Drama, that is what we all had been waiting for to happen in a MotoGP race this season; a few jump starts, a few crashes, some run-offs including that of the early race leader, some intriguing battles, lots of overtaking and a funny win for Pedrosa, who didn’t have to overtake a single rider to take the win.
Dani Pedrosa took his third win of the season, his first at Motegi in MotoGP class, ahead of compatriot Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner, who finished second and third respectively.
At the beginning of the race, three riders jump-started and eventually got a ride-through-penalty by Race Directions; Dovizioso, Simoncelli, and Cal. Dovizioso, who opted for the softer option was very much in hunt for the victory as he chased the early race and current championship leader, Casey Stoner. However, Casey Stoner ran off the track on turn five early in the race, he saved a crash though, and rejoined in tenth place. He kept his head down and finally finished third to make sure Jorge did not cut off his lead too much. Dovizioso then had to come into the pits, Simoncelli also followed, and then both riders were engaged in a hot battle for fourth place later in the race. Dani Pedrosa, and eventual race winner found himself leading the race, it was then Dani Pedrosa checked the circuit for a few laps, kept his concentration and did consistent 1’46”s laps. He was able to open up an advantage over second placed Jorge Lorenzo.
Early in the race, Valentino Rossi crashed out at turn 2; as many riders were, present finding their own lines out of the corner. In my opinion, Valentino first touched Jorge’s bike, then when he found Spies around the outside, he fell off, and took Spies with him, who managed to stay the bike upright and was able to rejoin the race. Ben eventually finished sixth ahead of Nicky Hayden, who also had a run-off while battling for fifth place. I think, as a few riders made jump-starts, many riders were caught up at turn 2. Rossi made a decent start, and the Ducati-Rossi package had been better this weekend. Unfortunately, it was another sad day for Factory Ducati as even Hayden could not make a good race, but finished seventh, and Rossi crashed out.
I really love watching Simoncelli, and I must admit (and can bet on) that Dovizioso is the hardest rider to take over in MotoGP. It was great to watch both with Dovizioso breaking late every single corner, and Simoncelli returning the favor each time; sticking with him for laps. It was a mistake by Dovizioso on the start-finish straight when Simoncelli found the opening door, and passed Dovizioso at the start of the last lap. Simoncelli stood firm till the end of the lap with Dovizioso trying hard as ever; if it wasn’t for the jump-start, he would have fancied his chances of the win. Simoncelli finished fourth, ahead of Dovizioso in the race.
In the end, we have Casey Stoner still leading the championship from Jorge Lorenzo by a comfortable margin of 40 points. Next stop in MotoGP is Phillip Island, Australia, where Casey Stoner has never been beaten. So, the hopes for retaining the world title are pretty slim for Jorge Lorenzo, but anything can happen as we saw in this race.
I would say that I (waited – that’s another story – read below) and enjoyed Motegi weekend more than any other race. Although, the rider (Rossi) I cheer for fell but I really enjoyed this race. I said, I waited to watch this MotoGP race because I couldn’t watch it on the race day due to electricity issues. I watched Moto2 race though, but when it came to MotoGP race, disaster struck, and I lost electricity supply and missed the whole race. Then I surfed the Internet, and pulled out Sports channels’ schedules for repeat telecasts. I found out that Star Sports was going to repeat the whole race day from 6:00 am to 9:30am yesterday. So, MotoGP was schedule for a repeat telecast at 8:30am. So, I slept early, and woke up at 7:30am. However, when the clock struck 8, electricity went out again, and I had to wait until 10:30pm when Star Sports did a repeat telecast once again. My cousin had told me that Rossi fell on the first lap and could not rejoined, but still I couldn’t miss any GP race. I honestly didn’t browse any Sports site (MCN, MotoGP.com) until I had seen it for myself. So, I was completely unaware of the whole drama and that Dani had won the race. Since, I now know what happened, I can freely write about it and share my opinion about the race. Thank you Star Sports!
See you people in 2 weeks time at Phillip Island. By then, you may want to read some of my most read MotoGP posts:
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