Rossi Puts his Team-mate in his Place

Valentino Rossi reasserted himself at the top of the leader board by convincingly beating his younger team-mate, Jorge Lorenzo, by 2.4 seconds during the San Marino MotoGP at Misano after besting him in every practice and qualifying session. Lorenzo finished second to trail Rossi by 30 points in the championship whilst Dani Pedrosa took the final spot on the podium. It was a mixed day for Ducati fans with newly re-signed Nicky Hayden knocked off on the first corner of the first lap whilst Mika Kallio finished a creditable 7th.

At his home circuit the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) sported a ‘The Donkey’ helmet making fun of his rare mistake last weekend at Indianapolis. Pedrosa bolted from the start and took some passing but as soon as Rossi began to pull away at the front, Lorenzo was past too and the two of them quickly dropped the Repsol Honda man. Elias, racing like he needed a job, stayed up the front for the first few laps but went slowly backwards as first Andrea Dovizioso and then a fast riding Loris Capirossi on the Suzuki went by.


Mika Kallio did well for 7th mostly staying out of trouble whilst Pramac stand-in, Aleix Espargaro, impressed once again scoring 11th in only his second MotoGP. The race was marred by a first corner, first lap incident where another currently unemployed Honda rider, Alex de Angelis, messed up big time bringing down Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards in his wake. Edwards was none too pleased calling Alex a crazy Italian who didn’t turn his brain on. Hayden was similarly miffed after qualifying well and hoping for another good finish after his podium at Indy.

Valentino Rossi 1st:- “I am so happy because this victory is more important than normal, coming after a bad mistake in Indianapolis just seven days ago and especially because my team and I did a great job, from Friday afternoon. It was a perfect weekend, we were always very fast in all the practices and we are always proud of all the fans here in Misano. Thanks to them for all their support.”

link: MotoGP.com

Jorge Lorenzo 2nd:- “I think today was the day to finish second and not to win, because Valentino had the best pace all through the weekend. So I had to concentrate on getting second place because I didn’t have the perfect set-up for my bike and I couldn’t brake so late. Because of that it was difficult to get around Dani (Pedrosa), as the Honda was accelerating very well. Anyway, second place is good.”

link: MotoGP.com

Dani Pedrosa 3rd:- “I gave it my maximum in the race. I tried to do everything I could and I wanted to stay with them (Rossi and Lorenzo) at the beginning, but in the middle of the race I started to go slower and they were just faster. They were braking better and cornering better, so I couldn’t keep up with them.”

link: MotoGp.com

Colin Edwards DNF:- “I thought I had the pace to easily be fourth and maybe fight with Dani Pedrosa for a podium but we are in Italy and occasionally you have to deal with an Italian rider who wants to be a hero and today that was De Angelis. Turn one at the start with 17 bikes is not the place to be going at race pace and he was never going to make through there. Today De Angelis is the guy who needed to be wearing Valentino’s donkey helmet.”

Nicky Hayden DNF:- “It’s easy to say it now but I just know I was set for a good race so I’m extremely disappointed. Maybe I wasn’t going to win but at least I could have run with the front guys for a while and given all the Ducatisti something to cheer, as well as picking up some vital experience and data for this machine.”

link: MotoGP.com
MotoGP Results from Round 13 at Misano
1. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), 28 laps, 44:32.882
2. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), -2.416 seconds
3. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), -12.400
4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), -26.330
5. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), -26.539
6. Toni ELIAS (Honda), -28.286
7. Mika KALLIO (Ducati), -30.184
8. Marco MELANDRI (Kawasaki), -31.757
9. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), -31.909
10. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), -38.347
11. Aleix ESPARGARO (Ducati), -46.673
12. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), -52.041
13. Niccolo CANEPA (Ducati), -63.198
14. Gabor TALMACSI (Honda), -82.347
15. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), -28 laps, DNF, crash
16. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), -28 laps, DNF, crash
17. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati), -28 laps, DNF, crash

Jorge Lorenzo now trails Valentino Rossi by 30 points in the championship with 4 rounds to go. The next race is at Estoril in Portugal on October 4th where we should see the scheduled return of Casey Stoner for Marlboro Ducati.