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MotoGP 2009 - Round Two - Race |
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MotoGP 2009 - Round Two - Race |
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MotoGP Round Two By, Trevor Hedge Valentino Rossi made his intentions clear from the moment the lights went out to signal the start of the 700th premier class Motorcycle Grand Prix. The Italian superstar hit the front and immediately started pulling away from his pursuers. Pedrosa got an amazing run from the back of the fourth row to be in the hunt up front with Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso, Chris Vermeulen and Marco Melandri. Championship leader Casey Stoner suffered a poor start with front brake problems which saw him immediately under pressure from a number of riders. Stoner however fared much better than teammate Nicky Hayden, The Kentucky Kid was struck from behind by Yuki Takahashi which punted him out of the race. A significant blow to the head leaving Hayden angry, sorry and sore. Rossi’s teammate Jorge Lorenzo looked to be the danger man early on for Rossi. Dani Pedrosa was also coming along for the ride. The surprise packet of the early laps was Marco Melandri on the Kawasaki. Melandri was high as fifth place in the first couple of laps before Chris Vermeulen and Casey Stoner made their way past after the Italian made a small mistake. Rossi had quickly gapped his pursuers by more than a second over the first couple of laps but Lorenzo then started pulling half a second a lap out of his teammate. Rossi responded to the challenge by matching Lorenzo’s pace for a couple of laps but eventually Lorenzo and a quickening Pedrosa were on his tail. The other Repsol Honda ridden by Andrea Dovizioso was also putting in a strong showing in fourth place. With 17 laps to run Lorenzo was all over the back of Rossi and Pedrosa was having a nibble also. Dovizioso a further 1.4 seconds down in fourth while Stoner was a full five seconds behind the race leader. Lorenzo put his nose in front for the first time on the next lap but ran a little wide which allowed Rossi straight back through. Lorenzo did it again just before the bridge and this time made it stick and immediately pulled a couple of bike lengths from Rossi. Stoner had finally managed to shrug off the affections of Melandri and Vermeulen to put his head down and try to catch the leading group. On lap ten Andrea Dovizioso set a new fastest lap of the race to declare his intention of catching the leading trio. The two Fiat Yamaha men up front, followed by the Repsol Honda pairing and then quite a gap back to Ducati’s main man, Casey Stoner. Pedrosa started to lose touch with the two Yamaha men as the race approached the halfway mark. Perhaps the wrist injury taking its toll on the diminutive Spaniard as the race wore on. In contrast teammate Dovizioso looked to be getting stronger and stronger and was eager to pass Pedrosa. On lap 15 of the 24 lap encounter Rossi must have made sort of mistake as Lorenzo’s lead suddenly jumped to more than a second. Pedrosa was within striking distance of Rossi with nine laps to run. Dovizioso had lost touch with Pedrosa but wasn’t completely out of the game. Pedrosa put a move on Rossi but ran a little wide which allowed the Italian straight back through. A couple of corners later exactly the same scenario played out again. The next lap however Pedrosa finally made one stick to stake his claim on second place. Rossi pulled exactly the same move that Pedrosa pulled on him the lap before to take second place back from the Spaniard. The tussle between the pair allowing race leader Lorenzo to gap them to tune of two seconds. A further 1.4 seconds separated Pedrosa and Dovizioso with a similar buffer back to fifth placed Stoner. With two laps to run Stoner had managed to close to within striking distance of Dovizioso and made his move to take fourth place. Only a minor miracle however would see Stoner improve his ranking any further as third placed Pedrosa had a significant buffer over the Australian. At the front of the field it was still Lorenzo but Rossi had reduced the gap to only 1.2 seconds with a lap to run. Lorenzo held on to take the win from fellow Yamaha man Rossi. Lorenzo’s second ever win in MotoGP and Rossi’s second place was the Italian’s 11th podium in a row. Pedrosa third and Stoner fourth. Dovizioso fifth and Melandri a not expected sixth with a handy buffer over seventh placed Capirossi. Kallio eighth, Toseland ninth and Vermeulen rounded out the top ten. The win promoted Lorenzo into the lead of the Championship by a single point over Rossi. Stoner’s fourth place demoting him to third place in the series standings, two points adrift of Rossi. Only three points covering the top three. Repsol Honda pairing Dovizioso and Pedrosa fourth and fifth, 19 and 20 points behind series leader Lorenzo. MotoGP returns to its traditional European roots for the first time this season next week, May 3, at Jerez. |
| MotoGP Rnd 1 - Race Result | MotoGP Rnd 1 - Championship Standings |
