By Paul Kelly
redbullindianapolisgp.com
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Live Timing | Weekend Schedule | IMS Tickets
WHERE: Automotodrom Brno, Brno, Czech Republic. Circuit is 3.357 miles (5.403 km), with 14 turns. Race is 22 laps.
WHEN: Sunday, Aug. 17. It is the 12th of 18 events this season.
2007 RACE WINNER: Casey Stoner, by 7.903 seconds over John Hopkins
2007 POLE WINNER: Casey Stoner, 1 minutes, 56.884 seconds
U.S. TV: 2-3 p.m. (ET), Sunday, Aug. 17, CBS
THE AMERICANS: U.S. riders Colin Edwards (Houston, Yamaha Tech 3) and John Hopkins (Ramona, Calif., Kawasaki Racing Team) will compete in this race. Hopkins missed the last three races due to a broken leg suffered at the Grand Prix of the Netherlands. Edwards is sixth and Hopkins tied for 16th in the MotoGP standings after 11 races this season. American Nicky Hayden (Owensboro, Ky., Repsol Honda Team) will not participate in this event due to a heel injury suffered earlier this month during SuperMoto competition in the X Games.
•Colin Edwards: "A lot of Brno is built up basically of chicanes. It's chicane after chicane. You've got to have pretty good agility, and it's pretty high speed in places. I think they just repaved it. There were some pretty good braking bumps around the track. They should be smoothed out. I'm looking forward to it. Last year Bridgestone had a monstrous advantage, with Stoner and Hopkins just taking off and leaving everybody. With the new pavement, maybe that throws a little wrench in it, and maybe we'll get lucky. After these last few weekends with those black round things, we need to sort that out."
•John Hopkins: "I'm feeling pretty good now, and I'm anxious to get back on track. I've now got full movement back in the injured knee, and it's been fine during my training regime up to now. I don't think it's going to cause me any problems on the bike, but it's been almost seven weeks since I've thrown a leg over the Ninja ZX-RR, so I won't know for sure until we start free practice on Friday. Brno is a track I like a lot, and I believe it's the MotoGP track I've ridden most frequently in my career, which means I know the place like the back of my hand. Also, our Bridgestone tires work well at this track, and this, combined with the new parts that Kawasaki are bringing to the Czech Grand Prix, means we've got some positive things to work with."
•Nicky Hayden: "As hard a decision as it is and as bad as I feel about it, I think I'm better off staying home doing rehab and physio, then come back fit at Misano and try to finish the season strong. There's been a lot of guys this year trying to ride less than 100 percent and actually making their problems worse. I certainly feel bad about it for my team, and I apologize. I had the permission of HRC to do the Supermoto thing. I just wanted to do some riding during the break, have some fun and I thought that maybe it'd give me a little spark for the rest of the season, but it backfired on me."
THEY SAID IT: "Like all riders, we react the way that we do sometimes. Maybe we over-reacted. I am going to hopefully just be putting up more of a fight in the last few laps this time, whereas I ran off and crashed at the last race. It would be nice if I can put pressure on right up until the last lap." - 2007 World Champion Casey Stoner, Ducati Marlboro Team, about his post-race complaints about Valentino Rossi's aggressive passing maneuvers in the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix on July 20 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
FAST FACTS: Five-time MotoGP World Champion and current points leader Valentino Rossi scored his first grand prix victory in 1996 at Brno, in the 125cc class. Rossi has five career victories at the circuit, including three in the MotoGP class … American John Hopkins finished second last year in this race on a Suzuki, his best career MotoGP finish. It was the first podium finish at Brno for a four-stroke Suzuki MotoGP bike. Hopkins moved to Kawasaki this season, and the best finish by a Kawasaki MotoGP bike at this event is eighth … No MotoGP rider has won this race two consecutive years since American legend Wayne Rainey in 1990-91 … Defending World Champion Casey Stoner enters this event with six consecutive podium finishes this season, the longest streak of his career … A host of riders in the MotoGP category are racing this weekend despite suffering injuries in crashes in the last two months, including Jorge Lorenzo, Hopkins, Loris Capirossi and Dani Pedrosa … The Automotodrom Brno circuit was repaved before this event … The 125cc and 250cc classes also compete this weekend. American Stevie Bonsey, from Salinas, Calif., is 13th in the 125cc standings for the DeGraaf Grand Prix team.
***
Red Bull Indianapolis GP tickets: Tickets are on sale for the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Sept. 14, 2008.
Tickets can be purchased either online at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com at any time; on the phone by calling (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area or (317) 492-6700 locally between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday; or visiting the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Ticket Office on the first floor of the IMS Administration Building at 4790 W. 16th St. in Indianapolis from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
All tickets for this event are three-day tickets, with both reserved and general admission seating available.
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