by Nico Cereghini

We expected great things from Corsi and Iannone in Moto2 and, in fact, everything appeared to be going well for Simone Corsi who took a great pole position at Aragon. In the race however, after an excellent start, he only managed to cross the line in seventh even if only 4 seconds behind the winner. Andrea Iannone came home fourth, eight hundredths of a second off the podium. It was a shame for the Italian riders, almost ironic after having been the absolute stars and the honour went to the two Spaniards who have been dominating the 2012 World Championship Series. This time Pol Espargaro beat Marquez who slightly slowed because of the duel between Redding (third) and Iannone. Pol rode brilliantly even though his bike was slower than his rival's that was the fastest down the long straights in Aragon. Espargaro certainly deserved this third win of the season but Marc has won seven of them... Corti who was very good in practice came home ninth.

Round 14 of the Series was hampered by the bad weather that plagued the first two days. The skies finally cleared on the Sunday morning but the low temperature penalised those who had been unable to find the right setting. In the MotoGP event, Jorge Lorenzo did what he could to limit the damage but couldn't keep up with Dani Pedrosa who was riding a perfectly set up RCV. At the moment the Honda is superior and Pedrosa is still in a good shape Dovi was third for the sixth time this year following a spectacular battle with his team mate who finished fourth ahead of an unhopeful Ben Spies. Stefan Bradl unfortunately fell when he was in a superb third position while Nicky Hayden was already out of the race after a big crash: on the fourth lap he hit the barrier after recovering from a slide. Fortunately the American Ducati rider wasn't hurt but the way he flew over the wall was alarming and, as Uncini later admitted, perhaps the barriers need to be looked at to improve safety.

Rossi's race was doomed from the first lap. He was ninth and was passing Rea when the English rider moved to the outside of the track to take his line. Vale admitted the mistake. He should have attacked from the other side but instead ran wide to avoid the impact and came back on to the track in twentieth place. He fought his way back up to eighth place but it was by no means the result it could have been. Both Yamaha and Honda have recently carried out tests on this track with very promising results. A little like what happened at Misano but there the advantage was with Ducati. “As for getting back on to the podium, let's see what happens at Motegi" said Valentino in a post race interview, "I like the track and the grip there is ideal for my bike”.

In Moto3, Vinales dropped out during the warm up lap with mechanical problems. The race was an epic event with thirteen riders in single file fighting for the win and podium places. Luis Salom had a fantastic day and beat Sandro Cortese again as well as a very feisty Jonas Folger. Salom is the true revelation of this second half of the season. In the last four rounds he has collected ninety points, two wins and two seconds, better than anyone else. Again at Aragon he displayed both class and clear thinking. He now lies second in the class standings 51 points behind the almost crowned champion Cortese. Romano Fenati went out with mechanical problems when he was up with the leaders, Antonelli finished tenth and Tonucci came home twelfth.

by Nico Cereghini

The transfer to Germany was not without problems: the appalling weather affected nearly all the practice sessions, made work on the bikes very complicated and, as a result, very few of the riders had their machines set up as they would have liked. The Honda HRCs were the exception to the rule. What a lesson for Yamaha! Lorenzo finished second, 15 seconds behind the winner Pedrosa and the Yamaha team will no doubt be asking questions about what the unexpected lesson means. Dani Pedrosa had his sights set on Stoner who led from the second to the eighteenth lap and who had every appearance of repeating his win at Assen. Instead, the Spanish rider refused to let his team mate pull away then launched an attack on lap nineteen and took the lead. The pair continued to fight until, with the chequered flag in sight, Casey made a final attempt to take control of the race and fell: The Australian was out of it. Now Jorge Lorenzo unexpectedly leads the MotoGP standings with a lead of 14 points over Pedrosa and 20 on Stoner.

