Mugello, Italy

With MotoGP now one third through its 18 race season, the effect of the engine-life regulations - restricting each MotoGP rider to just 6 engines throughout the entire season - is starting to become clear. The latest engine information list - assembled by IRTA and MotoGP Technical Director Mike Webb, and distributed (if you can call it that) by Dorna - provides an interesting perspective on the impact the regulations are having, and how the factories have approached the problems posed by limited engines.

The clear winner that emerges from the list is surely Honda. Of their six riders, three (Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso, and San Carlo Gresini's Marco Simoncelli) have used just two engines, and not had to have a third engine officially sealed. Dovizioso and Simoncelli have distributed their races equally, with three races on each of the two engines, while Dani Pedrosa has four races on his number 1 engine, and just two on his number 2 engine.

In an attempt to appease the press, and keep reporters off Valentino Rossi's back while he is recovering from his broken tibia, Yamaha have been issuing regular press releases detailing the Italian's condition. In the latest missive from Tavullia, Rossi speaks of his recovery, and his aim to be back at the Brno round of MotoGP, in the middle of August. Below is the full text of the press statement:

As well as a Q&A with Valentino Rossi, the Fiat Yamaha team also released a question and answer session with several of the key players surrounding Rossi. Here's what team manager Davide Brivio, Yamaha boss Lin Jarvis, Rossi's surgeon Dr. Buzzi and Yamaha communications manager William Favero had to say on Rossi's recovery, and who is to replace the Italian.

Gerno di Lesmo, Italy
Thursday 10th June 2010

Q & A WITH YAMAHA MANAGEMENT AND DR. BUZZI

1. What caused the accident? Was it rider error or a bike/tyre issue?

The latest update on Valentino Rossi's condition comes in a rather unusual form, though an extremely informative one. Yamaha Racing today released a question and answer session with Valentino Rossi, in which he answers most of the burning questions Rossi's many fans have. The good news is that Rossi has not lost his fire for racing. The bad news is that he won't be back until Brno at the very earliest. Read for yourself what Rossi had to say:

Gerno di Lesmo, Italy
Thursday 10th June 2010

Q & A WITH VALENTINO ROSSI ON HIS RELEASE FROM HOSPITAL

1. Vale, first question: how are you and are you still in pain?

Once again, David Williams of the On The Throttle crew caught up with Monster Tech 3 Yamaha rider Ben Spies after the latest MotoGP round at Mugello in Italy. Spies talks to Williams about the Le Mans and Mugello races, about learning new tracks, about the difference between the older and the newer tracks, and about what goes into setting up a MotoGP bike for a race. As ever, an interesting interview and 30 minutes of a MotoGP fan's time extremely well spent.

Here's the video from OnTheThrottle.tv:

That Valentino Rossi's crash has had a huge impact on the millions of MotoGP fans who follow his exploits around the world needs no explanation. The huge outpouring of emotion at the Mugello MotoGP race showed that. For those fans who weren't at Mugello, and would like to pass on their best wishes to Valentino Rossi and wish him a speedy recovery, as well as send their wishes to Rossi's team, all of whom are equally hard hit by the crash, Yamaha Racing have opened a page on Facebook to give everyone an opportunity to do just that. So head on over to Facebook and send Rossi and all the guys at Yamaha a message, it will mean a lot to them. You can find the Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/yamaharacingcom?v=app_7146470109

After crashing out during the race at Mugello, a disappointed Nicky Hayden spoke to the press about what happened. Here's the transcript of that debrief: 

Q: That looked like a Casey crash.

NH: Yeah, I just, I got a terrible start, it didn't help things at all when I let the clutch out and the bike bogged. You know, from the first corner to the end of the first lap, I recovered a lot of positions. Even the next couple of laps, I felt OK, but then when I got clear track, it was strange, I couldn't really make a lap time. At Le Mans it was the same, I felt like after warmup, I could go a lot faster. Yesterday in the afternoon, I could do mid 1'50s quite steady with the harder tire. But this afternoon, it was just impossible to make the lap time. I was pushing the front a lot more in the race than I had been all weekend, I went back and forth a bit with Melandri, and I just followed over that crest, and … I was a little bit inside, because the lap before, I got in too hot and ran wide. And I just lost the front. It was pretty quick, and I didn't have my knee down enough at that point to try to save it, and that was it.

Q: The track wasn't dirty there was it?

The latest update on Valentino Rossi's condition after his crash at Mugello from the Fiat Yamaha team:

Monday 7th June 2010

ROSSI UPDATE FROM DR. BUZZI