Given this gruesome roll call, it is a wonder the Spaniard's mind isn't submerged by dread as he tears round the track but it is with a softer, more sensuous tone that Lorenzo explains his relationship with the motorbike that so often puts him in harm's way.

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In addition to watching the stars negotiating their way round the tricky Galgorm track, spectators will also be able to view extensive memorabiliia from the Manchester United and Northern Ireland legend's football career.

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Ferrari go into the 13th round of the championship on their home track at Monza with Fernando Alonso leading the title race by 24 points, despite being caught up in the first corner carnage at Spa last Sunday.

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The former Fitzsimmons army medical centre near Denver, a casualty of the 1995 round, is now on track to become a bioscience park providing more than 18, 000 jobs within the next five years.

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But F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone still branded the British round a "country fair masquerading as a world event" after he had problems driving to the track on race day in July.

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In spite of pleas from Fed Chairman Bernanke that Congress do its share from the fiscal side, each of the last three summers has seen the recovery stumble until the Fed finally rushed in alone (with another round of QE type monetary easing) to get the recovery back on track.

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Behind the velodrome's timber-clad frame, cyclists will race for gold round a track made from sustainably-sourced Siberian pine, while Zaha Hadid's striking wave-shaped roof on the Aquatics Center has been temporarily adorned with "wings" providing seating for 15, 000 spectators.

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More important, the future of the now-stalled Doha round of multilateral trade talks is essentially dependent on Congress' renewal of fast-track.

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