Lorenzo leaps to Laguna win
Added on Sunday, July 25th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
Lorenzo extends lead with another win
Another race and another victory for Jorge Lorenzo the young Spaniard extend his lead further at the top of the championship table, at Laguna Seca today.
As the race began, Lorenzo enjoyed a good start, however closest rival Dani Pedrosa had a stronger start, soaring around the outside of him and Stoner and straight into the lead. Stoner slotted into second, while local hero Ben Spies jumped up to third.
After being muscled out, Lorenzo soon found his rhythm and started to crawl his way back to the front. By the end of lap one he had fought his way back to third, demoting Spies down the order.
A few laps down the road and it was Stoner who was now under threat, when a storming Yamaha slipped by to steal his second place away from him. By this point, Pedrosa had started pulling out a lead at the front, leaving Lorenzo to play catch up.
Further back Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli were enjoying a tough in-house scrap, as the teammates battled it out for eighth place. Melandri would later win this battle, when Simoncelli’s race ended abruptly in the gravel.
With twenty-one lasp to go all attentions focused on the front of the field, as race leader Pedrosa slid off into the gravel and immediately out of the race. Now with a clear track in front of him, Lorenzo inherited the race lead and began edging out a further gap back to Stoner.
While the top two in their own private scrap, Andrea Dovizioso, in third, came under pressure from a charging Valentino Rossi. Despite it being his second race back after breaking his leg, the reigning champion soon forgot about his injury to focus on stealing third from Dovizioso.
Five laps from the chequered flag, Dovizioso came under attack from a surging Rossi, with the duo running nose to tail for the final podium position. Rossi’s determination paid off as he eventually skipped passed the Repsol Honda rider.
As the chequered flag fell it was Lorenzo there to receive it first, with Stoner behind in second. Stoner also set the fastest lap of the race, which he did on lap four. Rossi rode to a remarkable third place finish, returning to the podium after breaking his leg just seven weeks ago.
Dovizioso just managed to hold onto fourth ahead of the American battle, with Nicky Hayden beating his local rivals, Ben Spies and Colin Edwards. Melandri crossed the line eighth, behind the American trio, with Mika Kallio and Loris Capirossi completing the top ten. The two remaining finishers came in the form of Roger Lee Hayden, Nicky’s brother who was replacing the injured Randy De Puniet, and Alex De Angelis. With five retirements there were only twelve finishers this time out.
The next round of the MotoGP championship takes place at the Brno circuit in the Czech republic, on the 15th August following a summer break for the series.
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