The world champ shrugged off some muscular problems to come back and annihilate the rest of the field, having a day off in the process. It makes you wonder who’ll get close to the Aussie and his Repsol Honda this season. We bet the grid is hoping Casey’s impending childbirth will slow him down.

A massive half a second back was Jorge Lorenzo, then times get tighter. Fellow Spaniard, Dani Pedrosa is doing his usual steady progression during testing and was less than a tenth from J-Lo. The other factory Yamaha of Ben Spies was next up and, despite a crash, was a couple of tenths back from Lil’ Dani.

Valentino Rossi, amid rumours of Photoshopping, continued development of the new Ducati and ended up in fifth place. Rossi was 1.2 seconds adrift from Stoner, but only 0.7s behind second spot. Clearly encouraging signs from the VR46 box, with fresh ‘problems’ from the 90% all-new Desmo rather than the old issues of last year.

It was another Ducati in sixth, with Hector Barbera, followed by the Tech 3 pairing of Cal Crutchlow (who had a small crash) and Andrea Dovizioso. Alvaro Bautista was in ninth, still getting comfy with the Gresini Honda after a few years on the redundant Suzuki.

CRT leader, Colin Edwards continues to struggle with major chatter issues (along with some of the big boys) but still got down to a 2:04.7, and only two seconds behind the prototype of Karel Abraham. The other CRTs are clearly struggling, and probably wishing they’d chosen the new Aprilia ART.

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1. Stoner In Shockingly Fast Shock

Casey was on the pace of yesterday’s fastest times on his third lap, despite pulling a muscle in his shoulder while trying to compensate for his back troubles of yesterday. Stoner set a time of 2:00.8, which is still slow in comparison to last year’s testing. Odds on CS27 taking the championship in 2012?

Next up were the factory Yamahas, led by Ben Spies who was just over a tenth from Stoner. Jorge Lorenzo was a hundredth off the Texan, while Dani Pedrosa was another half a second from J-Lo. Brit Cal Cructhlow continued his love for the new 1000cc M1 to take fifth place. He’s also doing a grand job of spanking his team-mate, although Dovi is still obviously struggling with injury, along with Nicky Hayden.

Perhaps the most interesting news from today’s test was from the Ducati camp. Hector Barbera and his Pramac ‘GP12’ ended up fastest Ductai in sixth spot, with Valentino Rossi a tenth of a second behind the Spaniard and 0.9s from the leaders.

Colin Edwards again, unsurprisingly, led the CRT bikes, but this time Colin had a full-spec 2012 BMW-Suter and was ‘only’ five seconds shy of Stoner’s pace.

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Valentino Rossi debuted the ‘90% all-new’ Ducati and was instantly quick, ending the day 0.7 seconds off the top spot in fifth place. Still lots of work to do, but VR46 seems happier on the bike. Casey Stoner, meanwhile, didn’t even manage to get out on the circuit after straining his back while warming up in the box. He’s resting now and will hopefully have a ride tomorrow. No doubt Casey will lap a second quicker than anyone else after his first session.

The new-for-2012 CRT bikes were led by Colin Edwards on his Forward Racing Suter, but still 6.5 seconds off the pace. Colin and the team did have some difficulties though. The other CRT bikes of Ivan Silva and Jordi Torres were a disastrous nine seconds behind Whoregay. That’s getting lapped within 12 laps territory. Shocking. Then again, these small teams are doing all their testing and development in the public eye, and are years behind the factories.

Moto2 champ, Stefan Bradl made a decent big-bike debut, finishing 11^th and two seconds adrift. Nicky Hayden, still struggling for fitness after badgering himself in the off-season, was 0.5s ahead of Bradl and a tenth off Alvaro Bautista onboard the Gresini Honda.

