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Casey Stoner masters the rains in German GP

© Empics / PA Photos
By Dan Moakes
July 13 2008
Two wins in a row had brought Ducati rider Casey Stoner back into contention not far behind MotoGP leaders Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi. The German Grand Prix was round ten, and the Sachsenring race had been dominated by Pedrosa and Honda in 2007. Even with only two wins at this stage, his consistency this season has been the key to being on top - so far.

Marco Melandri was very much in the news as the teams arrived in Germany. A winner of 22 Grands Prix, the Italian has been far from matching his Marlboro Ducati team-mate Stoner this year. Marco has not got on with the 800cc Desmosedici GP8, usually qualifying towards the back of the grid - last twice - and with only one finish in the top ten. Apparently he wants to leave the team, sooner rather than later, and has set his sights on Kawasaki. Ducati have now cancelled his contract for 2009, but how long will he continue this year? Their 2006 rider, Sete Gibernau, has been going well with the bike in testing and could be a useful replacement.

The Sachsenring is a modern venue with uphill and downhill sections, and a long sequence of left-handed bends from turn four round beyond turn ten. There are also a couple of fast straights with heavy braking corners at the end. The track caught out a number of riders in practice, with falls for the likes of Stoner, Pedrosa, Colin Edwards, James Toseland and Anthony West. And the leading times were close in qualifying.

There had been five pole positions to start the year for riders with Michelin tyres, and the second batch of five went to Bridgestone. Stoner was the fastest man in Germany, making it four poles in a row for the Australian. Melandri was next to last in P16. Michelin riders took positions two to six - three for Honda and two for Yamaha. Leading them was Pedrosa for Repsol Honda, then Edwards for Tech 3 Yamaha. A best so far of fourth went to Scot Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso, then came Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda).

Bridgestone’s second rider was seventh man Rossi, on the other Fiat Yamaha M1, then came Nicky Hayden for Repsol. Ninth and tenth were the San Carlo Honda Gresini riders Shin’ya Nakano and Alex de Angelis, leading Toseland (Tech 3). Twelfth was the best yet for Alice Ducati rider Toní Elías, with team-mate Sylvain Guintoli in P15. Loris Capirossi returned to action to head Rizla Suzuki partner Chris Vermeulen, thirteenth and fourteenth. And worst off were Kawasaki, with West trailing Guintoli and Melandri, and with John Hopkins still out injured.

Practice and qualifying weren’t going to mean as much when it came to the race, because the riders were faced with heavy rain and wet tarmac to deal with, and the choice between different compounds of wet weather tyre. The sight of motorcycles redistributing water in plumes of spray was a feature from start to finish, and the riders would need to find the right balance between caution and bravery, especially while gauging the conditions to begin with.

Pedrosa took the lead from the start, from Dovizioso and Edwards, although the Texan soon managed to give Stoner the space to get ahead. Toseland powered up to fifth, but would soon lose out to Lorenzo. Rossi and de Puniet disputed seventh, followed by Guintoli, de Angelis, Vermeulen, Capirossi, Nakano, West, Melandri, Elías, and with Hayden back to last.

Stoner took second from Dovizioso on the inside for the first right-handed Coca Cola Curve on lap two, but the first lap had seen Pedrosa pull out an amazing two-second lead. At one time the Spaniard had not shown up well when it came to wet weather racing skills, but today he was looking more than competent. Stoner, Dovizioso and Edwards followed, with a gap also opening up behind them - where Rossi was soon past both Toseland and Lorenzo to take fifth.

The track was treacherous, and Toseland’s prospects of a good race dipped quite early on, as rivals queued up to go past. Almost in one go he lost out to de Puniet, de Angelis, Vermeulen and Guintoli, perhaps because of his choice of a harder compound rear tyre. Hayden, though, was in more trouble and still last, and Lorenzo was about to be the first to retire when he spun out and crashed.

Fastest laps from Pedrosa were putting him into a lead of five-seconds and more. After a few laps he was 7.5s in front, but perhaps this impressive pace was a bit too risky. When braking for Coca Cola, the rear of the Honda slid out and sent the Spaniard crashing into the gravel trap. His promising start had been for nothing, and now Stoner was in the lead. Casey already had some time in hand over the next riders, Dovizioso, Edwards and Rossi.

