Gerrard defends young guns’ desire

London: Steven Gerrard has rejected Patrick Vieira’s claim that young English players lack the pride and hunger to represent their country and pointed to a new-found strength in depth within the national set-up which is serving to “raise performances” under Roy Hodgson.

Vieira, now Manchester City’s football development executive, had pointed to a lack of coaching quality as one explanation for why England “don’t produce enough talent” and suggested young players “are not as proud as they used to be”, citing the number of them who withdraw from international duty through injury between the ages of 16 and 21.

Yet Gerrard, who was set to gain his 99th cap in Tuesday evening’s awkward World Cup qualifier against Poland, insisted he has seen no evidence to back up the Frenchman’s assertion.

“It surprised me to read that and the impression I get, certainly from seeing the young players every day at Liverpool, is that they’re desperate to get into this set-up,” said the England captain.

Source: http://gulfnews.com

Read More

Edwards second best CRT in Motegi

A very small gap separated the NGM Mobile Forward Racing Team with its Suter-BMW bike from their direct competitor in the CRT category, Aleix Espargaró, with whom the team felt Edwards could have had battled with, if it hadn’t been for his unfortunate loss of his right knee slider on the fourth lap.

Colin Edwards

"The race started good and I saw Espargaró was right there. I started pushing and felt good. Four laps in, I went to put my knee down in the last corner and it nearly ripped me off the bike and I looked down on the straight and I saw I had no knee pad. It just fell off, I don’t remember hitting a curb or anything. Initially I was thinking I had to pull in because I ride like a tripod, put my knee down and let the bike work underneath me. I just thought about the Bootcamp, feet up, use your body, be smooth. We had a small issue with electronics during the race but overall the package is getting a little better. Thanks to my team, they’ve done a great job over the weekend."

Press release courtesy of NGM Mobile Forward Racing.

Source: http://www.motogp.com

Read More

Lorenzo philosophical on title challenge ahead of Malaysia

Following a presentation of the Tech Air – Alpinestars Electronic Airbag System, Jorge Lorenzo took part in a Q&A session in front of national and international media before catching up with his fans for photo and autographs.

Speaking with motogp.com, the Yamaha Factory Racing rider mentioned how special the Malaysian MotoGP round is for him, for the support he gets there but also for his achievement at the Sepang International Circuit.

"It's great to catch up with the fans and the press here in Kuala Lumpur as we enjoy great support and also we're seeing the Alpinestars brand getting stronger and stronger in Malaysia," commented Lorenzo. "Coming back here is always quite special as I have great memories from clinching my second 250cc title here in 2007 and of course, my first MotoGP championship… So I hope to get another good memory from Malaysia this year as well."

Currently leading the MotoGP World Championship standings with a 28-point lead over Dani Pedrosa, Lorenzo has a mathematical shot at the title - as a win would secure him his second title if his rival finishes no higher than 13th. However Lorenzo stressed that despite the pressure of getting another crown, he's tackling things with more calm than during his title-winning 2010 campaign.

"For me this year is quite different - two years ago, I was still chasing my first title so I was a little bit more nervous and I had to take more risks because I had to secure a first title," said the Spaniard. "Now that I have already won a title, at least I can be happy with winning it once, even if the goal is to get more titles - thinking about it, not so many riders have a title so now I can take things a bit more calmly."

The Yamaha Factory Racing rider admitted that Pedrosa proved stronger in the last couple of races but remains confident about being able to bear with the challenge of his arch-rival.

"Since Laguna Seca, Dani and his bike proved really strong and for us it's harder to beat him on a regular basis as it was the case in the early stages of the season, when we were able to build a solid lead in the Championship. Now it's more complicated but things change over the course of a season, so you have to keep a global perspective on the season and there's no point in going crazy about winning races when you know you can't. I tried but couldn't win the last two races but I might be able to win the next two… and if I can't I'll just have to make sure I finish as high as I can."

Source: http://www.motogp.com

Read More

Pace-man Pedrosa leads Sepang final free practice

After a slow start to the session with adjustments being made to the front brake, Pedrosa put in his best time of 2.01’186 on just his second flying lap, ousting Yamaha Factory Racing’s Lorenzo, who had been the consistent pace setter before hand. Both the title rivals look very evenly matched around most of the circuit, however in the finale sector with the long straights, Lorenzo is loosing up to a quarter of a second on his compatriot.

Pedrosa’s teammate Stoner, who was just over half a second off the top, will not be very happy with his session, as a similar front brake issue looked to be causing him far more trouble. He pitted frequently and was unable to string together a consistent fast run. Marginally behind him was Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso, who went almost three tenths quicker than his teammate Cal Crutchlow.

Yamaha’s Ben Spies, who was trying a set-up with a slightly shortened wheelbase this morning was over a second off top spot, with the American running off track once under heavy braking. San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista had a much better day than yesterday, although will still be looking to improve on finishing seventh. Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden, who suffered a lowside at the end of practice, put his Desmosedici in eighth, ahead of LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl, who was the only top-ten rider not to improve on yesterday’s time.

Ducati’s Valentino Rossi had an almost identical crash to Hayden in the first few minutes of the session, prompting an amusing incident with him stopping the marshals from taking his bike away. He re-joined the session to finish in 10th. Top CRT honours went to Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró in 12th, while Avintia Blusens’ Yonny Hernandez sat out the session with too great a pain in his left shoulder.

