Lorenzo showed once again that one of his key strengths is his pace on worn race tires as he embarked on a stunning surge through the field.
Jorge Lorenzo produced a stunning second half fight in Jerez to win his first
MotoGP race on home soil. The jubilant Fiat Yamaha rider had looked out of contention for victory in the 27-lap race when he trailed leader Dani Pedrosa by close to four seconds shortly before the halfway stage.
Lorenzo showed once again that one of his key strengths is his pace on worn race tires as he embarked on a stunning surge through the field. A poor start dropped the 22-year-old down to fifth and he was unable to make an early impression as he struggled with a full fuel tank on his Fiat
Yamaha YZR-M1 machine.
He disposed of struggling Aussie Casey Stoner on Lap 5 but needed another five laps to successfully hunt down and pass the Ducati GP10 of Nicky Hayden. Another 12 laps had elapsed Lorenzo was in devastating form as he took second from teammate and Qatar winner Valentino Rossi at the Curva Dry Sack. That left him just five laps to close down a two-second deficit on Pedrosa. He attempted two fail ed overtakes on the penultimate lap as Pedrosa stood firm in the face of the onslaught but he eventually broke Pedrosa’s after the Repsol Honda rider.
Lorenzo made his move at the Curva Dry Sack on the final lap and eventually ended up a comfortable winner by 0.543 seconds to spark wild celebrations in the crowd of over 122,000 fans. Lorenzo’s sixth MotoGP win moved him into the lead in the World Championship standings by four points over Rossi.
He celebrated in hilarious fashion by leaping into a lake in the middle of the circuit. Weighed down by his leathers and helmet though he needed assistance to make it out of the water and he said: “I know it's better to win races calmly, from the front, but lately that hasn't been the way for us and I have had to fight on every lap. I saw the lake on Thursday and thought it would be funny to jump in and 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! This has been an amazing day. I can't believe I've achieved this dream of mine, in front of all the Spanish fans at this magical place."
Dani Pedrosa put his recent problems with Honda’s new factory RC212V behind him to come tantalizingly close to a shock victory in front of home fans.
Dani Pedrosa put his recent problems with Honda’s new factory RC212V behind him to come tantalizingly close to a shock victory in front of home fans. Starting from pole position, it was no surprise to see the triple World Champion grab the holeshot with Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden leading the chasing pack.
What was a surprise though was Pedrosa’s ability to stay at the front of the field until the final lap when he succumbed to a brilliant late attack from compatriot and bitter rival Jorge Lorenzo. Pedrosa had defended superbly in the closing stages to keep a determined Lorenzo behind him. But once Lorenzo pounced on the final lap, Pedrosa couldn’t retaliate and had a fight on his hands to prevent Italian Rossi from relegating him back to third.
Pedrosa, who led Lorenzo by nearly four seconds after 11 laps, said: “I pushed myself to the limit and tried not to make any mistakes. I was surprised to be leading for the whole race. I was nervous at the start because I knew that to maintain a front-running rhythm was going to be very difficult for us. I knew Rossi wasn’t far behind me and then I just kept pushing and pushing. With ten laps to go I could see plus 3, plus 2.5, plus 2 and plus 1.5 [seconds] and I thought Jorge was coming through so fast. I pushed hard but he was 0.5 second faster and I said to myself this is going to be tight. I just pushed myself to the limit and I tried everything but he was too fast.”
As their battle intensified, Lorenzo and Pedrosa touched at the final corner on the penultimate lap when Lorenzo tried an audacious move on the outside.
“I was riding defensively and not attacking,” continued Pedrosa. “I tried to block the inside and I saw him on the outside. I thought I was too early on the brakes but always when you’re on the inside you don’t feel like you can turn. We touched but fortunately it was okay and it was fun.”
Pedrosa had been a distant seventh in the season’s opening race in Qatar as he continued to struggle with handling issues on the new RC212V. A new stiffer chassis was rolled out by HRC in Spain and while an improvement, Pedrosa said it still wasn’t the complete fix to all of his problems. And he couldn’t hide his disappointment having come so close to securing a famous win.
“It is disappointing to be second after leading the whole race but for half-a-lap,” commented Pedrosa. “But I still have so much movement on the bike but to finish second is a great result. We need some more stability and some more grip.”