Rossi had already closed in on Edwards, and he made his move on the inside for Coca Cola. His next target was Dovizioso, and again he closed the gap and passed in the same way, before starting to pull away. The gap from Stoner to Rossi was about 2.5s, and Valentino set a new fastest lap as he sought to get to the front. However, Casey was on form, and he was able to go quicker than the Italian and stay safely in control in the continuing rain.

Further down the leaderboard, there had been plenty of activity in the difficult conditions. From lower down the order, Guintoli, de Angelis, Vermeulen and West had been going well. Alex and Chris both got by de Puniet to head this second group, which was racing for sixth after Lorenzo’s crash. West also passed the Honda rider, but the two ahead had better pace and raced after the leaders. Third place resolved into a contest between Edwards, Dovizioso, Vermeulen and de Angelis.

By the time Rossi had secured a useful lead over this quartet, things had changed further. Coca Cola Curve saw Vermeulen overtake Dovizioso, and de Angelis also went past him at the highest elevated of the left-handers. Then Chris got by Edwards at Quickenburgkurve, the final uphill left-hander. Andrea also fell behind Colin, but they were both left behind as Vermeulen and de Angelis sped on.

Vermeulen set a couple of fastest laps before Stoner set a new mark several times, and the Suzuki man was catching Rossi in second. Half way into the race he began to get away again though, but at that time there was a lead of around four-seconds for Stoner, and he took it beyond five before easing the pace for the last few laps. In the absence of Pedrosa, the 2007 champion was in control all the way, and heavier rain towards the end made no difference as he took his third consecutive race win.

Towards the finish the gap back from Rossi to Vermeulen was a lot bigger than the one from Stoner to Rossi, but de Angelis continued to be on the tail of the Suzuki. Chris held off Alex to the end but they had both ridden well. The first four home were on Bridgestone tyres, and in fact each had opted for a medium wet front and a soft wet rear. The demise of Edwards, who crashed out as the track levels out at the Audi-Brucke left-hander, let Dovizioso back into fifth, and he was the first finisher on Michelins.

A good ride from Guintoli saw him get ahead of de Puniet, West and Capirossi to come home a clear sixth, for his best result of the season to date. Loris and Randy finished together, with the Italian ahead in seventh, whilst West dropped back and was behind Nakano. Toseland and Elías were lapped - the Spaniard having briefly blocked Rossi at one point, costing him a couple of seconds. Last finisher Hayden was two laps down, having stopped to have his rear tyre changed but still finding no grip. Melandri had crashed after setting a fastest lap but had been a long way from the front at the time.

The rain had stopped when the race finished, but its presence had been the major factor on the day. Chris Vermeulen has an exceptional record of good results in the wet and, like Guintoli and de Puniet, this meant his best result of the season so far. The same was true of Suzuki, with a place on the podium improving on two fifths previously - and coming from their worst qualifying effort. But the star performer had been Casey Stoner, who was really getting back on target with his title defence. This win came despite the fact he was feeling sick, and it was also a significant day for his country.

The first 500cc Grand Prix win for an Australian was scored by Ken Kavanagh at the Ulster in 1953. There was a bit of a wait after that, with Jack Ahearn victorious in Finland in 1964. Jack Findlay took three wins in the 1970s, but it wasn’t until the arrival of Wayne Gardner in the mid-1980s that Australian wins became regular occurrences. Kevin Magee, Daryl Beattie and Garry McCoy were winners, but it was Gardner and Mick Doohan that took the bulk of wins for their country - until Stoner in the MotoGP class. His success today took the nation to 100 wins in the top GP category.

As well as those mentioned, there was some good riding from de Angelis in the difficult conditions, as he matched his earlier outing at Mugello to take fourth with the customer Honda. In 2002, in the 125cc class, his only podium result had been at the Sachsenring, and there was another for him there in 2003. The same was true every year after that on a 250 machine, with second place in both 2005 and 2006. But meanwhile the result was also important in the championship. Stoner closed in on the two leaders, whilst Pedrosa’s exit meant that Rossi went back in front. Will they swap around again next time?

Standings after ten races: Rossi 187; Pedrosa 171; Stoner 167; Lorenzo 114; Edwards 98; Dovizioso 90; Hayden and Vermeulen 73; Toseland 65; Nakano 64; Capirossi 60; de Angelis 38.
Yamaha 216; Honda 184; Ducati 172; Suzuki 96; Kawasaki 47.


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