Jorge cruises to victory in Japan
Added on Monday, April 27th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Jorge cruises to victory in Japan
Jorge Lorenzo demonstrated his world championship credentials with a composed victory at the Twin Ring in Motegi.
The Spaniard secured his first win since last season’s third round in Estoril ahead of teammate Valentino Rossi in a one-two for Yamaha whilst Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa put in a brave performance as he finished third.
Starting from third on the grid, Lorenzo recovered from a slow start to overtake Pedrosa and later a seemingly out-of-sorts Rossi and from that point on, there was no looking back for the 21 year old.
The winning margin of 1.304 seconds perhaps didn’t fully signal Lorenzo’s dominance as Rossi found himself battling with Pedrosa just to retain second in the latter stages as the Honda appeared to have the edge on the M1 over the long start/finish straight.
Speaking after the win, Lorenzo said: “First of all I just want to thank my team, my Mum, Dad and whole family, my friends and all the team workers. Also Yamaha, as it is their home race, it was a difficult race because I didn’t really get a very good start, I think I even finished the first lap in third or fourth. After that I began to catch up the pace.
“I passed Valentino and opened up a little gap, about a second and a half, and he was following me very hard. I had to ride the best I can to get the victory.”
Behind the top three, Casey Stoner ended a difficult afternoon in fourth position with Andrea Dovizioso and Marco Melandri putting in an excellent ride on the Hayate Kawasaki in sixth.
James Toseland did his confidence the power of good with a ninth place finish, three places ahead of teammate Colin Edwards
Nicky Hayden’s acclimatisation with the Ducati continues after he was forced out on lap one after colliding with Yuki Takahashi
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time |
| 1 | Jorge Lorenzo | ESP | Fiat Yamaha | 43:47.238 |
| 2 | Valentino Rossi | ITA | Fiat Yamaha | +1.304 |
| 3 | Dani Pedrosa | ESP | Repsol Honda | +3.763 |
| 4 | Casey Stoner | AUS | Ducati | +5.691 |
| 5 | Andrea Dovizioso | ITA | Repsol Honda | +9.207 |
| 6 | Marco Melandri | ITA | Hayate Kawasaki | +30.555 |
| 7 | Loris Capirossi | ITA | Rizla Suzuki | +32.756 |
| 8 | Mika Kallio | FIN | Pramac Ducati | +39.416 |
| 9 | James Toseland | GBR | Monster Tech 3 Yamaha | +43.106 |
| 10 | Chris Vermeulen | AUS | Rizla Suzuki | +43.245 |
| 11 | Randy de Puniet | FRA | LCR Honda | +44.834 |
| 12 | Colin Edwards | USA | Monster Tech 3 Yamaha | +46.540 |
| 13 | Alex de Angelis | SAN | San Carlo Gresini Honda | +53.304 |
| 14 | Niccolo Canepa | ITA | Pramac Ducati | +1:21.804 |
| 15 | Toni Elias | ESP | San Carlo Gresini Honda | + 1 lap |
| DNF | Sete Gibernau | ESP | Francisco Hernando Ducati | 7 laps |
| DNF | Nicky Hayden | USA | Ducati | 0 laps |
| DNF | Yuki Takahashi | JAP | Scot Racing Honda | 0 laps |
