A cavalcade of paddock talent

Grid Crasher brings you the hottest talent from the first half of the 2008 MotoGP season.

More pit babes after the jump…

Mini Scientiology weirdo graces Laguna Seca

Earlier this week we told you about the Cruiser’s V.I.P visit to the US MotoGP. Now here’s the video evidence. We no lie.

Mr and Mrs Scientology show up at Laguna Seca

Not to be outdone by Brad Pitt, who attended the Italian MotoGP last month, Tom Cruise donned his gayest leather jacket and mingled with the riders at the US MotoGP on Sunday. Cruise is a biker himself and owns the first of a limited edition Ducati MotoGP replica Desmosedici RR. So naturally the star was rooting for Ducati’s reigning world champ Casey Stoner - but the Aussie had to settle for second place in the race, behind Valentino Rossi.

The real reason why Cruise showed up? Most riders are tiny fellas, so Tom knew he could tower over them and feel like a normal-sized person for once. That’s Grid Crasher’s theory anyway.

A couple more pics below…

Two wheels, two girls

We’ve tried for several minutes to come up with some appropriate copy to accompany this photo, but since we doubt you’d read it, we’ll just waffle on like this whilst you chomp on the eye candy draped on this ZX-RR.

Finished staring? Good - you may also want to know that the German MotoGP, held on Sunday, was won in the rain by reigning world champion Casey Stoner. It was the Aussie’s third victory in a row, and puts him firmly back in the title mix. Valentino Rossi now leads the championship, with Dani Pedrosa in second place. Pedrosa crashed out in Germany, suffering suspected fractures to his anke and finger.

Watch a fan’s eye view of Pedrosa’s big crash below:

MotoGP world champion booed at Donington

Casey Stoner is a hard rider to love. He speaks in a monotone whine, he lacks charisma, he rarely smiles, and he’s Australian. It’s the perfect recipe for unpopularity, at least in Britain.

So when Stoner won Sunday’s British round of MotoGP, not everyone was happy. He received a mixed reception on the podium, with boos as audible as the cheers.

“What do they want? Are they here to watch racing? It’s not the right way to come to a race track,” Stoner said after the race. “It’s nice to see people here in good numbers but not if they’re here for the wrong reasons.”

Ducati looking strong at Donington

Reigning world champ Casey Stoner set the pace in the first practice session for this Sunday’s British MotoGP. The Aussie has slagged off the Donington Park circuit in the past, but that didn’t stop him setting the quickest lap on Friday morning run, a 1:28:979.

Rookie Alex de Angelis clocked the second fastest lap of the session in his final outing of the first session, but was still half a second off Stoner’s time.

Local boy James Toseland is under huge pressure to perform in front of home fans, but he couldn’t match Yamaha Tech 3 team-mate Colin Edwards, who set the third-fastest time of the morning. Andrea Dovizioso, Nicky Hayden and Chris Vermeulen completed the top six, with Toseland (7th) and Valentino Rossi (8th) the only other riders within a second of Stoner’s time.

What we discovered in Mugello

1. All of the grid girls were called Alice. Apparently.

2. Valentino Rossi’s brilliantly eye-catching helmet put off all of his rivals, as we suspected it might. Not that we’d ascribe Rossi’s victory to his helmet alone, but it sure helped.

Meet Casey Stoner’s childhood sweetheart

Casey and Adriana began dating as teenagers after she asked the Aussie rider to sign her stomach at the Australian GP in 2003. She was just 14 at the time; he was 17. Of course, they didn’t have sex until she was 16. Of course.

Grid Crasher sees who endured a China crisis

Five winners:

1. Valentino Rossi The Doctor is back again, after a seven-race winless streak - ah, we never doubted him. The Italian maestro hardly put a wheel wrong in Shanghai, and is deservedly the new bookies’ favourite for the title. Great to see him back on the podium’s top step.

2. & 3. Charlie Cox & Steve Parrish The BBC’s MotoGP first-class commentary duo continue to entertain, inform and excite – they complement each other so well. We’d like to see them involved somehow in the Beeb’s F1 coverage next season.