2011 MotoGP
This weekend’s round at Sachsenring in Germany will end the first half of 2011 MotoGP Championship.
Heading into Round 9, Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner has a 19-point lead over Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo.
Stoner has won four of eight rounds so far this MotoGP season, his last victory arriving Silverstone (round 6). Out of those eight rounds, he had one DNF due to the controversial crash involving Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi.
Besides having the MotoGP point advantage over Lorenzo, Stoner also has won at the track (2008, Ducati), and finished third there last year.
As for the reigning Champion, whose victory in the previous Mugello round gave him 37 overall GP victories, he has never won at Sachsenring. But Lorenzo has finished second there for the past two years.
The final man to have over 100 points in the MotoGP Championship so far is Stoner’s teammate, Andrea Dovizioso. The Italian, who has finished in the top three for the past three rounds, has never tasted victory or the podium at Sachsenring. He currently has 133 points heading into Germany.
In fourth with 91 points the man who is most victorious at Sachsenring’s newly rebuilt circuit (1998) – Valentino Rossi. VR46 has five wins across all classes at Sachsenring, and finished fourth there last season.
And the Germany MotoGP will be extra special for Valentino Rossi. When Rossi races on Sunday, it’ll be his 250th Grand Prix.
Fourteen points behind Rossi is his Ducati teammate, Nicky Hayden. The Kentucky Kid has a three-point advantage over fellow American Ben Spies on the Yamaha Factory Racing M1.
Last year’s winner, Dani Pedrosa, returned last round in Mugello after a three-race haitus due to breaking his shoulder in yet another controversial crash with Marco Simoncelli at Le Mans. The Spaniard placed his RC212V in eighth, and will be looking to return to his post-crash podiums (he finished third in Qatar, second in Jerez, and first in Portugal).
Rounding out the top ten in points is Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) with 56 points, and Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3) with 53.
2011 Sachsenring MotoGP TV Schedule
SPEED TV will broadcast the Germany GP at 8 a.m. (EDT) Sunday, July 17, and reply the race at 4 p.m.
2011 MotoGP Point Standings (after eight of 18 rounds)
1. Casey STONER Honda AUS 152
2. Jorge LORENZO Yamaha SPA 133
3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Honda ITA 119
4. Valentino ROSSI Ducati ITA 91
5. Nicky HAYDEN Ducati USA 77
6. Ben SPIES Yamaha USA 74
7. Dani PEDROSA Honda SPA 69
8. Hiroshi AOYAMA Honda JPN 56
9. Colin EDWARDS Yamaha USA 53
10. Marco SIMONCELLI Honda ITA 50
11. Hector BARBERA Ducati SPA 44
12. Karel ABRAHAM Ducati CZE 37
13. Toni ELIAS Honda SPA 35
14. Cal CRUTCHLOW Yamaha GBR 32
15. Alvaro BAUTISTA Suzuki SPA 30
16. Loris CAPIROSSI Ducati ITA 22
17. Randy DE PUNIET Ducati FRA 12
18. John HOPKINS Suzuki USA 6
19. Kousuke AKIYOSHI Honda JPN 3
