MotoGP 2008 - Donington

**Corny** · 22nd June 2008, 22:22

can it get more boring than this?

BTW, what does Gibernau do when he has beaten Rossi?

**patnicholls** · 22nd June 2008, 23:40

I'm back from my trip to Donington.

I'll start with the bad - a small minority of idiots who decided to invade the track on the last lap of the MotoGP race (I was at the Old Hairpin, and everyone from Westy downward had to avoid them. Alex de A jumped on the brakes as if to say 'what are these morons doing here?' and he was right). Muppets - putting themselves and the riders at risk. Likewise, those who didn't give Casey credit for what was a very decent performance - he rode well and was a deserved winner. Those who booed/etc. him wanted Valentino to win instead - fair enough but a bit of respect for the competitors wouldn't go amiss especially when they've ridden well. The vast majority of the 89,000 crowd were very good, however.

Anyway, on to the good!

I've been to Donington every year since 2001, and this year was my favourite. That includes two Rossi 11th on grid -> win races.

There was a lot of passing in all the races including the main one (the Colin/Dovi/Nicky/Chris/Shinya/Jorge battle was very good, and plenty of chage between the lower guys too). Vale and Dani swapped places a few times - Dani's first real battle with Vale where he's got past I think? - and Casey rode a blinder. Jorge's fight up to 6th from 17th on the grid was also pretty impressive, and Ben Spies gave a good account of himself with 8th in wet quali and a couple of points in the race. Shame for JT - just one of those things.

The 250s was possibly the best 250 race of the season - it went by so quickly and the three-way fight for the lead (with Hector B in there too for most of it) was refreshing in a class often with strung-out action. Mika started 14th on the grid and won, so again he put in a few moves. Marco Simoncelli has now completely proved me wrong [until this season I didn't think he was anything special; I'm wrong] although I feel for Alvaro who was unlucky in that manouvre.

And, the 125s...what can I say?

Marc Marquez on the podium in his sixth ever race - superb (he looks about 8 years old!)
Mike di Meglio - 20th on the grid to second - brilliant. Come of age this year and now title favourite.

Andrea Iannone - very unlucky, led for twenty laps and deserved to finish in the top two today. His best ever dry race by a long way.

But today was all about one guy.

The best performance of his young life. His first win, in his eighth Grand Prix [Rossi took 11, for comparison, when he won at Brno? in 1997]. The youngest ever Grand Prix winner in any class [15 years and 5 1/2 months - previous best was Marco Melandri at 15 years 10 1/2 months at Assen in 1998]. The first Brit to win a race since Jeremy McWilliams at Assen in 2001, the first to win a race at home since Ian McConnachie in June 1986 in the 80cc race at Silverstone [I'm told!] and the first to win a 125cc race in thirty-five years. One of only four home riders to ever stand on the podium of a British Grand Prix held on the mainland [as opposed to the Isle of Man, which used to be part of the GP season].

It was also his first time riding at Donington.

Today was all about Scott Redding rewriting the history books. It was an absolute pleasure to witness. I cried tears of joy.

---------------------

On Saturday afternoon in the rain, I sat watching the utterly irrelevent 250 qualifying sesson (as Friday's times would count for the grid). Just in front of us - a couple of metres of so - was a man in a Blusens team jacket who was timing Russel Gomez with a stopwatch as he came into the Old Hairpin each lap. As I put the recording of today's races on at home this evening, I saw the same man again. He was congratulating Scott on the victory in his role as team manager.

**jim mcglinchey** · 23rd June 2008, 08:10

[quote="Corny"]can it get more boring than this?

QUOTE]

I know how you feel, unless you're a Stoner or Ducati fan.

Felt embarrassed for JT, and at the end some idiot gave him a flag to parade around as if he'd won something.

If Dani gave up the pursuit of Rossi then he truly does not deserve to be champ. Maybe he had tyre or management issues though.

**Wim_Impreza** · 23rd June 2008, 12:01

We are now half in the season (8 of 17 MotoGP races) and we have never seen a fight for victory in MotoGP 2008. That is very disappointing. I have again the feeling that Pedrosa was cruising in the last laps and was happy with third...
I don't think he had tyre problems in the last laps.

Good that Stoner won, he really deserves it.

Nice race in 250 cc and congratulations for Redding and Márquez.

Lucky that there is next weekend World Superbikes, that is much more exciting than these boring MotoGP races in 2008. Where was the rain that they expected? I hope to see better races in Assen.

**ChrisS** · 23rd June 2008, 18:36

Congrats to Scott Redding for winning the 125cc race. Shame Iannone crashed

Simoncelli and Bautista gifted the win to Kallio in 250cc

MotoGP was a parade with Colin Edwards the only rider doing some overtaking. Edwards was lapping as fast as Rossi and Pedrosa but he ruined his race with a bad start.

Rossi was more concerned with finishing ahead of Petrosa than racing Stoner. It seems Melandri gave up. I dont think he will be racing for Ducati much longer.

Toseland needs to concentrate on racing. All the concerts and PR events trying to please the fans got in his head and ruined his race

**T-D** · 23rd June 2008, 19:54

chris s. jorge lorenzo passed 11 riders to achieve 6th place. don't forget his performance.

**maxu05** · 24th June 2008, 00:06

I don't think the race was boring. Stoner, rode a bike that so far, no one else can handle, and left the field behind him. Rossi was taken twice, only to take command of 2nd place. Heehaw, (though I can't stand him), rode incredibly to get 6th place after admitting that he has lost confidence and started from the rear of the grid. We can't expect a race long battle for 1st,2nd,3rd every race, though I would love to see it. WSBK and Motogp are different animals. Bad luck for James, but, everyone can make a stupid mistake, bet he is kicking himself.I am sure we will have a few cracking races before seasons end.

**fatman** · 24th June 2008, 03:34

There was nothing boring about any of the three races this weekend. If people find it sooo boring they should just stop watching instead of belly aching.

It was awful seeing James go down, but just awesome to see Scott Redding win. Super happy for Casey as well.

Pedrosa once again comes off not looking like a champion, although he did give it a little bit more of an effort during the middle of the race. At the end it looked like he gave up. I think he's very intimidated by Rossi.

This was the first time I was able to watch all three races on Eurosport and I have to say it was the best coverage and commentary I have seen of a motorcycle race. But then again the best I have to compare it to is SpeedTV which just sucks.

**buddie** · 9th July 2008, 18:32

Well his PR shouldnt push him too much. He was there to race not to play a piano. I felt so sorry for him. But at least he didint get a slating which some other British riders get when they are in Motogp on an uncompetative package

**leopard** · 10th July 2008, 06:46

The more we see him rides weaker, in contrast with his team mate whose the trend of performance is climbing. The bike doesn't have major problem, Toseland just raises my concern.