Various PR missives from Laguna:

ROSSI RULES AT LAGUNA WITH FIRST AMERICAN VICTORY

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi took his first career win on American soil today, emerging victorious after an epic duel with Casey Stoner at Laguna Seca. The Italian, who signed a new two-year deal with Yamaha this week, has now won four races this season and is 25 points clear at the top of the championship.

Rossi started from second and was able to pass Stoner on the brakes during the first lap to take the lead. From then on it was clear that the pair were in a class of their own today as they gradually pulled out a gap from the chasing pack, trading passes with one another but with no one else able to stay with them. Stoner was often faster than Rossi on the straight but the seven-time world champion had the advantage in the twisty parts of the track and he was able to gain the lead back on the brakes each time the Australian passed him. With only 100ths of a second between them most of the time it looked like being a nail-biting race to the end, but on lap 24 of 32 Stoner made a mistake and ran off the track and into the gravel. This allowed Rossi some breathing space for the final eight laps and he eventually crossed the line 13 seconds clear of Stoner, who had been able to remount and still finish second, such was the gap the pair had pulled out from third-placed Chris Vermeulen.

It was a black day for the other side of the garage however as Jorge Lorenzo, Rossi's team-mate, took a huge tumble on the first lap and broke the third and fifth metatarsal bones in his left foot. He now faces a battle to be fit for the next race in Brno, in a month's time. With Dani Pedrosa missing the race this weekend, Stoner has now moved into second in the championship behind Rossi with seven rounds remaining.

Valentino Rossi

Position: 1 Time: 44'04.311

"What a race today! We made some modifications to our bike after warm-up and these gave us the last few tenths that enabled me to fight with Casey today; the result was just fantastic. I got a good start and I was able to pass him in the first lap, but I knew I had to try and stay in front of him and it was impossible to relax even for one second. My M1 was brilliant and so were my Bridgestone tyres; I really only made one mistake, at the corkscrew when I went a bit wide but in fact the dirt had quite good grip also! Casey was a bit faster on the straight than me but I was stronger on the brakes so I had to make all my passes there. I don't know how many times we changed the lead but it was a lot and it was great, great racing for me and I think also for the fans, because it's been a while since we've been like this. To stay in front I had to do high 21s at least on every lap and I want to thank my team and engineers for giving me a bike that could do this. I had a great rhythm and I am really so happy to win for the first time in America. About the passes, I am sorry that Casey thinks some of them were a bit strong but I really don't agree; I passed only on the brakes, I braked in the same places every time and we never touched. Of course this was an aggressive race, but it was definitely a fair one. Now we have the summer break and I am looking forward to relaxing a bit, but not too much because it's going to be a hard fight for the final seven races and we must keep the concentration!"

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STONER SECOND IN LAGUNA BLOCKBUSTER, MELANDRI OUT OF LUCK AGAIN

Casey Stoner took second place in the US Grand Prix today after an incredible battle with Valentino Rossi. With Ducati Desmosedici RR owner Tom Cruise watching from pit wall, Stoner launched from pole position and was immediately pursued by the Italian, with the pair swapping positions as they left the rest of the field trailing.

The stage was set for a big-screen finale but a rare mistake from the Australian in the final turn, just eight laps from the end, saw him run wide into the dirt and drop his Ducati as the front end dipped into the deep gravel. A huge gap of more than 20 seconds over third-placed Chris Vermeulen allowed Stoner to return to the race in second place, but there weren't enough laps left for him to hunt down Rossi.

Marco Melandri carried some excellent progress with the set-up of his bike into today's race, moving up from 15th on the grid to ninth place by lap ten, only for his charge to be halted by an unfortunate crash in turn one.
The MotoGP World Championship now takes its traditional summer break before action resumes at Brno in the Czech Republic on August 17th.

CASEY STONER (Ducati MotoGP Team) 2nd
"At the end of the day I'm not happy because I've made a mistake and it has cost me the chance to win this race, but I also think that even if he rode a great race, some of Valentino's moves early in the race were too aggressive. Anyway, we can't do anything about that now - the important thing is that we've come away from here with 20 valuable points and after being written off in some quarters four races ago we now go on our summer holiday with a fighting chance of winning the title again. We're 25 points behind, which is a big gap, but there are seven races left and a lot can happen. We can take a lot of positives out of this weekend - mainly the fact that all the hard work by everybody at Ducati and Bridgestone has paid off again."

