MotoGP Rnd 8
By, Trevor Hedge
Minutes after scoring the first pole position for Yamaha at Laguna Seca since Wayne Rainey in 1991 Jorge Lorenzo was violently ejected from his YZR-M1 and slammed into the tarmac. The result for the young Spaniard was a separated shoulder and minor fracture in his foot, not enough to keep him off the grid but enough to make things a damn sight uncomfortable. Likewise Casey Stoner slipped off his Ducati but was able to walk back to pit lane but did pull something in his groin during the tumble but that didn’t stop him from putting in the quickest time during the morning warm-up session come race day. In fact Laguna Seca had claimed more than its fair share of visits to the gravel traps throughout the practice and qualifying sessions with most of the field sliding down the tarmac at least once during the weekend. Turn ten proving a particularly troublesome corner for the MotoGP competitors.
Valentino Rossi got off the line brilliantly but from the second row Dani Pedrosa swept around the outside on the entry into turn one to take the lead with Stoner, Rossi, Elias, Dovizioso and Edwards in tow. Lorenzo had got off the line fairly well but was swallowed up by the field into turn one and was demoted to eighth position. Rossi squeezed past Stoner before the end of lap one and Andrea Dovizioso then started piling the pressure on Stoner as that top four started to break away a little. Lorenzo had made his way back up to fifth position however and was looking to join in on that action.
Stoner took second place from Rossi after setting the fastest time on lap two. Toni Elias had come forward with Lorenzo to join on to the back of that leading pack. Gabor Talmcasi’s fortunes had gone the other way with a crash while Loris Capirossi had a sojourn through the gravel also and James Toseland scored a ride through penalty for jumping the start. A lap later Andrea Dovizioso also had a tumble through the gravel trap and Sete Gibernau then went out in sympathy. And then there were only 13…
Pedrosa still held sway up front from Stoner and Rossi and on lap eight upped his pace in an effort to break away from Stoner and Rossi. Lorenzo a further second behind in fourth.
Stoner could not respond to Pedrosa’s new pace thus Rossi slipped past the Australian to see if he had what it takes to reel the Repsol Honda back in.
The Italian did not have what it takes. Pedrosa continued to streak away with a run of 1m21s laps and with 17 laps to run had more than three seconds over Rossi, who had not managed to shake Stoner. After a terrible start Lorenzo was slowly working his way forward to join the battle for the podium positions.
Rossi upped his efforts in the second half of the race and managed to break away from Stoner who then started to come under attack from Lorenzo. The Yamaha man demoted Stoner to fourth at turn 11 with 11 laps to run. Stoner had a healthy buffer over Toni Elias who had Nicky Hayden for company in their own battle for fifth position.
The real excitement though was unfolding in the battle for second place as Lorenzo inched closer to Rossi at each turn. With five laps to run Lorenzo made his move on Rossi but went in a little too hot under brakes and missed his chance. Lorenzo had only four laps left to try and regain the ground to Rossi once again to mount another challenge for that second position. A task that Rossi made all that much harder by putting in his fastest lap of the race on his next circuit around the Laguna complex to extend his buffer over the recovering Lorenzo out to a full second.
Lorenzo was undaunted however and as they started the last lap was only half a second behind Rossi. Pedrosa was controlling his pace at the front to manage his lead but was caught napping on the final lap when Rossi was all over the back of him in the last turns and nearly made a move in the final turn to steal victory at the last gasp. Lorenzo a hard fought third, Stoner a distant fourth and Nicky Hayden a fighting fifth after getting the better of Elias.
The first victory for Pedrosa and for Honda in more than a year.
MotoGP Rnd 8 – Race Result | MotoGP Rnd 8 – Championship Standings |
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— MotoGP Quotes
Dani Pedrosa, 1st – “This is a fantastic win for us and it’s a great feeling after such a long time without a victory. The start to the season has been really difficult and actually it’s been tough since Sachsenring last year because I’ve had a lot of injuries and I haven’t been able to ride at 100 per cent for a long time, or train properly. But my team and Honda never gave up and I’d like to thank everyone who’s been working really hard to help me get back to this position. I’d also like to thank the doctors who have treated me because there have been quite a few of them! I got a good start, I was able to get into a good rhythm straight away and my pace was a little better than in practice. Perhaps my only mistake here was to slow down too much on the last lap because I didn’t realize how close Valentino was. Anyway, it was a great race, a great day and it’s a great feeling. Now I just want to focus on each race and get the best results possible. There’s a long way to go in the championship but there’s also a big gap to the leaders so I’m just going to take it one race at a time.”
