Twenty eight points separate Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa, coming into the race in Malaysia at the Sepang Circuit. Marco Simoncelli lost his life in a crash here a year ago. His memory will be honored by the competitors running in today's race. The heat and humidity will be a factor. Rain has started near the end of the Moto 2 race, which will be highlighted here in an upcoming post.
On Thursday, there was a tribute paid to Marco Simoncelli. Simoncelli won the 250cc world championship in 2008. He could have been a future MotoGP World Champion. May Marco Simoncelli Rest In Peace. Marco, we will never forget you.
In qualifying, it was a barnburner, figuratively and literally. Jorge Lorenzo starts from pole with a new all-time circuit record at 2:00.334. Aleix Espargaro is the fastest CRT bike. Yonny Hernandez will not start after being injured in Japan last time out. The riders set off on their warmup lap on this very wet race track. This track is long, and wide. It has two long straights. The track is bumpier than usual. The race will be 20 laps. Will a new champion be crowned after this race?
At the start, Jorge Lorenzo gets the lead over Dani Pedrosa. Valentino Rossi shoots from eleventh up to fifth! Casey Stoner is third. Stefan Bradl is fourth. Andrea Dovizioso got swamped! He's ninth, passing Nicky Hayden. Pedrosa tries closing on Lorenzo. The bikes are headed for turn nine. Valentino Rossi moves inside another rider. Not sure who. His next target is Stefan Bradl. Andrea Dovizioso is coming,fast, as Lorenzo leads into turn fifteen. Bradl was forced around the inside. Valentino Rossi has won in Malaysia six time and Casey Stoner has won in all divisions including 125cc, 250cc and MotoGP, at Sepang. Lorenzo runs a soft tire while Pedrosa is on a hard compound rear tire.
Alvaro Bautista crashed in qualifying. But he seems to be running well now. It's Dovizioso, Rossi, Bradl, and Bautista, battling. Pedrosa sets fast lap in the 2:18 range. Both Lorenzo and Pedrosa know what they need to do to stay in contention for this championship. There's a lot of spray coming from the rear wheel of each bike even though the track might be drying out. Lorenzo leads Pedrosa, still. The gap is 7/10ths of a second rigt now. Three laps are complete.
Pedrosa stays right with Lorenzo. Nicky Hayden closes up on Stefan Bradl. The water lies in turn three right now, where it's puddling. Another fast lap has been set. It's hard to read the numbers on the MotoGP world feed graphics. Stoner is third with Andrea Dovizioso being overtaken, or at least hounded by Valentino Rossi. On the start, it looked like Andrea Dovizioso almost hit Ben Spies. Randy de Puniet leads Hector Barbera. Colin Edwards and Karel Abraham along with Michele Pirro and others, are down in the lower half of the field of 20 bikes. There will be a big fight between third and sixth place.
Randy de Puniet and Aleix Espargaro are scrapping for CRT honors. Ben Spies has crashed again! He's in pain. Dani Pedrosa closes on Jorge Lorenzo. Spies' bad luck continues. Hayden is fifth with Bradl now sixth, Casl Crutchlow seventh, and Alvaro Bautista, eighth. Eleven laps left. Ben Spiees had a vicious high side. He may have hurt his right shoulder. The Lorenzo/Pedrosa battle continues in the heat and humidity of Malaysia. Cal Crutchlow is now sixth as Bradl drops a spot. Andrea Dovizioso also drops his bike. The riders are really pushing hard.
Dovizioso went down in the same corner on the track that Ben Spies did. Dani Pedrosa slides around Jorge Lorenzo for the lead! He left Lorenzo hanging, and got around him. The fans go crazy! There are many pro Pedrosa fans in the crowd at this race. Colin Edwards is dropping back. Pedrosa has really come into his own in battling for this championship. Will he win three races in a row? Colin Edwards retires from this race. The "Texas Tornado", his race is run. Andrea Dovizioso has resumed in the race in 17th spot. Cal Crutchlow crashes. He'll be OK. Randy de Puniet falls, too.
The rain isn't any heavier, but it's slick out there. This is now a race of survival Casey Stoner is closing the gap. Stefan Bradl crashes and so does Ivan Silva. Silva is pitched off his bike and is out. Meanwhile, Jorge Lorenzo has a problem. Casey Stoner is closing up a gap. Lorenzo wants this race stopped. He barely hangs on in the wet! He almost fell down! This race will be stopped. Dani Pedrosa is going to win,
He does not do a cool down lap. He comes into the pits. Now, maybe, this race could be restarted. Is Pedrosa actually the winner? Will they have to run a five lap shootout to end it? The rainfall is getting worse. There's standing water on the track. We are waiting. The visibility is going to get worse. It's getting dark. There's lightning on the track. That's probably going to end things as they stand. The race director says there might be a chance to restart the race and complete seven more laps.
But, pit lane is a river. Everyone will need dinghy's down there. It's going to get dark. There's no visibility. There's no time frame set. It will get dark. Michele Pirro is confused. So is everyone else. Casey Stoner could get a podium, two races before his retirement from MotoGP. The race has been called off. It's over. Get to the podium, guys. with 15 of the 20 laps completed. Dani Pedrosa is the winner!
#26 Dani Pedrosa ESP Honda
He has now won five of the last six MotoGP races. Wow! The next race in the championship is the Australian Grand Prix at Philip Island in Victoria, Australia, next weekend.
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