Derbi

MODERATOR: Ben, quite a weekend for you. Up and down, as it has been for I think most people here at Indianapolis. First of all, congratulations, pole position. Two weeks ago was the first front row, and now you've gone one better in pole.

BEN SPIES: Yeah, it's a dream, I mean to have a pole position at any time in MotoGP and to be able to do it in the first season on the Monster Tech 3 bike in front of the American crowd, it's great and add Indianapolis to it. It's kind of ticked all the boxes this weekend. We just got to, you know, not get ahead of ourselves, so it gives us some common edge for tomorrow but got to kind of live the moment right now. You know, it kind of took the pressure off the announcement on Friday and just knowing what's going on and am I'm really wanting to repay the Tech 3 team because they've helped put me in a place to be there and, you know, to be able to get a pole for them and hopefully can end the season good and keep being consistent and progress. But, you know, today we'll just savor the moment right now and go in tomorrow and try to put a hard 45 minutes and see what happens.

MODERATOR: It's been an interesting weekends, I think, for everybody in MotoGP, grip level has been a problem. You've crashed yourself, and the weather conditions also seem to be getting a little bit hotter.

We should have known that the writing was on the wall when Valentino Rossi debuted his "Farewell" helmet at Laguna Seca

Jorge Lorenzo is redefining "unstoppable" this season

Kenny Noyes, one of three US riders crowding the Moto2 class at Indy

Nicky Hayden, undeterred and still sporting a faux-hican

Alvaro Bautista got the factory ride he wanted. And more

Andrea Dovizioso has had an extraordinary season in 2010

MotoGP's next rock star: Marco Simoncelli

The last of Michel Hulshof's race-day photos from Assen. If you like these shots, or would like prints of his photos, you can contact Michel through his website at http://www.sports-photography.org/. You can also follow @ProNikon on Twitter.

Can't keep a good man down: LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet

The very definition of Fast: Marlboro Ducati's Casey Stoner

Andrea Iannone demonstrates how well balanced the FIMMCO SpeedUp bike is: Hard on the brakes, and the rear is still on the tarmac

Yet more stunning images from the camera of Michel Hulshof, shooting his home Grand Prix at Assen. You can see more at http://www.sports-photography.org/ 

Compare and contrast: Dani "Mr Smooth" Pedrosa

... Toni "Wild Man" Elias

I can save this, I can save this, I can save this ...

Yamaha still can't find anyone to ride Rossi's bike

Dirty Leathers: Andrea Dovizioso had a big off, and no time to clean his leathers on Saturday

Full marks for effort: Randy de Puniet is on a mission at Silverstone

Jorge Lorenzo learned his way around Silverstone surprisingly quickly

Birthday Boy: Kenny Noyes celebrated his 31st birthday with a fogged up visor

For the first time in a while, Ben Spies turned up at a track with the same level of knowledge as his rivals. He ended day 1 in 5th

It took only a few hours after the announcement of the introduction of the Moto2 class for speculation to begin about the future of the 125s. With the demise of the 250s, the MotoGP paddock had at a stroke become an overwhelmingly four-stroke paddock, and it seemed only logical that the 125s would quickly follow. Whenever either Dorna boss Carmelo Ezpeleta or FIM president Vito Ippolito was asked about this, however, they denied there were any plans to change. Their arguments were that the 125s were cheap to run, they had plenty of national series to support fresh young talent, and bikes and parts were in plentiful supply. There was no need to change, in their view.

And yet change is coming. According to MCN's Matthew Birt, the 125s are to be replaced by a new four stroke class beginning in 2012, at the same time as the new rules in MotoGP come into effect. The class will be composed of 250cc four-stroke single cylinder machines, MCN reports, replacing the 125cc two-strokes currently being used. The decision has been made in response to the thinning out of the 125cc grid this year, which has come about in part due to the arrival of the new Moto2 class, which has attracted large amounts of sponsorship, talent and public interest from the 125cc class.

Marc Marquez leaves the final round of testing for the 125cc class with a new lap record and a strong lead over his rivals after testing. The Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider took over half a second off Mattia Pasini's best ever lap of the circuit dating from 2006. The only man to get close was Pol Espargaro on the Tuenti Racing Derbi, Espargaro finishing just over a quarter of a second off Marquez' time.

Bancaja Aspar's Nico Terol was third fastest overall, three quarters of a second behind Marquez, and at the head of a much closer group including Sandro Corteze, Efren Vazquez and Esteve Rabat. Terol's Aspar teammate Bradley Smith, runner up in last year's championship, continued to struggle in testing, ending the Jerez test in 8th, 1.6 seconds behind Marquez and over three quarter of a second behind his teammate. Fellow Briton Danny Webb ended the test in 10th, just over 2 seconds down on Marquez.

The next time the riders take to the track, it will be in earnest, in the desert at Qatar. Then, the times will really mean something.

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