Valencia MotoGP

The countdown to the final race of the season is upon us. Welcome to

Valencia and another memorable year of MotoGP. The title has already

been decided in favour of Jorge Lorenzo. It is a case of the

shackles being off today. The battle for fifth is still very much

salvage something from a disaster has two years at it Ducati before

Another big gamble from the Italian as he steps back into the garage

owned by a double world champion and the greatest Spanish rider of

Congratulations, coming back to Spain as world champion and the

greatest Spanish rider in the premier class. How does it feel? I

am proud of. I have got even more satisfaction. The looking back over

the season it seems there was a real confidence about you and the

am a have? Yes. Compared to last year our performance and activity,

from the beginning we saw that we wanted more. We were closer to the

other guys. Much closer than previously. We felt that something

could be done. From the first six late -- races, a 25 point League.

Then it is suddenly cut right out. I finished second or third in the

qualifying, but then on Sunday 100 or 200 metres later I finished on

the ground. I did not understand what was happening. Her I thought I

was dreaming. The bike was on fire, so I ran. What was going through

your head? The championship is over. No points. I thought, the

championship is over. One of the most impressive things about you is

your mental strength throughout the seasons. How do you keep so strong

mentally? Firstly, learning from experience. Learning from the past.

I got into MotoGP in 2008, and I was fast from the beginning. But I

crashed many times. I made a lot of mistakes from not knowing my limit.

In 2009 Valentino was very strong. Maybe I could not fight more with

him for the championship. Then I started to know my limit. You do

not have to play for the championship, so I guess you can go

for it this weekend? It is not the same to compete without the

pressure of the world championship. You do not have any pressure.

Hopefully a great race this weekend. I think so. Casey Stoner, for sure

he will try to leave these championships in the best way

possible. For me, I have nothing to lose and I would like to fight for

a win. Good luck in the race. pressure really off the top three.

Not just those three, with the conditions we have got, there could

be a few surprises at the front. is going to be very difficult.

People will be praying for it not to be dry because they are really

struggling. Valentino Rossi was right up there in the last race.

is horrible. The guys will be looking into the sky trying to

establish what will happen. Fate is in between wet and dry. It would be

a bit cool starting on slicks, winter? There are so many gambles

in this weather. One of them his advisers. They have to worry about

misting up. This is a double-glazed system that a lot of the helmets

have now. A we do not want anyone to come off in the final race of

the season. They have all got their own reasons to want to sign off for

this race with a victory. His Jorge Lorenzo a worthy champion? I think

he has got to prove it to himself. I am sure he is a worthy champion.

When your worst result is that the second, then absolutely, he is

brilliant. He will not want to spend the winter thinking, I never

really got on top of Dani Pedrosa. He wants to take that box. He will

also want to look at that position which says first. It has been

difficult for him, but today I am looking forward to the race. Local

pride at stake as well. The Lorenzo certainly looking relaxed this

weekend with the pressure off. There will be more pressure, but

truthfully I think Jorge Lorenzo will have the measure of Valentino.

I am just trying to work out what he put in your ear! I think he will

have the upper hand. He is going to go out there and I believe he will

beat Valentino Rossi. It is a gamble for Valentino, it was a

gamble for him to go to Ducati, but perhaps a bigger one to go back to

the lion's den? Absolutely. If it does not work on a Yamaha, that is

down to Valentino. Absolutely. There is no-one else to blame us.

Valentino has said countless times, I hope I can do it. We all hope he

can do it. He is 39 years old, he has broken his leg, let's hope he

has the magic. The conditions are right for him. We changes are

coming in next year and in 2014, but there was an announcement last

night, it looks like things will be levelled up more for next season.

By 2014 there will be just the one class, and really the penalty with

the factory teams, if they want to use their own software they have

got to go down to 20 litres. Trying to do it on 20 litres will be

difficult, plus they will cut back to five engines. The benefit will

be people buying motorcycles. Everyone buying motorcycles will

benefit from it. We have seen before, Scott Redding getting

punished because he is 17 kilos heavier. From next year it is going

to be rider and bike combined, that will be fantastic. You have always

campaigned for the larger man! is great for Scott Redding because

he is a big guy. Dani Pedrosa never had any problems with his weight

and put on an excellent performance in qualifying yesterday. He called

it the perfect day, and I think that is absolutely fair. He was

stunned himself by the time. surface has helped him, but his

form in the latter part of the year, you have got to feel for him. I

think the championship would have come down to this race if he had

not fallen off. What he does not want to be is the best rider never

to have been world champion. Dani Pedrosa will look to sign off with

a win, and so will Casey Stoner. If you're a Valentino Rossi fan it

would be when number 46 for Casey Stoner, but it was when number 45 a

that put the shine on a MotoGP Looking back on your MotoGP career,

you could not have planned it much better. Retiring after six years

with two World Championships. can always envisioned things going

a little differently. I would have hoped to to have had more success

than what we did. I can safely say I am proud of my career, of what

myself and my team have done. In such a short time we have achieved

a lot. What is your strongest memory of Casey Stoner's MotoGP

career? The first race he won. Different bike, it different tyre,

everything was new. But for him it was no problem. And then the two

titles. One was a really special feeling for me because when we had

the chance to move to MotoGP with him we arrived at the first race...

We had flights delayed twice. jumped in my car and we drove

quickly while he put on his leather and had a coffee. I went straight

out on the bike. I was first to second quickest. For my first time

to be in MotoGP as a team manager, it was a really special feeling.

was an eventful week to get there. It helped us at that point macro to

take a little bit of the fear away and go out and ride the bike. There

were some tough times that year. What was the biggest thing you

learnt from your rookie season? not trust people who have more

experience just because they have more experience. We always looked

at these people who had so many years of experience, people we were

working with four other people we had to deal with. They always made

you feel so small and did the -- insignificant. We had to trust them.

