Lorenzo takes third straight victory

From motogp.com

The 80th anniversary of the Dutch TT was marked with a Jorge Lorenzo victory on Saturday afternoon as the Fiat Yamaha rider won from pole position.

The Spaniard’s fourth win of the 2010 campaign stretched his lead at the top of the World Championship to 47 points, as Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) and Casey Stoner (Ducati Team) followed him onto the podium at the TIM TT Assen.

Lorenzo secured his first premier class win at the historic Dutch track, having won twice in the 250cc class and once in the 125cc category there.

“I am really happy that I have won here in all three classes because it's such a historic place and the football I had in Parc Ferme was to celebrate this ‘hat-trick’,” said Lorenzo, who joined Jim Redman, Mike Hailwood, Valentino Rossi, Phil Read, Luigi Taveri and Dieter Braun in the record books as one of the riders to have won in three or more classes at the Dutch TT, and on its 80th anniversary as well.

Assessing the race Lorenzo explained that he was made to work hard for his victory as Pedrosa hunted him down, while the decision to go with the harder rear Bridgestone tire (fellow podium finishers Pedrosa and Casey Stoner had the medium option) paid off.

"This race was a bit more difficult than Silverstone because Dani was so fast with the softer tire early on in the race and I had to really keep my concentration to stay in front of him at that point,” said Lorenzo. “I was confident that my harder Bridgestone tire would help me later on and this was the case, so we made the right choice.

"It wasn't easy though and at the end I was sliding quite a lot, in fact I made a mistake at the chicane and nearly crashed so I was quite glad to finish.”

Pedrosa moved into second place in the World Championship standings, and the result came after the Spaniard had battled with problems on his factory RC212V throughout the weekend.

The Repsol Honda rider and his crew spent much of the weekend searching for the right set-up, and the difficulties they encountered resulted in a starting position of seventh on the grid. However, the team found a solution in the warm up session and Pedrosa made a characteristically rapid start to the race, shooting up to third.

“Well first of all I have to say I’m surprised by this result because in practice we had a lot of problems and we tried so many things that didn’t work, so I wasn’t expecting to get second today or to have this pace,” said Pedrosa.

“For the warm up we found something which gave us a better lap time and my rhythm improved a lot, which gave us the chance to fight in the race. I knew with the soft rear Bridgestone tire that I would have more of an advantage in the first part of the race and so I pushed really hard from the start to catch up. But then I began losing a little bit of time in the first section of the circuit and lap-by-lap we lost touch.”

Stoner’s fourth podium in four seasons at Assen left the Australian in a much happier frame of mind. The Ducati Team rider was especially pleased with his Desmosedici GP10 after front end issues had affected his prototype in the opening rounds of the season.

Stoner also believes the bike had the capacity to challenge for the win not only today but in the previous round at Silverstone as well.

“Everybody has done a fantastic job with the bike and for the last two weekends we have had a bike capable of winning the race, but I have made some mistakes,” Stoner told motogp.com. “I’m pretty happy with the way everything was working this weekend and of course to be standing on the podium. We should have been here a couple of times already this season but I suppose we have to be happy with where we have got, and that we can take some points back on second place in the Championship.”

With the busy schedule continuing without respite Stoner is hoping that an issue with arm pump does not hinder him too much.

“There are a few races very close together now which I’m looking forward to. I need to improve my physical shape with my right arm because I’m struggling with arm pump a little bit, something I’ve never had before,” he explained. “Everything is so close and we won’t have much time to recover so we will see what happens in the next few races.”

Major benefits were gained from good starts by Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Pedrosa as both rose four places from their grid positions to slot into second and third place, as Lorenzo led the field into Turn 1 from pole position.

Lorenzo started to open up a very early lead and for the first couple of laps it looked like the Spaniard would race clear as he did at Silverstone, but Pedrosa and Stoner both passed Spies on lap three and tried to keep the leader in check.

Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) had passed Spies as well to move into fourth, and by the midway point of the race he was a second ahead of the American, who in turn led sixth placed Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) by just over 1.5 secs.

By this stage Stoner was looking for a way through on Pedrosa but could not find one, and Lorenzo started to again edge away, extending his advantage little by little as the laps flew by.

Further back Spies closed right up on Dovizioso and passed the Italian to move into fourth, and De Puniet was then on the trail as well as the trio remained closely grouped.

At the front Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner became further separated from one another, while De Puniet and Dovizioso fought intensely to the last lap as the Frenchman experienced a few moments as his tires started to feel the strain.

Lorenzo eventually crossed the line 2.935 secs. ahead of Pedrosa, with Stoner taking his first podium of the season in third.

Spies finished fourth in another impressive display from the rookie, with Dovizioso edging out De Puniet for fifth with another overtake on the chicane just before the finish line.

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team), Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech3), Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) and Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing) all took top 10 finishes.

Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) was absent from the race after he dislocated his left shoulder in the second free practice session on Friday.

The result extended Lorenzo’s lead at the top of the Championship further and he now stands on 140 points after six rounds, having finished in the top two in every race. Pedrosa moved into second on 93 with his podium finish, ahead of Dovizioso who is third on 89.

Andrea Iannone was strong from start to finish once more in the Moto2 class as he took victory from pole position at the TIM TT Assen on Saturday. The Italian of the Fimmco Speed Up team, who won from pole in his home GP at Mugello in round four, topped every session in the lead up to the race and was again on top as he won with a margin of victory of just under five seconds.

Iannone eventually crossed the line 4.492 secs. ahead of Toni Elías, with Thomas Lüthi managing to hold onto third to complete the podium as Rathapark Wilairot placed fourth.

Shoya Tomizawa and Julian Simón completed the top six.

Elías extended his lead at the top of the Championship to 24 points as he moved onto 100, with Tomizawa (76) and Lüthi (74) maintaining second and third respectively. Iannone’s win moved him up to fourth on 67 points.

Marc Márquez rode to another strong win at the TIM TT Assen on Saturday as he added weight to his candidacy for the 125cc World Championship title, by taking a third consecutive win at the sixth round of the 2010 campaign.

The result means that Márquez maintains third place in the Championship standings on 107 points, with Nicolas Terol regaining the lead from Pol Espargaró by moving onto 118 points, with the Tuenti Racing rider on 115 in second.

MotoGP Race Results
1. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha 41:18.629
2. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda +2.935
3. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati +7.022
4. Ben SPIES (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha +13.265
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda +15.323
6. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda +15.772
7. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati +25.867
8. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha +28.991
9. Marco SIMONCELLI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda +35.658
10. Aleix ESPARGARO (SPA) Pramac Ducati +35.837
11. Mika KALLIO (FIN) Pramac Ducati +56.769
12. Hector BARBERA (SPA) Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati +56.890
13. Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Rizla Suzuki +1:00.615
14. Alvaro BAUTISTA (SPA) Rizla Suzuki +1:08.074
15. Kousuke AKIYOSHI (JPN) Interwetten Honda +1 Lap

MotoGP Point Standings
1. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha) 140
2. Dani PEDROSA (Honda) 93
3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda) 89
4. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha) 61
5. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati) 61
6. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda) 56
7. Casey STONER (Ducati) 51
8. Ben SPIES (Yamaha) 49
9. Marco SIMONCELLI (Honda) 39
10. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha) 34
11. Marco MELANDRI (Honda) 32
12. Aleix ESPARGARO (Ducati) 28
13. Hector BARBERA (Ducati) 28
14. Mika KALLIO (Ducati) 20
15. Hiroshi AOYAMA (Honda) 18
16. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki) 16
17. Alvaro BAUTISTA (Suzuki) 14
18. Kousuke AKIYOSHI (Honda) 1