Drouin Counter Lunch Sunday 26th September, 2004

Oz Racers around the World - May 2006

Moto GP - Donington 2-7-2006

From pole position, Pedrosa was second into the first corner and immediately began looking for a way past early leader Marco Melandri. On lap four of 30 the reigning 250cc world champion dived inside the Italian at the Melbourne hairpin, only to run wide and narrowly avoid an accident.

"My start was good and then I pushed really hard and tried to get past Marco but it was not so easy. When I tried to overtake I braked but I couldn't stop the machine so I was getting closer and closer to him and he was about to turn in. I was saying, 'please leave room!' and luckily he did," admitted Dani afterwards. Having settled back into his rhythm, Pedrosa eventually took the lead with an elegant move into McLeans corner six laps later and quickly opened up a comfortable gap which he controlled to the end of the race. In a display of total dominance, Pedrosa repeated his performance from the Chinese Grand Prix earlier in the season by taking pole position, the fastest lap - by 0.45secs - and the British Grand Prix win.

Pedrosa's victory now moves him within 26 points of his team-mate and championship leader, Nicky Hayden, who could only manage seventh on Sunday, with eight rounds still to go.

Having qualified a dry career best of second, Chris Vermeulen remained in the lead pack during the early part of Sunday's British Grand Prix - before disaster struck at the halfway stage of the 30 laps.

"The start of the race was ok. I knew I had a hard race tyre and I was quite comfortable where I was in the pack," began Chris. "Colin went past me and he went a little deep so I tried to go up the inside of him but he turned the bike back in and I had nowhere to go. I went over and bent the handlebar into the frame so I had to come into the garage and get the bike fixed up." The Rizla Suzuki rider then re-joined the race but the gap to the other riders was too great and, although he gave chase, the MotoGP rookie was unable to get into a point scoring position and crossed the line in 16^th.

1. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team
2. Valentino Rossi ITA Camel Yamaha Team
3. Marco Melandri ITA Fortuna Honda
4. Casey Stoner AUS Honda LCR
5. Kenny Roberts Jr USA Team Roberts
6. Colin Edwards USA Camel Yamaha Team
7. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team
8. John Hopkins USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
9. Loris Capirossi ITA Ducati Marlboro Team
10. Carlos Checa SPA Tech 3 Yamaha
11. Makoto Tamada JPN Konica Minolta Honda
12. Randy de Puniet FRA Kawasaki Racing Team
13. Alex Hofmann GER Ducati Marlboro Team
14. James Ellison GBR Tech 3 Yamaha 46min
15. Jose Luis Cardoso SPA Pramac d'Antin MotoGP

16. Chris Vermulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

AMA

Six-times AMA Superbike Champion, Mat Mladin, posted the first 100mph average lap at Miller Motorsports Park on Friday, June 16.The Australian steered his Yoshimura Suzuki around the brand new venue in a best time of 1min 50.091secs for an average speed of 100.063 mph (160 km/h.

Miller Motorsports general manager Alan Wilson then presented Mladin with a cheque of $1,000 for being the first rider to average over 100mph. Mladin will donate the money to a charity.

World Superbikes – Misano 25-6-2006

Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) rode to his eighth straight win of the 2006 season before falling in race two, during an exceptionally dramatic race deservedly won by Yamaha Motor Italia rider Andrew Pitt. James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) was second. With Troy Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) suffering a fall and retirement in the opener, Bayliss extended his championship lead significantly.

Corser was to also fall while leading race two, and drop from second in the table to fourth. Bayliss scored only four points for 12^th in race two but still commands a handsome lead. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) is now second, with Bayliss on 254, Haga 160, James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 157 and Corser an unchanged 149.

Race One: The first of two 25-lap races was held in temperatures of 28°C, and was taken in convincing style by Bayliss, running clear of early leader and eventual second place man Toseland on lap 11. The winning margin was almost seven seconds. Toseland's shadow, Corser, fell out of contention on lap 16, losing the front once more. Yukio Kagayama's strong third place on his Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra machine was his first podium finish of the 2006 season.

Race Two: The second race saw all three of the previous race winners in 2006 so far, Corser, Bayliss and Toseland, either crash or run off the track while in podium positions. None could do much about the race long pace of Pitt, who scored his first ever World Superbike win in fine front-running style. Alex Barros (Klaffi Honda) was the best Honda rider in race two, second, despite an atrocious start, in contrast to his slick start in race one. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) had to give his all to beat Chris Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) to the final podium slot after a classic man-to-man battle in the latter stages.

Corser fell again, on lap eight, while leading Pitt. Barros scored fourth in race one, ahead of Haga and 2005 double race winner Regis Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) one of a few riders who used a smaller width race tyre.