German 125cc GP

Marquez’s podium hopes end in gravel in closing stages of German 125cc GP

KTM Press Release

Red Bull KTM Moto Sport’s talented young Spaniard Marc Marquez was denied a podium place on Sunday at the German 125cc GP on the Sachsenring when he slid off the track in the closing stages of the race.

Marquez was able to remount and finally finished back in sixteenth place, two behind KTM teammate American Cameron Beaubier. A series of slick maneuvers and patience had allowed him to slip from fifth to third place going into the final lap and he seemed to have the minor podium firmly in his grasp. The 16-year-old Spaniard was already sizing up fellow Spaniard Joan Olive with just a lap and a half to go. He moved up from fifth to fourth place before then advancing to third. But then he was involved in a spectacular high side after a too close encounter with fourth placed Nicolas Terol on the final lap. Fortunately he was not seriously injured.

Marc Marquez: "My start was not so good but I did manage to overtake a couple of riders in the first lap. The times were much faster today because it was dry and initially I didn't have such a good feeling for the bike. But that changed, especially when it looked like I was going to make the podium. But then on the straight just before the last corner Olive went zigzag and we touched. The unlucky thing was that he touched my brake lever and when I wanted to brake it no longer worked. The crash looked very spectacular, but luckily I am in very good physical shape so I wasn't hurt."

Marquez has started the day well being the fastest in the morning warm-up after winning a very creditable third place on the front line grid in Saturday's qualifying. The race was in dry weather in contrast to a difficult qualifying session on Saturday when riders battled rain and a slippery surface on the traditional German circuit.

For Marquez's young teammate Beaubier, also just 16 years old, it was his best finish so far this season and he finished with two championship points.

Cameron Beaubier: "My start was okay and I was able to pass some guys but they were taking be back during the first lap. It was a constant battle and when I started to go faster I made a mistake went off the track. Later in the race I tried very hard to close the gap to the guys in front of me and I was lucky to score two points today. During warm up I saw that our bike set up was much better and I was confident for the race."

Team boss Harald Bartol: "The situation with Marquez in the final lap was not completely kosher, but that's racing. Marc again did do a very good race. It was just a pity that the brake lever got bent so badly in the fight with Olive. As regards to Cameron I think he would have been able to pick up even more points with some better concentration. But on the other hand, I have to admit that this circuit doesn't give you many chances to relax.”

Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup

Sachsenring Race - July 18^th: Kornfeil's perfection, Fagerhaug's misfortune.

Press Release

A flag to flag win for Czech 16 year old Jakub Kornfeil in treacherous conditions at the Sachsenring boosted him to second place in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup. Points leader Sturla Fagerhaug crashed chasing him on the wet and slippery track but the 17 year old Norwegian still has a 25 point advantage after recovering to cross the line 12th and pick up 4 points.

In a drama-packed race, pole man Danny Kent crashed out of 2nd place exiting the final corner having just passed 16 year old South African Mathew Scholtz. That gave Scholtz 2nd and 3rd to 15 year old Californian Jake Gagne. Kent remounted and the 15 year old Englishman crossed the line 6th.

Kornfeil's race story was simple. "I got in front at the start and I just felt great, the bike and the tyres were perfect. It rained all day but stopped before the race so we started to get a dry line and I could just go quicker and quicker. I watched my pit board and saw that my gap was just getting bigger and bigger so I didn't worry and for me it was an easy race."

For everyone else the story was completely different and Hayden Gillim was just one of those who had a fantastic 'if only' tale. He was the fastest man on the track mid race, lapping quicker than Kornfeil as he charged through from 15th at the end of lap one. "I was enjoying it, it was hard but great fun. I felt good and I was passing the guys and watching my pit board where Danny (Walker) was telling me where I was and how far ahead or behind. Then it got to where he was showing me in 4th and I could see the group right in front so I knew I could get a good result."

"I got past Danny (Kent) but then just pushed it too hard, got on the gas to much in turn 4, the tight right hander where you start to climb back. It snapped around and threw me off. I got to the bike pretty fast but they had to empty the stones out of the fairing so that cost some time. I got going again and worked my way back to 7th or 8th and was battling with Pardo but then got a bit anxious again, the back came round and there was no saving it. That was the end of the race, I'm OK but for some sore knuckles and I've got a bit of something in my eye.... but that was fun," concluded the 14 year old American who finished 2nd in last year's AMA U.S. Rookies Cup.

Gillim had set such a pace in his charge that he might conceivably have worried Kornfeil. Another 'might have' was Fagerhaug's effort. "Jakub made such a great started and raced away while everyone else was so slow in the opening laps," explained Fagerhaug. "I had to work my way through and by the time I got to second (lap 2) he had a big lead (3.5 seconds). I pushed hard to catch him and I guess I pushed too hard because I was catching him and I had plenty of laps to do it in. I highsided (lap 5) and just got back to the bike as quick as I could. I lost a lot of time and it took me a few laps to get back to riding OK. The right hand side of the bike was quite damaged, the footrest broken and the exhaust bent, lucky there are not too many right handers but it was hard going."

There were others who knew they were a touch lucky as there were 8 fallers, some twice, all without injury. 2nd placed Mathew Scholtz was among those who benefited. "There were a lot of guys crashing and that helped me,' said Scholtz. "I got in front of Danny going onto the last lap but he passed me again right at the end. I couldn't believe it when his bike went sideways at the last corner and there was the flag, I was second."

"It was pretty slippery out there," said 3rd placed Gagne. "I just kept riding it as hard as I could and staying out of trouble. Then I started seeing the guys crashing and without me doing too much I was getting higher up the places, I didn't expect to get on the podium but I'll take it."

