The Valencia finale was a good one for Dani Pedrosa, with the Spaniard not only claiming the victory for his home crowd but also stealing second-place in the championship away from Valentino Rossi.
Going into the season finale at Valencia, the title was well in hand for Casey Stoner. The new MotoGP champion's old 250GP nemesis, Dani Pedrosa, however, still had a shot at jumping up to second place in the points. To do so, Pedrosa would have to score a 25-point win in front of his home crowd, with Valentino Rossi scoring no points at all. And that's exactly what happened on Sunday, with Pedrosa collecting his second victory of the season and Rossi earning a dubious DNF. Ducati's Stoner joined the Spanish rider on the podium in second, with Suzuki's John Hopkins taking the third position on the rostrum.
Valencia looked like it would be business as usual when Casey Stoner jumped out to the holeshot and early lead, but Pedrosa wouldn't let the champ break away. The diminutive Spaniard charged forward and made a slipstream pass on the straightaway to the delight of his home crowd. The Repsol Honda rider then maintained the lead all the way to the finish.
"I'm very happy with this result. I really wanted to win this race very much and so actually achieving it feels fantastic," said Pedrosa. "In the early laps I was struggling a little with grip from the front tire but then in the second half of the race it was very good. The pace today was really fast and Casey was chasing hard so there was no moment to relax or back off. Towards the end of the race I was sliding in some of the left-handers but I was still able to push hard. Thanks to the team because they worked very hard for me this weekend and all year - and the bike was perfect today."
Stoner kept the leader in his sites but had to settle for a 5-second distance at the finish.
"I expected the pace to be low 33s, but I didn't expect it to be so fast for so long. Everything seemed good, then Dani came past and pulled a bit of an advantage straight away and I wasn't able to claw it back," said Stoner. "I could pretty much hold it, then he'd eke out a tenth or two, then I'd get some of it back, then he'd take out a little more. He rode a faultless race, so he deserved the win. I'm happy for him because I now know what it's like to win your home GP - it's a very good feeling, especially in this class."
Although not closing out his season with a win, the Aussie's final championship-point advantage over the second-place Pedrosa is a remarkable 125.
"It's been a fantastic year, we can't say anything bad about it," continued the champion, "my worst result was the race where we won the championship so the title made up for that! I think next year everyone will come out a little tougher, a little stronger, so I'm going to make sure I do everything I can to come out on top again."
Taking third in the overall title hunt, Valentino Rossi made a valiant effort as he rode through the pain of a fractured right hand after a crash in Saturday's qualifying. The Doctor needed a sole point to secure second-place in the championship, but his Yamaha failed on Lap 19. For the second consecutive year, Rossi has seen the worst case scenario come to fruition at the Valencia finale.
Casey Stoner (27) found himself in an unusual spot at Valencia, in the background of a shot of the leader, Dani Pedrosa (26).
"I have no words," said Rossi. "For sure, after today, I can say that it's not just a matter of misfortune. I did everything I could in order to be on the grid today, because I wanted to try and confirm my second place in the championship, which I think I deserved. I was riding very fast, even though my bike was not perfect. When I got into 14th place, I told myself that my task was done, but I was feeling quite good and I wanted to try to pass some more riders. Unfortunately however I felt that I had a problem with my bike and I was forced to come in. Now we are checking the data to understand what happened, because at the moment it's not so clear."
John Hopkins may have been 20 seconds off the pace of Pedrosa at Valencia, but the American closed his long tenure with the Rizla Suzuki team with yet another podium. Perhaps Hopper will find that elusive GP victory when he switches over to the Kawasaki ZX-RR in 2008, although his final year with Suzuki was by far his best in GP with his fourth-place overall the highest of any American in the championship.
"I have just got to thank everyone at Suzuki - that is my first and foremost task. To every member at Suzuki I want to pass on my ultimate thanks to them, Suzuki has given me my life in MotoGP and established my career and I just cannot show enough gratitude to them," said Hopper. "Today the tires and the bike worked awesome and I just went for it from the beginning! I got a good start and then got around Nicky Hayden, but from there it was a pretty lonely race. I just had to push myself against the clock and make sure I pulled away from the riders behind me. I succeeded in that but it was very emotional on the last few laps with that comfort and I had to concentrate real hard to keep focused! It's a great result because my Mum, sister, fiance and her family are all here today so it was an unbelievable feeling when I crossed the line - it was a great way to end the year. I would have liked to have put the bike on the top step for Rizla Suzuki and especially all my crew, but that's for Dani and the home fans today!"
Marco Melandri followed Hopkins to the finish. Those three lost points were costly, however, as the Bridgestone-shod Gresini Honda rider lost fourth-place in the overall points to Hopper by just two points - 189 to 187.
Hopkins' teammate, Chris Vermeulen, battled to the line with his future teammate, Loris Capirossi. The Italian got the better of his Aussie rival by less than a tenth of a second. In the overall points, however, it was the Aussie who came out on top, with his 179 points good enough for sixth, while Capirex nailed down seventh at 166.
The final top ten at Valencia were Pramac d'Antin's Alex Barros in seventh, Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden in eighth, Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet in ninth and Gresini Honda's Toni Elias in 10th. The seventh-place result by Barros marks the end of a brilliant Grand Prix career for the Brazilian rider.
Also concluding his long GP career was LCR Honda's Carlos Checa, who crossed the Valencia finish in 12th.
Colin Edwards fared better than his teammate, Rossi, but the Texas Tornado's 13th-place result was not how the Yamaha rider wanted to end his run with the Factory squad.
"There's really nothing to say about today so I'll just leave that be! It was my last race with the Factory Team and everyone knows I wanted a better goodbye than this, but there was little I could do today," said Edwards.
The season now over, the MotoGP action will continue at Valencia, with teams participating in a three-day test.
MotoGP Valencia Results:
1. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda)
2. Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro)+5.447
3. John Hopkins (Rizla Suzuki)+20.404
4. Marco Melandri (Honda Gresini)+24.827
5. Loris Capirossi (Ducati Marlboro)+25.804
6. Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki)+25.862
7. Alex Barros (Pramac d'Antin)+29.470
8. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda)+30.333
9. Randy de Puniet (Kawasaki Racing)+30.895
10. Toni Elias (Honda Gresini)+31.030
11. Sylvain Guintoli (Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3)+38.763
12. Carlos Checa (LCR Honda)+42.506
13. Colin Edwards (Fiat Yamaha)+46.572
14. Shinya Nakano (Konica Minolta Honda)+50.220
15. Makoto Tamada (Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3)+56.879
16. Anthony West (Kawasaki Racing)+1'15.369
DNF Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 30'32.477 149.492 11 laps
DNF Kurtis Roberts (Team Roberts KR212V 16'15.099 147.861 20 laps
2007 MotoGP Championship Points:
1. Stoner 367
2. Pedrosa 242
3. Rossi 241
4. Hopkins 189
5. Melandri 187
6. Vermeuelen 179
7. Capirossi 166
8. Hayden 127
9. Edwards 124
10. Barros 115
