Rossi extends lead with another victory
Added on Sunday, August 16th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
Rossi extends lead with another victory
Championship leader, Valentino Rossi, extended his lead at the top of the standings in today’s MotoGP race from Brno, seizing another race victory.
Having started from Pole position, the Italian star shot off the line as the lights faded, however was just pipped into the first corner by fellow front row starter, Dani Pedrosa. Despite the Spaniard taking the early advantage, Rossi did his best to make an impression on the Repsol Honda rider, eventually regaining the front spot.
Behind, Rossi’s FIAT Yamaha teammate, Jorge Lorenzo, endured a tough start, leaving him third during the opening laps. As the leading trio began to pull away, Toni Elias, Andrea Dovizioso and Loris Capirossi locked into what would be a race long tussle for fourth place.
Inches behind, Colin Edwards, Nicky Hayden, Alex De Angelis and Casey Stoner’s replacement, Mika Kallio, were battling it out for the remaining top ten positions. Further afield, James Toseland made it up to twelfth from a fourteenth grid position, before gradually being pushed back to thirteenth, while Marco Melandri had progressed to twelfth, from his fifteenth place grid slot.
Back at the front, as Rossi began to edge away slightly, Lorenzo made a move on Pedrosa stealing second away from him. Before long, the leading duet were both on the ragged edge, pushing each other to the limit.
With sexteen of the twenty-two laps remaining, Capirossi was really beginning to pile the pressure onto the rear of Dovizioso and Elias, determined to show the youngsters how it’s done. While this battle was hotting up even futher, at the other end of the scale things were cooling down, as Michel Fabrizio’s Pramac Racing’s Ducati retired from the race.
As the race settled into a rhythm, all eyes were focused on the front of the pack, as Lorenzo began to push Rossi. With each eager to take the all important victory, the FIAT Yamaha duo began to trade fastest lap times, each beating one anothers lap after lap. As the lap times diminished, so did Casey Stoner’s 2008 lap record of the Czech Republic circuit, with the teammates taking it in turns to put their name to the feat.
Just six laps from the chequered flag, Lorenzo made a lunge down the inside of his elder teammate, immediately inheriting the lead. Determined not to give in so easily, yet also relishing the challenge, Rossi piled the pressure onto the similar Yamaha machine in front, just as Lorenzo had previously done.
One lap later was where the drama really began; as Rossi dived down the inside of Lorenzo to regain his lead, the latter lost control, slipping off of his bike and into the gravel. This immediately put the Spaniard out of the race, handing control back over to the former leader.
As the penultimate lap approached, drama struck once again, as Melandri and Kallio collided at the final corner, forcing both to retire from the race, however, luckily, both were uninjured.
Twenty-two laps down and it was Rossi who cruised across the line to yet another victory. Pedrosa concluded his lonely race with second, while Elias had a successful outing to take third. Dovizioso snatched fourth, just millimetres ahead of Capirossi, with Hayden crossing the line sixth, having passed Edwards earlier on.
Brit hope, Toseland, seized a top ten finish, having benefited from the Melandri-Kallio incident to take a well respected ninth place finish.
Rossi now holds a fifty point advantage over Lorenzo, with six rounds of the championship remaining.
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