Pedrosa pounces on Sachsenring win

Added on Sunday, July 17th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments

Dani Pedrosa fought off a challenge from his rivals at the Sachsenring this afternoon, to steal the MotoGP victory.

In only his second race since returning from a broken collarbone injury, the Spaniard jumped off the line as the race began, in familiar fashion, to hold the advantage. However, after being chased very closely by Jorge Lorenzo and pole sitter Casey Stoner, it was Lornezo who led after lap one.

After following the Yamaha of Lorenzo for the first few laps Stoner soon decided it was time to challenge for the lead, and so made a move that elevated him it first place. It was short lived however when Lorenzo made a bid for the lead, which paid off.

As the thirty lap outing developed, Pedrosa soon began to gain on leader Lorenzo, and with nine laps remaining he made a move which would see him to honours. Behind there was an intense battle for second place, with Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda teammate Stoner pipped for second on the final corner by Lorenzo.

Marco Simoncelli headed a fierce tussle for fourth place, earning the position ahead of the third Repsol Honda of Andrea Dovizioso and Ben Spies. Behind Alvaro Bautista crossed the finish line in a speedy seventh place, to edge out the Ducati duo Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi. Rossi fought through the field from sixteenth place after yesterday’s qualifying session, to ninth place, whilst Colin Edwards stole the final top ten spot.

Hector Barbera was the man on the move when an earlier trip off track left him further down the order. However he stormed through the pack on his Mapfre Aspar machine to finish an astonishing eleventh place.

Karel Abraham and Randy De Puniet completed the thirty lap race in twelfth and thirteenth, with Cal Crutchlow fourteenth. Hiroshi Aoyama. Toni Elias and Sylvain Guintoli completed the field, in a race that saw no retirements.

Another podium finish enabled Stoner to strengthen his lead at the top of the championship standings, with a new total of 168 points. Lorenzo now lies fifteen points adrift, ahead of Dovizioso in third.

The next round, round ten, will take place at the Mazda Raceway in America, on the 24th July.

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