MotoGP: Spanish GP at Jerez Race Results

Going into Sunday’s race, it seemed for certain that a Spaniard would once again be on the podium at Jerez. Then The Doctor showed up with a lightning fast warm up time, that just eeked out Jorge Lorenzo’s. With the Italian interjecting himself on this previously Spanish only affair, the Spanish GP was shaping up to be a a blood sport exhibition for the 123,000 Spanish fans filling the grandstand. Continue reading on for a full race report from Jerez.

Surprising everyone with his warm-up lap, it was Valentino Rossi, starting from the second row, who won the Spanish GP and his got his first victory of the season. Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner broke away from the pack at the start, while Rossi got caught up in a little teammate traffic behind Jorge Lorenzo. It took Rossi two laps to get past Lorenzo, and the bulk of the remaining race to catch up to Stoner and Pedrosa. Rossi passed Stoner, and finally passed Pedrosa on the 18th lap of the race, and didn’t look back until the finish line. Pedrosa finished in second place, while Stoner was lucky to hold on to 3rd, as Jorge Lorenzo was gaining on the Australian in the final laps of the race.

Stoner got a break however as Lorenzo crashed his Fiat Yamaha M1 while trying to match the Australian’s times. The crash was a blow to Jorge, who now falls to third in the overall standings. Many fans wondered why he pushed so hard with so much to lose, but as Lorenzo explains that the odds were against him from well before the beginning of the race.

“The start was good for me, as I only lost two places, so that wasn’t the problem with me not having the pace. I knew from the warmup that something was just not quite perfect; the rear and front both didn’t give me any confidence, and when this happens it is hard to ride smoothly. To counteract the problem you ride too aggressively, and that’s when you have to change and brake when you shouldn’t. I lost the gap between myself and the leaders, and whenever I got near Casey he improved his lap times. That was difficult to fight against, and I had to take risks to keep with him. In the end my front tyre called it a day and I fell.”

Randy de Puniet surprised everyone by not crashing and finished a respectable fourth place. Marco Melandri also stirred up some hope in the Hayate camp with a fifth place finished. 

Valentino Rossi is now the MotoGP series leader with 65 points, he is followed by Stoner who has 54 in second place. In a tie for third, both Pedrosa and Lorenzo have 41 points.

Results of the MotoGP Race at Jerez: