The World championship passes its halfway point in England and gets ready for the summer break.
After Barros’ and Hayden’s podium finishes in MotoGP, Porto’s in the 250, and Nieto’s in the 125, the Repsol riders reach Donington targeting victory.
After the recent success of the Repsol riders at the German Grand Prix, with four podium finishes and a two-three for the Repsol Honda Team -Barros second and Hayden third-, the World Championship reaches England without a rest to stage the ninth round of the season. After this race, teams and riders will take a break of almost three weeks to restart activity for the Czech Grand Prix on August 22.
In MotoGP, the excellent performance of the Repsol Honda Team riders in Germany was like an optimism and illusion refuelling for the most successful team of the World Championship history. Alex Barros, who fought for the victory at the Sachsenring until the very last lap against Max Biaggi, had to settle for second but showed himself highly competitive throughout the weekend. It wasn’t an easy race for the Brazilian rider who started from the second row and was relegated to the middle of the pack after an incident with another rider during the first lap. Together with his teammate Hayden, who didn’t make a good start either, they began to remount positions until reaching the front, halfway the race. Barros finally finished second and Hayden third, ahead of current World Championship leader Valentino Rossi. The third Repsol rider of the class, Rubén Xaus, did not have an easy weekend in Germany. Despite being able to score with his eleventh position, Xaus is already looking forward to Donington, a circuit where he has already raced, thus not having to start from nothing, as happened last weekend in Germany.
In the 250 Sebastián Porto will continue working step by step to try to close the gap in the overall standings to Dani Pedrosa, current leader in the quarter-of-a-litre class. Porto finished second in Germany, on a circuit where the Aprilias have never been able to perform especially well. The victory went to Pedrosa and his Honda, who managed to increase the lead in the standings with 5 additional points over the Repsol rider. The positive side of the Grand Prix was the final position of Randy De Puniet, the other title candidate, who lost several points with regard to the Repsol rider after finishing fifth. In Donington, the fight for victory between Pedrosa, De Puniet and Repsol rider Sebastián Porto will surely have a new and exciting chapter. The Argentinean’s teammate, Fonsi Nieto, eighth at the German Grand Prix, may also have a word to say on a circuit where he has always shown himself highly competitive. Last year, Aspar’s pupil left no chance to his challengers, setting the pole on both practice days and taking a clear victory. One year later and in a season that is not being very successful for Nieto, the Donington race may mean a point of turn to start and gather victories.
In the 125, Pablo Nieto did all he can against challengers with much more powerful bikes than his, something that the brave Repsol rider was forced to feel towards the end of the race. But despite everything, Nieto fought for victory until the very last lap and clinched the third place on the podium. Sixth last year, four tenths behind the winner, fellow-countryman Barberá, Nieto trusts in the help of Aprilia to be able to fight against his rivals for victory under equal conditions. His teammate Sergio Gadea, who scored his first Championship points in Germany with his fourteenth position, has already taken off the pressure of his debut in the highest-level competition. After reaching his first objective, Gadea must now keep on fighting for points on all the remaining circuits of this second half of the season
