Rossi takes first win of year

From motogp.com

Valentino Rossi took his first win of the MotoGP World Championship season at the Gran Premio bwin.com de España on Sunday, beating Dani Pedrosa to the line by a 2.7-sec. margin in front of a huge Spanish crowd in Andalusia.

Pedrosa led for the first half of the race, having made one of his trademark strong starts from second on the grid, but Rossi took the lead with 10 laps to go and did not look back. His triumph gives him an 11-point lead in the point standings.

“The situation changed quite a lot from yesterday for us because I wasn’t confident with the bike on Saturday," Rossi said. "So we modified the setting and we tried to recreate the feeling which I like on the corners and it worked well so I have to thank my team.

“To win here at Jerez is fantastic because it is a great place and a great Grand Prix. I am so happy because I am top of the championship but I know I am fighting against some very strong rivals who are very difficult riders to beat.”

When pressed as to what changes had been made Rossi kept his cards close to his chest, but did admit that they were significant alterations and have made a big difference to him as he rides – perhaps an ominous sign for his rivals as MotoGP approaches races at Le Mans, Mugello, Barcelona and Assen.

“Well we have changed quite a lot on the bike and it looks like things are a lot better,” Rossi commented. “I had this problem at the first two races and now we are much more competitive so I think we will continue like this.”

Recording his second podium in a week was a big surprise for Pedrosa even after he qualified in second position for the third race of the year. The 23 year-old from Barcelona is making great progress with his knee and arm injuries having had surgery due to a preseason crash shortly before the start of the 2009 World Championship.

“It is quite amazing because I didn’t expect to be on the podium,” Pedrosa claimed. “I knew that the Yamaha riders would be very, very strong here, and we are not even really ready to get these results yet so that’s why I’m surprised and my team are also surprised. We are all very happy.”

The rostrum was completed by Casey Stoner, who trailed Rossi by 10 seconds, the Ducati Marlboro rider moving into second place in the championship. It was the Australian’s first podium appearance at the southern Spanish track.

"It has been a long, long time coming,” Stoner said afterwards. “We have had some difficult races here but fortunately this wasn’t one of them. It was still a very hard race but for us to be in with a shot at the podium was better than we expected beforehand.”

Stoner ran in third for most of the race after getting away well from third on the grid to spend the early laps in second place, before being overtaken by Rossi on his charge to victory.

Admitting that he had not been 100 per cent comfortable during the final stages of the race, which was watched by more than 120,000 fans at trackside, Stoner also remarked, “Jorge (Lorenzo) started to catch me so I thought I would dig in and try a bit harder for those last few laps and we managed to keep the gap the same.

"I think Jorge tried a little bit harder to catch me and he went down, so it was a difficult race for all of us. I lost the front end myself a few times but I was lucky enough to save them, so hopefully in future races I won’t be pushing quite as hard as that!”

As was the case in the 250cc and 125cc races the Spanish rider who got underway in pole position crashed out when Fiat Yamaha’s Lorenzo lost control riding in fourth place with three laps to go, losing ground in the championship race.

An excellent performance from Randy de Puniet, meanwhile, saw the Frenchman bring his LCR Honda satellite machine home in fourth place, having qualified in fifth.

Another excellent run from Marco Melandri gave the Italian another good points haul in fifth, the former Ducati and Honda rider improving on his good result from last weekend in Japan for the Kawasaki-equipped Hayate Racing team.

Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi rode steadily from sixth on the grid, to come home in the same position, meaning five different manufacturers were represented in the top six.

Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Colin Edwards crossed the line seventh, while Andrea Dovizioso did well to finish eighth in his third ride for the factory Repsol Honda team, having left the track at one stage.

Toni Elías was the second best Spaniard in ninth for the San Carlo Honda Gresini team, with the top 10 completed by Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen.

Sete Gibernau on his return to Jerez could only manage 11th for the Grupo Francisco Hernando team, while 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden crossed the line 15th.

The MotoGP stars return to action at the Grand Prix de France in a fortnight’s time.

Results
1. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 45:18.557 (158.141 km/h)
2. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda Team Honda 45:21.257
3. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 45:29.064
4. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 45:50.450
5. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) Hayate Racing Team Kawasaki 45:51.685
6. Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 45:52.685
7. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 45:52.978
8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda Team Honda 45:53.182
9. Toni ELIAS (SPA) San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 46:01.246
10. Chris VERMEULEN (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 46:03.740
11. Sete GIBERNAU (SPA) Grupo Francisco Hernando Ducati 46:06.749
12. Yuki TAKAHASHI (JPN) Scot Racing Team MotoGP Honda 46:10.432
13. James TOSELAND (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 46:12.240
14. Alex DE ANGELIS (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 46:12.498
15. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 46:19.794
16. Niccolo CANEPA (ITA) Pramac Racing Ducati 46:29.453
Not classified
Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha
Mika KALLIO (FIN) Pramac Racing Ducati

Point Standings
1. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha) 65
2. Casey STONER (Ducati) 54
3. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha) 41
4. Dani PEDROSA (Honda) 41
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda) 30
6. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha) 26
7. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda) 24
8. Marco MELANDRI (Kawasaki) 23
9. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki) 21
10. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki) 19
11. Mika KALLIO (Ducati) 16
12. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda) 15
13. Toni ELIAS (Honda) 15
14. James TOSELAND (Yamaha) 10
15. Sete GIBERNAU (Ducati) 8
16. Yuki TAKAHASHI (Honda) 5
17. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati) 5
18. Niccolo CANEPA (Ducati) 2