Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo took advantage of competitors’ mistakes Sunday to post his sixth victory in nine MotoGP races this season at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix.
Before a sun-baked crowd of 51,436 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the Fiat Yamaha rider got his biggest break on lap 12 when his nearest championship challenger, fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, went down in Turn 5 on his Repsol Honda, slid across the gravel trap and into the safety barrier, ending his day.
Pedrosa, who started fourth right behind pole-sitter Lorenzo in the sixth annual event, had roared into the lead and opened a small gap when Pedrosa lost the front end and the bike slid out from under him.
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MotoGP: U.S. Grand Prix - Race Results
“I am so happy to win here at Laguna Seca, it’s something I’ve always dreamed of,” Lorenzo said. “I rode so well today, right on the limit, and I had to push very hard to stay in touch with Dani. He is always so strong on race day, but I knew if I kept the pressure on him, then there was a chance he would make a mistake, and I would be able to catch him.” San Jose Mercury News
Aussie Stoner finished a distant second behind another dominant display from Fiat Yamaha rival Lorenzo who now holds a 72-point lead in the standings at the halfway stage of the season.
And the 2007 world champion heaped praise on faultless Lorenzo, who has not finished outside of the top two in the opening nine races.
“He’s proven to be a worthy champion at this point, “ declared Stoner as his own winless streak extended to ten races going back to Sepang in Malaysia last October.
“Jorge’s been so consistent and very fast as well. Every session he’s always there and he’s riding fantastically. When you’re riding up against somebody like that it’s very easy to make mistakes.
“When you have to try and gain so many points back, it’s easy for anyone to have some problems. So we’ve just got to keep going. I’m not in the running for the championship; I’m in the hunt for a top three in the championship.
“I’m actually quite happy with the way I’m riding at the moment, but maybe a few too many mistakes is costing me.” Motorcycle News
The remarkable Italian Rossi, continuing his comeback from a broken right tibia and right shoulder injury suffered June 5, worked hard to catch Pedrosa’s teammate Andrea Dovizioso, finally passing the Italian for third on the 27th of the 32 laps in the race.
“The start of the race was very hard for me because I had a lot of pain and I was far from the podium (sixth on the grid),” Rossi said. “But then I saw Pedrosa on the gravel and I just had to try to catch Dovizioso. I just pushed as hard as I could for a few laps and that brought me closer to him and then I couldn’t give up. Somehow I caught him and it was a great feeling to pass him to take third.”
That jumped Rossi into fifth in the standings with 90 points, despite missing four races with his injuries, behind Stoner at 103 and Dovizioso with 115. Rossi is one point ahead of American Nicky Hayden, the 2006 World champ, who finished fifth Sunday for Ducati Team.
“We had a little problem with the bike when I did my practice start this morning and it happened again in the race but we put up a fight as best we could,” said Hayden, the highest finishing American at fifth. “The last five laps I was over my head, doing my fastest laps of the weekend almost because I thought there was a chance we might be able to get on the box (podium) if the guys in front made a mistake. I dug as deep as I could but it wasn’t enough today.”
Texas rookie Ben Spies, the three-time AMA SuperBike champ (2006-‘08) and 2009 World Superbike champion, actually ran in the top four for a couple of laps before finishing a very respectable sixth while his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 teammate and fellow Texan Colin Edwards was seventh. Monterey County Herald
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