2010 MotoGP Championship – Round Two – Jerez – Day Three
Jorge Lorenzo branded today’s Gran Premio bwin de España at Jerez “a beautiful race” after edging out his compatriot Dani Pedrosa to take the win in front of an enthusiastic Spanish crowd.
Pedrosa brought his Repsol Honda home in second place, to make it a Spanish one-two, with reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi rounding out the podium in third. The 25 points secured today move Lorenzo to the top of the championship standings.
His traditional lightning start to the race saw pole holder Pedrosa lead into the first turn, with Rossi making up two places from the grid to move into second place. Nicky Hayden also got a good start from the second row of the grid to slot into third place as the field headed towards turn two.
Loris Capirossi’s race ended at the last turn on lap three, as the veteran Italian pushed just a little too hard, lost the front and crashed uninjured. Aleix Espargaro also crashed shortly after, but was able to return to the race following running repairs in pit lane.
Ben Spies was the next casualty, pitting and retiring from the race after struggling with a front tyre problem on his Yamaha M1 while running in the top ten.
As the midway point of the race approached Pedrosa was leading well at a second-and-a-half ahead of Rossi, with Lorenzo a further two seconds back. The fight for seventh place was a close one, with San Carlo Honda Gresini team-mates Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli battling one another amongst a group of five riders.
At the same time Lorenzo was closing the gap on Rossi and on lap 21 passed his teammate before turning his focus to fellow countryman, Pedrosa. From there a superb duel developed between the two Spaniards.
With two laps to go Lorenzo caught up with the factory Honda rider and made his move to pass, but Pedrosa held his line and the two almost touched as the excitement continued to increase.
In the end it came down to the last lap and as Pedrosa drifted wide at the Dry Sack corner while trying to defend his line Lorenzo swept through to assume the lead, which he held to the chequered flag. Crossing the line the Fiat Yamaha rider was 0.543s ahead of Pedrosa, with Rossi placing third to complete the podium.
Lorenzo promptly celebrated his win by jumping fully clothed into the lake in the centre of the Jerez circuit…
“I saw the lake on Thursday and thought it would be funny to jump in. I think the fans liked it, but I didn’t really think about how heavy I’d be with wet leathers and for a minute I thought I wasn’t going to get out,” declared Lorenzo. “The dream nearly turned into a nightmare.”
The Fiat Yamaha rider was eventually rescued by marshals and returned to pit lane to continue the victory celebrations.
“After a bad start I rode like a demon to get the front and I had a great fight with Dani when I eventually caught him. When I tried to pass him the first time we nearly crashed, but I knew I had to try again on the final lap. I know it’s better to win races calmly from the front; today I had to fight on every lap,” concluded the new Championship leader.
Completing the top five were Ducati Marlboro riders Nicky Hayden, who repeated his fourth spot from Qatar, and Casey Stoner, with Andrea Dovizioso taking sixth place.
Mika Kallio completed an impressive rise from last place on the grid to take seventh, with Melandri, Randy de Puniet and Álvaro Bautista also placing inside the top ten.