We did not know a lot and were not hugely experienced. That was my

biggest downfall that year. When I finally got to Ducati and finally

had people believing in me, having faith in me, listening to what I

was saying, that is when my career flourished and made me trust myself.

What was it like to have him alongside him in the garage? It was

difficult sometimes. He came to Ducati in 2007. I still struggled

at that time, but when you stopped in the pit, he always said, the

bike it is perfect. I would say the same about Casey Stoner. Sometimes

he would make you scratch your head in the first hour of practice. But

his strength to me was always to find the limit. He is so quick to

get to the limit no matter what the condition of the track is.

Definitely sometimes he makes you What has been the biggest change in

Casey Stoner between 2006 and 2012? Believing in myself and having the

right people around me. I always think I can be better and the bike

can be set up better. A lot of people take this as a negative,

that I'm complaining, but it is just striving to be better. He has

always been very straight will square. There was no weight to

persuade him -- no way to persuade him it was either yes or no. This

year, my last season, I'm still learning things that I have been

trying to learn for so many years, and may have clicked this year. It

has made the riding a lot easier. We have grown in the right

direction and in the right way. I now have a family, so I think I've

taken a new direction. Any thoughts for your long-term plans since she

announced your decision to retire? -- since your announced. No long-

term plans. But I am willing to decide to stick to something, but

first I want to take some time off and then look at the options, and

then we will see what direction Taking Casey Stoner's team place is

a youngster with all the potential to match or surpassed his

achievements, Mark Markes, who made alright preparations by wrapping up

the title in MotoGP 2. We also have Bradley Smith stepping up as well.

A few moments away from the riders last chance to add to their list of

Valentino Rossi is going to go across! Cal Crutchlow going for his

We had many good memories, but Barcelona was really important. It

was a fast race. It was good. think the first top five was very

nice for us. Basically it was the first time in the wet for me on

this bike and I managed the situation really good, so it was

fantastic to finish in 5th. When I won the race in Bremen. Danny but

Rose gets De Wijn in the Czech Republic! -- Dani Pedrosa. -- gets

Second place. It was a great race, especially in front of all of my

fans in Italy at my own to -- at my Especially after a tough time when

there was only a few races left to notch up another win, and we manage

to do it. It was a fairy-tale. Probably my front row in at Jerez

to. This is surely going to get him onto the front row. Nicky Hayden.

All the other match, not a lot to smile about. -- other than that.

The race in Jerez was a good race, I don't expect to go so well but we

finished 1.4 seconds off the winner, so not a bad job. That is not

actually my passport, is it? Where did you get that from? Unbelievable.

That is genuinely my passport. I'm not sure I want to speak to Cal

Crutchlow on the last race, but here we are at the front of the

grid, Danny Pedro's or -- Dani Pedrosa or -- he was the winner

last season. Grey skies, but not really looking like rain. And at

the track, if we look dare -- look bare all, we can see it is quite a

new surface, so you can see how chaotic it is on the grid, not just

because of the amount of people but also the matter changes taking

place. We will try and squeeze through if we can. Some last-minute

preparations there, and chatting up this lovely lady from Spanish

television. Let's see if we can Jorge Lorenzo, how you feeling? The

conditions are difficult and it is a bit of a head scratch. It seems

everyone is going to choose the dry tyres, but the track is slippery.

It is going to be difficult in the first track. -- first lapse. Don't

make mistakes. Thank you, good luck. That is going to be a big call,

going out on the slips. Let's see if Casey Stoner is going out on

them. He is alongside Jorge Lorenzo on the front row, making his final

appearance in MotoGP, of course, this weekend. Let squeeze in for a

quick word with Casey. Your last appearance, and I get you are fully

focused because these conditions are not ideal. I don't really want

to be here. These and not the conditions are wanted to end my

career in. This track, but this weather, maybe one of the worst

we've ever seen. It has taken a long time to dry, and some of it

isn't dry. There are some big risks in the past the time what -- might

have taken with selecting the tyres, but I cannot afford to do that this

time. It is disappointing. I do all we had a chance if it was dry, but

I know where I stand in the wet and it is hard work. Are you going to

run on the wet tyres? We will stay with the wet tyres. But we don't

know how the race will pan out if a bit more rain comes down, so it's

going to be a gamble both ways. But one of those ways is going to be

the way forward. I think a sensible way might be the right way. For the

last thing he wants to do is go and hurt himself before he heads off to

go fishing. Let's move a bit further back. Here is Dovizioso, a

wet tyre specialist, 12 times in the top four this season. He has

got that vaulted them, in the top three. Let's go to the back of the

grid, and a new face taking part in his first MotoGP race today. As a

wild rock -- wild-card rider, he is on the bike next year and was

supposed to ride in the second Tear This weekend that there was more

experienced be gained on a CIT bike, and cloudier, you have lost your

ride -- but now you're making your debut. It is exciting. Doing this

for a first race is a dream for many people. Now we will see what

has happened. The weekend was not so good because of the conditions,

but now we are here to do the race and we will see what happens.

job at hand because you are on a bike which has not had a lot of

track time this year. What is the objective, really? We had a lot of

little problems, but the bike looks like it is working now. It is the

first race for this bike and we will find out what happens. Thank

you. Matt, maybe you have found Cal Crutchlow and he has a surprise the

year. You know more about that than me. Your last race of the season, a

start on the second row, and a podium in the last race, so you

must be motivated for this. Yes, we will try and do the best job we can.

