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FIM MotoGP - Silverstone Preview


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INDIANAPOLIS, June 15, 2012: A preview of the Grand Prix of Great Britain World Championship event June 17:

Race:Grand Prix of Great Britain
Date:Sunday, June 17
Round:Sixth of 18 races in 2012
Circuit:Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire, England
Distance:20 laps on 18-turn, 3.666-mile circuit
2011 Winner:Casey Stoner, Honda
2012 Points Leader:Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha
U.S. Riders: Nicky Hayden, ninth, 40 points; Ben Spies, 11th, 24; Colin Edwards, 17th (tie)

LAST RACE

Jorge Lorenzo extended his lead in the MotoGP World Championship with a victory Sunday, June 3 in the Grand Prix of Catalunya, his third win of the 2012 season.

2010 World Champion Lorenzo beat fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa to the finish by 5.003 seconds on his Yamaha Factory Racing machine. Andrea Dovizioso held off reigning World Champion Casey Stoner for third, ending Stoner's streak of 19 consecutive top-three finishes dating back to May 2011.

WHO'S HOT

Jorge Lorenzo: 2010 World Champion Lorenzo has dropped just 10 points in five starts this season, with three victories and two second-place finishes on his factory Yamaha M1. He has expanded his lead in the World Championship to 20 points, 115-95, over defending World Champion Casey Stoner.

Stefan Bradl: 2011 Moto2 World Champion Bradl has made a quietly effective jump to the premier class this season with LCR Honda. The German has finished in the top 10 in all five races this season, with a best of fifth in May at Le Mans. Bradl's solid form has generated whispers that Ducati is interested in hiring him for next season, especially since German automotive giant Audi just purchased the legendary Italian motorcycle manufacturer.

WHO'S NOT

Ben Spies: Whatever can go wrong seems to happen this season for 2010 Rookie of the Year Spies. He has just two top-10 finishes in the first five races, with a best of eighth at Estoril. Spies is facing increasing pressure to perform to keep his factory Yamaha ride in 2013, especially with the success this season of Yamaha satellite riders Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow, both of whom are ahead of Spies in the standings. Spies earned the first podium finish of his MotoGP career in 2010 at Silverstone, site of this weekend's race.

Colin Edwards: It's been a rough start to the season for the Texas Tornado, who is competing on production-based Claiming Rule Teams machinery after racing prototypes for the first nine seasons of his MotoGP career. Edwards' best finish is 12th in the season opener at Qatar. Since then he has finished just one of two starts, missing two races due to a broken collarbone suffered in a crash and failing to finish the last race, at Catalunya, due to mechanical problems with his Suter-BMW.

NEWS and NUMBERS

Andrea Dovizioso's third-place result June 3 in the Catalunya Grand Prix was the first podium finish by a satellite rider since Colin Edwards finished third in the British Grand Prix in June 2011. Both Dovizioso and Edwards rode a Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine to the podium ... Race Day for the 2012 British Grand Prix, Sunday, June 17, marks 63 years to the day since the first World Championship Grand Prix was contested. British rider Harold Daniell won the Isle of Man TT on June 17, 1949, aboard a single-cylinder Norton ... It's been 28 years since a British rider finished on the podium in the premier class at his home Grand Prix. Ron Haslam was the last, finishing third in 1984 in the 500cc class ... Cal Crutchlow has scored 56 points during the first five races of the season, the best premier-class start over five races by a British rider since Haslam in 1987 ... Brazilian Eric Granado is scheduled to make his Moto2 debut this weekend at age 16 years, 7 days on Race Day. He will become the youngest rider to start an intermediate-class race in Grand Prix motorcycle racing history.

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2012 tickets: Tickets for the 2012 Red Bull Indianapolis GP MotoGP event, scheduled for Aug. 17-19 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, are on sale now at www.imstix.com, by calling (800) 822-INDY or (317) 492-6700 or by visiting the IMS Ticket Office at the IMS Administration Building at the corner of Georgetown Road and 16th Street between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET) Monday-Friday.

Tickets for groups of 20 or more also are on sale. Contact the IMS Group Sales Department at (866) 221-8775 for more information.

Information on camping at IMS during the Red Bull Indianapolis GP is available at www.imstix.com. Hotel package information can be found at visitindy.com/redbull.