went down in an oil slick caused by Lorenzo's engine failure, was the instigator of the red flag that caused Sunday's race to be stopped and restarted.

This time he wasn't so lucky, however, crashing directly in front of Mika Kallio and having his legs crushed under the weight of the Finn and his Ducati.

The left shinbone splintered just inches above where his ankle is held together by screws, inserted when he broke it in a motocross accident just two weeks before the Brno race last year.

Remarkably, on that occasion, he returned to action in time to race in the Czech Republic and he is planning to make the same event again in just four weeks' time - two weeks less than the recovery time required by Rossi.

De Puniet's crash also brought an early end to the race for Aleix Espargaró and Álvaro Bautista even though they initially thought they would be allowed onto the grid for the restart.

A somewhat sketchy ruling states that all riders and machines must be back in the garage within five minutes of the red flag being waved, which is designed to prevent riders from deliberately crashing in order to switch bikes and start again.

Bautista (centre) tangled with Esparago and De Puniet at Sachsenring

However, it also punishes those unwittingly involved and with Colin Edwards already out that left 13 riders to line up on a depleted grid, which was reduced to a farcical field of 12 at the first turn when Kallio went down.

"Whilst we respect the rule book completely, I would imagine there will be some careful discussion for the future," said Suzuki team manager Paul Denning, who put a consolatory arm around the bewildered Spanish rookie Bautista after he was forced by officials to make a U-turn in pit-lane.

"With only 17 bikes on the grid it is definitely a problem for the show to have fit riders and good bikes sat in the pit after an incident like that when they should be out there racing."

De Puniet will be replaced for Sunday's race at Laguna Seca by Nicky Hayden's younger brother Roger, who has already competed there in MotoGP as a wild card with Kawasaki.

He is also being lined up by American Honda for a Moto2 wild card at Indianapolis in September.

Espargaró, meanwhile, has since been diagnosed with a cracked C7 vertebrae, and whilst he hopes to race this weekend potential replacements are being lined up by the Pramac Ducati team.

Marquez is taking the 125cc championship by storm

They are most likely to be either Niccolo Canepa, who rode for the team last year and currently competes in the Moto2 class, or Mattia Pasini, who tested for Ducati in the winter and is out of work.

There is no Moto2 or 125 action in Laguna Seca, with the AMA series providing the support races, meaning Spaniards Toni Elias and Marc Marquez head into an extended summer break leading their respective championships.

Elias took his third Moto2 victory of the season with a stunning ride on Sunday after dropping to 11th place on the first lap of the race, when he was chased by Scott Redding, only for the British teenager to suffer a mechanical problem seven laps in when battling for seventh.

Marquez confirmed his growing reputation as the next big Spanish star with his fifth win in a row in the 125cc class at the age of just 17 - the first rider to do so since Valentino Rossi in 1997 - to open up a championship lead of 26 points over Pol Espargaró.

Bradley Smith is a not-impossible 52 points adrift of Marquez in fourth place after struggling to fifth on Sunday despite a rear tyre problem, whilst the improving Danny Webb lies 11th after scoring his sixth consecutive top 10 finish.

Like De Puniet, the British teenagers will return to action at Brno on 15 August - not that many people will notice as the Rossi PR machine steps up a gear with the announcement of his defection from Yamaha to Ducati due to be made.

There is, after all, more than one way to steal the headlines. As the Doctor himself might say: "That's racing."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version