Dodgy conditions. We are going with the wet tyres, and it will be a

tough race. Hopefully will carry on singing for one direction, dressed

like that and if you don't dress like Susi Paris next year, I won't

bother speaking to you on the grid. I was just trying to deflect

attention away from my extra weight. Jorge Lorenzo is going with the

slicks and it is a tough call. not remember what I just said? I am

going with the slicks, and they are going with the wets. OK, I am

confused. Let's go and see James Ellison, our other British rider.

It looks like maybe his last race with the team this year. James, a

difficult weekend, but your last race and you will want to go out on

a high. Qualifying as an really prove where we should be. We have

picked the wrong tyres sometimes, and we just kept folding and

collapsing, and disappointing, but my dad has had a word with the guys

upstairs, so hopefully will get the advantage back. We went well in the

warm-up this morning. We just want to end on a high. I just want to

say a big thank you to everyone who has helped me out and supported me.

It has been a hard graft especially for my personal sponsors. They have

been behind me and hopefully we can put on a show for those guys and

He has certainly done his best, James, not letting anyone down.

Let's grab a quick word with Gerry Burgess. I suppose the nightmare is

almost over, but it will be 30 very tricky lapse in these conditions.

Yes, we have, the harder rain tyres. We may have to make a stop for the

slicks, but the guys might be slower if they're on them at the

beginning. In just an hour's time you will start thinking about going

back to Yamaha again. May be a bit longer than that. But that is

Tuesday. It will be a very interesting time for everybody on

Tuesday and Wednesday. We wish all the best. 30 laps, and the

countdown for the boys at Ducati, but it will be 30 very eventful

laps, I reckon. I think turn the No. 1 will be a handful. It is a long

downhill run, plenty of speed, a challenging corner. All of the

riders say it is the bumpy est of the lot. You can see Lorenzo in the

middle of the grid. -- the most bumpy of the lot. Valentino Rossi,

flanked by the took CRT guys. -- the two CRT guys. But the weather

might play into their hands. That is the gamble we just heard that

ride round at the back of the pack, because I'm pretty sure that the

rest of the guys will have to come in, unless it rains again, and to

my mind it is blowing through. Those wet tyres could be destroyed

at the end of that race. The slicks wind, but they have to carry on and

you have to have a start in the first instance. It will be at least

30 seconds to come in and change bikes and go out again. So it will

be a really interesting runner. Jorge Lorenzo, keep an eye on him,

they have to stay upright. And I can tell you that a slick, cold

tile will not have a lot of grit. It will not get a lot of heat in it.

A Very Nice and a dry line is building up, but it isn't very wide

-- a very Mason to. Casey Stoner thinking he is not going to be on

crutches for Christmas. He hasn't got a career on the bike to think

about next year, and he hasn't got to impress everyone and he says

he's going fishing. I think he might be fishing for the supercars

in Australia. A laudable pursuit. This is a very fiddly circuit. They

have absolute maximum value for money out of the real estate. It

snakes back on itself. That is the turn six, a treacherous corner. We

put left, then left again, and then left again, and then double all the

way back. Not an easy place to pass an uneasy place to make mistakes.

Yes, not easy with this narrow race line. A great crowd, 60,000,

considering there weather conditions. And I guess a lot of

them will have turned out to see Casey Stoner's last race. He

doesn't sound usually pumped about interesting. The only thing is,...

Someone just ran off already. Just recovered. Just what you need.

know who that is, it is the man on slick tyres. Jorge Lorenzo. Two

people diving into the pit lane already. Maybe it was also Cal

Crutchlow. It looked like him. He is going for slicks. Their mind,

this was called a wet race. It has been declared a wet race so people

can change when they want to. Pedrosa will start in the pit rape

-- pit lane. Look, there is a whole line of them. It is going to be

busy in to turn one. It really is. It would have been easier for

Lorenzo had he... We are ready to start a! A difficult start for

Jorge Lorenzo on the slicks. Bike number eight, Hector Barbera

steaming in. Look at that. Slither and slide trying to get the power

down. Look at this. We did say it CRT had a better chance in these

conditions. There is Jorge Lorenzo, he is in good shape. Look at James

Ellison's team, they are pushing through. By lap 15 I think there

will be a good dry line, those wet tyres will be worn out. The rest of

the guys, we saw off wheels spinning out ten seconds after the

rest had gone through. Valentino Rossi pops into third. In front of

him as Hector Barbera. Behind him is Casey Stoner who is in the right

sort of tyres for these conditions, at least. Bike number 41 is leading.

It is a shuffle like I have never seen before. Valentino Rossi is

trying to put pressure on Hector Barbera. How about that, he is

through. Stoner goes with him. The first lap is done. Casey Stoner

gets back pass to Valentino Rossi. They're still doing about 185 mph.

It is incredibly focusing. If Aleix Espargaro can stretch out, he has

got an enormous lead. He can come in and changed his bike. Been

declared a wet race means that they can swap bikes whenever they want.

He will work out the optimum. If he feels he is not getting anywhere

with these wet tyres, he can put his hand up and tell the guys, I

want to come in at next lap for a new bike. That is the key to that.

But you have got to work out the optimum time to do it. At the back

we have got Dani Pedrosa. Here comes Dani Pedrosa with through

that gaggle. Almost getting tangled up. He is trying to find a way

through. Dani Pedrosa will be thinking, I was the fastest man on

the planet this time yesterday! They are all on the soft rain tyres.

