Catalan MotoGP Results: Round 6 from Barcelona
Rossi to Lorenzo: I am the Master, You are but the Learner!!
In the most exciting MotoGP race for quite some time, Valentino Rossi passed his teammate and fellow Fiat Yamaha rider to take the lead on the final turn of the race for his 99th win during the 6th round of the 2009 MotoGP Championship and taking him into an unprecedented 3 way joint lead of the series alongside Lorenzo and Marlboro Ducati’s Casey Stoner.
Rossi and Lorenzo were the class of the field all race long as Casey Stoner gradually faded on the Ducati that was not able to blow by the Yamaha’s on the long straight as many would have expected. Rossi made a bid for the win early with a few laps to run and resisted Lorenzo’s response by easing the brakes off into turn 1 after Lorenzo had supposedly outbraked him and ran around the outside to hold the lead.
Lorenzo did take the lead into the same turn on the last lap and although Rossi got ahead very briefly during the lap he was shut out by Lorenzo who looked poised to take the very home victory he had denied Rossi at Mugello. The unbelievable last turn move clearly surprised Lorenzo who finished a blink behind his teammate. Stoner was visibly exhausted after the race, bent over in the parc fermé and didn’t give any interviews to the media unlike Lorenzo and Rossi.
Having crossed the finishing line less than one tenth of a second in front of his Fiat Yamaha team-mate, Rossi exclaimed, “In Italian you would just say about that race, ‘Mama Mia!’. This battle with Lorenzo was very, very close. Our two bikes are set-up very well and we had the same pace so I knew we would get to the end of the race like that so it was fantastic.”
Lorenzo was humble and sporting in defeat, responding, “It’s not the same as a victory but second place is a fantastic result for us because it means we are maintaining consistent form, which we didn’t have last year. Being honest Valentino was braver than me and he overtook me in the last corner because I didn’t close the line enough and he won.”
link: The Official MotoGP Website
During the post race interviews, Rossi dedicated his 99th victory to Jerry Burgess whose mother recently died, saying without the wily crew chief he would not have arrived at his 99th win of his career. Lorenzo was humble acknowledging the unexpected pass and his team mates greater experience but noting there were “many more races to run yet”. Casey Stoner whose head was bowed until his turn to speak looked ill and out of breath and gave subdued comments that he was not feeling well and gave up halfway through the race.
Nicky Hayden continued his improvement first seen in practice by finishing 10th, his best result of the season although still behind rookie Mika Kallio on the satellite Ducati. The arrival of Gabir Talmacsi to the 800cc class meant that Niccolo Canepa wasn’t last for a change and Sete Gibernau did well to finish in the points with 15th following his return from injury.
The finishing order means that Rossi, Lorenzo and Stoner are now all joint leaders in the championship points standings on 106 points with Anrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa in 4th and 5th places with 69 and 67 points respectively.
MotoGP Results: Round 6 from Barcelona
1. Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Yamaha
2. Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Yamaha
3. Casey Stoner Ducati Marlboro Ducati
4. Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Honda
5. Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki Suzuki
6. Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Honda
7. Colin Edwards II Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha
8. Randy De Puniet LCR Honda Honda
9. Mika Kallio Pramac Racing Ducati
10. Nicky Hayden Ducati Marlboro Ducati
11. Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki Suzuki
12. Alex De Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda
13. James Toseland Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha
14. Marco Melandri Hayate Racing Kawasaki
15. Sete Gibernau Grupo Fransisco Hernando Ducati
16. Niccolo Canepa Pramac Racing Ducati
17. Gabor Talmacsi Honda
With the top 3 contenders equal in the points standing the championship is effectively starting over again and now has 11 rounds to run. The next race is round 7 at Assen in the Netherlands which will be run on Saturday, June 27th. The riders will be on track tomorrow for an official test.
Try These Related Posts:
