Lorenzo on top in Barcelona
Added on Sunday, July 4th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
Lorenzo on top in Barcelona
Jorge Lorenzo impressed the home crowd at Barcelona this afternoon, taking another MotoGP victory at a sun soaked Catalunya circuit.
A good start saw the Spaniard fly away at the start, however he briefly lost the lead as a fast starting Dani Pedrosa launched into the lead from his second row starting position. However, Pedrosa’s successful start was short lived when he ran wide around turn one, handing the lead back to Lorenzo.
With the championship leader heading the field, he soon came under pressure from Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso. Keen to take the position from Lorenzo, both Stoner and Dovizioso were hot on his heels, trying to pressure the FIAT Yamaha rider.
After running wide at the first corner, Pedrosa initially dropped to ninth place, however was soon fighting his way back through the pack. Just two laps into the race, the Spaniard was already up to fifth place, eager to make an impression on his home crowd.
By the fifth lap the action was really picking up, as Dovizioso dived passed Lorenzo and into the lead. Just seconds later Lorenzo shot back passed him, regaining the prominent position.
From here Lorenzo and his pursuer, Dovizioso, soon edged away at the front. Meanwhile, Pedrosa had worked his way through to third, with Stoner right on his tail. Randy De Puniet just missed out on the fight for a podium spot, when a charging Pedrosa and Stoner edged him out.
As the race progressed, the race at the front was just as hit as the weather. However, with just eleven laps to go the drama kicked in. First of all Marco Simoncelli fell foul of the bad luck, when he was forced to retire. Shortly afterwards on the same lap, Dovizioso crashed off, easing the pressure for Lorenzo. The Repsol Honda rider was able to rejoin the race, however proceeded with caution with a potentially damaged bike.
As the chequered flag signalled the end of yet another edge-of-your seat race, it was Lorenzo who made his mark in front of a home crowd to extend his lead at the top of the table. With the absence of his Repsol Honda teammate, Pedrosa made it a Spanish one-two finishing second, with a fiesty Stoner in third, unable to find a way through before the flag.
De Puniet brought his LCR Honda home in a lonely fourth, spending the majority of his race running on his own. The battle behind was a close one, with Alvaro Bautista finishing fifth, just managing to fight off advances from Ben Spies in sixth, finishing as top American.
Loris Capirossi crossed the line in seventh, with Nicky Hayden fighting through to eighth. Marco Melandri finished just behind his former teammate in ninth, with Hector Barbera tenth.
Colin Edwards and Mika Kallio just missed out on a top ten placing, meanwhile Dovizioso managed to climb back to a fourteenth place finish. Wataru Yoshikawa, replacing the injured Valentino Rossi, finished fifteenth.
Lorenzo now has 165 points at the top of the championship table, with Pedrosa second with 113 points and Dovizioso third with 91 points. The next round of the season is at Sachsenring in Germany, on the 18th July, where Lorenzo will be expecting tough competition from the pursuing Pedrosa.
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