Early error frustrates Casey Stoner

Casey Stoner might have one hand on the 2011 MotoGP world title but a 13th consecutive podium in Japan yesterday did little to disguise the Australian’s disappointment at failing to win the Twin Ring Motegi clash.

When Stoner hit the front from pole position on the opening lap, many expected the 25-year-old to streak away to record a ninth win of the season.

But an uncharacteristic mistake on the brakes at the end of the back straight on the fifth lap saw Stoner plough into the gravel trap at high speed.

He managed to keep his factory Honda RC212V machine upright but dropped down to seventh before he recovered superbly to keep his proud record of scoring a podium in each race he has finished in 2011.

With Jorge Lorenzo in second, Stoner only surrendered four points in the title hunt and he can still clinch the title on home soil at Phillip Island if he scores ten or more points than his Spanish adversary.

And the 2007 world champion said: "It could have been worse, but not a lot worse. Everything felt good all weekend and the bike has been fantastic and it was the same for the race. We got a gap quite easily, so we sort of wanted to manage that. Then I saw Andrea (Dovizioso) pull a few tenths back and I knew he was on the softer tyre, so we thought we can go a little bit quicker here because I didn’t want to push too much in those early laps to struggle too much with the hard tyre. Then I had the issue on the brakes and I couldn’t make the corner. I’m disappointed because in some ways we’re lucky we still ended up on the podium, but I feel we should have been fighting for that win and it’s disappointing."

Asked what he thought had upset his bike in the braking zone when he ran off he added: "It’s not one bump, there’s a lot. But I hadn’t had any kind of reaction off the bike all weekend and as I came over there I had the slightest movement before the bigger bump, because there’s a few small ones before it and as the front came down it just shook. I have no idea why it did that but I’d gone over it a lot of different ways during the weekend. It was just a bit surprising that we had that problem during the race."

For six pages of news and views from the Japanese Grand Prix, see the October 5 issue of MCN.

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Motegi MotoGP: Second not enough for Jorge Lorenzo

Jorge Lorenzo kept his slim world title hopes alive after he finished one place in front of main championship rival Casey Stoner in a gripping Japanese Grand Prix yesterday.

But the Spaniard fears his title hopes have all but disappeared as he faces the thankless task of trying to overturn a 40-point deficit on Stoner with just three races remaining.

Lorenzo clawed four-points back on Stoner in the action-packed 24-lap race after the Aussie had made a shock error while leading in the early stages.

The pre-race favourite ran off track on lap five but recovered to salvage a brilliant third, which was just one place behind Lorenzo, who couldn’t take full advantage of Stoner’s blunder.

Lorenzo was unable to fight with compatriot Dani Pedrosa for the victory and he told MCN: "It's too late because there are only three races to the end and it's too late because of the bike we have. We don't have any big chances coming. Maybe I can win some races from now until the end of the season but I don't see me winning three races in a row in normal conditions. And even if I won the last three races it doesn't give me the world title. Casey must finish further back than second and I can’t see this situation in my mind, I don't see it happening unless there is something strange."

For six pages of coverage from the Twin Ring Motegi race, including Lorenzo’s involvement in a first lap collision with Valentino Rossi, see Wednesday’s Motor Cycle News.

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Andrea Dovizioso nearing 2012 decision

Andrea Dovizioso is close to reaching a final decision on whether he will ride for LCR Honda next season or partner Cal Crutchlow in the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 squad.

The Italian told MCN his decision on whether to continue his long association with Honda or move to rivals Yamaha would be taken before the end of this week.

The former 125GP world champion has spent his entire Grand Prix career with Honda and he admitted after finishing fifth in an incident-packed Japanese round at the Twin Ring Motegi that leaving would be a big wrench.

He told MCN: "It is difficult because my feeling with Honda now is the best compared to the last nine years because now I am fighting for the victory. It is hard but it depends on a lot of situations and right now I haven’t decided anything."

He said there was a big temptation to move to Herve Poncharal’s Tech 3 squad to try and build a relationship with a different manufacturer.

Dovizioso would sign a one-year deal with Tech 3 with the hope of impressing in the inaugural 1000cc world championship to secure a move to Yamaha’s factory squad in 2013.

