Donington *spoilers*

[x_dt]

QUALIFYING

MotoGP: http://images.motograndprix.com/mult...291/291815.jpg
1 Rossi, 2 Giberneau, 3 Capirossi, 4 Bayliss, 5 Edwards
First 2 no surprise though by this year's standards the Ducatis have come on strong.

250cc: http://images.motograndprix.com/mult...291/291978.jpg
1 de Angelis, 2 Porto, 3 Aoyama, 4 Pedrosa, 5 de Puniet
First pole for Alex de Angelis; Hiroshi Aoyama's best qualifying by far this season. Chaz Davies best of British in 12th.

125cc: http://images.motograndprix.com/mult...291/291726.jpg
1 Dovizioso, 2 Barbera, 3 Kallio, 4 Corsi, 5 Ui
No surprise to see Andrea Dovizioso on pole; Mika Kallio and Dovizioso's team-mate Simone Corsi have their best qualifying by far this year.


WEATHER FORECAST
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ukweather/
According to some forecasts there will be rain/drizzle moving south across England tomorrow/Sunday so the possibility of rain affecting the races must be quite high.


PREDICTIONS

MotoGP: Rossi-Giberneau-Edwards

250cc: Porto-Pedrosa-Aoyama (with de Angelis 4th). Aoyama to win if it rains (going by his few racing laps in Jerez).

125cc: Dovizioso-Locatelli-Kallio

[Bleu]

For dry:
125:
Barbera-Dovizioso-Kallio
250:
Porto-Pedrosa-de Angelis
MotoGP:
Rossi-Gibernau-Biaggi

For wet:
125
Jenkner-Simoncelli-Bautista
250
West-Aoyama-de Puniet
MotoGP:
Gibernau-Barros-Rossi

[ASCII Man]

MotoGP:
Barros-Rossi-Sete

250:
Pedrosa-Porto-de Puniet

125:
Barbera-Locatelli-Dovizioso

[Emma]

MotoGP [dry]
1. Rossi
2. Melandri
3. Hayden

MotoGP [wet]
1. Gibernau
2. Edwards
3. Xaus

250cc [dry]
1. Pedrosa
2. El�*as
3. Guintoli

250cc [wet]
1. Porto
2. Pedrosa
3. Aoyma

125cc [dry]
1. Barberá (GO HÉCTOR GO!!!)
2. Locatelli
3. Bautista (GO ÁLVARO GO!!!)

125cc [wet]
1. Kallio
2. Dovizioso
3. Barberá (C'MON HÉCTOR BABY!!!)

(haha, as you can see, I'm a big Seedorf fan )

[f1manoz]

Impressions of qualifying:

No surprise in the first two but it's a wonderful surprise to see both Ducati so strong. Well done to Loris and Troy for putting both bikes up the pointy end. Even Edwards has done better than expected, but Max down in eighth must be wondering what's gone wrong since last week!

de Angelis superb, same with Aoyama. Westy in 8th! Please, someone give the guy a bloody works bike!!!

As for the 125s, Corsi is a major shock while Kallio is putting his KTM where it should be. About time Mika!

Race Predictions:

Well, for MotoGP I'm hoping Sete at least stays on the bike to begin with, and secondly I hope he wins to keep the championship in sight. He's ridden well all season except the past two races and needs a good result to get his season on track. Biaggi should be able to ride through the field to at least get good points and once again I think Barros could spring a surprise. He's been on top form of late and has started to gel with his machine. If it's wet, I think Sete will take it easily as his ability in the wet exceeds anyone.

In the 250s, it's impossible to look past Pedrosa. The kid's a freak and will probably win by a mile again. But de Puniet is consistent while Porto is fast so they should challenge. I'm hoping de Angelis can at least get a podium to back up his pole position. If it's wet, hard to look past Rolfo. The guy is brilliant when conditions are tricky.

