The helmet that Valentino Rossi first wore when he first moved from Yamaha to ride the Ducati at the end of 2010 has now been released as a replica in the AGV GP-Tech range.

Any experienced collectors will know that these helmets are not cheap, and this one is being made in strictly limited numbers, making it very collectable – so if you want to find out more, then head over to Replica Race Helmets, who have more info on the helmet, including info on where to buy it.

Hopkins had told crew chief, Paul Denning, before the race that a top 10 finish would be his dream goal for the race.

John Hopkins:
“Well, I finished where I wanted to – I certainly wanted to get into the top-10! That was the goal for the whole weekend, but I did wonder if it was going to be a reality when I started on Friday. We pushed right from the start of practice and chipped away little-by-little to bring the lap-time down and just went about the job as professionally as possible. My main target at the start of the race was to try and jump up as many places as possible and get up into the group, because I knew that if I was in there I would be able to follow some guys and do the lap-times. We made up some positions early on, although I dropped back a few places and made a few mistakes – including a huge moment in turn three when I lost the rear and hit the paint – the bike was 90º sideways underneath me, when I should have been going forward! I was able to keep it upright and hang on to a group that included a couple of Ducati’s and some other guys in a battle for eighth. Then suddenly the tyres dropped off a lot, but this was my first time in the wet for a while on a MotoGP bike and I’d never used the Bridgestone wets, so we didn’t have the electronics set completely in the right way and I chewed up the tyre way too much at the beginning of the race. I dropped off the pace quite dramatically for the last part of the race and I saw many riders crashing, so I knew I was close to the top-10, but my main aim was to finish and bring the bike home.

“It has been an amazing weekend and I’m so grateful – again – to Rizla Suzuki for giving me this great opportunity, it’s been great and I’ve really enjoyed it, just to see everybody in the GP paddock has been awesome! Hopefully in the future you’ll see more of me here, but for now I need to concentrate on the BSB championship and we’ll see what happens. I once again want to say how thankful I am for this chance and it was great to see my ‘away-from-home family’ in the Suzuki garage again!”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“John said to me yesterday that a top-10 would be a dream result in his comeback ride and to achieve it was richly deserved. He’s not put a wheel wrong all weekend, made no mistakes and shown clearly both his potential and that of the GSV-R. The race itself was crazy and just to keep the bike on two wheels for the last third of the race was an achievement in itself. It’s actually a shame that we used up the tyres more quickly than some of our competitors, because for the first 10-laps John was in a six-way battle for eighth place and quite comfortably matching the lap-times and manoeuvres of those around him. It’s the first time the 2011 bike has been used in the wet so the data from today should allow Suzuki and the team to make the bike a little more user friendly on the tyres. I would like to pass on my personal thanks to John for the fantastic job he did here in Jerez, he showed true professionalism and it was a pleasure to have him back in the team.

“It was also great to have Álvaro here this weekend to support the team; we really appreciate his efforts to drive down from Madrid. He’s looking well and the recovery is going in the right direction. We hope to make an announcement regarding our plans at the next two races as soon as possible.”

Also, Pramac Ducati still seem to be running their press releases through a free online translating tool about 5 times before releasing them. Capirossi and De Puniet don’t sound this garbled when they are interviewed. These press releases read like a spam email from someone claiming to be a Nigerian Prince wanting to deposit millions into your account.

Fabiano Sterlacchini – Pramac Racing Technical Director
“We regret the departure of Qatar, but now we think future, then at Jerez. We have the opportunity to redeem after the unfortunate start to the Losail, I’m sure the results will come because the team is working well”.

Loris Capirossi – Pramac Racing Team
“The disappointment has passed, now I just think the next race. For Jerez I hope that luck is on our side, as far we had so many problems. I’m fine, I have no problem, apart from the blow to the hand in Qatar and the control of right arm, I should be 100%. Jerez is a track I’ve enjoyed in the past, and I definitely enjoy racing there. The bike is very better than the beginning, as always, I remain confident”.

Randy De Puniet – Pramac Racing Team
“It was not easy starting in a manner so unlucky. But Qatar is now gone, now we look for redemption in Jerez, a circuit I know well. I do not lose sight of my goals, I think only to work hard to improve the feeling with the bike. The progess we have been since the early day test at Losail, then the race went bad. I have to keep up this path”.

His impressive speed in Qatar throughout Practice and Qualifying caught everyone’s attention, but he failed to turn it to his advantage come race-day.