Lorenzo is on the slick tyres. But look at that dry line there. The

only issue is trying to pass, you have to go on the wet line to do it.

This is all very confusing for everyone at home, but it will all

pan out. The person in the best position... It is a bit of who is

on first base. Look at this, it is a cavalry charge! Pick a rider, any

rider. Dani Pedrosa is in 15th place. A major moment of their

former McAlees Piero. -- Michele laps are coming from the wet tyres

out there. Aleix Espargaro is putting in the fastest time. And

the guys at the back and I'm talking about Cal Crutchlow, Alvaro

Bautista, they are 12 seconds back. They are giving away four seconds a

lap at the moment. The person who looks in the best position at the

moment would have to be Jorge Lorenzo in seventh. He is just

hanging on and his lap time is not too bad. He is two second a lap

slower, but he can afford to lose 15-20 seconds and still have a

chance when the guys coming to change. -- come in to change.

number 22, he has had the first excursion into the gravel. Easily

done. It is very difficult indeed. It is a horrible feeling. It is

like being on a tightrope, trying to stay on the line, trying not to

fall off. Look at Lorenzo. He is absolutely on a steamer and now.

Lorenzo is through on the slicks. It was a short lived trip going on

wets. If Lorenzo can keep it up, he is on the tyres that the track will

come back to. The try-line will come back to him. Hector Barbera

has not disappeared from the race just from the front frame of guys.

Andrea Dovizioso just chasing. Valentino Rossi is still in the

middle of this gaggle. Dani Pedrosa is now up to 11 place. Into the

pits goes Casey Stoner. Dani Pedrosa is three seconds faster

than everyone else on the track. We are at the time when these guys

will have to start going in, they have worked it all out. It will

take a couple of laps to get up to speed with the new bike. At the

moment Dani Pedrosa is there in seventh position, now he is up to

six. Lorenzo was looking like a genius. Karel Abraham is trying to

get things going. They are side by side. Lorenzo was looking like the

smartest guy. He was the bravest, maybe. Stefan Bradl is also on the

right tyres. Keep a close eye on him. It was brave and risky, but it

paid off. Bike number 21, the yam had test rider is just munching his

way past. -- Yamaha. Valentino Rossi is under some pressure.

Stefan Bradl is on the slicks. is the test driver. He is filling

in for a Ben's bees. That would be a great result to get him on the

podium. -- Ben Spies. It was a difficult call with the tyres, some

people just guessed it better than others. But points for Lorenzo

lane yesterday in qualifying at 140 mph. He got a 250 pound fine. There

was your former race leader, Aleix Espargaro. He has gone to slicks.

It was short lived to see him leading the race. Cal Crutchlow has

just put the fastest lap of the race and has climbed up to fifth.

That was a good move for him coming in and changing. He is now the

fastest bike on the track. The test place. What a shuffle. You just

have to be so precise because if you run a metre off line, you run

off the track. I have been there and it is horrible. It is really

tricky. There is no room for error whatsoever. That was the fastest

laps for Dani Pedrosa there. It is going to be a real scrap between

Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo. I really think that Casey Stoner has

ruled himself out of this. thought Casey Stoner was either

going to win it or give up on it this weekend. He feels, as you said,

he does not want to end up at a hospital bed instead of his

retirement party tonight. He just wants to go home to his wife and

girl. He just has to get through this and get to the airport. Phil -

- Stefan Bradl is in good shape. Brave gambles from those guys. But

it did make sense. All they realistically had to do was carry

on and keep the bike upright. Important to pay credit to the test

rider, he is a Japanese rider. And a very strong competitor. This race

last year, it looked like Ben Spies was going to win it and then Casey

Stoner tried it out at the end. The good news is, at every lap gets

better and better. The tyre temperatures will be going up and

the track is getting drier. They are about five miles an hour under

200. If you get it wrong, you're in big trouble. They will have it

switched to the softer engine programme in these conditions.

There's a 3 position button on a Yamaha and Honda. It enables them

to shift. If he had run wide he would have gone on the wet part of

the track. The good news is, you can see the dry part of the track.

At least those tyre temperatures are up. An important point to

explain it is that when you jump on a bank -- bike, oh no, that bike is

not restarting. When you jump on tyre war must takes the edge off

things, but they are not up to PES yet. As a rider it takes you a

while to establish how much temperature you have got. Stefan

Bradl is up into third place. Crutchlow is coming. There he is.

He is on a run as well. I would not write him off for a podium. He has

looked pretty strong all weekend and in these difficult conditions

with virtually no running of any use, qualifying himself. He covered

possible podium. These guys, they took the wrong gamble, I guess.

Nicky Hayden, that is even more wrong. By trustees all right. He is

looking at his hand. -- I trust he is all right. 13, you know how

quickly you go through there. a nightmare Nikkei has had, he has

not had a podium all year, the first year he has done that, and he

has to endure it next year again. Valentino Rossi in 11th, he has

changed his tyres. 1.34, Lorenzo. He is not in a real hurry, is he?

Yeah, whatever, I don't mind. But it is very important to get that

bike sorted and get comfortable as fast as you can. Such a shovel

going on, and at the end of this there is a clutch of four at the

front, and then a big gap back to Bautista. The issue Cal Crutchlow

has here is that he is faster... Oh, no! He tried to get up too early,

and he is furious. He know what he has thrown away, a podium. Good

news for Cal Crutchlow. Bacall side of the tyres, down into the 4th

turn -- the cold side. Crutchlow getting a bit sloppy,

gave away some mileage. Just before we saw Stefan Bradl go down,

Crutchlow has the problem of going into the narrow line. The only

chance he has got, coming out of turn No. 14, is getting him on the

breaks into the first turn. But he has to run of the very narrow dry

line. That is the problem. You cannot get through. Lorenzo is gone.