After the race weekend teams stayed on for a test at Jerez where Dani Pedrosa topped the timesheets. Testing Results Here
MotoGP FP1 | MotoGP Championship |
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— Yamaha Report Jorge Lorenzo produced one of the rides of his life to take a superb win in Spain today, the grandeur of a full-to-bursting Jerez providing a fitting amphitheatre for his first MotoGP win on home soil. Valentino Rossi finished third, making it a sixteenth double podium for the Fiat Yamaha pair since 2008. Lorenzo got a bad start and had dropped from second to fifth by the second lap, as he struggled to find a rhythm with a full fuel tank. On lap five he was able to pass Casey Stoner and then, five laps on, Nicky Hayden but he looked destined to stay in third as he languished 1.5 seconds adrift of Rossi, who was in turn the same distance from Pedrosa. With a third of the race to go however the Spaniard picked up pace, suddenly the fastest man on track as he stormed up on his team-mate. On lap 22 he despatched the Italian but with only five laps left and a two second gap a victory still looked unlikely. The tenacious youngster was not giving up however in pursuit of a sixth premier-class win and he rapidly gained on his fellow Spaniard to bring himself within striking distance on his penultimate lap. His first attempt to pass resulted in a dramatic moment as they both momentarily looked like running off track and in the end he had to leave it to the last lap to make the definitive move, passing Pedrosa on the brakes at the end of the back straight and crossing the line 0.543 seconds ahead. Lorenzo, who turns 23 on Tuesday, celebrated in hilarious style by leaping into the lake in the middle of the circuit, much to the rapture of the home fans who were already celebrating Spanish wins in the 125cc and Moto2 classes earlier in the day. Rossi was happy to make the podium, having struggled all weekend to overcome his injured shoulder and set-up problems with his M1. The World Champion got a great start from the second row and was second behind Pedrosa for most of the race. He stayed in touch in the early stages but began to drop back as his bike started to slide, eventually giving best to his charging team-mate and settling for the final podium spot and a valuable 16 points, 0.4 seconds behind Pedrosa. The Championship is now led by Lorenzo with 45 points, while Rossi is four points off him in second. The riders now have a three-week break before the French round at Le Mans on 23rd May. Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 1stTime: 45’17.538 Valentino Rossi – Position: 3rdTime: +0.890 Wilco Zeelenberg – Team Manager Davide Brivio – Team Manager Tough Spanish MotoGP race for Monster Yamaha Tech 3 The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team was left to contemplate what might have been after a difficult and disappointing Spanish MotoGP race at the Jerez circuit this afternoon. Colin Edwards fought a determined battle at the rear of a frenetic battle for seventh position in front of a sun-drenched crowd of 122,048 passionate Spanish fans. The Texan eventually had to settle for 12th position after he encountered small rear grip issues in the crucial final stages that left him unable to mount a sustained offensive on the exciting mid-pack dice. It was also a frustrating first Jerez MotoGP experience for 25-year-old Ben Spies, who had started the race with high expectations after a brilliant performance in practice and qualifying. The reigning World Superbike champion made a blistering start and gained two places on the opening lap to sit menacingly behind former world champion Casey Stoner in sixth position. But just as Spies looked to consolidate his place in the leading group, he encountered a front-end issue that saw him unable to maintain his fast pace. Despite his valiant efforts to continue and score valuable points for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team, Spies opted to retire at the end of lap eight after he’d fallen out of the top ten. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team will be hoping for improved fortunes when the MotoGP world championship resumes in France later this month. The Le Mans clash is the all-important home race for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team, with high hopes of a strong display in the third round of the 2010 campaign. Colin Edwards – Position: 12thTime: +38.371 Ben Spies – Position: DNF Herve Poncharal – Team Manager — Ducati Report Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner took top five finishes in the Grand Prix of Spain today, fourth and fifth place respectively representing satisfactory if not sensational results at Jerez. Both riders had higher hopes as they targeted a podium challenge from fifth and third on the grid but it was a demanding 27-lap affair as they lost touch with eventual top three Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi in the first half of the race. Stoner’s front end troubles forced the Australian to accept 11 important championship points. Meanwhile Hayden made a great start to the race and was lapping in third place over the early laps but didn’t quite have the pace to stick with the leaders. NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 4th CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 5th Filippo Preziosi – General Director, Ducati Corse — HRC Report Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) dominated much of today’s Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, eventually finishing a close second to score his first podium result of the 2010 MotoGP World Championship. The Spaniard brought the 122,000 fans to their feet when he