Lorenzo ends season on top

From motogp.com

Jorge Lorenzo signed off a hugely successful 2010 campaign with a ninth win of the year on Sunday, taking victory at Valencia in front of a delighted home crowd.

The MotoGP World Champion, who before this weekend had never won at the circuit in any of the three classes in which he had competed there, eventually crossed the finish line 4.576 secs. clear of Casey Stoner, who was followed onto the podium by Valentino Rossi.

Despite the margin of victory it was far from a straightforward win for the 23-year-old Spaniard, who did magnificently to avoid crashing when he touched bikes with Marco Simoncelli early on. Motivated even further by the moment Lorenzo determinedly pushed on and rode brilliantly to end his season in the perfect manner.

"Coming here to Valencia I really wanted to win one more time in this fantastic season, in front of my home fans,” he said. “In the practices I was fast all weekend, but it seemed like Casey was even faster.

"I made a good start today but in the second corner trying to pass Casey I got overtaken by three or four riders, then I had a hard fight with Simoncelli when I nearly fell! I kept calm after that and concentrated and then lap-by-lap I recovered. I had a wonderful fight with Casey at the end.”

In second place and ending his four-year partnership with Ducati Stoner had led the race for much of the contest, but with eight of the 30 laps remaining he was unable to prevent Lorenzo taking over.

“It is nice to bring this era to a close on the podium and I think that is fitting,” said Stoner. “I have so many great memories of these past few years with Ducati, from my first win at Qatar in 2007 and that race in Barcelona the same year, to the title success at Motegi and my wins at Phillip Island. I also especially remember my return to action in Portugal last year.”

The Australian, who had displayed blistering pace in practice and qualifying to take pole, selected the harder rear compound tire for the race while his fellow podium finishers both went with the medium option.

“We had a big decision to make in terms of the tire choice today but we went for the hard compound and maybe in hindsight it cost us," he admitted. "It is difficult to say because maybe the softer option wouldn't have worked as well in the final stages so we could have ended up second either way. At the end of the day Jorge had a better pace than us today and there wasn't much more we could have done.”

A further four seconds back Rossi, who was also ending a chapter in his illustrious career with his final race for Fiat Yamaha after seven success-laden years, placed third having engaged in a great scrap with Lorenzo in the earlier stages of the race. The Italian also secured third in the final Championship standings ahead of Stoner.

Starting from the second row Rossi dropped to ninth going into turn one, but recovered swiftly to join the front pack where he eventually settled into third position and crossed the finish line for an 84th and last podium with Yamaha, thus bringing the curtain down on a seven-year spell which has yielded 46 wins and four World Championships.

"Honestly I'm happy with this final result with Yamaha, because we had a difficult weekend here," Rossi said. "I didn't get a good start but I realized straight away that I was much faster today and that my bike felt good. At one point I thought I might be able to win but in the later part of the race I just didn't have enough strength to stay with Lorenzo and Stoner, this is a very hard track when you're not completely fit. Arriving on the podium was my way to say thank you to my bike, to Yamaha and to all the people who have worked with me in these seven seasons.”

The fight for fourth was another great encounter in which Ben Spies came out on top as he rode his final race with Monster Yamaha Tech 3 before moving up the factory team. The American had been locked in a battle with Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and San Carlo Honda Gresini rookie Simoncelli to the end with the Italian pair completing the top six.

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) – who sealed runner-up spot in the Championship with seventh – Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar), Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) ended their 2010 seasons with top-10 finishes, with Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing), Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team), Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP) and Carlos Checa (Pramac Racing) completing the 15 finishers.

There was disappointment for Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) who crashed out at the start having risen to second position, while Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) retired from the race with 17 laps remaining.

Lorenzo’s final points tally of 383 is also a new record for the most points scored in a single season in the MotoGP class. His win was also the first at Valencia for Yamaha in the 800cc era.

“Winning here in front of my home crowd at this special track is one of the happiest moments of my life,” he added. “We are proud to have got the record for the most number of points with 383. I used to be known as a crazy rider who crashed too much so to demonstrate consistency in this way makes me proud."

Karel Abraham’s first-ever World Championship Grand Prix win came in the final Moto2 race of the 2010 season at Valencia on Sunday, as the Czech rider took victory in a thrilling race before making the move up to the premier class next year.

Following Abraham onto the podium were Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up) and Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar), with the Spaniard clinching runner-up spot in the Championship by just two points ahead of the Italian.

Fourth position for Marc Márquez was more than enough for the 17-year-old to be confirmed as the 125cc World Champion after a mature ride from the Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider in the GP Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana on Sunday.

Victory was taken by Bradley Smith as he won his first race of the season in the final round, cruising across the finish line 2.786 secs. clear in his last 125cc ride before graduating to the Moto2 class next season.

MotoGP Race Results
1. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha 46:44.622
2. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati +4.576
3. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Fiat Yamaha +8.998
4. Ben SPIES (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha +17.643
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda +19.160
6. Marco SIMONCELLI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda +20.674
7. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda +26.797
8. Hector BARBERA (SPA) Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati +29.288
9. Alvaro BAUTISTA (SPA) Rizla Suzuki +29.451
10. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda +29.860
11. Aleix ESPARGARO (SPA) Pramac Ducati +31.761
12. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha +33.604
13. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda +36.622
14. Hiroshi AOYAMA (JPN) Interwetten Honda +38.968
15. Carlos CHECA (SPA) Pramac Ducati +56.169
Not Classified
Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Rizla Suzuki +17 Laps
Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati +28 Laps

MotoGP Final Standings
1. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha) 383
2. Dani PEDROSA (Honda) 245
3. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha) 233
4. Casey STONER (Ducati) 225
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda) 206
6. Ben SPIES (Yamaha) 176
7. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati) 163
8. Marco SIMONCELLI (Honda) 125
9. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda) 116
10. Marco MELANDRI (Honda) 103
11. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha) 103
12. Hector BARBERA (Ducati) 90
13. Alvaro BAUTISTA (Suzuki) 85
14. Aleix ESPARGARO (Ducati) 65
15. Hiroshi AOYAMA (Honda) 53
16. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki) 44
17. Mika KALLIO (Ducati) 43
18. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda) 11
19. Roger Lee HAYDEN (Honda) 5
20. Kousuke AKIYOSHI (Honda) 4
21. Carlos CHECA (Ducati) 1
22. Wataru YOSHIKAWA (Yamaha) 1