Moto GP Hits The Spot

The world Moto GP championship is shaping up to be another closely fought contest. This year's main protagonists are Casey Stoner (Australia), Valentino Rossi (Italia) and Dani Pedrosa (Spain) - pictured below in order.

Sunday's round at the GP de Catalunya was yet another example of the most exciting racing in world motor sport, with Stoner and Rossi trading places in the lead six times and Pedrosa shadowing them menacingly for 24 laps. Championship leader Casey Stoner edged out Valentino to win in thrilling style. Rossi started from pole but Stoner led from the end of the first lap, ahead of Rossi and Dani Pedrosa, until lap 17. Rossi did everything he could on the final lap but the Australian held on to secure a memorable victory. It was a battling performance by Stoner, who held his nerve and refused to be out-muscled by the former MotoGP world champion, despite the bikes going so close together they nearly touched.

"You just give it right back to Valentino the way he gives it to you," said Stoner afterwards.

Stoner's fourth victory in seven races this season has stretched his world championship lead over Rossi to 14 points.

Rossi: "The race was fantastic from the bike, at the end I had some chances but I was too much at the limit to try and overtake," he said.

This is genius racing that is being played out every fortnight on the GP tour. The live crowds are passionate about their sport and this is transmitted through to the riders who push to the limit every lap.

After this round the Riders' Standings in GP World Championship 2007 are:

1 Casey Stoner - Ducati - Australia - 140
2 Valentino Rossi - Yamaha - Italy - 126
3 Dani Pedrosa - Honda - Spain - 98
4 Marco Melandri - Honda - Italy - 75

Extraordinary Night in Spain's La Liga

22:55 hrs, central Madrid. In what might still prove to be premature celebrations, Real Madrid supporters are out in Plaza Cibeles, the traditional home of the club's championship celebrations after an extraordinary night of changing fortunes.

In the ultimate minutes of Saturday night's penultimate round of La Liga, Real Madrid came back from 2-1 down away to Real Zaragoza, to secure a draw and then seconds later Barcelona blew their lead against home-town rivals Espanyol to draw 2-2.

This leaves Real still on top going into the final round. Sevilla, who could only manage a 0-0 at Mallorca, remain in title contention but trail the two leaders, who have the same points tally but Real are ahead because of their superior head-to-head record.

David Beckham's hopes of finishing his career with a Spanish league title remained alive after an extraordinary night of the Spanish top division. With just two minutes left a topsy-turvy Saturday night saw Barcelona leading Espanyol 2-1 at Camp Nou and Real trailing 2-1 at Zaragoza. But Ruud van Nistelrooy's second equaliser of the night, his 33rd goal of the season, secured Real a 2-2 draw.

Beckham was still visibly shaking off the ankle injury he suffered on England duty mid-week, but played the whole game. He hobbled off at the end clutching a supporters scarf. Real went behind after half an hour when defender Ivan Helguera impeded Pablo Aimar to concede a penalty which Diego Milito tucked away. Real trailed 1-0 at half-time, but then van Nistelrooy equalized after 56 minutes. It was the former Manchester United striker's 14th goal in his last 14 games, equalling Real legend Hugo Sanchez's record of scoring in seven consecutive matches in the process. However, Madrid faltered again when Milito, set up by Aimar, cooly slotted home his second after 63 minutes. The game swung back and forth as Real pressed and Zaragoza counter-attacked. With less than two minutes on the clock, Van the Man from Amsterdam forced home the ball home after swift build-up play. It was his 10th goal in his last seven games, secured Real a point. Moments later news filtered through that Raul Tamudo had scored a last-minute equaliser for Espanyol. Barcelona had surrendered the title advantage in the final moment of the their game.

The champions had earlier been indebted to a controversial 'handball' goal by Lionel Messi. With his side trailing 1-0 to their city rivals, the Argentine wing took to the Argentinian speciality play-book and conjured a 'hand of God' moment from a Gianluca Zambrotta cross and punched the ball with his hand past Espanyol keeper Carlos Kameni. The protests to the referee by the Espanyol players were fervent but inneffective. A superb strike from Messi early in the second half put Barcelona in seeming total control before the late, super late, super duper late drama in both matches.