grabbed the holeshot into turn one and then set about establishing a convincing lead over reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi (Yamaha). After 20 laps Pedrosa had stretched his lead to 1.9 seconds, but the man on the move was fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha), who passed Rossi with five laps remaining and then closed the gap on Pedrosa to line up his attack during the final few laps. On the penultimate lap the pair were inches apart at the Dry Sack hairpin and then they tangled at the final hairpin. Throughout all this Pedrosa managed to stay ahead, but he finally lost the lead as the pair dived into Dry Sack for the final time. Today’s result continues Pedrosa’s impressive run at Jerez where he has finished inside the top two in each of his five MotoGP rides at the track. Winner here in 2008, the former 125 and 250 World Champion was runner-up in 2006, 2007, 2009 and again today. Team-mate Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V), who started his 2010 campaign so brilliantly in Qatar with a rousing ride to third place, had a tougher race at Jerez this afternoon, finishing sixth. Dovizioso made a good start and got past several riders in the first lap, slotting into sixth on lap two, where he stayed for the rest of the race, not quite able to catch the man just ahead of him, Casey Stoner (Ducati) Both Pedrosa and Dovizioso stay here tomorrow to undertake a day’s testing in preparation for the upcoming races. Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V), Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) and Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) supplied plenty of entertainment as they played their part in a thrilling six-man contest for seventh place with Mika Kallio (Ducati), Colin Edwards (Yamaha) and Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki). Melandri, de Puniet, Simoncelli and the others swapped positions throughout the race, the more experienced Melandri finally getting the better of them to finish eighth, just a fraction of a second behind Kallio. It was a great result for the Italian who had struggled at the season-opening Qatar GP three weeks ago, but the former 250 World Champion still wants much, much more. De Puniet had been hoping for better than ninth after another impressive qualifying display had put him sixth on the grid. However, the Frenchman got a bad start and then found it impossible to reproduce his Saturday pace. Simoncelli certainly enjoyed his second MotoGP race, putting up an excellent fight with his rivals. In the final laps, however, he started sliding around and was unable to maintain his pace, finishing 11th, between Bautista and Edwards. Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V) had a lonely race, after he had run off the track on the very first lap. The reigning 250 World Champion made a mistake braking into turn eight and had to take drastic action to avoid colliding with a rival. He rejoined the circuit in last place and continued circulating to pick up two points for 14th place; not what the Japanese ace had been hoping for after qualifying in a promising 12th place. The second race of the new Moto2 World Championship was an edge-of-the-seat thriller, with a group of eight riders battling for the win, the lead changing several times on most laps. The race was restarted after a second lap pile-up which claimed seven riders after Qatar winner Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP, Suter) fell at the Dry Sack hairpin, dropping oil on the circuit. All the fallers were able to take the restart. Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) won the shortened, 17 lap restart after a breathtaking race-long battle with the leading group. At the flag there were just 2.5 seconds covering the first eight men home, with less than half a second covering the podium finishers. During the final laps the pace heated up considerably, Elias fighting back and forth with runner-up Tomizawa and third-place finisher Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2, Moriwaki). Luthi had led the previous two laps but Elias grabbed the lead as the pack charged into Turn One for the final time, only to run wide at the Dry Sack hairpin, almost gifting the lead to Tomizawa. Elias held on for the win, despite still suffering from the nasty left-hand injury he sustained at Jerez during preseason tests. Yuki Takahashi (Tech 3 Racing, Tech 3) finished three tenths behind Luthi, with Simone Corsi (Jar Moto2, Motobi), Sergio Gadea (Pons Racing, Kalex), Kenny Noyes (Jack & Jones by A.Banderas, PromoHarris) and Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team RSV) following right behind. Of this group, GP rookie Noyes had played the biggest role in the early race contest, muscling his way into the lead on several occasions, only to slip back a few places as the race moved towards its climax. In 125 GP, the first race of the day, 17-year-old Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125) recorded a very respectable 12th place, finishing the race less than five seconds outside of the top ten. The race was won by Pol Espargaro (Derbi) who topped an all-Spanish podium along with Nicolas Terol (Aprilia) and Esteve Rabat (Aprilia). MotoGP now travels north west from Jerez to reconvene in the Sarthe area of France at Le Mans, for the French GP on May 21/22/23. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V), second-place finisher at 45m 18.081s, said: “Well, this result is a little bit surprising for me and, even though I came so close to winning, I’m pleased to be on the podium and so close to the top step. I didn’t think I was going to be able to lead the race for this long and I was nervous at the start because I knew that to maintain a front-running rhythm was going to be very difficult for us. So I was pleased to be out in front of the race, but then I saw on the pit board that Lorenzo was closing at a pace that was half a second faster than me and Rossi and I thought, “Mmm, maybe this is going to be difficult!”