Pedrosa powers to top in Germany
Added on Sunday, July 18th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor
Pedrosa powers to top in Germany
Dani Pedrosa scored his second victory of the season at the Sachsenring, Germany this afternoon, ending Jorge Lorenzo’s run of wins.
Lorenzo recorded his fourth consecutive pole position during qualifying yesterday afternoon, however it was his nearest championship rival, Pedrosa who took the honours when it mattered. Pedrosa and Lorenzo were engulfed in a fierce battle, with Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi making it a top four-way fight for the top spot.
As the race kicked off it wasn’t long before it was red flagged, due to a crash involving Randy De Puniet. After escaping uninjured during a qualifying incident yesterday, the Frenchman wasn’t as lucky today, when he was left with a broken left leg. Alvaro Bautista and Aleix Espargaro were also caught up in the incident, when they were unable to avoid De Puniet’s LCR Honda fireball.
As the shortened twenty-one lap race got underway it was Pedrosa who just edged out Lorenzo. However, it wasn’t long before the championship leader worked his way through into the lead. The battle between the Spaniards went on for the remainder of the race, until Pedrosa gained the upper hand. On his way to his second victory of the year, the Repsol Honda rider also set two new lap records, beating his own time from the previous year.
With Pedrosa in control of the lead, Lorenzo was forced to accept second place. Behind, Stoner and Rossi enjoyed a race long battle, which saw the Ducati ace just take third ahead of the returning Italian. Rossi put in a sterling effort on his comeback after breaking his leg just six weeks ago.
After enjoying good early race pace, Andrea Dovizioso was muscled back to fifth, finishing just ahead of Marco Simoncelli. Nicky Hayden was next up in seventh, with Ben Spies not far behind in eighth. Hector Barbera and Marco Melandri rounded out the top ten. Mika Kallio and Colin Edwards were two more retirements, making it five in total.
Lorenzo still holds the lead at the top of the standings, with 185 points to Pedrosa’s 138 points in second. Dovizioso is third with 102 points, while Stoner has jumped up to fourth place.
The next round of the MotoGP championship takes place at the impressive and challenging Laguna Seca circuit in America, next weekend, 25th July.