He said: "Sure I think about this. When you’re fast you have a lot of possibilities and if I am fast with Yamaha next year then sure I will have the chance to be in the factory team and this is the target of every rider."

Dovizioso saw a great chance of claiming victory in yesterday’s Twin Ring Motegi race ruined by a jump start. He led after a mistake by Casey Stoner but had to complete a pitlane ride through and he eventually finished fifth after failing to hold off compatriot Marco Simoncelli, who was also guilty of a jump start.

For Dovizioso and Simoncelli’s thoughts on their missed podium chance in Japan, see the October 5 issue of MCN.

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Ben Spies fights back for top six

Ben Spies mounted a brilliant fightback in yesterday’s Twin Ring Motegi MotoGP clash to claim his ninth successive top six finish in Yamaha’s home race.

The Texan’s podium hopes were wrecked after just three corners when he was caught up in a tangle with factory Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo and the Ducati of Valentino Rossi.

Spies was nudged into the gravel at high speed by Rossi’s falling Desmosedici and despite his best efforts to keep control of his YZR-M1 machine, he toppled over at slow speed having avoided making contact with the trackside barrier.

The 2009 World Superbike champion lost almost 25 seconds in the incident and re-joined the 24-lap race in dead last before he recovered superbly to salvage sixth with a late overtake on compatriot Nicky Hayden.

Spies said: “At the end of the first lap the gap to the first person in front of me was 15 seconds. I knew there was a couple of wild card guys that were going a little bit slower and I knew we could get some points. I knew Dovizioso had jumped the start and somebody had crashed behind me. I didn’t know who it was so I was just going to ride as hard as I could and see what happened. Then I saw people coming back and a big group in front of me.

"That’s when I thought the top ten was possible. And then when I was in tenth I saw a big group of people in front of me, so I just kept pushing and pushing and didn’t give up. It would have been nice to complete the first lap with no problems because the bike felt good and looking at the times and how the other riders experienced problems, if we had a clean race we could have battled for the podium. But that’s racing and we got the short end of the stick. Nobody wants to knock anybody off the track and crash. I was actually in a good position that turned out to be bad and that’s just how it goes, but I’m happy with how the race turned out.”

For more from Spies and six pages of coverage from the Twin Ring Motegi MotoGP race, see Wednesday’s issue of MCN.

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Motegi MotoGP: Suzuki misses out on season best result

Suzuki’s home race in Japan ended in bitter disappointment after Alvaro Bautista threw away a golden chance to claim a career best MotoGP finish at the Twin Ring Motegi.

The Spaniard was pushing in fourth position to keep a hard charging Andrea Dovizioso at bay when he lost the front-end of his factory GSV-R machine at the penultimate corner on lap 14.

The chaotic early stages of the 24-lap race had seen former 125GP world champion Bautista run in third place for six laps.

Valentino Rossi and Ben Spies had collided on the first lap, Casey Stoner ran off track while leading and Marco Simoncelli and Andrea Dovizioso were both penalised with a ride through penalty for jumping the start.

Stoner took third from Bautista on lap 12 as the Aussie surged back through the field but Bautista had a healthy advantage of seven seconds over Dovizioso’s Repsol Honda when he tumbled out.

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Iannone secures victory in Japan

Andrea Iannone (Speed Master) made a strong start to take the lead from Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) who started on pole, which then instigated a battle throughout the race for first.

Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) challenged for the lead but fell back and eventually finished in fourth behind Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2.

Corsi finished the race in fifth, whilst Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2) and Bradley Smith (Tech 3 Racing) took sixth and seventh respectively.

Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP) took eighth and Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX) and Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing) completed the top ten, whilst Kallio's team mate Scott Redding finished the race in twentieth place.

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Pedrosa takes third victory of season

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) secured his third victory of the season at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit in an eventful race that saw false starts and many riders venturing into the gravel.

The race started with Dovizioso jumping the start, leading Cal Crutchlow and Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) to follow suit, whilst Stoner made a strong start to take the lead.

Valentino Rossi had a disappointing start to the race, crashing out of the first lap and pushing Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) into the gravel. Spies was able to rejoin, whilst Rossi was forced to retire.

Stoner stretched a gap at the lead, looking set to maintain first until the Australian ran out of track on lap five. Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) then crashed out and Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) lost fifth place after running off the track and dropping back to tenth.