That was exciting. More tomorrow

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1. Bid For Lorenzo’s YZF-R1

Firstly, we should be thankful to Jorge Lorenzo for prolonging the agony that is Casey Stoner’s 2011 march to the championship. Lorenzo has had some inspired rides this season – and this was one of them. Hard work in practice and qualifying proved that Lorenzo had the race pace to keep with Stoner, and when the Australian ‘got a bit tired’ that was all Lorenzo needed to finish the job off. Wayne Rainey was in the pit box all weekend, and this result was a fitting tribute to Yamaha’s most loyal servant. It was great to see Rainey back on a podium again – although you couldn’t help but feel he was being patronised a fair bit…

Stoner’s comments on tiredness were interesting given his illness two years ago. That had been put down to a lactose intolerance, so maybe this could be rearing its ugly head again. Or maybe he’s crapping himself about being a Dad. He’s been quoted as saying that fatherhood will finally bring meaning to his life – like being world champion elect is just messing about a bit. I’m sure Honda, after the Motegi affair, are overjoyed at the comments…

Alvaro Bautista should get a mention for a sterling ride to finish in eighth, but the best bit of the weekend was the new Suzuki paintjob. We’re praying that it stays for the rest of the season because it’s the best livery we’ve seen in years.

At least Rossi had a race, rather than a few parade laps. Genuinely up with the second group for the early part of the race, Rossi certainly put everything on the line for the massed ranks of home fans. But we don’t think this is a corner turned – just a happier blip in a season’s worth of damaging blips. Being a home round, Fillipo Preziosi was on hand to allude to some changes to the Ducati frame. He committed to nothing of any substance, but hinted that the drawing board had been revisited…

It’s still amazing to see Toni Elias look as if he’s trying his nuts off, only to finish at the back of the pack. Every photo we’ve seen of him suggests that he should be up at the front – like we know he can be – so it’s a mystery why he can’t match pace to this aggression. Where he’ll end up next year is anyone’s guess – and we’re surprised that he’s still with us in MotoGP.

Moto2 is getting interesting with Stefan Bradl dealing with the massive pressure that Marc Marquez is putting on him. One mistake from either of them will probably seal the 2011 championship, and both are deserving of rides in the bigger class. Whether Marquez will go to MotoGP is debatable given his early reason recklessness, so even if he wins there is no promise to bigger and better things. Scott Redding seams to have got to grips with his Suter chassis better and has now strung two fifth places together, with a good showing at the front. A win by the end of the season will rescue a rotten 2011.

Elsewhere, Loris Capirossi ducked out of his home GP, not even getting his chain/sprockets fixed so he could have a wave about at the back. Colin Edwards is set to ride a WSB R1 engined CRT bike, that he hopes Tech3 will build a chassis for. Nothing like leaving it untill the last minute…

We also read that Indianapolis has been given an extension to their contract – so we’ll go back to the Brickyard in 2012 and 2013. The rest of the calendar has yet to be sorted, so we don’t know whether the massive trek forward and back from the States will happen again. We’ll have to wait…

Oh yes, and if you’ve not seen the end of the 125s race, head to bbc.co.uk/iplayer and search for the race. Forward it to the last three laps and enjoy…

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Let’s start with MotoGP at Indianapolis which is a bit of a Mickey Mouse track. Praise the Lord, because the Yanks have resurfaced most of the circuit and banished the multi-tarmac surfaces that caused so many issues, and crashes. Still, I can’t think of an epic race that’s taken place there.

Last year Dani Pedrosa whooped ass and took the victory, from Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo. This season, Pedrosa looks to stay on his Repsol Honda and rekindle the form we/he know he’s capable of – he looked set to win at Brno last time out, but crashed early on.

But let’s be honest, Casey Stoner has to be favourite. He’s frickin’ awesome right now. He wasn’t in with even a sniff of the victory at Brno, but managed to take advantage of his rivals’ misfortunes to extend his championship lead to 32 points.    Whoregay (who’ll be riding the gorgeous red and white liveried M1) needs to start pulling serious points back if he’s going to retake the title but, unless an injury occurs, Stoner and the Honda look invincible.

Gossip suggests Marco Simoncelli will stay at Honda next year, ousting Dovi for the third factory Honda. After his debut podium last time out, Super Sic should be interestingly confident at Indy.

