Casey Stoner’s first stage finish of the 2010 season at Assen has allowed the Aussie more desire to secure a more permanent return to the rostrum, the Ducati Team racer has made a tough beginning to the year but is preparing for the next round at the Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya this weekend.

“I have had some fantastic races at Catalunya in the past and others not so good but generally I have very fond memories there,” states Stoner, who was victorious at Montmeló in 2007 and has placed third in the last two seasons there. “I hope we can get around the issues we usually have there and be competitive because gradually we are getting better, but we need to start picking up the results to show for it; it would be nice to start doing that at Catalunya.”

He adds, “The layout is really nice, it’s quite a classic, but sometimes with our bike we have struggled to find grip there. We have to try and sort that out this year and hopefully I can have some fun because we normally get some really close racing here.”

Ducati Team Manager Vittoriano Guareschi says Stoner’s Dutch finish was the inspiration he needed, and is sure his progress can continue at Catalunya.

“Barcelona brings us to the end of a series of three consecutive races during which time we have worked a lot on the set-up of the GP10 with both our riders,” says Guareschi. “Casey in particular needed to rediscover his confidence with the front and he was satisfied with the progress we made at Assen.

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The open doors of Marc Márquez’s talent continued on Saturday when the young Spaniard claimed his third straight 125cc event at the TIM TT Assen. Since claiming victory at Mugello three weeks ago, the Red Bull Ajo Motorsport competitor can now add another 2 to his list, as he displays continued potential from race to race.

It was also Márquez’s second straight victory from pole position as his consistency grows over each GP weekend, he is now third in the Championship rankings with an interesting battle at the top occurring.

“I only got my first victory at Mugello and I have improved in every race,” stats Márquez, who is now the second youngest racer in history following Marco Melandri to be victorious in three successive GP events. “I have a great feeling with the team as well. I think one of the reasons (I won) this weekend is because of the last two victories. My motivation is very high but we need to keep our feet on the ground for Barcelona.”

The Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya will allow Márquez the opportunity to claim four victories in row amongst of his home crowd, however he has a mature approach that equals his talents and youth.

“It is another weekend which will be completely different and we need to work in the same way, and try and improve a little bit more.

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The Pramac Racing squad had a productive TIM TT Assen on Saturday as Aleix Espargaró claimed his fourth top ten result, while Mika Kallio improved on his previous result from Silverstone to arrive in 11th position.

Espargaró lost spots from his beginning of tenth place, however made up ground with a good race, at one point heading Marco Simoncelli before eventually losing the challenge with the Italian for ninth.

Kallio has enjoyed a good beginning from 13th and battled with Héctor Barberá on the remaining five laps, able to beat the Spanish racer to 11th as he moved closer to the top ten than he has been a week prior.

Aleix Espargarò states, "Unfortunately my bad start meant I lost contact with the front group and I had to fight to regain the positions I lost. After I had passed some riders I had a good race pace that allowed me to recover the gap to Simoncelli. In eight laps I managed reduce the three-second gap to him and pass. I pushed as hard as I could to try and break away from him but I risked falling, and he got in front of me. I studied the places where I could try to overtake him, but on the last lap I was not close enough. I'm also happy to have had my smallest gap to the race winner this season. Now we race in Barcelona, my home Grand Prix, and I will do my best to get a good result for my team and my fans.”

Mika Kallio adds, "I was very happy with the excellent start I made which allowed me to gain three positions after the first lap. Unfortunately my race pace didn’t let me keep up with the best riders and my bike was not very quick in some fast points of the track.

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The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 squad incurred an excellent start to the 80th staging of the infamous Dutch TT at Assen.

In odd warm temperatures up to 27ºC, Colin Edwards had a welcome return to form at the legendary Assen track. The American raced to the circuit with a fresh front end geometry setting on his YZR-M1 engine, and instantly felt more confident with the abilitiy to show his true class following a difficult start to the season.

Capitalising very well on the improved turning performance from his front end amendments, Edwards ended fourth and was only 0.013s behind the top three.

