Toni Elias, Randy de Puniet and the boys are on time off, while Rossi is behind the wheel of a race car

Randy de Puniet is one of these racers who is currently evaluating his 2009 performance and thinking of things he can do to improve his performance on the bike in 2010. He equalled his best ever result during the 2009 MotoGP season, with an 11^th place finish in the final standings, and he must be thinking that he could do better in 2010. His LCR Honda team manager, Lucio Cecchinello is one who believes Randy is on the brink of a real breakthrough on the MotoGP tour, and he expects 2010 to be the best year for the French man, so far.

Randy had a pretty good year, and had a series of fine results that eventually lead to his only podium finish of 2009, at the tenth race of the season at Donington Park. After that he had an unfortunate accident while training following the British Grand Prix, which left him nursing a broken ankle that took a number of screws to set in place again. It’s no surprise that after his training accident he had a tough time while trying to continue to race on a broken ankle and his results showed that he wasn’t quite up to form because of the accident.

In fact, Randy was in a heated battle that had him in seventh place in the overall standings near the end of the season, and despite his injury he was starting to put pressure on the racers in front of him in the standings. The toughness that Randy showed and his results has me thinking that we haven’t seen the best from Randy, so far, and that the 2010 season could be his breakthrough year on the MotoGP tour.

Randy’s team has stated they are very happy with his progress, so far, and with his willingness to fight through adversity like he did in 2009, and that they believe Randy has all the ingredients to win it all. It may take more time than they thought for him to get up to speed and show what he can really do on the bike, but that he is gaining speed and confidence and the rest of the racers should be on the look out for Randy in 2010.

“Image: Zuma Press”

Post from: EveryJoe

Randy de Puniet Should be Better in 2010

Valentino Rossi fell at Donington Park but still has a 25 point lead

The last competition at Donington Park was a chaotic affair from the drop of the flag, with twists and turns along the way that included the top two riders in the World Championship falling, rain on the track and a disastrous pre-race decision that left one of the top runners out of the race from the start.

Dovizioso was chasing the lead racers after the opening laps, but was able to pick up the pace and take advantage of mistakes by the leaders to pull in front. He battled with current World Champion Valentino Rossi to the lead through the middle of the race, but when Valentino Rossi fell at the Fogarty Esses with just eleven laps remaining, he found himself alone in front. After that it was just a matter of keeping his pace fast and the bike standing tall for him to take his first ever premier class victory and mark his place in the history of Donington Park.

Colin Edwards and Randy de Puniet had a very entertaining race for second place, with Edwards pulling ahead of Puniet on the final hairpin and then accelerating toward the finish line to finish just 1.5 seconds behind Dovizioso. Disappointing for Puniet, certainly, but he still managed his first podium finish of the 2009 MotoGP season, so he did make some progress in England. Edwards also grabbed his first podium finish of the year with this result, so both racers should be smiling tonight as they think forward.

“Image: Zuma Press”

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Donington Park Greets MotoGP for Last Time

Sebastian Vettel wins the British Grand Prix

What many industry proponents considered to be already written in stone became etched in the annals of Formula One history as Sebastian Vettel launched his Red Bull RB5 off the start line and into the front of the pack of the British Grand Prix and never look back. In a crushing display of driving excellence and technological dominance on fast tracks, Vettel showed just how much of a leap forward the Milton Keynes team has made on high-speed tracks. He was able to quickly pull away from a field that was lead by Rubens Barrichello, gaining a large-second on the field for each lap he completed, and was never really pushed from behind.

Vettel’s team mate Mark Webber had trouble getting through the pack at first, but once he was able to get in front after the first round of stops, he too was able to keep his car in front. He tried to catch up to Vettel after that, but was only able to get to within 15.1s of his team mate by the time the chequered flat fell.

Reubens Barrichello eventually finished third, 26 seconds behind Vettel, and just ahead of the reigning world champion, Jenson Button. Button was starting to make progress in the later part of the race, his tires finally reaching racing temperature, and by the end of the race he had only lost three points off of his 26 point lead in the running for the world championship.

Trulli had a pretty strong race and was able to finish seventh in his Toyota, while Raikkonen was able to stay ahead of his Italian team mate Timo Glock for eighth. Giancarlo Fisichella was able to get some fighting-points for Force India by taking tenth place, but they have along way to go to compete.

Image: Zuma Press

Post from: EveryJoe

Sebastian Vettel Wins British Grand Prix

Justin Gatlin is the Olympic gold medallist in 100m in the last Summer Olympics. He also holds the world record in the same event, 9.77 seconds, together with Powell.

However, in the recent British Grand Prix, Asafa Powell ran the world record time once again — his first was in June 2005 in Athens.

Gatlin withdrew from the running in the meet, reason being that there’s no contract for him to run against Powell. I reckon it’s just a strategy put in place by his agent.

Anyway, Powell and Gatlin will see each other on the tracks of the 100m event at the London Grand Prix this coming July.

Post from: EveryJoe

Powell’s Message to Gatlin