Home boys, Ben Spies and Nicky Hayden, always shine on home soil and have a good history at Indy. Spies really needs to get his elbowz out and start properly hassling the elite, while Hayden has the perfect excuse in that the Ducati is utter dog poo. Valentino Rossi, even with his upgraded GP11.1 tweaks, will struggle to make the top five.

In other news, there are lots of rumours flying about regarding our Cal Crutchlow. Let’s hope Cal can stay on his Tech 3 Yammy in America and cement another year in the MotoGP paddock. Bradley Smith and Eugene Laverty are reported UK names to join Tech 3 in 2012.

Talking of the UK, British Superbikes head to Cadwell Park this weekend, without John Hopkins. In case you didn’t know, Hopper crashed the Rizla Suzuki during MotoGP practice at Brno and needed surgery on his hand. Due to the ‘Showdown’ finale in BSB, where only the final three rounds really matter for the top six, Hopper is safe along with series leader Shane Byrne and Swan Yamaha’s Tommy Hill.

Reigning champ, Ryuichi Kiyonari, has to find some pace to stop Michael Rutter and the rest ruining his championship chances. Kiyo has lost some serious mojo. Also, look out for Tommy Bridewell and the latest installation of Rob Mac’s musical R1 chairs, plus Josh Brookes jumping the Mountain. The party in the Park is always a spectacle.

Fagan

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Pole man, Dani Pedrosa looked likely to piss off with serious race pace all weekend. But Lil’ Dani crashed out early and robbed us of a Repsol Honda showdown with Stoner, turning the race into a bit of a snooze-fest. Thankfully, Pedrosa didn’t break any bones.

Behind Stoner it was fairly interesting, albeit without any real overtaking or action. Jorge Lorenzo made a massive error with front rubber choice, opting for the softer Bridgestone which saw him save a big front end slide after just a few laps. The only other man to roll the dice was Alvaro Bautista, who chucked it down the road after losing the front – still an encouraging outing for Suzuki, despite losing John Hopkins with some mangled fingers sustained in a qualifying crash.

Ensuring Honda domination was out-of-favour Andrea Dovizioso and, finally making his podium debut, Marco Simoncelli. Up until the weekend, Super Sic was behind his painfully slow team-mate, Hiroshi Aoyama in the points table but still hasn’t beaten Dovi all season. With the pair possibly fighting over a ride next year as well as race etiquette, this skirmish will continue.

Next up were the two factory Yamahas. Whoregay managed to fend off the slightly crippled Ben Spies, who struggled with a ‘pinched nerve’ in his arm but still managed to beat The G.O.A.T. And what of Rossi I hear you cry?

Things were looking shabby before the last few minutes of qualifying, with the same old story from Ducati’s non-existent front-end. Apparently, some changes to the headstock and riding position gave Valentino a huge boost and allowed him to lap within a few tenths of the podium hoppers. Only a slow start prevented him from a serious podium attack. Whether or not this is a permanent solution remains to be seen, but Ducati has to do something for 2012 and even for the remainder of this year. Enough is enough. Still, with Pedrosa crashing out, Rossi jumped back into fourth place in the standings. Stoner extends his lead to 32 points.

Cal Crutchlow had another nightmare as he launched his M1 into the kitty – he’s getting well and truly smashed with the MotoGP stick at the moment, and hopefully he can sort the front-end issues for the last third of the season.

The rest were there, just miles behind…

Today sees the debut of Yamaha’s 2012 1000cc at the Brno test, while the Honda makes its second outing in the hands of Pedrosa and Stoner. Rossi and Nicky Hayden are persevering with trying to make Ducati’s 800cc go into corners. Noticeable absentees include Simoncelli and Dovizioso who aren’t sure what they’ll be riding next season, and Suzuki haven’t even got a 1000cc bike on the drawing board yet. At the time of writing, Stoner is riding his motorbike really fast, lapping nearly a second quicker than his race pace of yesterday. When things are dandy, nobody on this planet is quicker than Casey.

