Pedrosa on top at Mugello
Added on Sunday, June 6th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
Pedrosa on top at Mugello
Pole sitter Dani Pedrosa put in a dominant performance this afternoon, to take his first victory of the season at Mugello.
As the race got underway, Pedrosa immediately slotted into the lead, a position he managed to hold throughout, giving him a strong lights to flag victory.
Championship leader, Jorge Lorenzo powered his FIAT Yamaha into second place at the start, eager to expand on his already apparent lead at the top of the table. Casey Stoner, having started third on the grid, lost out slightly as Andrea Dovizioso slipped through into third, demoting the American back to fourth.
After sneaking passed Stoner, Dovizioso didn’t waste anytime in latching onto the rear of Lorenzo’s Yamaha, eager to make up more ground.
As the race progressed, Pedrosa pulled out a four second gap back to his rivals, disappearing into the distance. Behind, Lorenzo and Dovizioso were left to battle it out for the remaining podium spots, with Lorenzo holding the advantage until the chequered flag was in sight.
With the top three positions taken care of, Stoner was fighting off advances from his rivals to ensure he held onto fourth. Regardless of pressure from Marco Melandri, amongst others, The American Ducati rider was able to hold onto fourth place, leaving the Italian to pick up fifth place.
Randy De Puniet was just inches behind Melandri in sixth, with Ben Spies in sight of this battle in seventh. The gap back to eighth place at the flag was a rather substantial one, with Aleix Espargaro taking up the position, ahead of home heroes Marco Simoncelli and Loris Capirossi in ninth and tenth, respectively.
The only retirements on the race were Nicky Hayden and Mika Kallio, with both being forced into retirement on laps fifteen and eighteen. Valentino Rossi was unable to race after breaking his right leg in practice earlier in the day yesterday, which has resulted in the Yamaha rider being ruled out for a while whilst he recovers.
Commenting on his first win of the 2010 season, Pedrosa told MotoGP.com: “It’s an unbelievable feeling to win again. We’ve been working really hard and we had some problems through the winter and in the first races, so I’m really delighted with this victory, especially after leading at Jerez for so long but not quite making it.”
Lorenzo has now extended his lead to 90 points over Pedrosa in second with 65 points. Despite his absence, Rossi is currently third with 61 points, ahead of Dovizioso in fourth with 58 points. The next round of the MotoGP championship is at Silverstone on the 19/20th June.
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