Rossi wins in Jerez
It was nice for a change to have a dry weekend for the MotoGP races. Jerez de la Frontera located in the beautiful Andalucían region in Spain sets the tone for Round 3 of MotoGP. The entire weekend was dry but the ever changing temperature conditions from morning to afternoon were causing severe headaches for teams trying to setup the bikes. The limited amount of practice time makes for even more difficult setup of the bikes.
The race started with much anticipation for the first European race of the 2009 season. Dani Pedrosa had a great start and led into the first corner with Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, and Valentino Rossi trailing closely behind. Rossi determined to stay in contact with the leaders he instantly passed Lorenzo and started his mission to run down the leaders. Pedrosa and Stoner’s reputation of running away from the pack was quickly coming to life as the pair tried to pull away in the first couple laps.
The real race was happening in the middle of the pack at this point. The battle for sixth place was where all the passing was taking place. Marco Melandri, Loris Capirossi, and Colin Edwards. The trio battled a majority of the race with Melandri beating out fellow countrymen Capirossi for the position.
Stoner takes Third in Jerez
As the laps were clicking away Rossi was reeling in Stoner lap by lap fraction of a second at a time. He finally passed Stoner going into the final turn on going into the straight away with Stoner passing Rossi right back showing off the aweosme power of the Ducati on the straight. Rossi eventually passed Stoner and set his sights on Pedrosa. Again it was pure determination as Rossi gained on Pedrosa and finally over taking him.
Jorge Lorenzo started picking up the pace towards the end of the race and was slowly catching Stoner. As Lorenzo was pushing hard to reach the podium in
Jorge Lorenzo Crashes out of Spanish MotoGP Round
front of his home fans he eventual tucked the front end to throw it away into the gravel trap. Stoner even admitted after the race that he couldnt maintain the pace Lorenzo was running and would have to pull back if it kept up.
A stunning performance was turned in by Randy de Puniet on the Playboy sponsored LCR Honda. He had fought some hard battles in this race and ended in his highest finish in the 2009 season.
After Rossi over took Pedrosa he never looked back and led all the way to the checkered flag. Pedrosa took second with a very good race and Stoner took home third. Stoner later admitted in the post race interview that this podium was a better feeling than winning in Qatar. Stoner said this has been a Ducati bogey track and it was nice to put those demons to rest.
The riders now have a 2 week break before next round in Le Mans, France.
Spanish Grand Prix Results:
1. Rossi
2. Pedrosa
3. Stoner
4. de Puniet
5. Melandri
6. Capirossi
7. Edwards
8. Dovizioso
9. Elias
10. Vermeulen
11. Gibernau
12. Takahashi
13. Toseland
14. de Angelis
15. Hayden
16. Canepa
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