Repsol Honda 1 – 2 On The Podium

It was a Repsol Honda 1 – 2 on the podium, with Casey Stoner taking his 27th victory and the Championship lead in the AirAsia British Grand Prix MotoGP race with team mate Andrea Dovizioso in second. Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) rode a brilliant race with a broken collarbone, to land third on the podium.


Silverstone 2011 - MotoGP - Race - Full session
Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) lead a rainy start of the Silverstone race, chased by the two Hondas of Dovizioso and Stoner, with Marco Simoncelli on the San Carlo Honda Gresini Team Honda close behind. But Lorenzo made a mistake on the first lap, allowing the Repsol bikes to pass and clearing the way for Simoncelli to challenge the Championship leader, who passed the Mallorcan for third several corners later.


Stoner contended Dovizioso for the lead on lap two, with the Italian holding the top spot for several corners until pole position starter Stoner took over the lead from his team mate. Meanwhile, Simoncelli, who started from second position, positively hunted down the Repsol Hondas from his third position in the field until he ran wide on the 4th lap and lost the position back to Lorenzo.


With rain steadily falling and conditions worsening, Lorenzo highsided out of third position on lap 8, making the Silverstone race the first he did not finish since 2009.
This put the 25 year old Simoncelli in third position, but not content to settle for his first podium position to be a third, he pushed to pass Dovizioso until he lost the front under braking on lap ten.


Stoner stretched a gap of 15 seconds ahead of field, eventually lapping Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) and Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) with three and a half laps left in the race, the two of whom finished 11th and 12th respectively.


The surprise of the weekend came with Colin Edwards piloting his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 bike to a podium finish. The 'Texas Tornado', who broke his collarbone last week in practice at Catalunya, started from eighth on the grid to ride a consistent race. Edwards benefited from the setbacks of Lorenzo and Simoncelli, thus earning his first podium of the season.
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team), who set the fastest lap of the race, followed fellow American Edwards across the line in fourth.


Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) in fifth. Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) finished sixth, in front of Czech rider Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing).
Toni Elias made a good launch off the start, putting his LCR Honda into eighth on the first lap from his 14th grid position. The Moto2 Champion crossed the line in eighth position, with Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) in ninth and Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing) in tenth.
Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) crashed out of the race on lap 14.
source:motogp.com

Casey Stoner Biography

Name: Casey Stoner
Age: 19
DOB: 16/10/1985
Nationality: Australian
Martial Status: Single
Birthplace: Kurri-Kurri
Place of Residence: Barcelona
Height: 171cm
Weight: 58kg
First Motorcycle: Pee Wee 50

Team: Carrera Sunglasses LCR
Category: World 250cc Championship
Bike: Aprilia
Number: 27
Grand Prix Debut: Donnington 2001 - 17th
Wins: 2 - 125cc 2 - 250cc
Podiums: 10 - 125cc 2 - 250cc
Fastest laps: 3 - 125cc 0 - 250cc
Pole Positions: 2 - 125cc 1 - 250cc

Favourites
Actress: Meg Ryan
Actor: Mel Gibson
Movie: Maverick
Band: The Offspring
Car: Holden Commodore
Animal: Kangaroo
Holiday Place: Australia
Book series: Harry Potter
Character: Ronald Weasley
Race Track: Catalunya because of the variety of corners

Casey Stoner has come from a family of motorcycle fanatics, who left their hometown of Kurri-Kurri to Europe to catapult Casey into the riding industry overseas. His World championship debut was as a wildcard in the Donnington and Phillip Island rounds in 2001. He finished 17th and 12th respectively.

In 2002 he began his World Championship campaign in the 250cc class under the watchful eye and guidance of team boss and racing veteran, Lucio Ceccinello in the Salfio Carrera LCR (now known as Carrera Sunglasses LCR). He didnt do as well as he could have but a great rookie season was spent in the championship.

2003 began and he moved down to the 125cc Championship with the same team. He went alot better than when he was in the quarter-litre class, winning in Valencia and proving to be a threat in the 2004 season. Then the announcement came that Casey would be riding for the Austrian Red Bull KTM squad alongside Finland's Mika Kallio in the '04 season.

2004 proved not to be Casey's year, with a broken Clavicle (collarbone) from a practice crash at the Sachsenring circuit proved to be the downfall. He was sitting comfortably in 4th spot in the championship with a great chance of taking the crown away from other contenders, Andrea Dovizioso (later crowned champion at the Sepang circuit), Hector Barbera, and Roberto Locatelli. With his injury to the left clavicle, he couldnt race in the Sachsenring race and then the following one in Great Britain. then a disasterous 3 rounds followed, crashing out in Brno, A coming together with Simone Corsi (for which our Casey took the blame, missing a gear) and Motegi.... But in Malaysia, a twist of fate happened and he wrenched the lead of Andrea Dovizioso and won his second race in the class (Also the first win for KTM in the class). A well-deserved third (well he came equal second but was relegated to third due to the fact that Jorge Lorenzo clocked a faster time on that last lap) on his home turf at Phillip Island was amazing to watch, I was lucky to witness it in person! But in Valencia (the site of his first win) he wasnt as lucky, crashing out.

in 2005, he re-appeared in the 250cc category and immediately took it to reigning champion Dani Pedrosa, sitting in a comfortable 3rd place in the opening round in Jerez.