As usual, the 125s are really impossible to predict. Dovizioso has been consistent, but inconsistent if you catch my drift. Locatelli will be competitive anywhere you go, while Kallio has improved a lot of late and hopefully should at least stay with the front group. Hard to look past Barbera in the dry - in the wet, Jenkner and Simoncelli will excel.

[f1manoz]

Thoughts:

Valentino Rossi - Basically start-to-flag victory. It was almost too easy, rarely pressured and did what he needed to win. Superb job and opens up the gap in the championship.

Colin Edwards - Answers his critics with a superb ride. Up into fourth in the championship. Now he has to keep doing this but he should keep his ride.

Sete Gibernau - After two falls, keeps the bike on the black stuff. Probably disappointed to be third, but it's more points in the kitty.

Troy Bayliss - Ducati are starting to return to form and Bayliss put in a top-draw ride, apart from a scary off at Craner! Capirossi was disappointing but at least Ducati look to be closing the gap.

John Hopkins - Puts his Suzuki in the top ten again.

Camel Honda - Biaggi 12th, Tamada 14th. What on earth went on there??? Shocking performance and Biaggi is now equal second with Sete.

Other points:

Abe needs to really improve in qualifying. If he'd do better there, he wouldn't have to ride through the field every weekend!

D'Antin were impressive enough with both bikes finishing in the points. Hodgson finally got the better of Xaus.

[Dani Filth]

Superb Rossi . . WTF happend to Camel Honda ??\
to bad Abe crashed after a nice second half
finally Edwards shows what everybody was expecting of him

[ASCII Man]

The Texas Tornado is back!

And at least i predicted the 250cc results right.

[Emma]

PEÑA ÁLVARO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YESSSSS!!!!

[PaulSands]

I've posted a few images..they aren't the best as I was perched rather precarioulsy on a rail and it somewhat limited my panning ability and caused a lot of wobble, plus I'm more used to cars
http://paulsands.org/motogp/motogp.html

[Hazza]

No lengthy thoughts for me just - "Texas tornado in the house"

Love the post race interview: "Up yours, I'm back and i'm ready!"

[gomick]

fonsi nieto beat ant west - great ride to 6th for westy though
go troy - bout bleeding time, lucky save though....

congrats to rossi again, great ride by colin edwards

looks like the 125/250 world titles could almost have been settled at donington....

[Emma]

Originally posted by gomick
[B]fonsi nieto beat ant west

What's wrong with Fonsi?? I think he's a great rider
(not to mention a buff body! )

[TheMan]

Great to see Edwards on the podium for first time in Motogp. Hope there is more to come. Also great to see him take some valuable points for the championship away from his teammate. I would say Giberneau is out of the championship and Biaggi`s result was quite humerous. Go Rossi you are the man. 2004 World Champion.

[Emma]

Biaggi's result was quite humerous??
Man, it was deadly hillrious!!

And still, my question is still buzzing:
What's wrong with Fonsi Nieto! My sweetie deserves a bit of praising!!

[gomick]

i like seeing ant west beat him on such an inferior bike
fonsi just doesnt seem to be riding like he was in 2002, but hey, he is a gp winner and has repsol backing and a factory aprilia and is getting his butt kicked by sebas porto
just fooling with you Em

[asha]

I have to say i was a big Neito fan last year, but he has seriously gone off the boil.
And the fact that he ran west off line to steal a podium(3th) is pretty pathetic, his bike is so much better then West's its silly.

The 2 couldn't be more different, nieto is very very well paid, has a huge motorhome and has all the best machinery. While west rides for no money on a 3 year old bike (actually I believe it is the same bike that Loca used in 2000). Last year he only had one bike and managed a win and a few podiums.

So to answer your question Emma, the fact that they are fighting for the same track position week in week out is somewhat ridiculous. Out of the races where both finished I think that west has beaten fonzi 4 times out of 7.

So it begs the question, how well could West go on Neito's bike?