The Brno Moto2 race backed up the reasoning for some riders using lever guards. Marc Marquez, Steffi Bradl, Alex De Angelis and Andrea Iannone traded paint and Dunlop rubber for the majority of the race, with the later taking the victory. Bradley Smith crashed out and Scott Redding had another dog-poo race finishing 26^th.

The 125s carried the best hopes for England. Danny Kent had a free upgrade to a pukka factory Aprilia when he checked in to Brno, after his Red Bull team-mate had ‘a virus’ and couldn’t race. Danny was top six all weekend and was sniffing a podium when the bike broke. The same issues hampered championship leader Nico Terol. Johann Zarco got shafted for the umpteenth time this year and lost out to Sandro Cortese – the German with the Italian name. Danny Webb managed to get the fickle Mahindra home in 12^th, just ahead of fellow-Brit Harry Stafford who had his best result of the year

Next up is another trip Stateside and the Indianapolis GP.

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Forget racing in the Czech Republic this weekend, like most guys do anyway with all that Eastern European gusset. The headlines are dominated by Mr Stoner’s announcement that Mrs Stoner will be popping a junior Stoner out, early in 2012 – timing of such event is essential to racers, landing the sprog in off-season. Casey was a second off the pace in free practice, just like most blokes avec kids.

Anyway, back to racing and burning holes on the ozone layer. Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa was the runaway leader of free practice and will be looking to control his sporadic performances, and his brittle bones. Meanwhile, third-in-line Repsol rider, Andrea Dovizioso, looks certain to get the flick at the end of the season after being shunned a ride on the 2012 1000cc Honda at the Brno test.

Yamaha will be debuting their 1000cc M1 on Monday. Jorge Lorenzo, hopefully recovered after his monumental highside at Laguna Seca, needs to start taking proper points from Casey Stoner if he wants to retain the title.

In other news, John Hopkins makes his second MotoGP appearance of the year on the Rizla Suzuki. Hopper will be competing in three different championships on the bounce after his British and World Superbike escapades, and already looks settled after taking seventh in free practice this morning – beating Alvaro Bautista in the process. He’ll be eggy.

In the red and Rossi camp, Valentino has come out (not in that way) and categorically denied wanting to ride a Honda in 2012. They’ll only be two factory Hondas next year, so the rumours of Marco Simoncelli going to join his buddy on a Ducati gather pace with conviction.

Meanwhile, Toni Elias continues to ride his motorbike really slowly and struggle with tyres. And Loris Capirossi is still getting paid…

Fagan

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The past two training Levels have been invaluable, over the past couple years my riding has come on dramatically and I owe so much of it to the two days I had spent with the coaches at the school and Andy Ibbotts words of wisdom in Fast Bikes Masterclass. On arrival at Stowe circuit (Silverstone) it was like a family reunion, everyone is so friendly and you are immediately put at ease. In the end each CSS instructor has been a student of the school so they can recognise any potential nerves which are alleviated immediately. Looking around my fellow students came from a huge variety of riding disciplines, Josh Harland BSS Racer was getting the advice that has made Leon Camier so successful. MotoGP commentator Matt Roberts was doing Levels 1 and 2 over a two day period to aid his skills for a charity ride down to Valencia’s GP, and a whole host of other students with bikes ranging from sports to tourers to classics – The school is not for wannabee racers, though it will help you if that’s what you want to be, it is genuinely for everyone that wants to be a better rider.

I researched my Level prior to my arrival, I knew it was going to be physical as the majority is about body positioning and how to use this to greater effect. It really is amazing the difference that a few moves make to your ability to corner the bike. The first drill is the Hook Turn where you tighten the your angle whilst cornering with one very simple but extremely effective body movement, I took to this straight away and was loving the OK from my instructor Spidey. As the day progressed I got a few of these and a few chats too, if you’re not getting it right then you come into the pits and they advise you on what you need to do.