“I really needed that after a tough start to the season and thanks to my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 who have been working really hard to improve my situation,” states the American. “I really like Assen and the change they made on the back section made it feel a little bit more like the old circuit.”

“My bike is quite a bit different to what it has been this season and I'm running a front geometry setting that is a lot different to what I've ever run before,” he continues. “I'm just trying to make the bike turn easier and feel a little more natural and it is similar to the setting that Valentino and Jorge like. I've got a lot more confidence than Silverstone because that was not a positive weekend at all. This track is a lot more free flowing and you have to keep a lot of momentum and that suits my style. And I can just get the bike to turn better and that's where I've been lacking. Now the bike feels great and I'm looking forward to a good weekend.”

Ben Spies also proved to be a strong contendor in the afternoon, the reigning World Superbike champion was determined to gain on the momentum following his brilliant maiden MotoGP podium in the last round at Silverstone.

The Texan produced a variety of consistent laps and in the last ten minutes, moved quickly into the top four. A best lap of 1’35.942 saw Spies arrive in eighth position but was only 0.020s away from the top six.

The warm conditions saw circuit temperatures soar to 44ºC, Spies spent the category on the hard compound Bridgestone rear tyre option, in order to gain crucial data ahead of Saturday's 26 lap round. He will make minor adjustments to improve turning performance on his YZR-M1 and is confident of gaining his first top six grid position in the qualifying session.

“It was a decent session though we definitely need to make a couple of changes to the bike to make it a bit better in the longer turns,” says Spies. “I had quite a good set-up at Silverstone to make the bike more nimble and we started with that setting here. But it wasn't working that well so we'll go back to what we know works tomorrow and I'm confident it should be better. I worked a lot on the hard race tyre and I'm definitely happy with the performance and the balance of the bike. I just need to make the bike turn better when I'm on the throttle. I 'm really happy with corner entry but I'm losing a lot on the longer turns.”

The rookie adds, “The target tomorrow will be to get on the second row and I've not managed that yet.

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Yamaha Motor Corporation USA have confirmed there will be an amazing opportunity to bid for a full set of Monster Yamaha Tech 3 racer Colin Edwards’ MotoGP racing apparel, with all funds raised given to "Feed the Children".

The lucky winner will be given their purchase by Edwards himself at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on July 23rd to 25th, after being invited on stage to collect their autographed memorabillia. The winner will also enjoy the fact that they have aided to raise much needed monies for Yamaha Motor Corporation's charity.

The package will incorporate a full set of Edwards’ MotoGP race apparel, with Spidi leathers and Sidi boots and gloves, plus the Texan’s Arai helmet. As an extra, the winning bidder will also get a pair of weekend three day general admission passes to the GP, which includes paddock access and a hotel room for Friday through to Sunday.

"Colin has proven once again just why he's such a favourite of fans around the world by donating an actual set of his race gear for such a great cause," says Bob Starr, Yamaha's General Manager of National Communications. "This year Colin has also thrown in a special ‘Boot Camp’ rider skills training session near his home in Texas for the winning bidder!"

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Andrea Dovizioso’s consistency throughout the year has seen him move forward again at the AirAsia British Grand Prix on Sunday, where the Repsol Honda racer claimed his best finish of the season with second place.

He already placed third in three of the four rounds, the Italian now enjoying a new level on the stage at Silverstone, a result that has also improved his ranking in the Championship.

“I’m really happy with second in the race, and we also have second in the Championship now so this reflects our strong start to the season,” says Dovizioso.

“In the middle of the race I saw many riders were closing in behind me and so I tried to push at 100% to get a gap and try to avoid a fight on last lap. Corners 13 and 14 towards the end of the lap are really slow and you can see clearly the riders that are behind, and it would be easy to be overtaken here on the last lap if they were too close, so it was important to get a gap, which I managed to do.”

With such a good beginning to the year, Dovizioso is now preparing to focus on the next step and claiming a win, something he has achieved only once before in the premier class.

