Lorenzo extends title charge

Added on Saturday, June 26th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments

Jorge Lorenzo strengthened his 2010 championship charge with a win at Assen this afternoon, again dominating the MotoGP weekend.

In the absence of his FIAT Yamaha teammate, Valentino Rossi, who is out of action due to a broken leg, Lorenzo again demonstrated his dominance by taking pole and a win at the Dutch venue. However, unable to runaway with his fourth victory of the season, the young Spaniard was forced to work hard, defending from Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner.

Making full use of his pole position start, Lorenzo headed the pack into turn one, whilst everyone else was again forced to settle into position behind. From here he rarely looked back, as he held the advantage throughout.

Behind, both Pedrosa and Ben Spies enjoyed strong starts, as both moved up four positions from their starting place. Coming off the back of a strong placing last time out, Spies again enjoyed an eventful race, putting him a strong podium position once again.

After a so far difficult start to his 2010 campaign, Australian Casey Stoner made it onto the podium for the first time this year, after an exciting battle with Pedrosa. Despite narrowly missing out on a second place finish, the Ducati ace managed to fight off advances from a charging Spies to complete the podium.

As the chequered flag fell the front end of the field had gradually spread out slightly, with Lorenzo leading the way across the line, 2.935 seconds ahead of second placed Pedrosa. Stoner welcomed his first 2010 podium finish, ahead of Spies and Andrea Dovizioso.

With the top five places taken care of, the remainder of the top ten saw the likes of Randy De Puniet take up sixth spot, just mere inches adrift of Dovizioso. Meanwhile, Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards secured seventh and eighth place, respectively, whilst Marco Simoncelli and Aleix Espargaro rounded out the top ten.

Looking back over another successful weekend, Lorenzo said: “I am really happy that I have won here in all three classes because it’s such a historic place and the football I had in Parc Ferme was to celebrate this ‘hat-trick’.”

Lorenzo has now extended his hold on the championship to 140 points, with Pedrosa in second with 93 points.

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