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| -- MotoGP Quotes Jorge Lorenzo - Winner - "First of all I just want to thank my team, my Mum, Dad and whole family, my friends and all the team workers. Also Yamaha, as it is their home race, it was a difficult race because I didn't really get a very good start, I think I even finished the first lap in third or fourth. After that I began to catch up the pace. I passed Valentino and opened up a little gap, about a second and a half, and he was following me very hard. I had to ride the best I can to get the victory." Valentino Rossi - 2nd - "It was a great race, long, very difficult and also physical. I got a really good start from the front row, but there was a part of the race that I wasn't quite able to ride like I wanted, there was some kind of problem and I wasn't fast enough to pull away. I lost time from Jorge and then was involved in a battle with Dani and then in the last part of the race I was able to step up my pace and pick my lines, setting some good lap times. I tried to come back but unfortunately Lorenzo was too far away. It's a good race, second place is not a victory but it's still twenty points for the championship. I think the championship will become very interesting now because we have four riders ready to battle for wins at the end." Dani Pedrosa - 3rd - "I'm very happy with this result. I've had injury problems for a long time - since last October - and so to be on the podium in the second race of the season is fantastic for me, and really we didn't expect this so soon. I got a good start - the start was really the key part of my race - and I was able to get away with the front group. I couldn't really believe it when I stayed with them because I was expecting to drop back after maybe one or two laps. But then it was lap five or six and I was still there and I was thinking, 'this is unbelievable'. In the end I was near the front for the whole race, had a good battle for second, and finished on the podium so this is great. We still have to sort out some issues on the machine, but it's a very positive result going in to the Jerez, and I'd like to say big thanks to the team and the fans." Casey Stoner - 4th - "We have had the same issues as everybody else, I suppose, in that we haven’t had time to set the bike up but all in all I think we were capable of at least matching the lap times of the front guys – we just lost too much time at the start. On the warm-up lap I felt I a lot of chatter from the front brakes, they weren’t smooth and I wasn’t confident over the first five or six laps. I really didn’t know what to do, I wasn’t able to brake where I wanted to and I wasn’t confident. Maybe I could have gone faster but I don’t know how safe that would have been. Anyway, I lost a lot of positions at the beginning of the race and I spent too much time battling to get past. When I got closer to the front it was a bit too late, unfortunately. I tried to stay as consistent as I could and when I got closer to Andrea I rode a bit harder because I saw it was possible to pass him. So the race was not completely lost, we didn’t lose that many points and this is a much better start to the season than last year, so we can definitely feel positive going into the next one.” Andrea Dovizioso - 5th - "I'm pretty happy after this race because, considering that we struggled a lot during all the practice sessions, we were able to stay near the front for 24 laps. I was pushing really hard for a podium finish for the whole race but in the end I couldn't make it. It was a tough race and this is a very demanding track, with many hard braking zones so we struggled a lot physically to achieve this result. I think me and Dani just gritted our teeth and got on with it today. It's promising because we've reduced the gap to the guys in the front. I was 27 seconds behind the winner in Qatar and only 9 seconds behind here, so this is a good step forward. But we must keep on working hard. I have to give my compliments to Dani - he did a great race. I made a good start and was able to maintain a good pace during the race, but we still have to fine-tune the machine so that we can be really competitive." Loris Capirossi - 7th - "I am disappointed with seventh, because this is not our proper position as we have a better potential than that. This winter we went very well because we had enough time at tests to work on the bike, but here this weekend we did one dry practice and everything else in the wet. We never found the best setting and we started the race with one we hadn't tried here. The bike was not too bad, but I never really found a good rhythm and feel from the tyres. I want to say that I am really sorry to all my team and everybody that has been working so hard this weekend. We need to go better than that and this weekend we just didn't perform well enough!" James Toseland - 9th - "I needed to be back in the top ten, so today was the step I've been looking for. We made a big step with the front-end setting on Friday in just the 45 minutes of dry track time we had this weekend and it helped me a lot. The comfort on the braking was much better and I was able to pass a couple of guys on the brakes today, which was good. I went for the soft rear tyre just because that's what I'd run most on Friday. We knew the soft one would go the distance, but it wouldn't be as strong in the latter stages of the race with the temperature being hotter today. But I didn't want to take any risks by running the harder compound, particularly as we knew it would take a couple of laps to get to temperature. In the early part of the race I had quite a bit more grip