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Conte: Juve players can learn to be champs

Juventus coach Antonio Conte has voiced his delight with the 2-0 victory over AC Milan in Serie A on Sunday evening.

The 42-year-old was full of praise for his players following the important win at the Juventus Stadium and stressed that his squad have what it takes to become champions.

"To win these games, you must win as a team. This year, the good players have to be champions. We have players who can learn to be champions," Conte told Tuttosport.

The former Juve captain tempered his praise with words of advice for his men in the coming weeks, urging them to be humble and never to forget the failures of last season.

"It is too early to lose the humility which reminds us that last season we finished in seventh place. If we had failed [to remember to be humble] we would have been massacred by Milan."

Juventus will look to maintain their unbeaten start to the Serie A season when they face Chievo after the international break.

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Juventus & Napoli as title contenders in Serie A

Marcello Lippi has said former clubs Juventus and Napoli are good value for winning the Serie A title this season.

Both teams signalled their Scudetto intentions over the weekend and held the two Milanese giants at their mercy.

Napoli beat Inter 3-0 on Saturday while Juventus brushed aside AC Milan 2-0 on Sunday.

"I think Juventus and Napoli will both fight to win the title this season," Lippi told Ansa.

"However, Milan, Inter and Udinese are also there. Udinese never cease to amaze me."

Lippi went on to speak about Roma who clicked into gear with a 3-1 win over Atalanta on Saturday.

"Roma have an excellent project and champions like Daniele De Rossi and Francesco Totti."

Juventus are joint top of the league with Udinese, one point ahead of Napoli. 

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Lionel Messi urges Argentina to end the cycle of failure

Argentina and Barcelona star Lionel Messi has admitted that he has experienced too much failure while on duty with the national team, and urged his team-mates to break the habit in the imminent Conmebol World Cup qualifying campaign.

Accustomed to harvesting titles as a member of the Spanish champions, the Argentine wizard has not seen the same fortune smile on him while representing the South Americans. Since making his debut in 2005, the 24-year-old can boast just one winners medal, gold in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, as a member of the senior team.

Speaking four days before Alejandro Sabella's men start their bid for Brazil 2014 against Chile, Messi affirmed that this was the time to build a consistent, winning team.

"The results we seek are still not materialising for us, we have experienced a great number of failures. I hope that against Chile we can start winning," Messi told Radio Metro.

The No. 10 also argued that it is unrealistic for the public to expect him to carry his national side, pointing out that this simply is not the case in Barcelona. And he continued to predict a fierce fight for qualification amongst South America's World Cup hopefuls.

"These games are getting more and more difficult because all the teams are on a similar level, and they can make life hard for you by packing the midfield," he explained.

Messi and Argentina host Chile in the Estadio Monumental on Friday, before travelling to Caracas to take on Venezuela the following Tuesday.

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Cristiano Ronaldo aims to break La Liga goal record again

Real Madrid attacker Cristiano Ronaldo believes he can continue breaking scoring records in the Primera Division after picking up the Pichichi award for netting the most league goals in the Spanish top flight last term.

There is debate over the amount Ronaldo tucked away as Marca claim it is 41, while Spain’s Professional Football League (LFP) gave a deflected free-kick goal from last September against Real Sociedad to team-mate Pepe.

In any case, having picked up the trophy from Marca, the Portugal international intends to beat his own mark.

"In football nothing is impossible and every record can be broken," the Portuguese is quoted as saying by Marca.

"I hope to surpass the previous record, but I want to thank my team-mates for making it possible for me to win the trophy.

"We will see what happens in the future, you never know what may happen, but I could beat the record."

Ronaldo went on to talk about Real Madrid's 4-0 win over Espanyol on Sunday, in which he did not score, but set up two goals.

"I like helping my team-mates score, it is also part of my job. They pass to me and I pass to them. I always do my best for the team so we can win."

Ronaldo's goal haul in the league last season surpassed previous record-holders Telmo Zarra and Hugo Sanchez, who both amassed 38 goals in 30 and 35 league games, respectively.

The former Manchester United man is the only player in history to have scored 40 or more goals in a single Liga season.

