Hayden takes pole at Australia to "STOP THE BLEEDING".

[turbo_v12]

While all riders are out for his blood, and seem to eat away at his champoinship lead, Nicky Hayden has taken provisional pole at Phillip Island today to "stop the bleeding".

Hayden was 2/10ths of a second in front of Japanese Shinya Nakano and Valentino Rossi. Rossi, who loves this track had almost taken pole if he hadn't run wide moments before his hot lap.

Nicky Hayden has beem dissatisfied with HRC this year, facing clutch problems and tyre issues in Brno, after he was made to ride an all new RC211V with a new chassis, though he was more comfortable with the new one.

Valentino Rossi has literally owned this track from 2000 onwards and says this track is magic for him, and the only rider apart from him to win on this track in this decade being in the then premier 500cc 2-stroke class.

Local boy Casey Stoner on his first appearance in Australia on a MOTOGP bike is 7th, while Pedrossa, after suffering from an injury last weekend in 10th.

This is the recipe for a great Sunday morning. Sit back, and enjoy the fun.

[devsus]

let's wait and watch..........who will win. if evrything remains fine for rossi then probability are very high for rossi to win (**NOTE: HE HAS TO WIN **)

[F50]

What time is the race tomorrow?

[turbo_v12]

MOTOGP starts 7:30 am IST....As usual, we have the 125s, the 250s and then the premier class.

[turbo_v12]

Nicky Hayden got a big let off at Phillip Island when rain came down and convrted his 12th place to a 5th. From pole, Hayden had a pathetic start to 16th while Nakano took the lead and Rossi 10th.
Rossi then stormed through the pack, again making small work of Pedrossa and climbing when the rain came down and he started losing grip. Here is where Rossi was delayed while changing bikes and emerged from the pits 8th and Hayden was 9th.
From here, Chris Vermeulen and then Marco Melandri overtook the leader Sete Gibernau, the latter ultimately taking the race win, while Aussie Vermeulen took a well deserved 2nd.
Rossi went through a hard fought battle, and painstakingly climbed to 4th in the last lap, and then snatched the final step on th podium from Sete Gibernau - whom everyone thought 3rd place would go to - on the last bend, with Hayden 5th and local Casey Stoner 6th.
The person to suffer the most was Dani Pedrossa, who was clearly uncomfortable riding in the wet, and he was lapped by all the front runners.

In the 250s, Jorge Lorenzo took the win again to consolidate his championship lead, while Alvaro Bautista took the 125s world championship after the race was red flagged yet again due to some horrendous crashes.

Though we all know how good THE DOCTOR actually is, the difference betn him and Hayden is now 21 points with just 3 races to go. If Hayden does not have at least 1 hopeless race, Lucky Nicky might just be crowned World Champion this year....

[BunnyPunia]

what a show!!!!

"Marco Melandri has won the first ever motorcycle grand prix to feature rain-induced Bike changes, after a dramatic Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island.

The victory was Melandri's third of the season, but first since he suffered serious injuries at the start of June's Catalan Grand Prix and propelled the Italian to joint third in the championship on a day when title favourites Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi failed to lead a single lap.

After perfectly dry 125 and 250cc races, the start of the planned 27 lap MotoGP main event was delayed by ten minutes when drops of rain began falling on the grid. It was hoped that the delay would either result in the rain clearing, or becoming heavier, but in reality the uncertain weather situation was more or less the same when the red lights went out to start what was now a 26 lap challenge - with all riders remaining on slicks.

Hayden and Rossi, first and third on the grid, failed to get a good getaway, leaving second placed Shinya Nakano to rocket his Kawasaki into an early lead - which the Japanese had built to 2.5secs over the equally fast starting Colin Edwards by the end of lap one.

Nakano continued to confidently build his lead as the rain drops became heavier - then turned into a full rain shower with five laps gone. Prior to the 2005 season, such weather would have resulted in the race being stopped and restarted, but since the beginning of last season the rules state that the race will continue and riders can instead pull into the pits and switch to a machine fitted with wet or intermediate tyres, as and when they see fit. That new rule had never been fully tested, until today.

The first riders to pit were tail enders James Ellison and Jose Luis Cardoso, who switched to bikes fitted with a full wet weather set-up on lap six, but the front runners were naturally more cautious and it took until lap eight - by which time the rain was pouring down - for the majority of riders, with the notable exception of Nakano, to pit.

At the time of those pit stops Nakano held a five-second lead over Gibernau, with Rossi - who had dropped back to tenth on the first lap - in third ahead of Melandri, Suzuki's John Hopkins, local stars Casey Stoner and Chris Vermeulen, while Nakano's team-mate Randy de Puniet, Tech 3's Carlos Checa and Ducati's Loris Capirossi completed the top ten.

Nakano was ultimately punished for his extra lap and lost the lead to Gibernau when the Japanese rejoined the circuit at the start of lap ten. Gibernau, like Ducati Marlboro team-mate Capirossi, were considered to have the strongest dry race pace during practice - but had been hampered by qualifying tyre problems that left them just 12th and 13th on the grid.

Nevertheless, Sete had charged up to fourth by the end of lap one, then reached second position a lap later, but he wasn't able to threaten fellow Bridgestone rider Nakano until the pit stop. Shinya slipped further down the order as he familiarised himself with the wet weather ZX-RR, ending his podium challenge, while Melandri and Vermeulen were heading very much in the other direction.