Source: http://www.motogp.com

Read More

LG Spectrum II 4G VS930

Specifications
LG Spectrum II 4G VS930

Network	2G 3G 4G	CDMA 800 / 1900; GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 CDMA2000 1xEV-DO; HSDPA 900 / 2100 LTE
Size	Dimensions Weight Display	134.9 x 68.3 x 9.1 mm (5.31 x 2.69 x 0.36 in) 148 gram True HD-IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors 720 x 1280 pixels (~312 ppi pixel density)
Memory	Phonebook Call records Internal Card slot	Yes Yes 16 GB, 1 GB RAM microSD, up to 32 GB
Data	GPRS EDGE 3G WLAN Bluetooth Infrared port USB	Yes Yes EV-DO Rev.A 3.1 Mbps, LTE, HSPA Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot v4.0 with A2DP microUSB v2.0 (MHL TV-out)
Features	OS CPU Messaging Ringtones Browser Radio GPS Games Camera Video Colors Java	Android OS, v4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) Dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait; Adreno 225 SMS, MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones HTML5 Yes Yes 8 MP, autofocus, LED flash 1080p@30fps Black - Loudspeaker - Mini-SIM - 3.5mm jack - Multitouch - True HD Graphic Engine - Dolby mobile - Geo-tagging, face detection - Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass (sensors) - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - MP4/H.264/WMV/DviX player - MP3/WMA/WAV/FLAC/eAAC+ player - True HD movie editor - Document viewer/editor - Clock - Calendar - Alarm
Battery	Stand-by Talk time	Standard battery, Li-Ion 2150 mAh Up to 480 h Up to 10 h

Image: http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_spectrum_ii_4g_vs930-pictures-5078.php

Read More

Stoner comeback slowed with bike issues as Pedrosa leads the pack

Pedrosa maintained his recent momentum and set the fastest time of the day with 1'46.088 in FP2 where he tested both hard and soft compound Bridgestone rear tyres in a perfect day at Motegi, with temperatures reaching 23 degrees. Dani already lapped within the circuit record that he set last year with 1'46.090.

Stoner, on return to competition after his injury that has kept him inactive since Indianapolis, had a difficult morning after an unusual failure left him with only one bike from the beginning of the session. The Australian also experienced issues in the afternoon session and lost valuable track time as he reacquainted himself with his Honda RC213V and adapted to riding with his healing ankle. He finished the day in seventh position, 0.890 off his teammate, hoping his ankle will ease slightly for tomorrow's qualifying.

Dani Pedrosa

"Today was a perfect day for practice. The track conditions were very good, the warm temperatures helped, as did the new surface, so we were able to do the job we wanted. The main target today was to test the tyres and we completed some good laps on both hard and soft compounds. The asphalt is new and the grip is quite good, so the lap times are pretty fast from the beginning. We also did some work on the suspension and the mapping to will keep improving on this tomorrow."

Casey Stoner

"Today was a little disappointing, this morning we had our first bike fail on us so we lost valuable time, then in the second session we had a brake issue and spent a lot of time in the garage fixing that also. We spent the two sessions trying to find a nice balance with the bike; of course I'm not feeling 100% as it is, so I wanted to get a reasonable feeling with it before I start pushing. At the moment the acceleration points are causing me most difficulty, as there are many areas at this circuit where the bike wants to wheelie and you need to keep your body and weight over the front of the bike. Unfortunately my foot doesn't want to bend far enough to help me move forward so I'm having to pull myself forward which is giving me issues with my arms as they are working a lot harder than usual. We'll keep working tomorrow and see what we can do."

Press release courtesy of Repsol Honda Team.

Source: http://www.motogp.com

Read More

Final free practice in Japan sees Pedrosa on top

With times dropping even further from yesterday, Pedrosa was the only rider to go below the 1.46 mark with a 1.45’792, throwing down the gauntlet ahead of qualifying. Almost all riders were looking to test the hard-front and soft-rear tyre combination, which is what Pedrosa used to set his time half way through his 20 lap stint. Yamaha Factory Racing’s Lorenzo set his fast lap, over two tenths off Pedrosa, on his fourth lap, and continued to put in similar times for the remainder of the session.

His teammate Ben Spies found some extra pace with the softer rear tyre, managing to beat Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso, who was one of the pace-setters yesterday. It was however San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista who showed the biggest improvement over yesterday as he put his satellite machine in fifth place, narrowly ousting Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow into sixth.

Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner continued his gradual return to form after injury, completing more laps than in the individual sessions yesterday. He improved his time to finish seventh, though looked in discomfort at the end of his run. Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi, who yesterday stated he would be working on tyre life this morning came in eighth, after saving a big wobble in the latter stages. LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl, who continued work on his brake set-up, stayed solely on used tyres and finished ninth, with Ducati’s Nicky Hayden rounding out the top ten.

Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró was the top CRT in 11th, despite running into the gravel twice, with his teammate Randy de Puniet following suit once. San Carlo’s Michele Pirro suffered a technical issue early on in the session and finished the session in 18th.

Source: http://www.motogp.com

Read More