than some of the guys and I might have been able to pass (Casey) Stoner and (Loris) Capirossi) if I was more comfortable with the bike on a full fuel load. That would have pushed me a bit further up earlier in the race when I had an advantage with the softer tyre. It was a good battle on the last lap with Vermeulen. He passed me briefly at the end of the back straight, but I managed to keep him at bay. I'm happy for my team because they've stood behind me and everybody has kept their morale up, and now we've got a result we can build on." Chris Vermeulen - 10th - "I'm really disappointed today, because I got a good start, the bike felt good and I thought a decent result would be possible. We used the hard rear tyre for the race and that was a bit scary on the first lap as I was worried about what it was going to do! I pushed as hard as I could and tried to hang on to the back of Valentino. From about the second or third lap I started to have a problem shifting gear heading into the turns and it made it difficult to stay consistent. I felt like I'd got it under control, but then the problem got worse from about lap six as I lost all shifting up and down without having to shut the throttle or use the clutch - so it was quite difficult! Other than that the bike worked really well and I felt like I could have challenged somewhere close to the front, but that's all ifs, buts and maybes and we now have to make sure what caused the problem today never happens again! If we can keep the speed we've had recently we will go to Jerez in a positive frame of mind and if we can iron-out all the little things, then I am sure we can start to challenge for podiums!" Randy De Puniet - 11th - “It was a very hard race starting from the last row and I lost some time behind Sete (Gibernau). After six laps I finally passed him and started to set my pace getting the 9th place. At that time (Mika) Kallio was behind me but he overtook me on lap 14th. After that I tried to catch (James) Toseland but my rear traction was not very good as we had only 18 laps in the dry on Friday and the machine was not as we expected. I struggled in the left corners entries and I probably made a small mistake changing gear in the two last laps and (Chris) Vermeulen easily passed me. It’s a pretty positive result considering my position on the grid and I am looking forward to racing in Jerez to improve my machine set up in the dry”. Colin Edwards - 12th - "That was not at all what I expected but I can't turn the clock back. I wish I could because I believe I could have fought for the podium. We had a small issue at the start of the race and I simply couldn't ride how I wanted to. I kept my head down and persevered throughout and perhaps a few more laps I could have chased down the guys in front for a top ten. I couldn't have ridden any harder today and I did my absolute best for Yamaha. I was really confident going into the race because I was one of the few guys who had done a lot of laps on the harder compound tyre in the dry on Friday. So with the track temperature coming up a lot compared to how cool it was on Friday, I felt that experience we gained would really help. When I got going in the race my lap times were as quick as the top five, so it's a case of wondering what might have been today. We'll look to bounce back in Jerez next weekend because I feel like I'm riding really well." Alex De Angelis - 13th - “We had some problems on Friday and missed our only opportunity to get the bike set up for dry conditions, which was an unfortunate circumstance that we paid the price for today. I went for a hard front and rear tyre but it clearly didn’t work with the set-up we had and I had no feeling from the tyres or the suspension today. There was a group of four riders fighting in front of me and I was desperate to get involved in the battle but I lost the rear a couple of times so finally decided to give up the chase. Three points isn’t much but it’s better than nothing.” Toni Elias - 15th - “I’m very disappointed. I was struggling a little over the opening couple of laps but by lap three I started to feel good and I was able to start making up positions. I caught the group that Melandri and Vermeulen were in but just when I had done all the hard work I had a stupid crash. I got on the dirty part on the outside of the track and lost grip on the front and rear under braking. That’s the most disappointing thing because I had the opportunity to pick up some important points and I threw it away. Looking at the positives, I finished the race and picked up a point, which is something, and we have improved the bike here, which should help us in future races.” Nicky Hayden - DNF - “That was exactly what we didn’t need. I got a decent start and I think I was up a couple of positions but just going down into the hairpin, which is a slow hard-braking corner, I was on my line and Takahashi just took me down. There was no warning - I didn’t even hear anything! I don’t want to say much about that, I don’t want to look like a cry-baby but, you know, it was the first lap… luckily I feel okay. I actually landed in the same place on my back as the crash in Qatar and my leathers and helmet have got exactly the same marks. It’s a shame because this weekend I honestly felt we were making some progress. I felt we had better communication going on and we worked more