Last term Barcelona's Lionel Messi scored 31 goals in 33 league matches for his team, with the two players tied on 53 strikes in all competitions.

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Luciano Moggi: AC Milan did nothing but run around against Juventus

Luciano Moggi has been highly critical of AC Milan's performance in their 2-0 loss to Juventus on Sunday night, stating that the Serie A champions did nothing more than run after their hosts for 90 minutes.

A late double from Claudio Marchisio proved to be the difference between the teams on the night, but the former Juve general director feels that there was more to the game than that.

"I saw a team that did more running than playing," Moggi told Il Sussidiario. "Milan did nothing, and so the result was inevitable."

The 74-year-old then spoke about Inter's 3-0 loss to Napoli, which saw referee Gianluca Rocchi come under heavy fire after wrongly sending off Joel Obi and awarding the visitors a questionable penalty at San Siro.

"He [Rocchi] got it all wrong. He made a mistake with Joel Obi and then again on the penalty," Moggi said.

As a result of their poor star

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Aguero to meet up Argentina

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero has played down the severity of the injury he picked up against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, insisting that he will be joining up with the Argentina squad on Monday.

The former Atletico Madrid star had to be taken off in the first half during the 4-0 win over Steve Kean's side and City assistant David Platt had predicted that Aguero could be out for two weeks with the groin injury.

Aguero has now claimed, however, that he is to join up with the rest of the Argentina squad for their World Cup qualifying matches against Chile and Venezuela.

He Tweeted: "I am very happy because the doctor told me I have only a muscle bound! Tomorrow I come back to the national team!!"

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Former Italy boss Marcello Lippi: I have not had contact with Anzhi Makhachkala

Former Italy head coach Marcello Lippi has declared he has not yet been approached by Anzhi Makhachkala.

The Russian outfit are on the lookout for a new coach after dispensing with the services of Gadzhi Gadzhiyev following a series of disappointing results which saw the club slump to seventh in the league standings.

Roberto Carlos, who has been appointed as caretaker coach, revealed on Thursday the club were looking to sign a world-class tactician, with Fabio Capello and Guus Hiddink mentioned as some of the names under consideration.

Lippi has also been mooted as a possibility for the job, but the Italian tactician claims the Eastern Europeans have not yet come knocking.

"I follow Anzhi's situation closely, the team of Roberto Carlos and Samuel Eto'o, but I have not had any contact with their officials, I have only read [about them] in the papers," he told Rai Sport.

"I have already said I want to coach again, and I do not rule out any possibility, I am not only considering proposals from national sides."

The 63-year-old, who has been out of work since the summer of 2010, coached a club for the last time in 2004, when he was in charge of Juventus.

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Downing backs Carroll to get more goals

Liverpool winger Stewart Downing has hailed team-mate Andy Carroll and backed the striker to go from strength to strength following his first Premier League goal of the season.

Downing moved to Anfield in the summer in a £20 million move from Aston Villa and has made a good impression, and believes that Carroll will get a lot of confidence from his opening goal in the Merseyside derby.

"Andy's off the mark now and we're all delighted for him," Downing told the club's official website.

"Even without scoring, he's been doing really well for us.

"But getting a goal is a real bonus and for it to happen in the derby is extra special for him.

"He deserved it for his all-round play and it was a great finish.

"Andy is a quality striker and I'm sure he'll build on this. It was such an important goal as this was a big win for us.

"Obviously coming here [to Goodison] and winning means a lot to the fans but the main thing for us was getting the three points."

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Brazil legend Ronaldo urges Santos' Neymar to move to Europe

Brazil legend Ronaldo has asserted that Santos forward Neymar should move to Europe to further his career.

The 19-year-old prodigy is widely expected to leave his homeland after establishing himself as one of the hottest commodities on the transfer market with his displays for club and country.

Barcelona and Real Madrid have both been credited with an interest in Neymar, who has declared he will not leave Santos before the summer of 2012.

And Ronaldo, who joined PSV at the age of 18, said that his countryman must move to Europe to continue his progression.

"We will see his evolution from the moment he moves to Europe, which will be the most important step in his career," he told Globo.

"He has done everything he can here in Brazil with his talent. I think it would be a shame to limit himself to Brazil only."

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