Héctor Barberá:
“The Spanish Grand Prix always has a special flavour to it and with this being our first race in Spain this year I am extra motivated. I want to put Qatar behind us. Practice there went perfectly but the race didn’t. We have a lot of experience behind us now and I think we can carry it through to the race this time. We know our potential has improved drastically from last year and that we can perform at a high level. As far as I am concerned I will keep giving my all every time to close the gap to the lead riders. Jerez is a circuit that I think will suit our bike, especially in terms of its acceleration. It also has a lot of fast corners and that is what I love, as well as being one of the strong points of the Ducati.”

The rain was the star of the first free practice in Estoril and put an end to any chance of a meaningful session for the riders.

For the second practice of the day the track had started to dry out, and towards the end of the session a flurry of fast laps were squeezed in that ended with Jorge Lorenzo holding the top slot.

Estoril MotoGP Practice Times – Session 2:
1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m48.522s
2. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m48.657s + 0.135s
3. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m48.883s + 0.361s
4. Casey Stoner Ducati 1m49.061s + 0.539s
5. Ben Spies Tech 3 Yamaha 1m49.721s + 1.199s
6. Marco Melandri Gresini Honda 1m49.784s + 1.262s
7. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda 1m50.043s + 1.521s
8. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 1m51.273s + 2.761s
9. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m52.294s + 3.772s
10. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1m52.575s + 4.053s
11. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 1m53.131s + 4.609s
12. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m53.510s + 4.988s
13. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m53.592s + 5.070s
14. Aleix Espargaro Pramac Ducati 1m53.769s + 5.247s
15. Hiroshi Aoyama Interwetten Honda 1m54.389s + 5.867s
16. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 1m54.410s + 5.888s
17. Carlos Checa Pramac Ducati 1m54.444s + 5.922s

Hiroshi Aoyama:
“I am looking forward to the race at the new GP circuit. The difference between us rookies and the established MotoGP riders will not be too big as it is a new circuit for all of us. I think the possibility to improve will be much higher under these circumstances. I really look forward to compete there. My physical condition is also getting much better. I am still not 100% fit yet, but I can feel how I improve and already Misano was a big difference to Indianapolis and I hope I can continue in this speed. Also the fact that we have four sessions there is very interesting and for the rookies like me it is perfect as we get the time we need to adapt. I will have to see how I feel with my condition after four sessions, but I think it is an advantage to have more time on the track.”

The battle of the Spaniards continues at Aragon this weekend – Dani Pedrosa goes to the circuit on strong form after winning the last two races, but he will have his work cut out for himself as Jorge Lorenzo is already drumming up Spanish support and staking his claim to a podium finish. Aragon will be the third Spanish MotoGP this year and both Pedrosa and Lorenzo’s fan-clubs will be out in force at the circuit stoking the atmosphere up.

Pedrosa has put his recent form down to the steady improvements to his RC212V and the fact that the new parts and ideas received from HRC earlier in the season have now had time to gel together.

Dani Pedrosa, and Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso look ahead to the Spanish GP.

Dani Pedrosa says:
“I’m looking forward to arriving at MotorLand Aragon and trying the new track on the RC212V. I did some laps in July with a Honda CBR1000RR street bike and I really enjoyed the layout – I loved the circuit. It’s very different to the ones we are used to racing at in the MotoGP championship, and so it will be really interesting this weekend. The circuit combines fast and slow corners which are quite technical, and the last straight and finish line section is going to be amazing. There are also some blind turns where you need to look for references outside the track. The facilities are very high spec and it looks like the fans are in for a treat at this race. It’s always very nice to race in Spain and I can imagine that the atmosphere will be incredible; I’m looking forward to meeting the Spanish fans again. Me and the team also arrive in a very good mood thanks to the great job we have been doing and our good results in the last races. It will be a challenge for everybody this weekend and we need to make the most of the practice sessions – in this area we have improved a lot in the second part of the season. Our bike has been working well at very different circuits, so I hope we can also do a good job in Aragon. I’m really looking forward to this Grand Prix.”

Andrea Dovizioso says:
“I always enjoy the challenge of racing on a new track where no one has prior knowledge and we can all start from zero, so I’m especially looking forward to this race weekend. I had the chance to do some laps on a CBR1000RR last week which was good fun and let me learn the basic layout and get some ideas on how to start the machine set-up for the RC212V on Friday. It was actually the first time for me riding on a track with a street bike, and I enjoyed it. The Aragon track is really nice, it has a lot of elevation changes and many of the braking areas occur where the bike is leaning over, which makes it quite technical and means there are many points where it should be possible to overtake. Because of this I think we will see a very good race. For us it is important to have an idea of the track in advance to give us a head start with the set-up of the RC212V. We are very determined to score a good result in Aragon. At Misano and in the previous races we have been fast and close to the front, but now we need to take the final step and convert that speed into a strong result at the end of the race. This is the target for the weekend.”