MotoGP: By the Numbers

Numbers and statistics for the latest round of the MotoGP World Championship

MotoGP Press Release

159 – At Sachsenring, Valentino Rossi is scheduled to make his 159th successive premier-class GP start without missing a race. This will take the record for successive premier-class starts from Alex Barros, who started 158 successive races.

61 – With his tenth place finish at Laguna Seca, Marco Melandri has scored 61 points from the first eight races of the year. This is four more than top Kawasaki rider of last year John Hopkins scored throughout the complete 2008 season.

18 – Dani Pedrosa’s win at Laguna Seca ended an 18 race sequence without a win for Honda in MotoGP, since Pedrosa won in Catalonia last year. This is the longest sequence of races in the premier-class without a Honda win since they re-entered Grand Prix racing in 1982.

16 – Valentino Rossi has been on the podium sixteen times in the seventeen races since finishing second in Germany last year. The only occasion he has not finished on the podium during this period was when he crashed at Le Mans and re-started to finish 16th.

15 – Spanish riders have started from pole on fifteen occasions across the three classes in 2009. None of these riders have gone on to win the race after starting from pole.

11 – Race day in Germany will be the 11th anniversary to the day of the very first Grand Prix event to be held at the newly built Sachsenring circuit in 1998.

3 – Sachsenring is one of just three current circuits where Rossi has not started from pole in the premier-class; the others are Laguna Seca and Misano.

3 – There are only three riders in the 250cc class who have scored points at all seven races held so far in 2009; Hiroshi Aoyama, Hector Barbera and Raffaele de Rosa.

MotoGP: Round 9

MotoGP Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland

Tyler Hopper

AllAboutBikes.com Staff-Writer

With Yamaha and Ducati dominating the top three spots in championship points, both manufacturers face stumbling blocks on the road to Deutschland. Jorge Lorenzo, currently in second place, and Casey Stoner, in third, will be competing at less than 100 percent heading to Sachsenring, Germany, for the Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland.

When Lorenzo arrives for the ninth round, he won’t be concerned with the media; his attention will be with the Clinica Mobile, whose staff helped prepare him for the Laguna Seca race after his qualifying crash. The crash resulted in a collarbone injury, a micro fracture in his right foot and two bruised ankles.

Casey Stoner, who suffered a crash during qualifying at the Laguna Seca race, has recently been diagnosed with slight gastritis and mild anemia. Stoner said, “I still don’t feel like I am 100 percent, but the biggest problem now is that my ribs are very painful after the crash in qualifying in the U.S. It will be probably another hard weekend in Germany, but as always, we will do our best to stay as much as possible close to the lead of the Championship.” Stoner managed to finish fourth at the Red Bull Grand Prix at Laguna Seca, despite his misfortune in qualifying. That kind of performance, at a time when he needed it, is an indication of how much Stoner wants to stay in the battle for the championship.

Two riders looking forward to top performances this weekend are Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi. Coming off of a victory in the US, Pedrosa looks forward to the race in Germany. “I’ve had some good results at this track and I take a lot of confidence into the race weekend at Sachsenring because we’re probably in the best shape we’ve been in for a while,” stated the Pedrosa. “The win in Laguna Seca was really important for me and the team because it proves we’ve been making progress and we now have the pace to win races.”

Rossi is looking to continue his run for the title this weekend. Rossi said, “Sachsenring isn’t one of my favorite tracks but I’ve had some great races there and generally it suits Yamaha well, which is good. We need another good result to keep our lead because our rivals are so strong and we can’t afford to make any mistakes. Last year there was a lot of rain in Germany but in fact we were able to take a great second place. I hope this year we can go one better.”

MotoGP: Suzuki’s Hopeful

Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen hope to bounce back from their Laguna Seca disappointments this weekend

MotoGP Press Release

The Rizla Suzuki team went into the last round in the U.S. in spirits high after the successful incorporation of a new engine in the GSV-R and a series of top five results in the preceding races, but things did not go according to plan for Loris Capirossi or Chris Vermeulen in California.

Capirossi crashed out of the Laguna Seca contest - his second DNF this year - to leave him frustrated and sitting tenth in the World Championship standings. He now gets a chance to put that right at Sachsenring, where he finished seventh last year despite carrying a nasty arm injury.

The Italian rider – who got his best result from eight premier-class starts at the Sachsenring in 2007 when he finished second – gave his thoughts ahead of the Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, saying, “The last couple of races have been a bit tough on us, which has been pretty difficult as we have worked so hard to get everything right. The crew have certainly been giving all they can and we just didn’t get the solutions we were looking for.”

He continued, “We have still managed to learn a lot of things about how the Suzuki GSV-R behaves in different situations and on different types of Bridgestone tyres, so all that will be very useful to us in Germany. Sachsenring is not a track that needs a lot of power and speed, but it does require careful balance because you are on the side of the tyre so much. It is a track that I certainly enjoy racing at and believe that we can do well at - we will just have to see what happens this weekend!”

His team-mate Vermeulen did at least finish the race at Laguna, but the Australian’s eighth place finish was well below expectations at a track where he had been on the podium on his previous two visits, with tyre choice apparently letting him down.

Looking ahead to the visit to Sachsenring, where he rode a great race in the rain last year to also mount the rostrum despite starting in 14th on the grid, Vermeulen commented, “I got a third at Sachsenring last year and although that was in the wet I am sure we can try and repeat that this year in whatever weather we have to contend with. The bike is still working well and seems to improve every time we go out on it The crew have got a good base package and if that works from the start at Sachsenring - and we can get the tyres to match the bike - then I see no reason why we can't be competitive from the first day.”