Valentino Rossi, 2nd – “The first half of the race was quite difficult because we weren’t at 100% today. I didn’t expect Dani to be so fast but he was very strong and there wasn’t much I could do to go with him! The last ten laps were very exciting because Lorenzo was pushing me so hard that I had to really make another step and then Dani slowed down and suddenly he was right in front of me! I thought there was a chance to pass on the final corner but unfortunately I was just too far off and it was too much of a risk. Second is good today because we were not in perfect shape here, we missed something in the setting and this is always a hard track anyway, so we have to be happy with these twenty points. We have extended the championship lead so it’s a good result for us and we have shown that we are still strong this year even when things are not perfect. This consistency is the most important thing for the championship. Now I am happy that we have some time to rest because these have been a hard two weeks and the next two races are very important because we are all so close!”
Jorge Lorenzo, 3rd – “I always try to do my best and I think that is what I have done today, considering my physical condition. I am really proud and I think that this was one of my best races. My foot was okay but I had a lot of pain in my right shoulder, which meant I wasn’t strong in my right hand and I had to over-compensate with my left; I am really tired now! I want to thank the Clinica Mobile because they made it possible for me to finish the race. After a while I started to forget about the pain a bit and I just wanted to do my best and I knew that it was possible to pass Valentino. Unfortunately I hit some bumps when I braked deep and my rear tyre moved a lot and I was lucky not to crash – maybe without this mistake, if I had been able to pass him, it would have been possible to win but anyway third is good in the circumstances and we have taken good points. Now we have some time to recover; I am fit and strong so I hope that by Sachsenring I will be back to my best.”
Casey Stoner, 4th – “It has been a weekend to forget. I can’t be happy with fourth place even if it has limited the damage to my championship chances. Today I didn’t feel as bad at the end of the race as I have done in the last two but I’m still not right. I found it really difficult to keep my concentration over the last few laps and I was in a bit of a daze by the end. My left arm was feeling really tired by the end because of the fact there are so many left-handers here and my left wrist still doesn’t have the full range of movement after my operation in the winter. I’m really disappointed because without all of these problems we could have done so much better. I want to thank the team for giving me a great bike and also Doctor Claudio Macchiagodena and our physiotherapist Freddie (Dente) for all their help. Now we’ll focus on trying to find out the root of the problem because racing in this condition is not much fun.”
Nicky Hayden, 5th – “I have won here twice and to say that fifth place feels just as good might sound strange but man, so much hard work has gone into getting us to this point and I want to savour this feeling. To be racing at home, to score a solid result and to have had fun out there is nice. I just want to say a huge ‘thank you’ to my whole team, to Ducati and to everybody who has continued to believe in me during some difficult times this season. We have made progress over the last two races, we have kept the faith and it has paid off with this fifth place. Hopefully we can keep it going and score even better results as the season progresses.”
Toni Elias, 6th – “It is not a bad result and we couldn’t have done much more than that because my race pace was exactly the same as in practice. I was able to go quicker for a lap or two in practice but generally we knew this was what we would be capable of today in terms of my own performance. To be honest I was hoping the front guys would be a little slower than that and allow us to challenge them but the pace was very quick so compliments to them. In general this weekend has been much better than previous races and so was the result, but we always want more.”
Chris Vermeulen, 8th – “It was a difficult race and we didn’t end up where we wanted to be. I got quite a good start but then got boxed in on turn one and lost a few positions. I was battling with Loris and Colin and got caught up with them and came out of it the worse, and ended up in about 14th place. We also struggled a bit with tyre performance today and didn’t get the ultimate performance out of the bike. From about lap 15 and right to the end my times were quite quick and when everybody’s tyre dropped down – including mine – it was a lot easier to ride the bike. We just didn’t really have the performance with the new tyres and it’s something that has affected us before this year and is certainly something we will have to look at. The plus is that I stayed upright all day today – which was good – and although we didn’t have the best package out there we still managed to score some decent points and now we need to move forward in Germany.”
