Lorenzo back in game as Rossi crashes at Indy

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2009-08-31 Lorenzo back in game as Rossi crashes at Indy - rider claims
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Indianapolis MotoGP race brought back to reality championship hopes of the Jorge Lorenzo as he saw both of his main rivals crashing out of the race. Dani Pedrosa was first one to crash from the race, leaving first position to the Valentino Rossi, but not for a long. Rossi lost first position to Lorenzo and then crashed while trying to recover it from his team-mate, loosing 25 points in the process. Lorenzo eventually finished race in comfortable first place, with Alex De Angelis getting fantastic second place in front of Nicky Hayden, who scored his first podium in Ducati. Andrea Dovizioso took his usual 4th place, while Colin Edwards completed top 5 Indianapolis finishers.

Jorge Lorenzo - 1st:
This is fantastic for me and for my team! I’ve had two crashes in a row but now I’ve won, and my closest rivals have crashed instead. Of course I’m sorry for them but these are the highs and lows of racing and it’s an amazing result for me. I was strong all weekend and I really want to thank my team for giving me a great bike. I had a hard start and I had to try very hard to pass people and get back to third, but then I had a good rhythm and I was able to go with Valentino and Dani. Once Dani had gone I knew it would be a hard fight between me and Valentino and in fact when he crashed I didn’t realise for a while, because I misread my pit-board and thought it said +0! Anyway, my bike was great and from then on it was quite easy, I just stayed focused. I had great fun on the slow-down lap with the fans and I am so happy to win here at this amazing track. The championship was almost gone but in one day things have changed a lot. It will be hard but we won’t give up!

Alex De Angelis - 2nd:
I have to thank the team for the incredible job they have done this weekend – the bike has been fantastic ever since we unpacked it on Friday and we have gone from strength to strength over the course of the weekend. They also gave me a lot of confidence this morning and honestly I think they had more belief that I would be on the podium today than I did! It is a fantastic result, but it is no fluke because we have been in great form over the last five races. It is a long time since I was on the podium back in the 250cc class and I had almost forgotten what a great feeling it was. Now I want to enjoy it and celebrate with another good performance at my home race next weekend.

Nicky Hayden – 3rd:
It feels great to be on the podium here at Indianapolis and I want to thank all the team, my friends, family and fans for their support because this has been a tough season and I’ve needed every one of them. I was really careful at the start because I watched the 125cc race earlier on and the guy in my grid position made a jump start – it made me think that I really didn’t want to do that today! As a result I didn’t get a great start but I saw Lorenzo charge past a few guys, making a hole in the pack, so I tried to follow him. I pushed hard and in the middle of the race I went as fast as I have all weekend, but I didn’t have any more than that. Dovizioso came on strong at the end so I gave myself a little pep talk and made sure I was ready for whatever he had. He was going to have to come up with something special to keep me off the podium here at Indy! Thankfully I kept it together and brought it home. We don’t have long to the next race at Misano but I’m in the mood for a little party tonight. My buddies have seen the sun come up every day since Friday but hopefully they’ve got something left in the tank for me!

Andrea Dovizioso - 4th:
After the warm-up today we made a radical change to the set-up and I have to say that my team has worked really well because, thanks to this modification, my feeling with the machine improved a lot in the race. I could ride faster than during the practice sessions and my rhythm in the race was also consistent. Considering how the weekend had gone up to this point, finishing fourth is quite positive result. We still have to improve though of course. I was close to Nicky and I tried to overtake him several times by taking big risks. It’s a pity to finish fourth because the podium was not impossible. The important thing is that we have taken an important step forward. We are close the podium and we will start again in Misano building on this good base.

Colin Edwards - 5th:
It wasn't as much fun as thought it was going to be, to be honest with you, I had hopes of better result at my home race. I did the same times I did all weekend but I struggled with some grip issues, it just felt like everything was pivoting on the rear, it was like speedway, as soon as I got the bike on the side the rear came around and that is not the fast way. I couldn't put any load on the rear. At the end of the day we had the same tyres as the guy who won the race so whether it was something in our set-up or riding style, I don't know. All I could was watch Nicky and Andrea walk away from me and I took some big risks on the brakes. Once Nicky got by it became hard to manage and I think we turned a tyre on the rim, I had a lot of vibration over the final ten laps.

James Toseland - 6th:
It's very pleasing to finish in the top six, I know I'm capable of these sort of results and need to be doing it very weekend. It was an entertaining race for me, pushing my way through from tenth on the opening lap and today I don't think I lost any friends doing that. Later in the race I had a great battle with Marco Melandri until he made a mistake with two laps go, I thought it would be a fight right to the end with him. I didn't have good feeling in the warm-up so I was little worried for the race but we softened the bike up a little and I was able to keep my pace from qualifying. Melandri was really strong in turns one and two but i just kept covering my line, kept my head down and kept pushing. Now I'm really looking forward to Misano next week, a track I know very well from superbikes.

Loris Capirossi - 7th:
The final position is not too bad, but I am disappointed with my start because it was not very good and on turn two I was involved in a big casino with some other bikes - luckily I didn't come off as bad as Chris! I kept up a good pace and I overtook a lot of guys, I had a good rhythm throughout the race and if I'd have had that rhythm without the incident early on and the bad start I think I could have challenged for a top-five place. I want to thank all my guys for another good job this weekend and they are all working hard to discover the best performance for the new chassis, I already think it is a lot better than the old one, but we still don't know its full potential. We got good data from the race and it was a better result than the grid position, but we expect more and we will be pushing hard in Misano!