“I’m so pleased with the season so far and I’d like to say thank you to Honda and to the team for the work they are doing. We still need to improve so that we can battle for race wins, but we are one step closer today and it’s a good result for us at the start of a busy period of races.

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MotoGP arrives back to Silverstone this weekend following a 24 year absence, and also for ten years between 1977 and 1986, the World Championship had some memorable moments at the Northamptonshire arena.

Over that period, a variety of defining moments appeared, such as the first ever one/two finish for American competitors in GP racing when Pat Hennen and Steve Baker claimed first and second in the maiden 500cc event. In each of the ten events between 1977 and 1986, sidecar events were also witnessed along with GPs for solo motorbikes.

Further back when the timing was clocked to the closest hundredth of a second, the nearest ever finish in the 500cc event was recorded in 1979 at Silverstone with only 0.03 seconds apart between Kenny Roberts and Barry Sheene. The initial five racers over the line in the 1983 250cc event were covered by only 0.4 seconds, this is the closest ever top five in the 61 years of history in the 250cc category.

1979 saw Honda debut the NR500 four-stroke battle to the already established two-stroke engines in the 500cc category. The bikes were raced by Mick Grant and Takazumi Katayama. Grant smashed at the first corner and Katayama finished a handful of laps before retiring. Freddie Spencer competed in an updated version of the NR500 at Silverstone in 1981 and arrived as high as fifth spot in the event before retiring with mechanical issues.

Competitors that have experienced some major highs at the track include Kork Ballington and Angel Nieto, the two racers with most GP wins at Silverstone, each having been victorious at the circuit six times. Toni Mang’s 1985 victory gave him the claim as the only racer to have won 250cc GP events on bikes from three various Japanese manufacturers: Kawasaki, Yamaha and Honda.

For the Brit racers, Silverstone has also provided an enjoyable venue to race. Ten Brits have ended on the podium over all the solo categories of Grand Prix racing at Silverstone: Barry Sheene (1978/500cc/3rd, 1979/500cc/2nd), Tom Herron (1978/250cc/2nd, 1978/350cc/2nd), John Williams (1977/350cc/3rd), Steve Manship (1978/500cc/2nd), Mick Grant (1978/350cc/3rd), Clive Horton (1978/125cc/2nd), Keith Huewen (1981/350cc/2nd), Andy Watts (1984/250cc/2nd), Ron Haslam (1984/500cc/3rd) and Ian McConnachie (1986/80cc/1st).

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Jorge Lorenzo will look to increase his Championship lead even more this weekend at the AirAsia British Grand Prix, but will need to do so on a fresh track layout that the MotoGP competitors have not yet experienced.

An amazing beginning to the year sees Lorenzo take victory twice and finish second on the podium on two occasions so far in the four rounds, currently leading by 25 points. Round five at Silverstone will bring a new and exciting challenge as the MotoGP competitors arrive to a new circuit that has not yet hosted the World Championship since 1986.

"After Mugello we arrive at Silverstone, a track that none of us know!” states Lorenzo. “I will do some laps with the scooter on Thursday; I don't always do this but I think it's very important because so far I've only seen the track on the PlayStation and it's changed quite a lot.”

Lorenzo is focussing on improvement after his strong result of second in the last race in Italy, he wants to locate a better level of grip to battle with in the campaign.

“My aim is once again to get on the podium, but I was disappointed after Mugello and I want to have a better race in England,” he adds. “I am happy with my lead in the standings but I want to keep improving and this weekend we will try to find some more traction for my M1.”

Prior to the action, Lorenzo will arrive to the home of cricket to gain an insight into the game. “On Wednesday I will go to Lord's Cricket Ground for a press conference and it will be the first time I've seen cricket, because we don't play in Spain,” he says. “I think it will be interesting to discover this sport, and maybe even play!”

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Bradley Smith was very close to claiming his first podium of the 2010 year in the 125cc category at the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM on Sunday, however was just beaten to third spot after battling throughout the event for a stage appearance.