Rossi was never close enough to mount an attack on the Repsol Honda rider and he was unable to keep Lorenzo at bay as the Spaniard mounted an incredible surge through the field.
Valentino Rossi declared himself satisfied with a hard fought third place in Jerez, despite surrendering the lead in the 2010 MotoGP World Championship to his teammate. Rossi struggled with a weakened right shoulder after a recent motocross training accident and a lack of rear grip on his Fiat YZR-M1 machine to finish a close third behind an epic late scrap for the win between Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa.
Rossi had got a great start from the second row of the grid and found himself second behind the typically fast starting Pedrosa. But Rossi was never close enough to mount an attack on the Repsol Honda rider and he was unable to keep Lorenzo at bay as the Spaniard mounted an incredible surge through the field.
Rossi was dropped back to third by Lorenzo on Lap 22, though he almost caught Pedrosa in the final stages after a late rally. The nine-time World Champion eventually finished close to 0.4 seconds adrift of Pedrosa and said:
“The podium is a good result for us because we know it is not our race. It is good to take some important points after the shoulder injury and for sure we struggled more than normal. Unfortunately we didn’t have the perfect setting for the race. I just didn’t have the pace to try and win. We have struggled all weekend, first with my shoulder and then with the bike, and in the race today I couldn't do any more than third. I got a great start and was fast with the new tire, I tried to go with Dani but then I started to slide a lot and I just had to play it safe. I tried to stay with Dani but in two or three parts of the track I lost too much. I always rode at the limit but when I entered the corner I wasn’t sure that I would exit. I made no mistakes and I'm happy about my race in the circumstances, these 16 points are very important."
Rossi denied his right shoulder injury suffered just over two weeks ago had been a major issue stating: “In the last ten laps it wasn’t easy but I didn’t have pain. I made a mistake one lap before the end. I lost the front and lost half a second and with that moment I lost the fight with Dani for second place because I was only 0.3 seconds behind him.”
Rossi laughed when asked whether he had got a second wind at the prospect of the fierce fight between Lorenzo and Pedrosa ending with one or both crashing out of the race. He was happy though to have a front row seat for the thrilling finale, with Lorenzo sealing victory with a pass on the last lap at the Curva Dry Sack. Rossi said it was a great climax to a largely uninspiring race that only came to life in the final six laps.
He added: “I remember a lot of times some great battles on the last lap but this is motorcycle racing. The last lap you have to try and pass. It was fun and I think Jorge was great and Dani tried to resist. The last laps of motorcycle races are like this. I had a front row seat for the Spanish party and it was a shame I couldn’t join in.”
Nicky Hayden held third place for the opening ten laps before he was powerless to stop a hard charging Jorge Lorenzo from relegating him back to fourth position.
Nicky Hayden admitted he was hoping to have posed a more serious podium threat after he finished in a distant fourth place. The American held third place for the opening ten laps before he was powerless to stop a hard charging Jorge Lorenzo from relegating him back down to fourth.
Hayden, who also finished fourth in the season’s opening race in Qatar, was unable to chase the Spaniard as he closed down Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa. But the 2006 World Champion was able to fend off a late challenge from factory Ducati team-mate Casey Stoner.
It was the first time Hayden has beaten Stoner in the 15 races they have started together and the former Repsol Honda rider said: “The bike was better in the morning warm-up and I could get in the 39s but in the race I was missing a couple of tenths. They were certainly quicker than me and I just couldn’t really hold on. I was hoping like in Qatar that I could find something in the race but it didn’t really happen. Realistically it was still a pretty good result to build on. I’d have liked to have been closer because nine seconds is a lot after being so close in Qatar.”
Hayden, who has one podium finish for Ducati’s factory team in 19 races, said he would not get carried away with another promising ride in the top four.
He added: “Two races aren’t enough. In this sport I’ve learned that any time you get more confident or too cocky you can have a fall. I’ve got to stay humble and hungry. The next race in Le Mans will be a big challenge because it is the only track on the calendar I’ve never had a front row or a podium. I’ve always had a nightmare there.”
"Don't speak to me about the gap until the end of the season,“ said Stoner. “It’s two races, it’s nothing. Almost everybody crashes at least once in the year, there's going to be mechanical failures and there are a lot of variables and there are 16 races to go."