MARCO MELANDRI (Ducati MotoGP Team) 16th
"I hit a marker or something going into turn one and my hand came off the handlebar, so I couldn't get the bike turned. I took a heavy blow to my hand in the crash and needed a couple of laps to get back into the race because I wasn't sure how bad the injury was. The pain started to subside eventually but I was way back, lapping alone. I'm disappointed because after the first two or three laps I had a good pace together. It's a shame because it's another potentially good result ruined. I'm particularly sorry for the team because they have made a fantastic job and they deserved a good result".

LIVIO SUPPO (Ducati MotoGP Project Leader)
"It was a very tight race, spectacular to watch and evidence that it is not only the electronics that make the difference in this sport, but two riders who are one step above everybody else at the moment. Dani is also a part of that small club but unfortunately he wasn't here today. After three straight victories for Casey, today was Valentino's turn, that's fair enough. For sure if Casey had not shown a tremendous coolness and maturity, there would have been at least a few occasions in which they both could have crashed as a result of manoeuvres which, in our opinion, were a bit over the limit on Vale's part. Unfortunately Casey made a mistake that cost him dearly, but this can happen in the heat of the battle and, in any case, we've ended this period of the season in positive style. Unfortunately Marco was really unlucky. It's a shame because he was setting a good pace."

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Great Dovizioso in the States: 4th place, 5th in the championship

For Andrea Dovizioso and JiR Team Scot the United States Grand Prix ended full of satisfaction. After two days of practice, Andrea did well from ninth position on the grid, and soon found himself behind Rossi, Stoner and Hayden. While the first two left the group - posting an unbelievable pace - Andrea became the standard bearer of Honda and HRC, yielding only to Chris Vermeulen in the first part of the race. The debut of Andrea Dovizioso riding the Honda RC212V of JiR Team Scot could not have finished better. Dovi managed a fourth place finish for the third time in the championship, reaching fifth place in the championship, in addition to being the first rider this weekend with Honda and Michelin.

Gianluca Montiron - Director JiR Team Scot
"We won our race! The first two were in a race apart and we managed to give the maximum with the package at our disposal. We were the first Honda to cross the finishing line and we feel that thanks to Michelin we bridged a gap that separated ourselves from the competition this weekend. Even today we were on the threshold of the podium even if it slipped slightly. Our compliments to Andrea who made a great race!"

Andrea Dovizioso - Pilot JiR Team Scot MotoGP
HONDA RC212V
4th position, 8th best time: 1'23 "047
"I am pleased to have achieved this result to be the first Honda rider on Michelin tyres, which shows how good they are! Valentino and Casey were riding unbelievably fast. I made a good start, and on the first lap when I saw Lorenzo fall, I knew that the first two were away and that I could not follow them. I was behind Hayden who was quick, even though Vermeulen was able to catch us. When I realized that Hayden was running slower, I wanted to pass him, but Laguna is difficult to pass on and I spent four laps trying. Then I pushed to the maximum to pass Hayden and De Puniet, who are strong ?brakers' and who were difficult to pass."

Cirano Mularoni - Team Manager JiR Team Scot
"Today we managed to reach the fifth position in the championship: which is our goal for this season, and in the race we did better than what our practice sessions suggested. The first two imposed a pace that was not possible for us to support, but in the end we were the first Honda and the first Michelin rubber rider's home. Andrea enjoyed his first appointment at Laguna Seca, he ran a beautiful race, his fourth place is a major achievement that deserves thanks also to the team and to our partners."