. I tried to hold him off for as long as possible but in the end I couldn’t. Second place after leading for all but half a lap is disappointing obviously, but after the first race at Qatar this is a good result for us. I’d like to thank all the fans who came here and supported us today, and all the people around me in the Repsol Honda Team. We must keep working really hard – starting with the test tomorrow – so that we can improve for Le Mans.” Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V), sixth-place finisher at 45m 40.682s said: “I made a quick start and my first few laps were good and I was able to get past a few riders and climb to sixth place. In the central part of the race we had a good rhythm and my pace compared to the front riders wasn’t too bad. I maintained this until the final five laps when it was clear that I couldn’t catch the riders ahead and so I eased off. The grip levels here were quite low and it was important to get the electronic controls working well, but in this area we didn’t get things right today. So, even though I’m pleased my rhythm has improved from last year here, I am disappointed with the race result. We will keep on working and I’m very happy that tomorrow we have the opportunity to test the new material – the new chassis and the new engine – so we have the chance to continue the progress we’ve been making through winter testing and at the first race. Dani was very fast today and I’d like to give my compliments to him because he did a very good race and has shown what the machine can be capable of. I’m confident that we can be competitive at the next race at Le Mans.” Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) , eighth-place finisher at 45m 52.225s, said: “That was definitely better than Qatar, but I’m not very happy with the first part of the race. It was hard to ride. I made a good start but I didn’t feel comfortable riding, when I hit the brakes the bike was very unstable. It got better as the race went on, but my engine mapping lost me some power. In any case, I had a good fight with Kallio and tried to get past him for seventh at the end, but he had more acceleration and I couldn’t make it up on the brakes. I feel that we have made a step forward, and we will continue working in order to get in even better shape.” Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) , ninth-place finisher at 45m 53.698s, said: “Doubtless we are a bit disappointed because we aimed to get a different result today. After a very positive qualification I got a bad start from the second row and ended the first lap in 12th position. From there it was a very hard race for me! The race was very close with many riders doing almost the same lap time and after a few laps I started to have some issues with the front tyre. In those conditions I could not keep the pace I had yesterday because I lost the front several times. However, I am still holding sixth in the points standings and our bike is working well enough, so we must continue working in this direction.” Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V), 11th-place finisher at 45m 54.693s, Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V) , 14th-place finisher at 46m 19.590s, said: “I didn’t make a good start and then I made a mistake. After braking too hard I had to avoid crashing into another rider and had to go wide. After that I lost contact with the other riders. This was not an easy race for me. I am so sorry for my team to have destroyed all their work of the weekend with this mistake. I really hope the next race will be better.” — Suzuki Report Rizla Suzuki’s new Spanish star celebrated his debut home Grand Prix with a gutsy ride to secure him his first MotoGP points by finishing in 10th place. Bautista started from 13th on the grid but by the end of lap two was down to 16th. He struggled early on as he didn’t have the same feeling from his GSV-R that he had during yesterday’s qualifying and practice, but battled through the difficulties and found a good rhythm, to come home as top rookie as he passed Marco Simoncelli on the last lap. Loris Capirossi ended the day with a huge anti-climax to what looked like being a very promising race. He was up with the battle for the top-six positions and entered the last corner on the third lap, but as he turned in he lost the front of the bike and crashed. Capirossi was unable to continue and walked despondently back to the pits. Over 120,000 fans enjoyed the warm and sunny weather at Jerez today and also celebrated a Spanish hat-trick of wins, with Jorge Lorenzo victorious in the MotoGP race and Toni Elias and Pol Espargaro winning the Moto2 and 125cc races respectively. Rizla Suzuki will now remain at Jerez for more day of testing before the whole MotoGP circus heads north to Le Mans in France, for the next round on the calendar in three weeks’ time on Sunday 23rd May. Álvaro Bautista: Loris Capirossi: Paul Denning – Team Manager: “We are really disappointed for Loris; he had an average start, but easily picked off some good riders to get up into the battle for the top-six. It looks like everything was working well until he inexplicably lost the front. We’ve gone in a new direction with the bike this weekend and the potential seems better, but unfortunately we didn’t get a full race distance to understand where we are at – hopefully we can achieve that in the test tomorrow.” — Bridgestone