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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A seemingly innocuous lowside swiftly turned into one of the most horrendous accidents we’ve seen in MotoGP, as Marco and his bike swung back across the track into the path of Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi. Neither rider had any chance of avoiding a collision with Marco, whose helmet also came off during the accident.

Michele Macchiagodena, Medical Director for MotoGP explains the circumstances of his passing: “I’m very sad to be here to report about the death of Marco Simoncelli, a friend. Because of the crash he had during the race, in which he was hit by other riders, he suffered a very serious trauma to the head, to the neck and the chest. When our medical staff got to him he was unconscious. In the ambulance because there was a cardiac arrest they started CPR (cardiac pulmonary resuscitation). Immediately in the Medical Centre, with the help also of the Doctor of our staff at the Clinica Mobile and local Doctors, he was intubated and it was possible to take off some blood from the thorax. The CPR was continued for 45 minutes because we tried to help him for as long as we thought it was possible. Unfortunately it was not possible to help him and at 16:56 (local time) we had to declare he was dead.”

You can watch the press conference here.

Shuhei Nakamoto, HRC Executive Vice President: ”I just don’t know what to say; words escape me. Marco was a very nice guy and a very talented rider. Sometimes I was a little harsh with him, for example after his first MotoGP podium in Brno when I told him, ‘Lucky podium!’ and he was so angry, but I wanted to motivate him as I knew he was able to do even more. I was thinking that when he won his first race we would have been able to celebrate together. Now I just want to say thank you to Marco, for what you gave me, and pass my sincere condolences to his family at this very sad time.”

Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa says: ”In a tragedy like this there is not much to say. I just want to give my condolences to his family and all the people who love him. I’ve been with his father and all we could do was to hug, nothing else matters. It was a fatal accident and everybody in the paddock remains in shock. Many times we ourselves forget how dangerous this sport can be and when you lose people on the way nothing has any meaning. It’s clear that we all do what we like, what we love, but on days like today nothing matters.”

Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso: ”In these circumstances, words don’t seem to be appropriate. I think of Marco’s family and all the people dear to him, in particular his father and mother. I also have a child and what happened today is the hardest situation you can imagine. I watched the images and I’m shocked. In a race you fight and push hard and disaster is often around the corner. Marco was a strong rider and he always pushed hard. We raced together since we were kids. I saw him always pushing to the maximum, he crashed many times, but without major injuries, he was seemed invincible. What happened today seems impossible.”

Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner: ”I’m so shocked and saddened by the loss of Marco. When things like this happen it reminds you how precious life is, it makes me feel sick inside. All I can say is how sorry I am for Marco’s whole family I can’t imagine what they are all going through and our thoughts and wishes are with them at this time. I hope they all stay close and pull through this tragedy together.”

We can only extend our deepest sympathies to Marco’s family, friends and team at this terrible time. Rest in peace Marco, we will not forget you.

If you’d like to leave a tribute to Marco, you can do so here.

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See what’s in this issue:

Plus – get a free waterproof pouch with every issue, so you’ll never kill another phone again…

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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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‘ELEMENTS’ features the famous sun and moon design that has been the theme of all of Valentino’s primary helmets, the classical elements; Earth, Fire, Water and Air are represented in the rays of the sun and give the graphic its name. The rear of the helmet features Valentino’s trademark 46 over the moon that is partly made of the colours of the Italian flag. As usual, this is all the work of legendary helmet design guru Aldo Drudi.

The helmets will be available in strictly limited numbers through a selected number of TEAM AGV dealers at an SRP of £499.99. To find your nearest one – check the TEAM AGV website.

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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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I can’t see another Vauxhall Zafira soaked in Jorge Lorenzo’s diamond nuggets.

Fagan

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We can’t wait to see him spanking it in anger next year – it’s like the Honda to Yamaha defection all over again.

BBC Footage

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