Randy De Puniet, 9th – “I am quite satisfied as it was hard to expect a better result starting from the fourth row on this “up-and-down” track. I struggled with grip problems since Friday and we tried to adjust our issues but at the end the bike was not at 100%. My start was not brilliant and found some traffic in the first laps but after that my rhythm was good enough to pass a few riders. We decided to go for a softer rear tyre which was a good choice for the beginning of the race but grip from the rear tyre dropped at ten laps to go. This is another productive result for me and the Team as I am holding the 9th place in the championship”
Alex De Angelis, 11th – “We made some changes to the bike for today but with the conditions being so much cooler for the warm-up this morning than they were for the race in the afternoon, we hadn’t really tested them. I was really struggling over the first few laps and the bike was moving around a lot but the problem eased in the second half of the race and I was able to push harder. I honestly thought I could run with Vermeulen today and that would have been a battle for eighth place so it’s a shame we suffered this setback. Anyway, at least we picked up a few points.”
Andrea Dovizioso, DNF – “We were in good shape, I’d got into a fast rhythm and I’m sure we could have had good result today, so I’m very disappointed. Unfortunately I made a mistake and I have spoiled this opportunity. During the first laps, I was behind Valentino, I wanted to overtake him and I was very close at the end of the straight. It’s a blind point and I was so close that I didn’t see the plastic poles that separate the track from the pit lane. I hit a few of them and in the impact the clutch lever bent, and from that moment on I couldn’t control the engine braking. It was my mistake as my line was too far to the left but after that it was tough to ride and change gear properly. Nevertheless, I tried to stay up with the leaders. Then I lost the front and crashed after having had a couple of warnings. I’m really disappointed because we are getting closer to front-running pace at every race and here we could have done well. Still, I believe in myself, in the machine and in my team, and I really hope to get a good result soon.”
Loris Capirossi, DNF – “I am really upset about today, because we have worked so hard this weekend to find the best solution and we thought we would be ok with the setting today. I started quite well and was really aggressive in the first couple of laps, but in turn six I lost the front on the second lap and then on the next lap I did the same in the same place, but this time I crashed. I am really sorry for the whole team because they have worked so hard this week. The truth is this has been a terrible weekend for me as we never really found a good solution. Fortunately we have another nine races in front of us and we will keep working really hard to get some good results.”
Gabor Talmacsi, DNF – “I had a very good feeling with the bike, and a good start. Then suddenly, when I was 15th, I lost the front. I cannot say why. I’m fine, but it is really a pity because I was in a condition to get a good result. I stay confident for the next race.”
— Bridgestone Report –
Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Medium, Hard. Rear: Medium, Hard
Dani Pedrosa triumphed in a nail-biting climax to round eight of the MotoGP season to take his first victory of the year, and his and the Repsol Honda Team’s first victory on Bridgestone tyres.
Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi finished a close second followed by teammate Jorge Lorenzo, who battled back from fifth to finish third.
The top four riders, including Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner, all opted for the hard compound front and rear Bridgestone slicks as the temperature at the Californian track reached 51 degrees Celsius.
In another race in which the leaders were in a flat out battle until the last corner of the last lap, Bridgestone’s slick tyres demonstrated good consistency and durability as Pedrosa’s winning time was almost three seconds faster than Valentino’s winning time last year, and the top nine riders all recorded faster total race times than did the top nine finishers last season.
Pedrosa’s fastest lap of the race came as he pushed hard to establish a comfortable lead that was 3.3 seconds at its peak. As the race unfolded the fight for the lead intensified as Rossi chased the Spaniard relentlessly, fighting his way from third position on lap eleven to finish just 0.344 seconds adrift of what would have been a consecutive hat-trick of wins for the Italian.
Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden was the top rider to use a medium compound front Bridgestone slick, securing his best result of the season with fifth position.
Toni Elias was the highest placed rider to use Bridgestone’s softer option fronts and rears, also securing his best finish of the season with sixth for San Carlo Honda Gresini, just 0.378 seconds behind Hayden.
Hiroshi Yamada – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager Motorcycle Sport Unit
“I want to congratulate Dani and the Repsol Honda Team for a great victory today, their first of the season and their first on Bridgestone tyres. Again we have seen a race that has only been decided on the last corner of the last lap, and Dani is the fourth rider to have won this season, so this is great for the competitive spectacle of the sport.”
Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development
“I am pleased with the durability of our hard compound slicks today as this track is very demanding of them but they showed good consistency and the top three riders were all able to set a faster race time than last year’s winning time of 44m04.311s. This clearly demonstrates the steps forward in overall tyre performance we have made since then, and that the tyre options we brought this weekend work well at this circuit.”
Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Race Winner “It’s been a long tough year for me since last year here when I couldn’t race, but finally we have had a good race and a good result. I was able to find a better rhythm than in practice so I think this is what let me go away. I think maybe the only mistake was a too slow last lap as I thought I had more advantage. It’s been tough but I am happy to be back and win a race.”