Vermeulen, who only made his MotoGP debut at Phillip Island one year ago for Camel Honda, had - like Rizla Suzuki team-mate John Hopkins - struggled badly in qualifying, but the former WSBK star had proven his wet weather worth with pole position in Turkey and the rain played right into his hands: By lap thirteen, the halfway point, Vermeulen was Gibernau's nearest rival, with lead Michelin rider Melandri a close third as the top three began to pull away from the rest of the pack, consisting of Stoner, Nakano, Hayden, Rossi, Capirossi, Checa and de Puniet.

Gibernau initially resisted his young challengers, but a brief lull in the rain caused a clear dry line to develop - prompting Checa to make the ill-fated decision to pit for intermediates and accelerating Sete's tyre wear. Gibernau was soon seen riding off line to try and cool his increasingly sliding tyres, a symptom Vermeulen and particularly Melandri appeared far less troubled by.

Marco stole second position from Vermeulen under braking for the Honda hairpin on lap 15, and then destroyed Gibernau's 1.2 second advantage to simply ride around the Spaniard and into the lead a lap later. Thereafter, Melandri disappeared into the distance and held a near ten-second lead by the time he intentionally torched his rear tyre, with one hand waving to the crowd, as he arrived onto the start/finish straight for final time.

Meanwhile, Vermeulen had passed Gibernau soon after Melandri, but was unable to escape and a thrilling finale saw both Bridgestone riders caught by the charging Michelin trio of Rossi, Hayden and Stoner. Vermeulen clung to his debut MotoGP podium, and Suzuki's first since the 2005 British Grand Prix, by less than one-second at the chequered flag, but Gibernau - his wet weather tyres by now barely recognisable - lost third to Rossi on the run to the line when the reigning world champion blasted past the #15 out of the final turn.

Third position meant much more than a podium for Rossi since, against expectation, he had been unable to shake Hayden for much of the race. Nicky dropped back to a potentially disastrous 16th on lap one, but fought his way up to ninth - directly behind Rossi - after the pit stops.

Thereafter, the two title rivals remained locked together - despite swapping positions several times - as they worked their way towards the front. The last lap began with Hayden still in Rossi's wheeltracks, reducing Hayden's championship damage to a minimum... until Rossi dropped Gibernau between them to take five points, rather than two, from the American's ever shrinking championship lead. But, given Hayden's pre-race grip problems, it could have been far worse.

The #69 now holds a 21 point advantage over Rossi, with three rounds and 75 points to go, with Rossi having demoted Hayden's Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa back from second position to joint third with Melandri, 32 points from the top.

Rookie Pedrosa had struggled with his Sepang injuries throughout practice and the wet weather then reduced him to a mere backmarker as the 20-year-old finished 15th and one lap down. Another potential title contender to suffer was Capirossi, who crossed the line seventh and has slipped to 45 points behind Hayden as a result, effectively ending his 2006 title challenge.

However, few will doubt that Capirossi, Ducati and Bridgestone will be a major force to contend with in next weekend's Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi, a race they took victory at one year ago.

Surprisingly, given the weather conditions and Bike changes, Checa and Edwards were the only non-finishers, although the American was in visible discomfort after falling heavily from sixth position on lap eight."

Source : http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/17092006/...ap-motogp.html

[devsus]

Originally Posted by turbo_v12

. If Hayden does not have at least 1 hopeless race, Lucky Nicky might just be crowned World Champion this year....

my bro u are very right, if world championship tittle goes to nicky then it will be only by luck ( kaash aisa luck rossi ka hota( this time), aaj ki race ne to rossi ko tabha hi kar diya..................kanha 12-14 points rossi kam kar leta...( before rain )par nahi "god" ko kaha manjoor hai.....waise kehtey hai " fortune favours brave" par yaha to sub kuch ulta he ho raha hai, har petra ulta ho raha hai ab to dil toot ne laga hai.... upar se hayden ne aaj rossi pe " overtaking under yellow flag" ka illjam laga ke condition ko " even worse" rossi ke liye kar diya, agar yeh baat such ho gayee to " rossi will be penalized atleast 5 sec" aur agar yeh sub kuch ho gaya to.....bhaiya ram..ram rossi ke tittle chance khataee me chale jaeygay....phir to "god" bhi aa ke kuch nahi kar payegay..............) in nutshell " luck ho to nicky hayden jaisa"...................next race will be in japan where mighty honda can't be beaten atleast by yamaha, so overall very lucky time for hayden....

[ranjan united]

After a long time the MotoGP championship has become so close. Pls O Pls I pray Rossi wins it somehow.

[devsus]

Originally Posted by ranjan united

After a long time the MotoGP championship has become so close. Pls O Pls I pray Rossi wins it somehow.

let's pray to "god" plz...plz...help rossi he is doing whatever he can do ( "only he can") what u ( the god) is not helping or even favouring him.......what's the deal....i don't know.......but the guy who is enjoying ( pancho ungeliya ghee mein) is definately nicky hayden --" THE *******"

** NOTE: sorry guys, but i can't stop myself .....plz...forgive me for the words which i have used**

[turbo_v12]

Interesting facts after the Phillip Island race:

1. Dani Pedrossa's loss of form here has been attributed to a too-soft wet rear tyre, which ran out of grip almost as soon as 2 laps wer over.

2. REPSOL HONDA are not happy about the fact that Valentino Rossi overtook Gibernau and Pedrossa under what seemed a yellow flag. Nicky Hayden and HRC took this matter up with race officials but there was no change in the outcome. Of course, this won't please THE DOCTOR.
Apparntly, everyone in HRC including Makoto Tamada is talking abt this. Seems like HRC has instructed the riders to do so in the open.

3. Motegi is not one of Rossi's favourite tracks...he finished 2nd in 2004, but crashed out taking Melandri with him in 2005. Ducati will be looking to repeat last year's performance here, and so will Pedrossa.

Lots more updates still to follow.