1.33. Dani Pedrosa just behind him. So this is going to be a battle

royal between the pair of them. 20 laps to go, only a third of the

race gone. The two Spaniards, won the world champion, leading, and

then Dani Pedrosa, the man who would have hoped to win the World

Championship and this year was probably his best ever chance. He

was bang on form. It is Jorge Lorenzo trying to dig in and

scraper little more grip -- scrape a little more grip. Dani Pedrosa in

a better can -- position. He has the carrot in front of him and can

see what is going on. He has closed the gap a tiny bit. I know it is

only a small difference, but his tyres are three or four laps under

less pressure than Lorenzo. But it is Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa, Cal

Crutchlow, trying to find a way past, then Bautista. Jorge Lorenzo

shaking his head. I don't like this closing him down, he has taken one

second out of him. Now he is only half a second away from him. Dani

Pedrosa has got this on a big time. Jorge Lorenzo House do -- has do --

has to look at his temperature gauge to work out how fast ago.

Dani Pedrosa is in the box seat, and they can see how much Jorge

Lorenzo is slipping around. Inexplicably, Casey Stoner is in

the 8th, about two seconds per lap slower than these two. Now they're

all on the same tyres. That is a bit of a disappointing way to say

goodbye. Let's have a look at this, the view from Dani Pedrosa. He has

seen the wheel of that Honda come past him to many times this year.

You have to say that Dani Pedrosa's championship went wrong at the

beginning of the season. Nothing to were horrible happened, but he had

a third, then a 4th in France -- nothing to were horrible. He just

didn't get the consistency in the early part. Both of the riders have

had problems, but realistically Jorge Lorenzo, the man leading the

race, was so solid at the start of the season. Credit to Yamaha, they

came out with the new machine, and it worked. The testing went

perfectly well and straight from out of the box it was really

weigh it all up. The longer he leaves it, the wider the try line

will get. And then he will have a better opportunity. He will have

all the time in the world to stalk him. He definitely has the speed,

of that there is no doubt. Lorenzo could not believe how quickly Dani

Pedrosa did a lap yesterday. It was nearly perfect, as Dani Pedrosa

said himself, but he had lots of laps when he was knocking on the

door. We talk about what some tracks we might go to. Keys in a

potential podium position. He had to do that in a breaking position.

We talked about the narrow tracks. What has happened here? He looks to

me to be further back. He is. Where is Lorenzo? Either that Tory is a

terribly far in the lead! -- he is Lorenzo. He ran far too wide on to

the Astroturf, then on to the wet part of the track and manage to get

it under control. He studied up just in time. -- he stood it up.

Lorenzo is in the curious position of having to lap some people which

is going to keep his hands full. He has a whole host in front of him.

He will have to go off the dry line. Oh, dear, one down. Colin Edwards

is getting out of the way. He is old enough and wise enough to not

one to get tangled up. James Ellison about to get the treatment.

I think Colin has retired as well. He is just touring. What Jorge

Lorenzo it won't know is that he has a 4.5 seconds lead. Both, no!

Its offer. Lorenzo's races run. He tried to get past James Ellison and

got caught out. That's it. What do you do, lapping traffic, it was not

James Ellison's fault. Maybe a little bit too impatient. He is

absolutely incandescent, furious and understandably. Now he is on

the wet part. He thought he had it under control and it absolutely

fires him over the top. He is up and OK, but he is furious. He did

not know Dani Pedrosa was five seconds back. He was defending a

problem that wasn't there, and the worst -- best part of that is that

he is not badly hurt. Because that was a future off. He could have

done an ankle, collar bone, or anything. Imagine if he had been

clear up with the championship still alive. Look at the height he

flew. It was the fact he had to run off the line. That is about

�100,000 worth of damage there. is not a motorbike any more. --

that is not. If Dani Pedrosa had just been behind him still in the

championship, that would have been in. Arguably he would have taken a

more cautious route, but whatever. We talked about the terrible narrow

line, and the rear tyre was caught on a wet part. Maybe he could have

waited, but you don't know. Easy to sit here because we have the big

picture. Second place, Cal Crutchlow. He might not know that

yet. Although he has gone past the wreckage of Lorenzo. It was still

in the air when he got there! knackers to go is staring down the

was. Nobody's fault. Just one of the air. James probably didn't even

realise what was going on a par from there were parts of a

motorcycle flying through the air above a -- apart from there were

parts. Through the first turn, getting a real shuttled in. As we

can see, Bautista is in 4th, and he is half an hour down the road.

There really is a big gap. He's 50 seconds behind Dani Pedrosa. What a

shovel this is. Cal Crutchlow is 22 seconds back, that is between first

and second. Pierrot is still in 5th place on a CRT. That would be some

result. And Petrucci in six, Casey Stoner in seven. Valentino Rossi in

10th, Ellison in 11th. That would distant 7th, one minute and nine

that he has the 22nd advantage, so he has dropped his lap time down to

1.35. Terrible conditions out there and it is getting drier, but it was

not nice to begin with. And what a disappointment. This was going to

be some race, I think. Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo, who now sits

himself down in the garage and will not believe how it has gone wrong.

I am just happy he is not heard, it was a nasty crash. James flicks

over, and you can see the dark part of the tarmac. It afflict him at

cleaning out of it. It was not your fault, but they Ugo -- it flicked

him. You can put those away. That was a very, very scary, dangerous

moment, especially for a man who has already won the championship.