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USA GP Laguna Seca Sunday 20th July 2008

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REPSOL HONDA'S HAYDEN TAKES FIFTH IN US GP

Repsol United States Grand Prix, Laguna Seca
Race day, Sunday July 20 2008

Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden ended a tough weekend at Laguna Seca this afternoon with a determined ride to fifth place. The American was the Repsol Honda team's sole representative in the US GP after team-mate Dani Pedrosa yesterday withdrew due to the severity of the injuries he suffered in Germany last Sunday.
Hayden made a great start from the front row of the grid, holding third place for the first seven laps. He then spent the middle stage of the race battling for fourth place with Andrea Dovizioso, eventually finishing just behind the Italian. Hayden won this race in 2005 and 2006 but today he recorded his fastest-ever Laguna race time, 25 seconds quicker than his winning 2006 pace. He was a non-finisher last year.
Pedrosa flew home to Barcelona yesterday and will spend the sport's traditional summer break recuperating from his injuries in order to be in the best-possible shape for the next race at Brno in the Czech Republic on August 17.
Nicky Hayden, finished fifth, eighth in World Championship
"Obviously at my home race I'd hoped to be able to put up a better fight than that. It was certainly a tough weekend, we struggled a bit with the tyres we had available. We really had only two race tyres, the one I used in practice I kept using again and again, I used it Friday, Saturday and again this morning, by the end it had 35 laps on it. I think I learned a good lesson, we set up the bike on quite old tyres. In the race when we put in a grippy new race tyre the balance of the bike changed a lot, so it was pushing the front in a lot of places. I would've liked to have been closer to the front but I think we learned a good lesson. Now we've got a few weeks off, so we'll regroup and try to finish the year strong. Hopefully I can improve and they can do some work in Japan."

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Rossi wins Laguna Seca epic, Stoner and Vermeulen on podium

Round 11: USA - Race
Laguna Seca Raceway - Sunday 20 July 2008

Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi has today scored a magnificent victory at the Laguna Seca Raceway after an epic 32-lap US Grand Prix which saw Ducati's Casey Stoner and Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen complete an all-Bridgestone podium for the second race in succession.

Rossi and Stoner were involved in a tight tussle at the front for much of the race, building up a massive 22 second gap to third-placed Vermeulen in a thrilling encounter. Stoner endured an off-track excursion on lap 24, but recovered his bike to rejoin the race still in second position with a comfortable cushion to Vermeulen. Rossi went on to win by 13 seconds to claim his fourth win of the season, which extends his lead of the championship to 25 points.

Stoner's twenty points for second place lift him to second in the championship meaning two Bridgestone-shod riders are at the head of the classification leading into the traditional summer break after a competitive weekend for the tyre manufacturer. Vermeulen's third place marks his second consecutive podium result this season and his second consecutively at Laguna Seca to strengthen his seventh place in the championship.

There were other notable performances from riders using Bridgestone tyres this afternoon with Alice Team's Toni Elias taking his best result of the year in seventh, beating Suzuki wildcard rider Ben Spies into eighth on the final lap of the race. San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Shinya Nakano finished tenth ahead of Kawasaki replacement rider Jamie Hacking who took eleventh place and five points in his first ever MotoGP event. Sylvain Guintoli (Alice Team), Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) also finished in points-scoring positions this afternoon.

Hiroshi Yamada - Bridgestone Motorsport - Manager, Motorcycle Sport Unit

Tohru Ubukata - Bridgestone Motorsport - Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development

Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha Team - Race Winner and Championship Leader

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THE HACKER GETS THE JOB DONE AT LAGUNA
Kawasaki's substitute MotoGP rider, Jamie Hacking, brought his borrowed Ninja ZX-RR home in an impressive eleventh place on his premier class debut at Laguna Seca this afternoon.

The 37-year-old AMA Superbike star, deputising this weekend for injured compatriot John Hopkins, started today's 33-lap USGP from the last row of the grid, but was quick to make up places in the early stages of the race.

Hacking fought his way past Colin Edwards and Loris Capirossi on lap 12, then put in a pass on Toni Elias on the next lap to move into tenth place behind AMA Superbike rival, and good friend, Ben Spies.

The Hacker spent a number of laps looking for a way past his fellow countryman, until the Suzuki pilot looked back and realised just who it was putting him under pressure. To hold off Hacking, Spies was forced to set his fastest laps of the race, which was just enough to keep Kawasaki's newest MotoGP rider at bay.

Hacking looked all set to take a top ten finish in his debut MotoGP appearance, but a resurgent Toni Elias managed to squeeze past the three-time AMA champion in the closing stages of the race, to relegate him back to a still impressive 11th at the chequered flag.