Mika Kallio - 8th:
We tried some different things with the suspension for the warm-up, which didn’t really work, but we tried something else for the race and it improved. I was able to push harder in the race in practice and my best lap in the race was actually even better than my qualifying time. That is a good thing but overall I’m still not too happy. My feeling with the bike isn’t perfect and for some reason my confidence is low. I don’t know why that is but it makes it hard to be consistent and easy to make small mistakes. The end position is not so bad but I think we could have been half a second quicker today and that would have moved us up some important positions. The goal for the next race is to find that half second and try to get my confidence back. To have at least finished the race after the recent bad luck is a boost and we will try to build on it at Misano.

Toni Elias - 9th:
Ninth place is not what we had hoped for before we came here, but I can’t complain because after making a bad start to the weekend we have made continual improvements and we were in good shape for this race. Unfortunately I was pushed onto the grass by Aleix (Espargaro) into the second turn and it ruined my race. He came to apologise at the end of the race and I told him not to worry – it has happened to all of us in the past! It is a shame because I think we could have been on the podium today, or at least in the top five, but to take ninth under the circumstances is still a positive result.

Dani Pedrosa - 10th:
This result was a real shame but sometimes it happens - it’s racing. We did a great job all through practice and qualifying, I was confident for the race and of course I was hoping to win today. I was pushing very hard at the start of the race and perhaps I pushed too much. There was some cloud cover today and maybe the front tyre was a little cooler than before, but whatever the reason, I made a mistake and lost the front. I’m sorry for the team because they’ve worked really hard for me, and also to the fans who’ve given me great support. I wanted to win in American again but it wasn’t to be. There was some damage to the bike - the handlebar was bent inwards and the footpeg was worn away quite badly, but actually I was able to recover and ride at a fast pace to take some points at the end. Looking on the positive side, we’ve been very fast here and that means we can take a lot of confidence to Misano next weekend.

Chris Vermeulen - 11th:
I got a good start off the line and made up a few places on the outside at turn one, but on turn two I got hit by Kallio and pushed out on the grass and I lost a lot of time. I was about last and had a lot of work to do from there. We made some changes to the bike for the race and I did my quickest run this afternoon from the whole weekend. I moved up some places and towards the end I was fighting for ninth, but had a bit of bad luck on the last lap and a couple of guys got past me. It was certainly the best we have been all weekend and we have some positive things to take to Misano.

Randy de Puniet - 12th:
In yesterday’s qualifying I felt better on a hard rear tyre and that was my choice for today’s 28-lap race. But obviously it has been the wrong decision. From the beginning I had not enough grip on the left and I could not open the throttle where I would like. I thought that the grip would have improved after a few laps, but it did not happen and I struggled for the whole race. At seven laps to go I also went wide on turn two and (Toni) Elias and (Chris) Vermeulen were faster than me today. The ankle aches a lot like in Brno but I think that Misano race track will suite me better than Indy.

Aleix Espargaro – 13th:
I have started really well, but after only a few turns I was stuck in a group of riders and I couldn’t manage to avoid Elias. I am very sorry for this also because he is a good friend. I managed to step back on track, but alone wasn’t easy to ride. I tried to maintain a good rhythm and at the end I conquered three points in my first MotoGP race: not so bad. Now I know a bit better the bike and I believe we can do much better in Misano on a circuit that I particularly like.

Gabor Talmacsi - 14th:
Session by session we improved - and this is OK. At the beginning of the race I was in a condition to attack, ad operated a few overtaking, and I enjoyed it. But to do so I had to ride constantly over the limit. In the second part of the race it was a struggle. This is what worries me most: We have to find something big to improve.

Niccolò Canepa – 16th:
Today I was having a good race, I could have fought with Elias and Vermeulen, but when a few laps were missing a problem to the electronic system has suddenly switched off my bike. A pity because I was keeping a good rhythm and I could have fought to enter the top ten with the riders that were in front of me. I am very sorry because I needed a good result and I now hope that I will have the possibility to achieve it in Misano.

Valentino Rossi - DNF:
Today is a disappointment of course! We struggled here with the setting all weekend but we made an improvement today and I got a good start and was able to stay in touch with Pedrosa. Once he fell, I knew it would be between Jorge and I but I honestly don’t know how it would have finished, because Jorge was very fast today. Of course, it would have been better to have finished second than not to finish at all! Unfortunately I ran wide on to a dirty part of the track at turn one and lost the front. I tried to carry on but there was a problem with my throttle and it wasn’t possible. I want to congratulate Jorge for his victory and now we look forward to coming back to the front at Misano. We are still leading the championship and this is the most important thing.

Marko Melandri - DNF:
I was slightly better than Toseland in the braking, but he was driving so much more than me to go off in the corner,i tried to pass him, but he passed me back all the time. I tried to pass him for the last two laps, but I made a stupid, small mistake. I was braking hard in the race, so my front tyre was gone. I lost the front; that's going to happen.”

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