But as we were saying at the start, the whole deal is that he just

really wanted to finish the year ahead of Dani Pedrosa. He puts a

lap over Valentino Rossi. He is in 10th, so that gives you the idea of

the astonishing gap. Dani Pedrosa are really nailed it, that gap.

Coming in for the change, at the time that he did, early on, appears

in hindsight to be a stroke of genius. And, of course, you have to

say that he caught the Jorge Lorenzo up by 15 seconds, so he was

the fastest guy to come all the way through and did a fabulous job, but

Jorge Lorenzo nailed it, starting at on the slicks and kept it

upright when everyone was changing. But Dani Pedrosa's speed just ate

away at the advantage the Jorge Lorenzo had, and now it is all over.

Casey Stoner is getting faster every lap, and it's still not

impossible for him to get on the podium with 13 remaining. It

depends how much she wants it. is now in the top six, having got

past Petrucci. I think it is a good run for him. There is the boss of

Honda, thinking, OK, Dani Pedrosa is doing very well but Casey Stoner

could drive it harder. Stonor will come across the striping six and

the next guy on the shopping list will be a barman at four seconds

down the road, so that is difficult. Absolutely. Cal Crutchlow, 26

seconds back but he has an enormous advantage, so he can sort of cruise

around and that would be some his third podium of the year. I

suspect those soft front tyres are getting a little on the soft side.

Lap times will drop back down again. I suspect in dry race conditions

most of these guys would have been lapping around 1.3, 1.4. The track

is probably perfectly dry, but everyone has to build in more of a

safety factor because of the very narrow dry line. Because it was so

marginal whether or not to go out on slicks in the first place,

everyone has opted for the softest slick compound you can. There is

poor old Hector Barbera. He was in 14th, no more. Because they opted

for the softest tyres, those funds are very uncomfortable when you

were kneeling on the brakes. They do not think you could get that

back to start on a wet piece of Astroturf! James Ellison, there he

is. He is in the top ten. I do not know what is up with Valentino

Rossi. The slick tyres are not working for him. I guess as soon as

we got to slicks, that is where the things started to unravel for him

and he gets back to the same issues he is hoping to ride away from

forever next year by joining a Yamaha. There is Hector Barbera, it

is all over for him. I think Valentino Rossi had a moment and

went off track. They think he has run wide. He led the race, I will

never forget that. What a way to end the year. Aleix Espargaro.

There is Randy De Puniet. Finishing this way will mean that Aleix

Espargaro is claiming team champion of the year. Randy De Puniet is

looking very judicious, isn't he? The only good thing about having

wets on would be to get out of their quicker of. He is deeply in

the gravel there. 11 laps remaining. Dani Pedrosa has done everything

right this weekend. Yes, he is really under no pressure now. He

has got a 26 second lead over Cal Crutchlow. I would like the

Japanese rider to hop on the podium. Bono! Let's hope he did not hurt

his ankle there. That is another broker and a motorbike. Just about

to say, Dani Pedrosa winning here would give him this seven wins as

opposed to Jorge Lorenzo's 6 wins. This is a brand new surface and a

lot of the guys said when it was wet it is not as drippy as they

hope. -- grippy. Dani Pedrosa has a large lead. As you rightly pointed

out, that is the mistake Lorenzo made. He made a lunge to get past

James Ellison of which he did not need to make. Dani Pedrosa are just

giving it arrest. It is a fast, dangerous corner. Karel Abraham had

a glance over his shoulder, but he probably did not have time to see

who it was. Karel Abraham has just been lap to, he is in ninth

position. This is a pretty ugly shuffle in terms of race order. It

was always going to be that way. Changing tyres have way through

really jumbles up the field. Dani Pedrosa shifts his weight, moving

himself. He is not sitting on the recap. Their 80 is on your screen.

The test rider is looking pretty strong for a podium in third. Here

is the start of the race. Valentino Rossi was third into the first turn.

Jorge Lorenzo at this point is thinking, keep it up right, do not

do anything silly. Here is the pit lane I view. That is Cal Crutchlow

that then. Those two men, Dani Pedrosa and Cal Crutchlow are now

first and second. They certainly are an Dani Pedrosa is eight laps

away from taking his seventh win of that season. Cal Crutchlow doing a

wonderful job, this will be his best ever result in MotoGP and his

third podium of the season. shows how hard these guys are

working. I am surprised they didn't make that decision on the out lap.

When the grid it up. That would have been the best time to have

done it. May be a were waiting that extra few minutes to make sure

there was no more rain. Or maybe they were thinking if Jorge Lorenzo,

Jorge Lorenzo was with them at that point. There is the Yamaha test

driver. Plus 28, that is something nice to see. Karel Abraham is one

lap down in ninth position but he has not lost any ground. Dani

Pedrosa is absolutely cruising. Cal Crutchlow! That was second place,

the end of it! I am so sorry. I guess he just went on the brakes

going in to turn the 13th. That was going to be his best ever result.

Not to be. He tried to hang on to it. I would like to see that shop

slightly early on, I suspect that is just when he put on the brakes.

He clung on to the side of the bike, it was cartwheeling down that track.

Quickly up to third gear. This is it. Just as he shuts on the brakes,

it slid out from under him. He will be distraught. I do not want to

give you any nasty statistics, but he was 30 seconds behind Dani

Pedrosa and around the same in front of the test rider. The

Japanese rider is now on the podium at this stage. Talk about smart,

Casey Stoner is now a fourth and you were saying he would not get

podium. Nothing is impossible. By hope Cal Crutchlow has not hurt

himself and it will not dent his efficiency on Tuesday. It will

allow him to stay in seventh place in the championship, where he was.