Anthony West has struggled with a lack of feeling from the front of his Ninja ZX-RR all weekend, and despite set-up changes made ahead of this morning's warm-up session, West still lacked the confidence in the front grip to push hard in the race. The 27-year-old Kawasaki pilot eventually finished in 17th place, one lap down on race winner Valentino Rossi, bitterly disappointed with his whole Laguna weekend.

Jamie Hacking

#12 - 11th Position
"I'm thrilled! I didn't get the best of starts from the back of the grid, but if I'm honest I was little relieved to see everyone pulling away and leaving me to ride my own race early on. With a fairly clear track I was able to find a good rhythm on the bike, and I was soon lapping in the low 1'23s bracket. I fought my way up to Ben Spies, and I was just thinking to have a bit of a breather when he looked back and saw who was behind him. As soon as he saw it was me he upped the pace and managed to pull enough of a gap that I couldn't quite stay with him. The bike was working great, and the lap times were pretty consistent throughout the race, but then Toni Elias managed to work his way past me towards the end, which meant I just missed out on matching Roger Lee's tenth place finish from last year. Even so, I've really enjoyed my weekend as a MotoGP racer and I'd like to thank Kawasaki for giving me the opportunity. Everyone made me feel really welcome, and they are a great team to work with."

Ant West
#13 - 17th Position
"This weekend has been a huge disappointment. I had the same problems in the race that I've been having all weekend; I just don't seem to have the confidence in the front-end of the bike, and that meant I couldn't push for a good lap time at all. It's frustrating, as Jamie had the same problem at the beginning of the weekend but managed to ride around it. I need to go away from here and get it together during the summer break, so I can come back at Brno and try and score the results I know I'm capable of."

Kawasaki Competition Manager
"Jamie has done a fantastic job all weekend, and he pushed hard and rode a great race today. He proved to everyone in his first race that our bike was capable of running at the same pace as the riders who were battling for fourth. With a higher qualifying position and a better start, he'd have been battling for position much further up the order today. I'd like to personally thank Jamie for his approach to the weekend; everyone in the team appreciated his professionalism. I know Anthony is disappointed with his performance this weekend, but it's difficult to identify exactly where his problem is at the moment. He needs to work hard now to justify his place in MotoGP. The Kawasaki Racing Team is here to secure results, and he needs to convince us he can be a part of that. We will speak to him during the summer break to see if we can find some way of improving his form ahead of the next race."

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Team San Carlo Honda Gresini head into the summer break hoping to put another unfortunate Grand Prix out of their minds, with both Shinya Nakano and Alex de Angelis riding bravely to the points at Laguna Seca today but with their true potential certainly not reflected by 10th and 13th place finishes.

It was always going to be a tough USGP for the pair after crashes in qualifying limited them to lowly grid positions, but in particular for De Angelis, who was riding with the added inconvenience of a broken thumb. The rookie rider put on a courageous display to finish in the points, whilst a potential top eight finish for Nakano was spoiled by a mid-race mistake.

The summer break will now be vital for the San Marino rider to make a full recovery for the next round, which takes place at Brno in the Czech Republic on August 17th.

Shinya Nakano (10th): "I'm really disappointed with today's result because despite our good start, when I made up some positions over the opening few laps, I have finished tenth. Halfway through the race when I was in eighth place I tried to pass Toseland but I went wide under braking and lost a lot of ground, which I was unable to recover. We were obviously hoping for much better because my pace in practice was so good but I tried my best. There are still a lot of races left before the end of the season and after a short holiday we'll get fully focused again for Brno".

Alex De Angelis (13th): "That was a really difficult race and I'm so disappointed with what happened in qualifying. In the second half of the race I lost so much time stuck behind West - I don't think I could have fought for the podium even if I was fit and qualified better but the group ahead of me was within my grasp. At the end of the day this was a positive race for us because the condition I raced in was always going to make it tough to reach the finish line, but I did so and scored points too. It's a shame though because we were in shape to do well here - the good thing is that the thumb should be okay for Brno."

Fausto Gresini - Team manager: "It's a shame that qualifying crashes have dictated the race for both our riders, with Shinya and Alex unable to reproduce their practice pace for various reasons. It's a GP to forget but we like to look forward anyway and after the summer break we're hopeful of better fortunes. Alex raced with a broken thumb today but should be fit for Brno. In general we've shown that we're capable of fighting for top results once again but we've run out luck. We need to be more consistent - something we can and must do in future."