Report Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo mounted a thrilling ride after slipping to fifth position to chase down fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa and snatch a fantastic victory on the last lap of the Spanish Grand Prix. Using the harder option Bridgestone slicks, in his charge Lorenzo set a new fastest total race time at Jerez. Leader for all bar the last lap, Repsol Honda’s Pedrosa couldn’t quite hold on to the lead he built early on as he made a break from the field, setting a new lap record in the process, but put up a strong fight against Lorenzo. In close pursuit was Valentino Rossi, finishing just 0.34seconds adrift on the final step of the podium. Rossi also lapped faster than his own previous lap record. Whilst the action at the front intensified, a great race-long battle was fought for seventh position as Mika Kallio, Marco Melandri, Randy de Puniet, Marco Simoncelli and Colin Edwards traded positions throughout. Loris Capirossi was in the thick of the action until his third lap crash, as was Ben Spies until his retirement on lap eight. Álvaro Bautista joined the fight in the latter stages with a strong ride to tenth position. With the high track temperature, as expected every rider used the hard compound front slicks for the race, and only Aleix Espargaro of the Pramac Racing team opted for the soft compound rear, the rest favouring the harder option. Hiroshi Yamada – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department Tohru Ubukata – Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department Jorge Lorenzo – Fiat Yamaha Team – Race Winner |
Moto2 An eventful Moto2 race saw Toni Elías take his first Grand Prix victory since his win in Estoril back in 2006 after a shortened 17-lap contest following a pile-up on the second lap of the original race. A coming together between Simone Corsi and Shoya Tomizawa at the Dry Sack corner saw the Japanese rider slide out and deposit fuel on the track surface, which brought down a number of following riders. The race was red flagged and then restarted 30 minutes later, after some frantic work in pit lane to repair the bikes that had been involved in the crash. With 42 riders fighting for position and all lapping within one second of each other more crashes were inevitable, with Karel Abraham, Andrea Iannone and Joan Olivè all early fallers. Kenny Noyes was the first rider to get to the front and then try to gap the pursuing pack but, try as he might, the American simply couldn’t escape from the clutches of Toni Elias, Thomas Lüthi and championship leader, Tomizawa. With six laps to go, nine riders were still in with a chance of victory. Overtaking moves were not in short supply as the frontrunners constantly pushed one another, and as the final laps approached Elias, Tomizawa, Lüthi and Takahashi weree nose to tail. To the delight of the Spanish crowd it was Elías who pulled off a double overtake to take the chequered flag, 0.190s ahead of Tomizawa who maintains his Championship lead with his podium finish. Lüthi, at a further seven-thousandths behind completed the top three in a fantastic grandstand finish, as he moved into third place in the overall standings. Takahashi and Corsi both finished inside the top five. Sergio Gadea followed Corsi home, meaning the top six riders were all former Grand Prix winners. Noyes, Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar), Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up), and Yonny Hernández (Blusens-STX) completing the top ten. |
Moto2 Race Results |
Championship Standings – 1 TOMIZAWA 45, 2 ELIAS 38, 3 LUTHI 25, 4 CLUZEL 21, 5 DEBON 20, 6 CORSI 19, 7 GADEA 16, 8 ROLFO 15, 9 TALMACSI 14, 10 TAKAHASHI 13, 11 PASINI 10, 12 NOYES 9, 13 SIMON 8, 14 AEGERTER 8, 15 HERNANDEZ 6.
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125cc Pol Espargaró kicked off the Spanish domination of all three classes at today’s Gran Premio bwin de España by taking a hard fought win and led an all-Spanish 125cc podium at Jerez, ahead of Nico Terol and Esteve Rabat. There was immediate drama before the opening lap had been completed, as pole position holder and one of the strong favourites for victory on home soil Marc Márquez crashed out, sustaining a dislocation in his right arm in the process. The early stages of the race saw a group of five riders establish themselves as the main competitors for the podium, and by the midway point it was still Terol , Espargaró, Efrén Vázquez, Sandro Cortese and Tito Rabat who were challenging one another at the front of the race. Cortese’s chances of securing a podium finish ended around lap 16 when the suspension linkage on the rear of his bike broke and he eventually finished in a very creditable 11th place with no rear suspension. Shortly after Cortese dropped back Vázquez crashed out, leaving Espargaró, Terol and Rabat to sort out the final podium positions between them. Coming into the final lap Espargaró pulled a gap on his pursuers to take the win ahead of Championship leader Terol, who maintains his lead in the overall standings, with Rabat a further 13 seconds back. Bradley Smith took fourth place at the track at which he won last season, with Tomoyoshi Koyama completing the top five. Alberto Moncayo (Andalucia Cajasol) was sixth as he added another Spanish name to the top ten, with Johann Zarco (WTR San Marino Team), Randy Krummenacher (Stipa-Molenaar Racing), Alexis Masbou (Team Ongetta) and Jasper Iwema (CBC Corse) also securing top-ten finishes. |
125cc Race Results |
Championship Standings – 1 TEROL 45, 2 ESPARGARO 38, 3 RABAT 25, 4 SMITH 21, 5 VAZQUEZ 20, 6 KOYAMA 18, 7 KRUMMENACHER 18, 8 MARQUEZ 16, 9 CORTESE 16, 10 MONCAYO 13, 11 ZARCO 13, 12 MASBOU 13, 13 IWEMA 8, 14 WEBB 5.