Before the start of the US GP weekend, Alvaro Bautista had set himself the relatively basic goal of simply completing the weekend without incident. At the start of the race Bautista’s luck hadn’t markedly improved as he found himself boxed in and instantly dropping to 14th position, leaving him with a battle on his hands if he wanted to secure decent points.

Bautista managed to find his pace and a combination of overtaking moves, coupled with some riders in front of him crashing out left him fighting for 7th position with his old 250cc adversary Marco Simoncelli. Simoncelli was able to hold off Bautista to claim 7th, and Bautista had to settle with 8th.

Loris Capirossi missed out on a top 10 finish after coming second best in a fight with Hector Barbera that saw Capirossi get nudged wide, leaving him to settle for 11th position.

Álvaro Bautista:
“It was a hard and very difficult race because it was so hot that you could feel the heat coming from the bike and from the ground. It made it a very physical race, but that was also a good test for me to see how my body had healed and at the end I still felt strong. I lost a few places at the start, but I was able to overtake other riders very quickly and I got behind Kallio and decided to follow him because he had a good rhythm and I didn’t want to use all my energy with a long race ahead. We caught up to Simoncelli and I knew I was faster than Kallio so it was better to pass him and catch Simoncelli on my own. I saw two points on the track where I could then get past Simoncelli, but they were both very risky because they were very bumpy. I tried to get past in turn 10 but it was just too dangerous to go past because it was so bumpy and I wanted to finish the race – as it had been a long time since I’d done that. I finished in the top 10 and we did a good job through the whole weekend. This morning we made a big change in the gearbox and that worked very well for me. I am happy with the weekend and the team worked fantastic, we have another race next week and I’m looking forward to that already.”

Loris Capirossi:
“Sometimes the feeling in our bike is not too bad and sometimes it is difficult to ride, today it was very difficult and I didn’t really have any feeling in the front tyre and this has been a problem I’ve had many times this year – sometimes causing me to crash. It’s really difficult to find the limit, but it’s not that easy to just find the solution. Today I tried to keep my pace – which was not as fast as I would want it to be – and at the end I tried to attack Barbera. I got past him, but on the last lap he came in a bit too crazy and hit me and put me onto the grass, so I lost 10th position. I am a bit upset about today’s result because the bike has been up and down all weekend and today it was not so good. Everybody tried their hardest this weekend and that is very important, we now need to move on and see what happens next time.”

Tom O’Kane – Álvaro Bautista’s Crew Chief:
“Álvaro rode a really solid race today, at a track that hasn’t been very good to us in the past, so that is a very promising thing to take forward as we move to tracks where our bike has gone better. We are really happy to get a finish and get through a whole race weekend without the dramas that we have had recently. Álvaro made a big change to his gearbox this morning in the warm-up and we were able to see an improvement in his lap-times immediately – especially in the second sector of the lap – and he adapted to the different pattern of the box very quickly and that also showed in the race. Overall he rode a good race and had a tough battle with Simoncelli, it’s neither here-nor-there whether he got past him or not, but it was very important to get into the top-10 and for him to come away from here with a lot more confidence in his own ability and that of the bike.”

Toni Elias has been banned from today’s Moto2 practice – the ban has been put in place as a response to the testing session that Gresini Honda held at Misano last week where the team experimented with new parts and aerodynamics.

Testing during the summer break is prohibited and Elias and team have been hit with the rule-book for their actions.

The error will be a blow to Elias who is currently leading the Moto2 series, fortunately he has a 42 point lead over nearest challenger Thomas Luthi.

The official statement from FIM is below:

FIM statement:
On Sunday 8th August 2010 rider Toni Elías (SPA) and Gresini Racing Moto2 team (ITA) practiced at the Misano World Circuit, which is an infringement to the Art. 1.15.1.2.iv of the 2010 FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix Regulations.

“The Race Direction has decided to impose a disqualification of Friday’s practice at the Cardion ab Grand Prix Czech Republic and a fine of €3,000. No appeal has been lodged. The decision of the Race Direction is final.

Art. 1.15.1.2.iv states that teams are forbidden to practice “At any circuit included in the Grand Prix calendar of the current year during “breaks”.

A break is defined as “two consecutive week-ends where events are not scheduled.”