He front folded, locked up. He will be asking himself why. The track is

getting drier the whole time. He is looking back thinking, what on

earth happened it there. We have another angle there. Watch this. It

completely locked up. I am assuming he just ran in their a tiny little

bit hotter and faster than he had done in the lap before. These guys

are always on the limit. There is no margin for error as he just

demonstrated their. All it takes is a tiny bit more front brake

pressure. Now Dani Pedrosa has 36 seconds over the Japanese rider.

will look at these results in a couple of years and say, how did

the test rider finished second? What was he doing? He will be a

hero back in Japan! Here he is. The John Hopkins number there, 21.

something happened to Dani Pedrosa the great panic with the race

organisers would be if they can find the Japanese national anthem

to play! Alvaro Bautista is 36 seconds behind Dani Pedrosa. Casey

Stoner is five seconds behind Alvaro Bautista. But he is lapping

it two seconds faster than Alvaro Bautista at the moment. His last

lap was the fastest of any one on the track. He has got five laps to

go. He has got Alvaro Bautista in his sights. Is he hungry enough to

get himself on the podium? It would be nice for Honda. He is starting

to press on. A bit of a moment. Alvaro Bautista is responding. They

will be telling him to speed up. He has picked it up. He is fifth in

the championship at the moment and will not be bothered by Valentino

Rossi who is down in tenth place. in the old dog yet. Once more,

Casey. To finish first, first you must finish. I know that Cal

Crutchlow will be down in that garage trying to explain what

happens. When they get the bike back, he will be trawling through

that data are trying to establish what happens. They can look at the

sensors, Look at the break for us, they can do a proper post-mortem on

that bike. -- brake. Alvaro Bautista is under pressure from

Casey Stoner. The track is probably completely dry in every park. Any

tiny mistake where you run wide however, you are in big, big

trouble. Yes, asked Jorge Lorenzo. There is an did have its Co so. --

Andrea Dovizioso. Terrible marks on the road. Marks on the track from

that crash. What happened there, he ran a little bit off line and could

not afford to brake. He was on the wet part of the track. Any tiny

mistake is compounded into a huge podium position. It is too risky to

take on the chance of the line. second term would be my preferred

place. -- second term. It will be awkward through here. Cold tyres,

these are the trickiest corners, lots of left-handers, then building

the temperature up. He will know exactly where the track was at its

widest and driest. If he can get a good ride out of the final corner

into the first turn, we have seen it happen. It would be awfully

tricky to try and pass at this point. Bond has to sound rather

awful. Have a listen. -- by Honda does sound rather awful. How many

times as it happened this year when we look over and the sun is about

to come out as the races finishing? I reckon he will try and get a run-

out of the final corner. This is where Cal Crutchlow had his

unfortunate situation, and there is Bautista saying that for these OK.

Bautista won't be thinking that. You don't wreck the bike is what

they are thinking. Stonor moving to the inside, and he has got it

sussed. So much deeper on the brakes. He was much later on the

brakes. And Casey Stoner will be saying goodbye with a podium. All

things being equal, but nothing has been so far. Be careful what you

say. From the CRT machine, that is a result. It has got the Honda Fire

blade engine. Berra goes, and that is still going on. -- there it goes.

Yes, and they are a lap apart. I don't know if that was a gesture or

a tear off from Dovizioso. Soak Dani Pedrosa still has that

enormous advantage -- so Dani Pedrosa. Once Dani Pedrosa crosses

the line, we will be killing time waiting for the next guy to get

7th win of the season. What a season he has had, unfortunately

was punctuated by a couple of non finishes. He had the measure of

Lorenzo and he could have got past him without having to just ride

past him on the track. After his crash. It goes the team. It is the

end of the 2012 season, 18 rounds, This guy is on a roll. Dani Pedrosa

wins in Valencia. Get your soccer cup of tea, sit down, have a rest,

get comfy -- get yourself a cup of tea. We are going to have to wait a

couple of seconds for the next guy to finish. That will be some result.

The last time we saw a test rider come in and finish on the podium,

that is very special. A nice bit of riding from him. He kept it up

right. His new tour of this, he doesn't get to ride here very often.

-- he is new to all of this. Yes, you shake your head, sunshine. And

if Casey Stoner can stay on the black stuff for another of corners,

he will have a nice spot on the podium to say goodbye to us all.

His lovely wife is stood up there. Casey Stoner, on the podium.

Doesn't look happy, and he won't be happy. It doesn't matter. Thank you

very much, goodbye. But Honda racing boss getting up to wave

goodbye. A poignant moment. And how about this? You explain the

significance of this. 4th and 5th. Bautista on the Ford factory Honda

machine, a Home build, a kind of Fire blade engine, and very well

tuned, but that is a great result in front of Dovizioso. Going

fishing! The is indeed. We have enjoyed watching his tremendous

career. One of the fastest men we have ever seen on a motorcycle.

This man, Dani Pedrosa, what a season he has had. Unfortunately he

did not take the championship but he has proven to be a proper

contender. In the past people said he would never win a world

championship in MotoGP. I disagree from what I have seen from this

year. He has got the momentum. lot of these guys will go to the

Motor Cycle Show at the NEC in a few weeks' time. Cal Crutchlow is

coming along, and Stefan Bradl. That will be a treat for the fans.

And the guys from Superbikes. Valentino Rossi finished in 10th.

It didn't really work. It is all over, Valentino. You have 48 hours

to jump on something different. will have to rewrite your column in

the Times tomorrow, I believe. He has turned it all round. Never mind.

