More points for Mahindra in German MotoGP

Germany: The Indian-owned Mahindra team added to its growing tally of World Championship points in a difficult German GP, with both riders overcoming problems to get to the finish of the first race of the day at the challenging 3.671-km Sachsenring circuit on Sunday.

The one to score was Danny Webb (20). The English rider was forced to dig deep, with a shoulder pain giving him increasingly severe difficulties as the 27 laps wore on.

He finished 14th, gaining two points for his pains. Teammate Marcel Schrotter (18, from Germany) finished a frustrating 16th, one place out of the points, after a bad start put him near the back, and a lack of engine revs meant it took all his efforts to climb back towards the front. He had qualified 13th, but finished the first lap 27th after getting off the line badly.

Mahindra is the only machine on the 36-strong grid with both engine and chassis built by the team.

The 125 class now has a break of four weekends, with only the premier MotoGP class attending next week's US GP.

"I got lucky, gaining places on the last lap when two guys crashed ahead of me - but it's the first time I've had that luck all year. It was a tough race. Halfway through, my shoulder starting hurting badly. That meant I was putting more pressure on my left leg to compensate, and a muscle in my thigh pumped up and I had bad cramp.

"I struggled to carry on, not wanting to push too hard and maybe crash again and injure my shoulder worse. Now I'm here, in the points, and the results are in black and white. I'll take it," said Webb.

Schrotter said: "I got a really bad start, but that was not the real problem. I had quite a good feeling with the bike, and I was able to move forward... but I could have gone faster."