This was my second visit to Stowe in eight days as I had been on track with the Kawasaki Riders Club the Sunday before as part of their WSB package. This gave me fresh knowledge of the track which was a benefit and I could tell how much my riding was improving under tuition throughout the day. I was faster, smoother and more confident as the day progressed and in the final session I was able to combine all the things I had learnt in the classroom, on the static bike and indeed on track and had one of the best experiences I have ever had on a motorcycle.

The absolute finale for me was the slide bike, specially modified so that you could put the bike in a front wheel skid and learn to control it without danger of the bike going over. This you have got to try, 30mph jamming the front brake on and completely losing the front. Then following Cookie’s advice doing it all over again and seeing that it can be saved safely and effectively.

If you are yet to go on the school I cannot recommend it enough, to have this amount of fun whilst learning so much is almost criminal. Nobody left the circuit on Monday without a smile on their face, or indeed without being able to ride the bikes they love the most, much, much better.

Thanks to all at CSS, especially Donna, Spidey, Cookie and Glen.

Charlie

IMAGES COURTESY OF Gary and Maria, www.picman.co.uk

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Despite a massive highside in practice, Jorge Lorenzo made an early charge from pole position and took Dani Pedrosa with him. Casey Stoner was struggling with a full fuel tank (something many of us would die for) in the opening laps, but soon caught Pedrosa who is still hurting after surgery. It didn’t take long for Stoner to reel in Lorenzo who was clearly battling the bruises sustained in his attempt to orbit the earth. After busting a move to take the lead, Stoner pressed on and eased to victory, from Whoregay and Pedrosa.

Valentino Rossi made a mistake in qualifying by going too quickly, putting the Ducati 7^th on the grid, and therefore leaving little room for his usual dash-through-the-pack improvement during the race. He finished 6^th. Rossi had a race-long battle with Nicky Hayden, who rode Ducati’s latest GP11.1 in practice and didn’t like it. Ducati really need something completely new to end this torrid time. Maybe a trellis frame like some of you are suggesting?

Only 13 finished after a number of crashes and retirements, while Randy DeRuinit didn’t even make the start after breaking more bones in qualifying. Fellow crash-meister Marco Simoncelli, who stayed on for a whole race last weekend, slid off unhurt, as did Cal Crutchlow and Alvaro Bautista.

Ben Bostrum, ex-WSB winner and current AMA midfielder, made his MotoGP debut at the age of 37 and rode Toni Elias’ spare shitter. B-Bos brought in some of Michael Jordan’s cash to the LCR Honda team in a bid to entice Elias to go faster. It didn’t work. Tiger Toni got lapped and Bostrom retired after running into the gravel. It would of interesting to see what would have happened when the rain came down and they had to pit to swap bikes.

Stoner once said that if you’re quick, you’ll show the pace immediately no matter what equipment you’re on. Some of the recent recruits have backed up this theory – Bautista, Barbera and Spies – while Hiroshi Aoyama is never going to worry the top five. Loris Capirossi is just riding around collecting his wages and is bordering on the obese, and Tortoise Toni shouldn’t last the season after another dismal ride. We need Jonny Rea or another hungry young rider on the grid. Actually, make that ten.

Fagan

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The most incredible thing is that the more you watch the coverage, the more impressive it gets. For the ultimate in slow-mo and eternal rewinds, you need the DVD – and Isle of Man based Duke Video has dreamt up an exclusive offer for Fast Bikes readers to not only get this year’s seat of the pants action posted through your front door – but you get another full DVD completely free too!

Give Duke a call on 01624 640000, or go to dukevideo.com, and give the promotional code ‘TT11OFFER’. Once you’ve stuck your name down for a copy of the TT 2011 Official Review, you can choose one of the following completely free of charge:

• MotoGP 2010 Official Review

• TT 2010 Onboard Laps

• SBK 2010 Official Review

This represents a saving of up to £24.99, and guarantees you hours of jaw-dropping action, plus interviews, behind-the-scenes access and other bonus features.

Don’t stick it on your ‘to do’ list, this offer is for a short time only – so  dust the cobwebs off your plastic cash, and get ordering now by phone or over the t’interweb.

Order Line: 01624 640000

Online: dukevideo.com

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