They you go. So, Alvaro Bautista getting picked up the post. That

didn't hurt his championship. They were saying that 4th was OK, so he

is in front of Valentino Rossi and held on to the spot very

comfortably. 5th in the series, that is no bad thing. It has been a

mixed up, muddled up season. So was this race, goodness me. We had a

Honda, from a Yamaha, then a Honda. Spare a thought for Cal Crutchlow.

He had that in the bag, but team fortunately he dropped the bag. --

unfortunately. He will not mince around and just wobble home though.

I certainly didn't get that in my prediction on the website. Two of

those were in there, but I was expecting Lorenzo there as well.

would not want to have ridden out there today. Then that -- the

weather was very mixed. It is going to be horrible later this week.

hope the weather picks up for me. Good on you, chap. Nice work. Now

take this thing, get it out of my sight, and I will see it later.

Is There a blue touchpaper to light on that? I don't like it when

Valentino doesn't do well, and I don't like it when Ducati doesn't

do well. James Ellison will like great result from James Allison.

Paul Bird, the boss, he is here this week and -- James Ellison.

Some tears here. By think Casey Stoner might have looked a little

bit moved as he waved goodbye to everyone. I might be projecting, of

That must be his dad, I reckon. it's Lorenzo's mechanic. Great

stuff from Dani Pedrosa, he leads - - leaves the end of this year with

his tail up. Nice to see Casey Stoner doing a lap and waving to

his fans. He might have had a few more fans if he wasn't so grumpy,

but he is a star. I don't think he cares. He just wants to do his best

and get out of there. Look at that, the CRT champion, in fine style.

Tell me what Casey Stoner is saying. I think there will be a certain

amount of sadness. It is the end of a fantastic racing career. A short

one. It is not short of, because he started at four years old. I think

Casey Stoner is getting faster and faster. He said at the beginning of

the show he was still learning and he had found out things this year

that improved his riding. He probably still would have got

faster and faster. We will never know now, sadly. Dani Pedrosa, what

Maybe one of the best wins we have seen. The conditions were horrible.

* think that - starting from the pit lane, so talk me through the

race. I decided I had to do something similar. I am really,

really happy. It was so difficult. It was very difficult at the start

to choose, and when I saw Jorge Lorenzo dues the slicks -- choose

the slicks, I was calm in that decision, but I was waiting on the

track and it was drying up much more than a first lap. Before the

start I thought I could stop and go to the pits and start from there. I

have never done that before. And finally, I don't know why, instinct

came into play and I went to the box and took the bike. I was so

fast at the beginning, and then I caught Jorge Lorenzo, and I did

make a mistake, and then he made a mistake in the same place. A really

exciting race. At the end it was very hard to stay focused because

the gap was very big, but I'm very pleased, and thank you to the team.

It is a great way to finish the Well, what about that? He was more

than a little bit concerned that he had gone the wrong way on his tyres,

but he showed great dexterity and He started from the pit lane, so he

was starting in last. James Ellison on the leaderboard. Nicely done,

sunshine. And the best ever result from Michele Pirro. Valentino Rossi,

a lap down, in 10th position. Alex Desperado is the -- Alex Espargaro

Why to way to go out. I can think you would do it, did you? Certainly

not after I saw Jorge Lorenzo go past. Others waiting for the sign

tatami that the slick tyres were faster and I was a little bit

disappointed -- a sign from my team. I didn't want to take any risks,

and honestly I am scared of crashing and injuring my fault any

worse in these last races, and in these conditions that is the most

critical. There were a lot of crashes today. When I finally got

the slick tyres it took me a few laps to get comfortable. My eyes

were the size of dinner plates for the whole race. I didn't want to

step off the dry patch and we kept working, trying to improve the

speed and with a couple of laps to go we were stood on the box. So it

was fantastic to end that way. Considering how things looked

before the start of the race. A big thank-you to everyone and my team

and all of my supporters all of these years. I suppose they could

be a lot of worse ways to go out, so thanks to everyone.

incredible finish to an incredible career and I speak for everyone

when I say we will miss you. Thank you very much. Undoubtedly. He has

set a high bar and that won't be there any more. And yes, we are

going to miss him. Some of the guys will miss having to go as fast as

they didn't really want to go just Some of those results, going down

through the list, Petrucci, Valentino Rossi, Ellison,

Congratulations. Tell us how He's very happy about the results

and it is difficult conditions, but the staff made a the best choice

for him and he is very happy. that relations, thank you very much.

Is there no end to your talent? follow base, Steve, but I love it.

-- you come off a low base. The first CRT, and that has done a bit

tough championships. Let's look at Hernandez still recovering from

Mendip -- injury. He leapfrogs Colin Edwards who seem to be

Ivan Silva in 9th. It was just a shovel and a half. -- a shovel.

Spare a thought for Nicky Hayden, Ivan Silva, Roberto role for,

Stefan Bradl, Lorenzo and Crutchlow, they all crashed. Let's have a look

at the crash. It really did flicking in the air. It was all

about trying to lap of James Ellison as he tipped it into the

awkward corner. Just went up the inside, got wide on the wet part,

and that was the wet -- end of him. Unfortunately because it was a race

to the finishing line, and they were stubborn, but Casey Stoner

waves to his fans and says goodbye. OK, as you said, a bit cruel,

because he didn't even make the pass. Anything more eventful and I

don't know how he would have dealt with it. It was certainly an

eventful race to finish the season and a long one. So long we are out

of time on BBC2, but depressed a red button for the podium ceremony

and half an hour of MotoGP extra as we reflect on a fantastic race Alf