Casey Stoner could not disguise his disappointment after he failed to make any major impact in at Jerez. The Australian had to settle for fifth place and on a tough day for the 24-year-old he was beaten by teammate Nicky Hayden.
The last time Stoner was defeated by a teammate was when he clinched the 2007 world title in Japan. Italian veteran Loris Capirossi won the race but Stoner ended up a second behind Hayden as he battled front and rear grip issues on his factory GP10.
Stoner rarely looked like he was going to figure in the fight at the front at a Jerez circuit that has not proven to be a happy hunting ground for the former LCR Honda rider. Stoner had only one podium finish prior to Sunday’s race at the Andalucian venue.
"I’m disappointed with today’s performance,” said Stoner. “We started the weekend strongly but only got worse compared to our rivals as the sessions went by and we were never able to improve on the base set-up that we started out with. I think we fell into the trap of making changes to the bike that were too radical and it only served to confuse us because we never went in the right direction. I made an okay start to the race and felt comfortable over the opening laps, Jorge (Lorenzo) was actually slowing my progress at that point and I was eager to get past him and chase Nicky and the others but as soon as I came up to pass Nicky I lost the front and almost crashed. The bike was pretty much on the ground but I managed to pick it up and then tried to push on from there but the front folded two or three more times on that lap alone. That shot my confidence so Jorge was able to pass me easily and from that moment I just wanted to take as many points as I could. As the tires went off in the second half of the race the bike felt better and I had more contact with the front but it was little too late and I couldn’t catch Nicky. We need to work hard to find some answers in the test tomorrow and move on to Le Mans ready to battle again."
Coming hot on the heels of his expensive crash out of the first race in Qatar when Stoner threw away 25-points with a crash out of a comfortable lead, he now trails Lorenzo by 34-points after just two races. Was that cause for concern?
“Don't speak to me about the gap until the end of the season,“ said Stoner. “It’s two races, it’s nothing. Almost everybody crashes at least once in the year, there's going to be mechanical failures and there are a lot of variables and there are 16 races to go. I'm not thinking about the gap. I wanted to win this weekend and next weekend it will be the same. Only at the end of the season will I start to worry."
An undiagnosed front tire issue left Ben Spies contemplating what might have been after the Texan was forced to retire in the early stages of the race. Boosted by a brilliant fourth place in the pre-race warm-up session, Spies was confident of at least emulating his excellent fifth place in the season’s opening race in Qatar.
“I got the short end this weekend,” said Spies. “Honestly it was disappointing because I had a good warm-up and a good start and I was behind the players of the race who I wanted to be behind."
The reigning World Superbike champion looked even more of a top five contender when he claimed two places on the first lap to slot menacingly behind 2007 World Champion Casey Stoner’s factory Ducati GP10. But no sooner had the race started to gather momentum, Spies hit unexpected trouble.
On the second lap he’d already dropped nearly two seconds off the pace of leader Dani Pedrosa and just a lap later he plummeted down to ninth. Spies opted to continue despite severe front-end handling issues but slipping down to 12th, he decided to retire at the end of Lap 8. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team revealed checks to Spies’ front tire had shown up no obvious external damage or fault.
“I got the short end this weekend,” said Spies. “Honestly it was disappointing because I had a good warm-up and a good start and I was behind the players of the race who I wanted to be behind. As soon as everybody got settled and the race started picking up, I just started running into some problems. Looking at the data I could see in some spots on the track I was doing exactly the same thing I’d been doing all weekend but the bike just wasn’t responding like it had been. I tried to do a couple of different things in the race but it was frustrating. I was way slower than I knew what was possible with the conditions. I nearly crashed a few times and if I had carried on it would have been a big risk to crash. It is a bit of mystery really but it just didn’t happen today.”
Spies said he had toyed with the idea of inserting a new front wheel into his YZR-M1 machine in the hope of salvaging some points, but he added: “I thought about it. The best-case scenario was a couple of people crashed and I’d get a point or two but for where I’m at in the championship it is not like I’m battling for the top spot or a top three. It is another 24 hard laps on an engine and with not finishing in the top ten I decided to stop. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go back out there but I wasn’t going to gain a lot of confidence.”