“It’s frustrating but considering the first three races and the fact that the chassis is now there, it’s just down to the other half of the bike to catch up,” Smith explains. “We’re still searching and it’s not through a lack of trying, the other guys have just got slightly better stuff.”

“We have a lot of work to do off the track, over the next two weeks the team has to sit down and try and find some more speed. I’m sure they’re capable of it, this is the Aspar team and they’re not number one in the world for no reason.”

The speed shown by Smith gave an indication of his desires, on lap eight he claimed a new track record with a quick time of 1’58.009. “That showed I had the pace to be there, but when I was just sat on my own and not in anyone else’s slipstream I lost over a second a lap and the guys were able to sit behind me quite easily,” he adds.

“Overall I’m happy. I could’ve done with being on the podium or winning this race, but we’ll leave that for Silverstone and my home GP.”

The sharing of data with colleague Nico Terol is no issue for Smith, he is taking encouraging progress that has occurred since the beginning of the year.

“Everything is exactly the same, our team is open and we’re getting the same treatment on both sides,” he says. “There is always going to be one rider that has a better day than the other, but this has happened on too many occasions now so I really think we need to check over everything because with the long straights at Silverstone that will show it even more.

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Young fans of the World Championship can now be sure to enjoy specially designed games on the iPhone. MotoGP Kids is due for download from the iTunes shop and allows a wide variety of entertaining options.

There are 5 educational games, Wheely Pop, Memory Pairs, Colouring, Puzzle, and Trivia, the application involves appropriate graphics for youngsters.

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Casey Stoner took some vital Championship points on Sunday at the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM with fourth position, following a hard working weekend, taking his best result of the season so far.

Stoner struggled for grip as he watched Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso get clear at the start of the event, the Aussie became involved in a three way challenge with Marco Melandri and Randy de Puniet for fourth spot.

“We expected to be a little faster in the race today especially using the softer option of the tyres, but unfortunately we just didn’t seem to generate any grip,” says Stoner. “We had a reasonable set-up in the morning warm-up which was a big step from yesterday, but we made another change for the race which didn’t seem to work so I wasn’t able to catch the guys in front. The guys behind me were using me as a good rabbit to chase, and I wasn’t able to pull away from them so I let them have their race and then on the last lap I knew it was time for me to get in the best points position possible.”

Considering how the weekend progressed so far, Stoner discussed the 13 Championship points he gained as very positive. “We’re pretty happy with the way the race went after the weekend we’ve had as we’ve really struggled,” he said. “It’s been tough not only for me but also for Nicky and Mika (Kallio, Pramac Racing). We’ve seen a lot of things happening that shouldn’t be so unfortunately we’re just not able to finish in the places we want.”

Nicky Hayden was not so lucky as he smashed out on lap five after losing the front end of his Desmosedici GP10 engine heading into Turn 12. The American lost pace prior to his fall, ending his race early.

“I got a terrible start which complicated things, and I let the clutch out and the bike bogged - it went backwards,” he states. “I wasn’t in front of a lot of guys in Turn 1 and I made a few passes in the first couple of corners and moved up a bit. But I really didn’t have a good pace and after the practices we had I expected to go a lot faster than that.”

Discussing the crash, Hayden adds, “I was pushing hard and had a few moments on the front and then going down into that Ducati corner I crashed.

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Hiroshi Aoyama will be preparing to focus on improvements made at Le Mans when he arrives to the circuit at Mugello this weekend, for the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM. The Interwetten Honda MotoGP competitor ended 11th in the final event after battling for a spot inside the top ten, he is confident that a good beginning in practice on Friday will see him achieve his goals.

“Mugello is one of the difficult tracks and you have to have a lot of experience to be able to handle it. Even for me Mugello is not really easy and I have been around for a few years,” says the Japanese racer, who will compete on the Italian track on a premier session 800cc engine for the initial time.

“I want to be stronger straight away in the practice sessions this time, and I want to keep improving like I did in Le Mans – I am sure that we have the potential to be better. I want to give my all this weekend and we will see where we can be.”

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