Behind the leaders, the ever-consistent Andrea Dovizioso was happy to show his rivals the rear of his leathers: those with this view were Ben Spies, an excellent Stefan Bradl and Valentino Rossi right behind him in sixth position and only eight seconds off the podium. Hayden finished tenth and Petrucci seventeenth. Pasini was an early faller and Pirro went out with mechanical problems. The Ducatis appeared to be in fairly good shape and also to be making progress in the dry. Rossi prevailed on his team mates by fighting with Bradl on a level par. Do the results from Sachsenring really reflect the true situation or were they just the outcome of a somewhat unusual GP for the reasons stated above? We'll certainly find out more at Mugello.

Marc Marquez delivered a peerless performance to win in Moto2 with Pol Espargaro forced to start from far back on the grid following disastrous qualifying. Andrea Iannone was up with the front runners but unfortunately lost the front end and went into the gravel. He was able to rejoin the race but finished out of the points. Alex De Angelis put up a great fight with the Spanish rider but was passed by Kallio and finished in third place on the podium. Pol managed to come home in fourth place, the result of a magnificent come back from a lowly position on the grid. He is now second in the standings, 43 points behind the leader Marquez who has already won four races out of eight. Luthi came home fifth with Simone Corsi behind him.

The Moto3 race rounded off the day. The start was delayed due to a downpour and run in the wet. Cortese won the race while Viñalles had a disastrous race, as did Fenati. Masbou came home second with Salom in third. Niccolò Antonelli, again the best of the Italian riders, finished in a lowly twelfth position. The results from the Italian riders are very different from what we expected following the first few races of 2012. Let's hope that we can put things right at Mugello.

by Nico Cereghini

Jorge Lorenzo's run of successes not only came to a halt but was actually demolished when he was knocked down by Bautista, who definitely took a long entry into the first curve of the Dutch Grand Prix. The world leader was consumed by anger: not even one of the 25 points he had over Stoner remains, and the two riders have an even score.

The seventh race of MotoGP 2012 gave a new boost to Casey Stoner's chances. Even if he took a heavy fall during the pre-race practice and was evidently walking with a limp, he cut Dani Pedrosa down to size once more, unable as he is to win even on a friendly track. The race clearly emphasised Andrea Dovizioso's progress, taking him to the standing as number one Yamaha rider and back onto the podium. Behind Spies, in fourth place, was a total void.

Stefan Bradl, brilliant during the practice and who started well, unfortunately fell back during the first part of the race. It could have been a fairly good race for the Ducati, but it all went wrong. Valentino had to make a pit stop to change his defective rear tyre that had broken into pieces, and completed the race thirteenth. Nicky Hayden who started the race close to Valentino, finished in sixth place in front of Barbera, 31 seconds after Stoner. Michele Pirro, Mattia Pasini and Danilo Petrucci made a good showing, respectively finishing ninth, tenth and eleventh place on a track that penalized the CRTs a little less than usual. And the three Italian riders gave it their all.

The other two races were even more spectacular. In Moto 3 Niccolò Antonelli gave a false illusion when he sprinted from the front row with the third best time. Then he got entangled at the tail end of the group of leaders, lost ground, recovered once again and then took a spill. Four riders gave it their best shot and Vinalles won easily, outdistancing Cortese, Kent and Salom, all enclosed in only twelve thousandths of a second. It was an extraordinary photo finish. Romano Fenati placed twelfth.

It was a sensational race for Andrea Iannone in Moto 2. He ran alone in the lead of the race, leaving everyone behind to wrestle it out and appeared to be the strongest. A number of falls took away Luthi first, then Pol Espargaro (when he was leader of the race at the onset), and then even Simone Corsi who was going fast. The usual Marquez, astride his bike of superior performance, emerged from the group in the final race. He caught up with Andrea and following a lively duel and a few close contacts, completed the last lap to win with four tenths of advantage. Redding took third place ahead of Rabat, De Angelis with the new, just fitted frame, and then Smith.

The next race is in a week, in Germany.