German MotoGP Results: Round 9 from Sachsenring
Rossi’s German Victory Puts him level with Agostini for Podium Finishes
Valentino Rossi took victory by just 1/10th of a second from his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, in the 9th round of the 2009 MotoGP Championship held today at the Sachsenring, Germany. Dani Pedrosa was third from a fading Stoner who had led the race for a time. Nicky Hayden failed to convert his best grid position this season and finished 8th.
Rossi’s 101st GP victory pulled him level with the legendary Giacomo Agostini in the number of all time podium finishes. Vale showed his class by re-taking the lead from Lorenzo with 2 laps to go and holding the youngster off to the flag. Lorenzo must be becoming increasingly frustrated as his amazing pace is still not enough to overcome his superstar team-mate. Jorge is in a public spat with Yamaha over his salary for next year and it seems possible that Lorenzo may be Honda mounted next year if negotiations conclude with Yamaha who of course have to stump up truckloads of cash for Rossi.
Rossi -“Halfway through the race I was able to overtake Casey, but then I saw that Jorge passed him straight away and I thought ‘oh no, another time!’ It’s always more difficult to fight with Jorge. I tried to push a lot, but he was able to overtake. I made my attack and knew that here it is very difficult to overtake, so I tried to stay in front. On the last lap I was fastest in the crucial points.”
Lorenzo – “Of course I’m disappointed to lose another very close race, it is always sad but I know that we are capable of fighting with Valentino and considering his experience this is something I must be proud of. Second is important today and we still have a long way to go in this championship.”
link: MotoGP Official Site
Dani Pedorsa was there or there abouts but couldn’t close on the leaders claiming that tire problems that saw his fellow factory Honda rider, Andrea Dovizioso retire stopped him from claiming victory. Casey Stoner faded again during the race, giving up the lead and ultimately finishing in 4th. He looked less fatigued than Laguna but is still clearly battling a mystery condition that sapped his energy and makes it difficult for him to maintain full pace during the later stages of the race.
Pedrosa – “A podium is good, but I think that we could have won. We were strong enough to win, but I had a front tyre problem when I was going fast,” said the Spaniard on the same difficulty that forced Andrea Dovizioso out of the race.
link: MotoGP Official Site
After qualifying 4th, his best start of the year, Hayden dropped to 13th on the first lap and ultimately finished 8th, dropping to 13th in the series standings. Like many, ducatinewstoday wondered whether Hayden’s 5th at Laguna Seca was a portent for improved things to come but this result suggests that his Laguna perfromance was the result of a special home track effort. Nicky finished 32 seconds behind Rossi 10 seconds further back than his Laguna result.
Hayden – “I am disappointed in the result for sure, but the weekend as a whole we can take some positives from. I had another crash this morning because I got too excited having seen I could go a lot faster, after being towards the back all year. I apologised to the team for making some mistakes but I don’t apologise for trying so hard.”
link: MotoGP Official Site
The Pramac Dcuati satellite team had a meeting to forget, with Mika Kallio still suffering from his Assen crash that saw him lose a finger (and not start at Laguna Seca). His team-mate, Niccolo Canepa was also in pain caused by a bizarre crash in practice where Nicky Hayden’s factory Ducati collided with the customer one.
Niccolò Canepa – 12th “I had a lot of pain in my left ankle, but I had to grit my teeth until the end of the race. It has been a positive race considering the physical condition I was in. I took too much time to overtake Gabor Talmacsi and this made me lose the group of riders in front of me, but with persistence I made it to reach and overtake some other riders. For sure my objective isn’t 12th position, but because of the way it went yesterday and considering that this is my first GP here I can be satisfied. I have to thank the Clinica Mobile doctors as they allowed me to race today.”
Mika Kallio – 14th “Everyone saw what our potential was at this circuit. In every session, including this morning warm up, we remained in the first ten and this was our very lowest aim this afternoon. In the race we started well, but after only five laps I felt something wasn’t working properly on the front of the bike: the tyre suddenly deteriorated. I could have easily finished in sixth or seventh position, but bad luck hit us. I tried everything possible to stay with the riders near me, but after ten laps the situation got even worse. I hope that better luck will be on our side next Sunday at Donington.”
link: MotoGP Official Site
Rossi’s victory gives him a fourteen point advantage over Lorenzo in the standings, who has the same margin over Stoner. The next race is the British Grand Prix at Donington Park next weekend, July 26th.
MotoGP Results
1. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), 30 laps, 41:21.769
2. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), -0.099 second
3. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), -2.899 seconds
4. Casey STONER (Ducati), -10.226
5. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), -21.522
6. Toni ELIAS (Honda), -30.852
7. Marco MELANDRI (Kawasaki), -31.301
8. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati), -31.726
9. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), -32.865
10. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), -43.926
11. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), -57.375
12. Niccolo CANEPA (Ducati), -60.539
13. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), -63.645
14. Mika KALLIO (Ducati), -64.155
15. Gabor TALMACSI (Honda), -1 lap
16. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), -5 laps, DNF, retired
17. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), -30 laps, DNF, crash
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