Motegi - Japanese MotoGP

[St Landrew]

Back to two wheels this weekend with the usual suspects taking all the attention. However, will Hayden crack the mighty Ducati..? Will the little flea, sorry Pedrosa, be competitive on his Honda after injury..? Will James Toseland remember that he's riding a Yamaha MotoGP machine and not a Superbike anymore..? Will Kawasaki come anywhere..?

 

All these minor questions may or may not be answered come around breakfast time on Sunday 25th.

 

But the major question is... who will win..? Rossi or Stoner. Heart says Rossi, head says Stoner. With Lorenzo in 3rd. Or Dovizioso. Could be good.

 

Please MLT, no more rain.

[St Landrew]

Another early start. I shall be happier when the European season starts. It's 6.45am to 8.00am, and highlights later around 2pm during the F1 Bahrain GP, so I don't expect many people to break off from a LIVE F1 race, even me. Looks like the ol' HDD recorder needs setting again.

 

BTW, Rossi on pole to start. Stoner and Lorenzo in following order. Here's a prediction: If it rains Rossi will win. If it is bone dry [and I mean absolutely dry] I reckon Stoner will do it again. Lorenzo or Dovizioso in third place.

[St Landrew]

Well that didn't go to my prediction, at all. But some of those minor questions got an answer. Nicky Hayden didn't get to tame the mighty Ducati as he was taken out at the first corner, and came down on his already injured back again. James Toseland is beginning to realise he has a MotoGP bike underneath him, and not a relatively slow and wallowing Superbike. And Kawasaki certainly came somewhere, with the lone Marco Melandri doing far better than any Kwacker has done in seasons.

 

But the major answer was that Lorenzo won, as he stalked his teammate Rossi, and then passed him. Rossi being the racer he is, hung on and hounded Lorenzo for a while until he made a slight error and fell back into the clutches of Pedrosa, of all people, who seemed to have finally overcome his multiple injuries, and rode a factory 2008 machine because he has had no testing or development of the 2009 bike. So fast was Pedrosa that he left all the 2009 Hondas in his wake, and kept them there. Then he had the temerity to pass Rossi, who obviously thought this was one shock too many, and the pair had a really nice dice, passing and repassing for a couple of laps. It was MotoGP at its proper best. Eventually, Rossi found a rhythm [his words] again, and sped away to chase Lorenzo, but he was too far ahead to be caught in time. Behind this pair, Casey Stoner was having a bad time on the bucking and weaving Ducati, but found enough rhythm of his own to eventually catch and pass Dovizioso. So there you go.

 

And it didn't rain. Thanks Matty.

 

MotoGP race result:

1 J Lorenzo (Spa) Fiat Yamaha 43 mins 47.238 secs

2 V Rossi (Ita) Fiat Yamaha 43:48.542

3 D Pedrosa (Spa) Repsol Honda 43:51.001

4 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 43:52.929

5 A Dovizioso (It) Honda 43:56.445

6 M Melandri (Ita) Kawasaki 44:17.793

7 L Capirossi (Ita) Suzuki 44:19.994

8 M Kallio (Fin) Ducati 44:26.654

9 J Toseland (GB) Yamaha 44:30.344

10 C Vermeulen (Aus) Suzuki 44:30.483,

11 R de Puniet (Fra) Honda 44:32.072

12 C Edwards (USA) Yamaha 44:33.778

13 A de Angelis (Smr) Honda 44:40.763

14 N Canepa (Ita) Ducati 45:09.042

15 T Elias (Spa) Honda +1 lap

 

World Championship standings:

1 J Lorenzo (Spa) Fiat Yamaha 41 points

2 V Rossi (Ita) Fiat Yamaha 40

3 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 38

4 A Dovizioso (Ita) Repsol Honda 22

5 D Pedrosa (Spa) Repsol Honda 21

6 C Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 17

7 M Kallio (Fin) Pramac Racing 16

8 C Vermeulen (Aus) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 15

9 A de Angelis (SM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 13

10 M Melandri (Ita) Hayate Racing Team 12

 

Manufacturers standings:

1 Yamaha 45pts

2 Ducati 38

3 Honda 27

4 Suzuki 18

5 Kawasaki 12

 

And thank you Beeb.

[OLYMPIC]

Not a bad race good to see Lorenzo winning now if he can stay on the thing he should be a major contender for the championship.Rossi looked solid today and Stoner did well considering it looked like he had problems early on in the race,shame about the Suzuki's thought they would have a better showing but at least there bike looks better than it has done for seasons.