Lorenzo takes Motegi victory and championship lead

Username Password Sign up! Login problems? Forgot login details?

Event calendar: 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 01 02

Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar

News navigation: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ] [ 11 ] [ more... ]

MotoGP

Superbike

Riders

Teams

2009-04-26 Lorenzo takes Motegi victory and championship lead
Be first to comment this story

Jorge Lorenzo wins in Motegi in front of Rossi and Pedrosa

Motegi race brought surprise to everyone who expected battle for victory between Rossi and Stoner, as the ride of the day came from Jorge Lorenzo, who made his way from third position on the grid to the race victory. This victory brought championship leader role to Lorenzo, in front of Rossi and Stoner. Valentino Rossi made fantastic start and led race in first part, making decent gap to his rivals and looking capable to take Japanese victory. However, soon became clear that Jorge Lorenzo has best pace as he stormed through the field and after short battle with Rossi gained first place, which he never lost until the end of the race. Dani Pedrosa had rocket start from 11th on the grid to 3rd place in first corner, fighting in last part of the race with Rossi for the second place and finally settling in 3rd place. Fantastic result for Spaniard, considering that he is still recovering from injuries.

So, where is the Casey Stoner, you must be wondering? Stoner had not so great start, losing some places in first lap, settling for the most of the race in 5th place. However, as race progressed, Stoner managed to find his rhythm and at the end grabbed 4th place from Andrea Dovizioso. Dovizioso eventually finished race in 5th place, one of his usual results. Marco Melandri proved again how bug rider he is as he brought his Kawasaki to the 6th place. Loris Capirossi rode steady race to finish in 7th place. Mika Kallio once again proved to be great choice for Ducati by finishing in 8th place, in front of James Toseland, who finally finished in front of his team-mate Edwards, who ended race in 12th, reporting technical problems on his Yamaha. Chris Vermeulen once again had great start, rode some time with leading pack and then started loosing places, eventually finishing race in distant 10th.

Nicky Hayden did not have luck again, as he was knocked out of the track by over-enthusiastic Yuki Takahashi. Another rider that dropped his bike was Sete Gibernau, leaving 15 finishers to grab points for 2009 MotoGP championship battle. Jorge Lorenzo now leads championship, 1 point in front of Rossi and 3 points ahead of Stoner, promising more hard battles to come in races that follow.

Motegi race results
Championship standings

Back to MotoGP news home