LORENZO RULES BRNO, ROSSI SWITCHES TO DUCATI END OF SEASON
2010-08-16 15:24:36 Author: admin Source:
The Czech Grand Prix Round 11 of the Motorcycle Grand Prix Championship (MotoGP) at Brno represented a milestone for the Yamaha MotoGP team not only for Jorge Lorenzo's seventh victory of the season, but the departure of 9-time champion Valentino Rossi at the end of the current season. The 'Doctor' moves to Ducati MotoGP team, replacing Casey Stoner who would re-join the Honda Racing factory team.
Lorenzo's pretty much sealed the riders' championship in his favor after another clinical performance that saw him lead from the first lap to the chequered flag. In stark contrast, Rossi ran into problems from the start and could only finish fifth.
Having started third, the Spaniard made several bold moves on pole sitter Dani Pedrosa around the first two turns that saw him take the lead before the first split. From there, he pounded the track lap on lap and never looked back.
Pedrosa kept close on his heels for the first few laps but every time his compatriot closed the gap a few tenths Lorenzo responded with renewed vigour and by the tenth lap he was a second clear. Towards the flag, Lorenzo cruised to 5.494 seconds clear of Pedrosa to take the 33rd win of his career and his 12th in MotoGP.
Rossi, meanwhile, was confident that he would be able to mount a strong challenge for honors but it was not to be for the Italian. He had dropped from fifth on the grid to eighth by the end of the first lap before rallying to pass Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden to move to fifth by lap six, but from then on he could make no further headway and rode a lonely race to the flag.
Pedrosa rode a determined race to finish second, but could not make grounds to Lorenzo in the championship, he now trails the Yamaha man by a whooping 77 points. It was a tough day for Honda’s other MotoGP riders, with Pedrosa’s team-mate Andrea Dovizioso looking capable of recording a strong result until he slid off during the early stages. The Italian set the fourth fastest lap of the race, suggesting he might have been able to fight for a podium finish.
Stoner finished third behind race winner Lorenzo and Pedrosa to extend his run of podium finishes to five and move himself up to third place in the riders' standings. Hayden battled through the pain of a chipped radius bone, sustained in a crash at the end of qualifying, to cross the line in an impressive sixth place.
Marco Melandri (above left), benefitted from Dovizioso's fall, to become Honda’s next best rider in eighth place, just ahead of the heroic Randy de Puniet (above right), racing just one month after breaking his left leg. Melandri had an interesting race as the former 250 champion completed the first lap in 11th, then spent much of the 22 laps involved in a thrilling contest for ninth place, which then became a contest for eighth once the group had caught Simoncelli. At one point the group consisted of five riders, Melandri setting impressive lap times in the late stages to fight his way to the front to finish eighth just ahead of Hector Barbera, de Puniet and Simoncelli.
De Puniet had painkilling injections before the race, to ease the pain of his broken left tibia, which was pinned following his tumble at the German GP on 18 July. Despite significant discomfort, the Frenchman played a major part in the busy skirmish won by Melandri. Twelfth at the end of the first lap, de Puniet got as high as ninth in the closing stages but lacked strength in the closing stages and finally lost out to Barbera.
Melandri's team mate Marco Simoncelli had been going great guns, looking on course for a top eight finish until he ran into grip issues and slipped back to 11th. Alex de Angelis, substituting for the injured Hiroshi Aoyama, finished 13th after being nudged off the track during the early stages.
Suzuki's Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista both crashed out of the race, with both riders able to walk away uninjured from their respective incidents. Capirossi got a poor start from 10th on the grid as another rider hit the left-hand-side of his bike on the first lap and knocked his clutch lever out of position. The Italian had to hit the lever to get it back into place, but the running repairs cost him time and he was relegated to last position. Capirossi quickly regained his composure and passed four riders in quick succession and looked like making a concerted attack through the field, but unfortunately he lost front grip on turn 12 and slid into the gravel with no hope of re-mounting and continuing the race.
Bautista, despite starting from the back of the grid, caught the battle for eighth position before the half-way point of the race. The Spaniard was fighting with the group and as the last lap arrived he was close enough to challenge Simoncelli. He made a strong passing manoeuvre in the last corner and although he got past Simoncelli he lost the front of the bike and slid into the gravel. Bautista was visibly disappointed with the outcome of the race after such a brave effort had proved fruitless in the end.
All teams and riders stayed on at Brno to take part in an official one-day to try out test solutions for the remainder of the season and concepts for 2011.
Results
1 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha 43'22.638
2 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda +5.494
3 Casey STONER Ducati +11.426
4 Ben SPIES Yamaha Tech 3 +13.723
5 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha +17.930
6 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati +26.815
7 Colin EDWARDS Yamaha Tech 3 +33.396
8 Marco MELANDRI Honda +39.406
9 Hector BARBERA Aspar +39.639
10 Randy DE PUNIET Honda +40.893
11 Marco SIMONCELLI Honda +42.032
12 Aleix ESPARGARO Pramac +47.091
13 Alex DE ANGELIS Honda +51.368
Riders Championship
1 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha 235
2 Dani PEDROSA Honda 158
3 Casey STONER Ducati 119
4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Honda 115
5 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha 101
6 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati 99
7 Ben SPIES Yamaha 90
8 Randy DE PUNIET Honda 75
9 Marco MELANDRI Honda 61
10 Colin EDWARDS Yamaha 57
11 Marco SIMONCELLI Honda 54
12 Hector BARBERA Ducati 48
13 Loris CAPIROSSI Suzuki 36
14 Aleix ESPARGARO Ducati 32
15 Mika KALLIO Ducati 31
16 Alvaro BAUTISTA Suzuki 25
17 Hiroshi AOYAMA Honda 18
18 Alex DE ANGELIS Honda 11
19 Roger Lee HAYDEN Honda 5
20 Kousuke AKIYOSHI Honda 4
21 Wataru YOSHIKAWA Yamaha 1
