Lorenzo tightens MotoGP title battle

From motogp.com

A great win for Jorge Lorenzo at the bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal saw him reduce the gap to Valentino Rossi in the MotoGP standings to 18 points.

Lorenzo repeated his 2008 Estoril victory from pole on Sunday to significantly boost his title chances as Rossi could only manage fourth place at the challenging Portuguese circuit.

The Fiat Yamaha pair got away in first and second places on the grid but Rossi was unable to match the pace of Lorenzo as he pulled away quickly at the front. The Spaniard was in unstoppable form in the Atlantic Coast sunshine and his fourth win of the year was eventually secured by a 6.3-sec. margin.

On his return to action Ducati’s Casey Stoner rode brilliantly to follow Lorenzo across the line in second place, while Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa was third.

“I didn’t expect to win with such a gap," Lorenzo admitted. "It was a perfect weekend as we dominated in practice, feeling great on the bike and also in the race I think it was one of the best performances in my life. At the beginning it was a little bit difficult to open a big gap because I could only do it one tenth of a second at a time, but then Casey’s rhythm dropped and I was able to maintain my pace.”

Stoner performed admirably on his return to action after two months away due to illness, achieving his first podium since Assen in June – and he now has his home race at Phillip Island to look forward to in a fortnight’s time.

There was visible relief for Stoner and his Ducati Marlboro team when he completed a highly competitive 28-lap race around the challenging Estoril track in second place in his first GP appearance in two months.

Talking to motogp.com afterwards Stoner stated, “There was a lot of criticism of my decision to stop but people need to understand that if you are not competitive and you are getting worse every race there is no sense to just keep going. You have to stop, find the problem and fix it.

“So to come back like this and be more competitive than I have been in a long, long time it was a really good feeling. In the last five races I rode I was putting in so much effort and still slowing down at the end of the races, so today it was nice to be able to relax towards the end and still do a good lap time. I was nervous again today and I haven’t been nervous for a long time, so it is nice to be here again on the podium.

“We didn’t expect to do this well and in fact up until a week and a half ago I still had similar problems to those I had two months ago. It was only a sodium diet and a few other things that seem to have helped. I’m hoping that we have discovered my low blood pressure levels to be the problem and we can look forward to Phillip Island and trying to be competitive there. I hope it is a bit colder than most of the tracks we go to as that might help my physical condition a bit more.”

Pedrosa rode smoothly from fourth on the grid, taking the holeshot with one of his traditionally rapid starts onboard the factory RC212V and briefly holding the lead before Lorenzo slipped through. Pedrosa’s third place was his eighth podium of 2009.

World Champion Rossi appeared to be off-colour throughout the race, finishing off the podium for the first time at Estoril in the premier class. The championship leader will undertake a comprehensive inquest into his lack of competitiveness with his Fiat Yamaha crew after finishing 23 seconds behind Lorenzo.

“It was a very difficult race for me,” the Italian star said. “I was never able to be fast because I did not have enough grip in the rear and our tire did not work well, but I think it was more a problem of setting. After a few laps I was in great difficulties and I immediately understood that this was not going to be our race.

“Throughout the practice sessions I had some problems but I thought that today I would be able to at least stay with Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, but they made another step forward for the race and then there was no chance for me. On Friday I was three tenths off the pace and unfortunately this stayed the same all weekend and in the race today.

“Here in Estoril we struggled last year as well, so it might be that, with our setting, the rear tire gets very hot and this causes a lack of grip. It is a pity that I am off the podium, but we have three more races. We must think race by race and we must work to understand what the problem was today in order to make sure that we fix it in time for Phillip Island.”

Behind the MotoGP big guns at the front, Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was 10 seconds back on Rossi in fifth place, while Toni Elías (San Carlo Honda Gresini) held off Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) for sixth on the line.

The top 10 also featured Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro), James Toseland (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki), with Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) crashing out early on and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) and Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) retiring due to technical problems.

Another solid fourth placed finish for Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Racing) saw him extend his 250cc title advantage to 26 points at the bwin.com Grande Prémio de Portugal after Álvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar) crashed out early on, while World Champion Marco Simoncelli (Metis Gilera) brought himself back into the championship fight with another win.

Bautista’s engine appeared to seize up on lap four causing him to crash out, leaving Simoncelli to take his fifth win of the year – and his fourth in the last six rounds – putting the Italian two points behind the Spaniard in the standings.

Behind Simoncelli, Mike di Meglio (Mapfre Aspar) and Héctor Barberá (Pepe World Team) crossed the line neck and neck, and although they were given exactly the same race time second place was awarded to Di Meglio while Aoyama rode steadily to fourth place.

Drama in 125cc race at Estoril saw Julián Simón’s title celebrations put on hold after he crashed and finished 12th, as Pol Espargaró took a superb win.

Espargaró (Derbi Racing) scored an excellent victory on Sunday to make up for his last lap Misano heartbreak, as he judged the final stages to perfection to outdo Sandro Cortese (Ajo Interwetten) and Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar).

World Championship candidate Simón (Bancaja Aspar) crashed on the 16th lap when leading by more than five seconds. He will have to wait a while longer to clinch the title but is still 50.5 points ahead with three rounds remaining.

MotoGP Race Results
1. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 45:35.522 (154.100 km/h)
2. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati +6.294
3. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda Team Honda +9.889
4. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha +23.428
5. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha +32.652
6. Toni ELIAS (SPA) San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda +35.709
7. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda Team Honda +35.723
8. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati +38.830
9. James TOSELAND (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha +44.093
10. Chris VERMEULEN (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki +52.863
11. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP Honda +55.698
12. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) Hayate Racing Team Kawasaki +1:04.515
13. Niccolo CANEPA (ITA) Pramac Racing Ducati +1:04.538
14. Gabor TALMACSI (HUN) Scot Racing Team MotoGP Honda +1:27.299
Not classified
Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki +8 Laps
Alex DE ANGELIS (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda +20 Laps
Mika KALLIO (FIN) Pramac Racing Ducati +23 Laps

MotoGP Point Standings
1. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha) 250
2. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha) 232
3. Dani PEDROSA (Honda) 173
4. Casey STONER (Ducati) 170
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda) 142
6. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha) 134
7. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki) 97
8. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda) 93
9. Marco MELANDRI (Kawasaki) 91
10. Toni ELIAS (Honda) 90
11. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki) 90
12. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda) 88
13. James TOSELAND (Yamaha) 85
14. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati) 81
15. Mika KALLIO (Ducati) 51
16. Niccolo CANEPA (Ducati) 38
17. Gabor TALMACSI (Honda) 14
18. Sete GIBERNAU (Ducati) 12
19. Yuki TAKAHASHI (Honda) 9
20. Aleix ESPARGARO (Ducati) 8