Jorge Lorenzo moved to the top of the MotoGP World Championship standings after the second round at Jerez with a victory that delighted the home Spanish crowd, with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) making it a Spanish one-two after a pulsating end to the race.
Lorenzo’s Fiat Yamaha team-mate and defending World Champion Valentino Rossi placed third to maintain his early season quest for the 2010 title, and now lies in second place in the standings.
A rapid start to the race saw pole holder Pedrosa lead into Turn1, with Rossi rising from fourth on the grid to follow the Spaniard and Hayden also shooting up from the second row as the riders all battled for early positions.
On the third lap Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) crashed out and shortly after Aleix Espargaró also fell. The Pramac Racing rider managed to return to the track however, but Capirossi’s race was finished, and on lap eight Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech3) pitted and retired with a front tyre problem on his M1 machine when competing inside the top ten. MotoGP
When Lorenzo passed Nicky Hayden to climb up to third with 18 laps to go, attention switched to the battle between second and third. Lorenzo stole inside his Yamaha team-mate Rossi with six laps to go and then showed astonishing pace to catch Pedrosa with two laps left.
They almost crashed on one bend, and then came together in the last lap, but Lorenzo’s aggressive tactics paid off when he barged through a couple of bends before the finish and was roared across the line by the 122,000 crowd.
“I can’t describe it,” Lorenzo said, after he had celebrated by running and jumping fully clothed into a lake at the circuit. “It was one of my dreams to win at Jerez and to do it against someone like Dani, who made it very difficult, it’s unbelievable.” The Guardian
Lorenzo said he was amazed to have stayed out in the lead for so long and despite missing out on victory, he was happy with his day’s work.
“I was surprised to be up there but in the last 10 laps I saw Jorge was coming five-tenths of a second quicker than me, and I thought ‘this will be tight’.
“I tried to hold him back but it wasn’t possible - second place by half a lap is not the best, but compared to Qatar (where he came seventh) it’s good.” BBC Sport
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