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LORENZO'S LAGUNA DEBUT ENDS IN GRAVEL AFTER FIRST-LAP CRASH

Jorge Lorenzo suffered a dramatic high-side on the very first lap of the US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca today, his debut American race ending in the gravel at turn five. The Spaniard broke the third and fifth metatarsal bones in his left foot and will now face a race to be fit for the next race in Brno, in a month's time.

Lorenzo made a good start and was looking promising in fourth place when the crash happened. It was immediately clear that he had injured himself, a depressing realisation for a rider who has already had to cope with two broken ankles and a concussion this season. With the summer break coming before the next race however the outlook is good for the 21-year-old, who has flown home tonight for further assessment in Barcelona this week.

There was cause for celebration on the other side of the garage as Valentino Rossi won his first ever US Grand Prix, following a scintillating battle with Casey Stoner. Rossi now leads Stoner by 25 points whilst Lorenzo remains in fourth.

Jorge Lorenzo

Position: DNF Time:

"I'm very sad today because I had a lot of confidence for the race after the qualifying session yesterday and, above all, after the very start of the race when I was fourth and feeling good. Then I crashed; my tyre was not up to temperature, I lost the rear and the next thing I knew I was in the gravel, with pain in my foot. It is one more crash, one more injury and it's another moment that I have to forget as soon as possible. I need to look forward. I am so sad but now I must concentrate on the fact that I have a whole month before Brno in order to be fit and to be able to race in good shape. This is my aim. I would like to congratulate to Valentino for his great victory and race today, he did a fantastic job."

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Rookie and Laguna Seca first-timer Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot Honda RC212V-Michelin) rode a superb race to finish today's United States Grand Prix in fourth place, just ahead of fellow Michelin men Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) and Randy de Puniet (Honda LCR RC212V-Michelin).

Laguna is rated to be the hardest MotoGP track to learn but Dovizioso did a superb job of unlocking its secrets to allow him to equal his best MotoGP result. Michelin's fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place result completed a challenging weekend for the French tyre brand.

"The starting point of our difficulties this weekend was the problems we had last year, when the track was more aggressive and the track temperature higher than expected, which gave us wear problems," said Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin's director of motorcycle racing. "This year the track was much less aggressive. Also, the track temperature was lower than last year, but in fact not so bad because we saw the high 40s on Friday. Based on last year's situation we were too conservative, with too-hard constructions and compounds which gave reduced performance. Our riders had only a limited supply of tyres they could use for the race, so they had to work with harder tyres during practice. It's been a really difficult weekend because our approach was far too conservative. From now on we have to share more our tyre strategy and allocation strategy with the teams. For example, Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) requested some fronts for this race which he had already used this year at less demanding tracks. He could have used those tyres here, so he was right. On a positive note, it was great to see Andrea fighting with Nicky for fourth, that was a very impressive result for a Laguna Seca newcomer and showed his impressive strengths. Randy also rode a good race. He used an even harder rear tyre than the others and he found a good machine set-up. But obviously we aren't happy with our riders' lap times here, because we didn't give them enough grip."

Michelin now plans an aggressive development programme before the next MotoGP event in the Czech Republic on August 15/16/17. That race will see the return of Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) who withdrew from this weekend's event due to the injuries he sustained when he crashed while leading last Sunday's German GP. Until that point Pedrosa had been leading the World Championship.

"Looking at today's result we can say that we weren't ambitious enough because of what happened last year at this track," said Michelin competitions director Frederic Henry-Biabaud. "We didn't want the same problem this time, so we recommended a very conservative direction to our teams. It was a mistake from which we have learned. Over the next three weeks we will therefore work in two directions. First, we will organise tests at several tracks. Second, we will continue developing some new solutions that we already have under development and which we will recommend to our teams for the next races, representing a more ambitious direction. We will also evolve the way we recommend tyre solutions to our teams, because this way we can deliver better performance. The season is far from over and we look forward to the last seven races after some very positive races already this year. Dani was leading the championship going into last weekend's German GP where he also led the race. It was very sad that he got hurt when he fell, but he made the correct decision not to race here, considering his injuries. It's also a great shame that Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) has suffered some injuries after his fantastic start to the season. Now we have to keep working hard, in fact we have to work even harder. We will certainly do everything we can to deliver more performance to our teams."

