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MotoGP 2008 - Round Ten - Sachsenring (Germany) - MotoGP Race
By Trevor Hedge

The dry weather qualifying form went out the window come race day at Sachsenring as the heavens opened and soaked the German track good and proper.

Championship leader Dani Pedrosa was once like a fish out of water when the rain fell but he showed no sign of that poor form at Sachsenring by shooting to the lead at turn one ahead of Andrea Dovizioso and pole man Casey Stoner.

Stoner took second place from Dovizioso early on lap two but the Australian already had his work cut out for him as the diminutive Spaniard had cleared out in front to an amazing 2.6 seconds over the course of the opening lap.

Casey immediately started reeling Pedrosa in before making a small mistake that opened the gap back up again. Dovizioso was starting to come under pressure from Colin Edwards who had 1.4 seconds over Rossi. De Angelis was fifth ahead of Chris Vermeulen and Anthony West.

Dani Pedrosa was operating on a different level to his foes during the opening laps of the race. An awesome six second lead to the Spaniard after only four laps. Not bad for a rider once thought to be hopeless in the wet and another sign of how quickly the Sito Pons managed rider can learn and adapt. A lap later however Pedrosa went down. He lost the front while virtually upright after applying the brakes, his Honda just folded out from underneath him as he transitioned from power to brakes giving him no chance to react. One moment he was vertical, the next he was horizontal and sliding.

Pedrosa’s demise handed the lead to Stoner. It also gave Stoner the perfect chance to claw back the huge amount of ground he had lost to Pedrosa in the early stages of season 2008. A few rounds ago some pundits were virtually ruling Stoner out of contention but in only a few rounds he was back in the game and in superlative form.

Valentino Rossi squeezed past fellow Yamaha man Colin Edwards with 23 laps to run and moved up to third place close astern of Andrea Dovizioso. But while Rossi had spray in his face and traffic to contend with, Stoner had a clear track, good visibility and his head down, stretching his lead out to a daunting three seconds.

Rossi however was in no mood to fight through the rain spray thrown from Dovizioso’s Honda and quickly moved through for second place. Edwards then relegated Dovizioso to fourth place but the men on the move were Chris Vermeulen and Alex De Angelis. They dispensed Dovizioso with apparent ease and Vermeulen then took Edwards with similar contempt. Next target Rossi, but the Italian legend was already closing in on race leader Stoner and would not be so easy a target.

Melandri’s diabolical season continued with his race ending on the seat of his leathers on the wet grass. Nicky Hayden had also been troubled and visited his pit garage to fix some sort of problem before returning to the race. Anthony West had been working his way up the field before running off the circuit and losing a number of positions leaving him with all the hard work to do once again.

Stoner responded to Rossi’s challenge by upping the pace again and ipushed his lead back out to 3.3 seconds with 18 laps to run. The Sachsenring circuit quite short for a MotoGP track, thus the uncommonly long 30 lap race distance.

As the race passed the halfway mark the rain eased off but there was little chance of any dry line appearing before the chequered flag. Instead the changing conditions would make things even more difficult for the men of MotoGP as they explored the limits of traction in the improving conditions.

Alex De Angelis was on a mission and looking to steal a podium finish from Chris Vermeulen.

With a dozen laps to run Casey had a five second lead over Rossi but conditions were still treacherous. Riders walking the invisible tightrope between grip and slip and it would only take a momentary lapse of control to put any one of them on their head in an instant. Clearly only those with nerves of steel need apply for this kind of job.

Colin Edwards failed that test of nerves when he was pitched over the bars and out of fifth place with ten laps to run. The Texan’s chance of moving up to fourth place in the series standings gone in one tiny mistake.

The rain had returned but the riders were still pushing the envelope. Front runners dicing with traffic as they lapped Toni Elias and James Toseland. Rossi frustrated a little by Elias not moving over to let him past which cost him around a second in his quest to chase down Stoner. Rossi shook his fist in frustration at the Ducati man.

De Angelis was looking determined to push Vermeulen off the podium but the fight looked likely to go all the way to the line.

As they commenced the last lap Stoner had 4.5 seconds on Rossi who in turn had 10 seconds on Vermeulen. All over the tail cowling of Vermeulen’s Suzuki though was De Angelis.

Stoner celebrated his third win in succession with another fine mono across the line ahead of Rossi. Casey taking the first ever win for Ducati and Bridgestone at the German circuit. The occasion also marking the 100th Australian victory in the premier class of GP racing.

The Italian however had plenty of reasons to be pleased. Thanks to the demise of Pedrosa the Yamaha man moving to the top of the championship table with 187 points to his name. Pedrosa second in the standings despite taking no score from Germany. Stoner’s win moved him to within four points of the brooding Spaniard. Pedrosa not well known for smiling and certain not to be cracking a grin after his German expedition.

Vermeulen managed to hold off De Angelis for the final step on the podium. Sachsenring a happy hunting ground for the San Marino man who had finished on the podium for the past six years in the two-stroke classes but a podium was not to be this time around for De Angelis.

Dovizioso a creditable fifth place ahead of Sylvain Guintoli. Loris Capirossi a distant seventh and crossing the line a nose in front of Randy De Puniet. The Frenchman enjoying his first race finish at Sachsenring after mechanical DNFs in his last two visits to the German circuit while riding for Kawasaki.

Shinya Nakano ninth and Anthony West rounded out the top ten. Nakano and Rossi now the only two riders in the field to have scored points at every round thus far in the 2008 season.

Lorenzo remains fourth in the series standings and Edwards fifth despite their failure to finish. Dovizioso strengthens his hold on sixth place in the series while Vermeulen catapults from ninth up to equal seventh with Nicky Hayden at the expense of Toseland.

MotoGP reconvenes next weekend in Laguna Seca.
 
Race Result
1 C. STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team
2 V. ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team + 3.708
3 C. VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 14.002
4 A. DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini + 14.124
5 A. DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP + 42.022
6 S. GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team + 46.648
7 L. CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 1'04.483
8 R. DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP + 1'04.588
9 S. NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini + 1'16.773
10 A. WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team + 1'29.275
11 J. TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha 1 Lap
12 T. ELIAS SPA Alice Team 1 Lap
13 N. HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team 2 Lap
Championship Standings
1 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 187
2 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team 171
3 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 167
4 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 114
5 Colin EDWARDS USA Tech 3 Yamaha 98
6 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP 90
7 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 73
8 Nicky HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team 73
9 James TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha 65
10 Shinya NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini 64
11 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 60
12 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini 38
13 Toni ELIAS SPA Alice Team 37
14 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team 34
15 John HOPKINS USA Kawasaki Racing Team 32
16 Marco MELANDRI ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 32
17 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 30
18 Anthony WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team 22
19 Ben SPIES USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2
20 Tadayuki OKADA JPN Repsol Honda Team 2

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