Buzzin MotoGP

Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda 2009

Dani Pedrosa took his Repsol Honda across the line yesterday to take his first win since June 2008 when he claimed the victory at his home track in Catalunya.

Pedrosa took to the front of the pack by the first corner after qualifying fourth on the grid, and by midway of the race had created a gap of over 3 seconds ahead of Rossi.

As Pedrosa led the riders, Stoner who had a big crash on the Marlboro Ducati in qualifying, slotted into second place ahead of Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi.

Once Rossi had passed Stoner, the Ducati rider tailed him for the next 20 laps before dropping back.  Stoner had a big crash in qualifying and is still suffering from a mystery illness and is now set to undergo further tests in America.

Jorge Lorenzo on the second Fiat Yamaha, was amazingly on the grid after his huge high-side in qualifying, almost snatched second place away from his team-mate towards the end of the race, somehow the Spaniard stayed on his bike after a series of wobbles but lost time as he ran wide.  After a terrible start from pole position, Lorenzo dropped back to eighth place but by the end of the first lap he had pulled himself back to fifth and then fourth after Andrea Dovizioso crashed out on the Repsol Honda.

As Pedrosa began to ease-off on the final lap, Ross closed the gap and was now only 1.5 seconds behind.  He tried to wrestle his way past the Honda rider on the very last corner but Pedrosa held him off to take the chequered flag.

Lorenzo finished in third place ahead of Stoner, who by the end of the race was 12 seconds behind the front runners, followed by his team-mate Nicky Hayden in fifth .

Toni Elias on the San Carlo Honda Gresini, finished the race in sixth ahead of Colin Edwards on the Monster Tech3 Yamaha and Chris Vermeulen on the Rizla Suzuki in eighth.

In ninth place was Randy de Puniet on the LCR Honda followed by Marco Melandri on the Hayate Racing team machine to complete the top ten riders.

Lap 4 of the race saw both Scot Racing rider Gabor Talmacsi and Loris Capirossi on the Rizla Suzuki crash out and retire from the race and on lap 8, Sete Gibernau was sent flying through the gravel on the Grupo Francisco Henando Satellite bike and was unable to rejoin.

James Toseland on the Monster Tech3 Yamaha, was given a penalty for a jump start at he beginning of the race from fifteenth on the grid.  He was told on lap 5 but had failed to take the ride-through penalty by lap 11 and was shown the black flag.   The British rider came in on the following lap, took the penalty drive through before retiring from the race on the next lap.

Toseland has since said that he was unaware of the penalty, having failed to see his pit-board or the black flag, and feels a little hard done by.  Toseland said;

“I feel like the jump start was pretty harsh,” he said. “I knew it was close but I didn’t think I’d jumped the start and that early in a 32-lap race I’m not looking at my pitboard.

“I was just concentrating on catching the guy in front and the first thing I realised that I’d been penalised was when I saw the black flag and my number.

“Obviously if I’d known I’d jumped the start then I would have come in but I’ve watched the TV replay and you can’t see anything. I didn’t gain any places either so in my opinion it’s pretty harsh.”

Here are the results;

1. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team 44min 1.580 sec
2. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 44min 1.924 sec
3. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 44min 3.506 sec
4. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 44min 14.012 sec
5. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team 44min 23.243 sec
6. Toni Elias SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini 44min 23.621 sec
7. Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 44min 31.781 sec
8. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 44min 34.437 sec
9. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 44min 41.905 sec
10. Marco Melandri ITA Hayate Racing Team 44min 49.608 sec
11. Alex de Angelis RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini 44min 50.390 sec
12. Niccolo Canepa ITA Pramac Racing 45min 20.111 sec

Disqualified;
James Toseland GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3