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— Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup – Jerez Race 2
Daniel Ruiz won his home race from Danny Kent and Daijiro Hiura. 16 laps of edge-of-the-seat action with up to 8 men fighting for the lead. The 18 year old Spaniard was squeezed either side by Hiura and Kent into the last hairpin corner but fought them off to take his first Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup victory.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Ruiz. “To win at my home Grand Prix is just incredible. When I got in front early on in the race I thought I should try and get away but it just wasn’t possible. When Daijiro came past I followed him a bit and changed my plan. I knew it would come down to a last lap battle. I got in front again on the last lap but even at the last corner I had Daijiro up the inside and Danny outside, I just had to keep going and get on the gas as soon as I could.”
Hiura, the 15 year old Japanese, had the frustration of 3rd after 2nd on Saturday. “I tried to get away but again it was not possible. We were all together on the last lap and I thought I could win. Then at the end of the back straight Kent and I went wide and Dani Ruiz got ahead, that’s where I lost the race today.”
Fourth man home was 17 year old South African Mathew Scholtz and he was a lot happier than he had been on Saturday, “That was a much better race, cleaner and faster, a lot more fun. The front guys had got away a bit but towards the end I really got my rhythm together and closed back up to them. Going onto the last lap I thought I was in a good position but just at the last corner it all got too tight and the best I could do was to chase them across the line. I am happy with that though and we go to Mugello next. That’s a track that I love so I hope I can get on the podium.”
Scholtz out-dragged Harry Stafford to take that 4th place but the 16 year old Briton had a brilliant race. He pulled a chasing pack of 5 through to join Ruiz, Hiura and Kent to make it an 8 man lead battle that also included Jake Gagne, Niccolo Antonelli and Florian Alt. Stafford was the fastest man on the track as he charged through and had pace enough to take the lead. “It was great fun, I loved catching those guys it was a great feeling and I thought I might win it. Then we also started passing and re-passing each other and I couldn’t get clear. It was still a great race and I can’t wait for Mugello.”
It was another fine ride from Jake Gagne but the 16 year old Californian was not happy with 6th. “Not really, it was OK, I got some points but it’s not where I want to be, I just didn’t really have it together here. At least we are a bit closer on bike setting going to the next race and Mugello doesn’t have the same slow corners so it should be better anyway. I want to go much better there.”
Niccolo Antonelli, the 14 year old Italian in his 2nd Rookies race was a superb 7th and had thoughts of even better. “I had a great race, a lot of fun. I was going to try for the podium but braking into the last corner Scholtz was inside and I got pushed wide so couldn’t make it. I’ll try again in Mugello.”
Josh Hook’s 8th was impressive, coming as he did from 20th on the grid. “That wasn’t too bad, I am happy with the way the weekend ended because the crash I had on Friday took my confidence away and I didn’t qualify well. So I’ve got my confidence back with that and am looking forward to the next race,” concluded the 17 year old Australian.
The 14 year old German Florian Alt was also pleased with his 9th. He had been with the lead 8 man battle for much of the race. “I could stay with them but only when I had the slipstream, when I lost it there was nothing I could do and I dropped back. Still I have learnt a lot and really enjoyed the weekend.
There were a number of fallers, mostly without injury but Brazilian 14 year old Antonio Chiari is nursing a plastered left forearm after badly wrenching his thumb and unfortunately Alan Techer, the 15 year old Frenchman, was taken to hospital with moderate concussion and a broken left upper arm that will probably require and operation to reset.