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Vermeulen powers to second successive podium

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer Chris Vermeulen scored his second podium finish in a week as he rode to a fantastic third at Laguna Seca today.

Starting from eighth on the grid, Vermeulen had to fight to get near the front and was involved in an exciting battle with Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso early on, before getting the best of both of them on lap eight to move into third place. He then had quite a lonely ride as he was never put under pressure for the final podium place, but was too far behind the leaders to mount a challenge for the top spot. Vermeulen kept his concentration for the remainder of the race and brought his Suzuki GSV-R home safely for his second successive podium at Laguna Seca.

Team-mate Loris Capirossi had a very tough afternoon as he tried to come to terms with the demanding American track. The injury to his right arm caused him severe distress throughout the tiring 32-lap race, and although he fought his way to eighth place early on he couldn't keep the momentum going and eventually finished 15th to take the final championship point.

Wildcard rider Ben Spies produced a tremendous performance against the experienced MotoGP field. Making only his second GP start and beginning from the fifth row in 13th place, he soon set about making his way through the pack. By the end of the first lap he was up to 10th and continued to fight for places as the race progressed. Spies was up to seventh as the last lap started but was passed by Toni Elias right at the end to give him eighth place at the chequered flag.

Today's race was watched by almost 50, fans at trackside and they were treated to one of the best MotoGP battles in history as Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner went head-to-head at the front, with Rossi coming out on top at the end from Stoner to give Bridgestone yet another clean sweep of the podium positions.

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP now takes a well-earned rest as the mid-season break begins. The next time the team will be in action is at Brno in the Czech Republic on Sunday 17th August, where Vermeulen will be hoping to keep his podium run going and Capirossi plans to be back to full fitness.

Chris Vermeulen:

"I'm really happy to be back on the podium again. That's two podiums in a row, not just in two races but two in a row at Laguna as well! The last two have come in completely different conditions and I think it proves that the Suzuki is becoming a lot more competitive and the changes we are making is getting us a lot closer to the front. I was hoping to run with the front two today but I got held up a bit at the start and lost some time. After I had got through they were a long way ahead and I ended up having quite a lonely ride - it was tough to keep my concentration at times as there was nothing to focus on other than count down the laps."

Loris Capirossi:

"It was a really hard day today. We had a good setting and although I didn't start so well I managed to make up a few positions early on, but after a couple of laps I started to have a lot of pain and struggled to change direction - and this is a track that demands a lot of that. I just tried as hard as I could to keep going to the finish. It's not good to end with one point but I always try to fight for the best I can and for the team - this is the most important thing I can do. I know one point is nothing but I did fight till the end! I hope now to get three weeks of good rest and get my condition 100% right for Brno, because today it was impossible to ride fast."

Ben Spies:

"It was good out there today and I've got to be pleased with the result. I couldn't get going right off the bat as I haven't quite got used to the tyres yet. I started to reel a few riders in and I could see Nakano and Toseland coming back to me. I got past them and on the last couple of laps I could see Hayden and Dovizioso up there but they were a bit too far away. Everything was getting better and better and then Elias came past me and I thought I had one more lap, but the chequered flag was out and that was the end of the race. It was a good race and I will now be even more prepared for when we get to Indianapolis later in the year."

Paul Denning - Team Manager:

"Congratulations to Chris on a fantastic ride and a well deserved podium. From eighth on the grid it was never going to be easy to get to the front, but he rode a great first lap, and once he was into third he was always going to finish on the podium. We were also very impressed with Ben's ride, his speed grew as the race wore on as he got a better feel from the GSV-R - he can be very proud of his weekend's work. MotoGP has a field full of highly talented racers and Ben certainly didn't look out of place among them.

"As for Loris, the physical nature of the track was always going to make it difficult for him, and having seen his injury first-hand this morning it's amazing he is even attempting to ride the bike! We can only say thanks for his commitment and bravery to stay out there and we're looking forward to getting the real Loris back at Brno in four weeks time.

"We would also like to say congratulations to Bridgestone, to Valentino and Casey for putting on an amazing display and to Tom Sykes of our sister Rizla Suzuki British Superbike team for taking a fantastic double win back in the UK today."

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