comfortably from the first day. I know we were never looking at a great result but I felt I could have been competitive today. Anyway, we have to move forward and to look to the next race.” Yuki Takahashi - DNF - “Out at the very beginning of the race... what a pity. Not only for the race itself, but especially because I need making laps to learn and improve. The crash occurred at the turn number five: I was in a group of drivers, more or less all of us at the same speed, then the collision under braking. I'm really sorry". -- Bridgestone Report - Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo scored a fantastic victory on Bridgestone’s medium compound tyres. Starting from third on the grid, the Spaniard chased down teammate Valentino Rossi, trading positions with him before taking the lead by lap nine. He was pushed hard to the finish by Rossi, whose fastest lap on the medium Bridgestones came two from the finish on lap 23. The two Fiat Yamahas were chased throughout by the Repsol Hondas of Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso, who finished third and fifth respectively, the top four split by just 1.7 seconds by lap ten. Pedrosa and Rossi traded places on lap 18, whilst Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner recovered from an early slip to seventh to pass Dovizioso for fourth two laps from the finish. Fifteen riders used Bridgestone’s medium compound front and rear slicks for the race. Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden, Monster Yamaha Tech3’s James Toseland and Pramac Racing’s Mika Kallio all kept the medium compound front tyre but were the only riders to opt for the soft rear Bridgestone. The medium compound Bridgestones demonstrated good consistency and durability over a race distance with the highest track temperatures seen this season. Lorenzo recorded his fastest time, and the fastest of the race, on lap 15, whilst Pedrosa’s best effort came on lap 15 and Stoner’s fastest was on lap 20 of the 25 lap race. Osamu Inoue - Bridgestone Senior Vice President “I would like to congratulate the Fiat Yamaha Team and Jorge Lorenzo for their excellent victory here today. We are honoured to have been able to support our first Japan Grand Prix as MotoGP's Official Tyre Supplier. Bridgestone will continue to strive to provide tyres of consistent quality and safety, and a fair tyre service to all teams.” Tohru Ubukata - Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development “Today we have seen riders use medium compound front tyres and both soft and medium compound rears, and all specifications showed consistent race performance. We only had one dry session on Friday and it was cold. Track temperature today was over 10 degrees warmer, but with hot and cold and rain we have seen that two compounds of slick and one wet tyre can meet all conditions this weekend so I am happy with our tyre line-up for this race.” Jorge Lorenzo, Fiat Yamaha, Race Winner “I did a bad start, fourth after the first lap, but I recovered the distance to Valentino. I had to ride the best I could to the end to stay ahead. I think I need to continue working with the Bridgestone tyres because we are still not fast enough. Friday the tyre that worked better was the soft tyre so today almost every team wanted to use this one, but with the higher temperature almost everyone chose the harder one. It is good to win!” -- 250cc Race Mapfre Aspar rider Álvaro Bautista rode a masterful race to deny Hiroshi Aoyama home glory in the 250cc contest, taking his first win of the year. Bautista heaped the pressure on Scot Racing rider Aoyama for ten tough laps before passing the two-time Motegi racewinner with six laps to go and creating a gap between the two. Aoyama took second place for his first podium of the year, and now closely trails new series leader Bautista by one point in the overall standings. Team Toth’s Mattia Pasini completed the podium, bouncing back from a heavy Friday crash and claiming his first points of the year. Reigning World Champion and 2008 racewinner Marco Simoncelli had poorer fortune in the race. The poleman was leading comfortably before bobbling on the chicane and puncturing his front tyre. He came into the pits for a change of rubber, but could only claim 17th as his rivals fought out the rest of the race at the front of the field. -- 125cc Race Andrea Iannone took his second victory in as many races in the 125cc class, a result decided as much by tyre choice as by grid positions and bike performance. Taking the lead from the second lap, Danny Webb valiantly held on at the front despite rapidly losing tyre life, as the trailing pack closed in. Eight laps before the chequered flag Julián Simón caught up with the Briton, and the race between the riders on slick tyres was on. Ongetta Team I.S.P.A rider Iannone claimed full points this time around, and maintains the lead in the overall standings. Simón once again played the bridesmaid, whilst Derbi rider Espargaró completed the podium in the second race of 2009. The MotoGP paddock reconvenes in a week's time for the Gran Premio bwin.co de España, which takes place on May 3rd at the Circuito de Jerez. |
| 250cc Race Result | 250cc Championship Standings |
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| 125cc Race Result | 125cc Championship Standings |
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