MotoGP returns to Spain, as Dani Pedrosa, Marc Marquez, and Jorge Lorenzo battle in their homeland again. Lorenzo lives in Barcelona, and both Pedrosa and Marquez grew up close to the track. The weather will be hot at Catalunya. Dani Pedrosa set a really fast lap. He is on pole. Hiroshi Aoyama won't run today after having a crash last time out at Mugello, and injuring himself in that wreck. In the morning warmup, Cal Crutchlow was quickest. Ben Spies is still not racing. He may be back either by Laguna Seca, or, the second U.S. round at Indianapolis. Michele Pirro will ride his bike again.
Valentino Rossi is back on form here at Circuit de Catalunya. Will Rossi repeat a well known move he did on Jorge Lorenzo in 2009? Rossi has won nine times at Catalunya along with his nine championships. It's gorgeous, but it's hot. It was hot on Saturday and the track temp soared. In qualifying, Dani Pedrosa ran a 1:40.9. Cal Crutchlow is second and Jorge Lorenzo is third. Nicky Hayden rolls off fifth. Colin Edwards has his best qualifying effort of the season. But, that is in 16th. Pedrosa makes his 200th start in MotoGP (as a rider in all three classes), today. Javier Del Amor, from Spain, is racing in place of Hiroshi Aoyama this weekend, on the #77 FTR bike.
The riders are ready to go. The riders played soccer earlier in the week, with the FC Barcelona soccer team. Nicky Hayden broke a speed record by two miles per hour in qualifying for this 25 lap race. Can Cal Crutchlow catch and battle the factory Yamaha's? The hometown heroes will be factors today. Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa are only twelve points apart in the championship.
At the start, Lorenzo takes the lead. Cal Crutchlow gets passed and so does Alvaro Bautista. Nicky Hayden drops back slightly and runs behind Stefan Bradl. Alvaro Bautista goes down. So does Valentino Rossi! He's crashed again! Andrea Iannone is sixth. Nicky Hayden and Stefan Bradl both want by. Rossi was forced wide and crashed in the gravel in the stadium section. Unreal. Nicky Hayden passes Ianonne and Andrea Dovizioso is also right on top of him. Dovizioso thought he had a way by. Hayden says, "no way, sunshine." Rossi is back on his bike, following Cal Crutchlow.
'Randy de Puniet falls. Did he go down? Hmmm. Crutchlow and Rossi are going to be pushing like mad to get by the three Spanish riders. Marquez pulls away from Crutchlow, closing on Dani Pedrosa. Marquez runs fast lap at 1:42.552. Casey Stoner set the all time lap record in 2008 at Catalunya. But, that five year old record has been shattered. Turns eight, nine and ten, are really wild on this track. Marquez had a big crash here last year in Moto 2 when he battled Pol Espargaro, but then bailed out after a tire failure.
Stefan Bradl and Andrea Dovizioso are in a good battle. Alvaro Bautista is out of the race. Michele Pirro was forced wide. Michael Laverty also went down. Now, Andrea Ianonne dumps his bike, and this moves up Bradley Smith and Aleix Espargaro as Nicky Hayden is now sixth. Cal Crutchlow has crashed out of this race as well. Lukas Pesek has fallen down. He tucks the front end, tries to save it, but it doesn't work. Then, Cal Crutchlow goes down at turn five, and Nicky Hayden also goes down. Colin Edwards is up to ninth. It's game over for Hayden.
The track is beginning to get greasy. It's Lorenzo vs. Pedrosa vs. Marquez. Former rider Gary McCoy had a unique style, and showed it at Catalunya. McCoy ran in World Grand Prix and MotoGP between 1992 and 2006. Rossi is 2.7 seconds behind Marquez. Randy de Puniet didn't crash. He had engine problems. Lap times are in the 1:43 bracket. Nothing has changed at the front. Valentino Rossi is back up to fourth now. Bradley Smith is seventh and Colin Edwards is battling Aleix Espargaro. Karel Abraham is out with mechanical issues.
Pedrosa pulls out of the slipstream, wants to pass, but can't quite get by Lorenzo for the lead. Lorenzo runs wide, but he is meaning to. Get the bike stood up quick after getting into the corner. Watch your lean angle. There are 90,000 fans watching this race at the track today. Lorenzo runs a 1:43.2 and is 2/10ths quicker than Pedrosa. Cal Crutchlow explains to his crew why he ended up falling off the bike. Karel Abraham's issue that forced him to retire, could be either engine, or electrical. Suzuki is going to test here and at Aragon in Portugal, as they will return to MotoGP in the not too distant future.
Pedrosa is coming, with eleven laps left. Lorenzo still leads. This is quite the race at the front, even though there hasn't been much passing. We watch Cal Crutchlow's fall again. It was just a loss of traction. MotoGP bikes sense that the rider is nervous, and then, they'll give you a tough time, kind of like a dog does. That's paraphrasing a quote from Bradley Smith. Smith will beat Aleix Espargaro in this race. Colin Edwards is also running pretty well. Nine laps left. Can Pedrosa catch Lorenzo? Or, will Lorenzo win two consecutive races, and two consecutively at Catalunya?
Hector Barbera has also crashed. Game over. Valentino Rossi is setting quick times. He won't be close enough to get to the top two or three. Seven laps left. Lorenzo is 3.10ths quicker. Marquez and Rossi are running equal with Lorenzo on their lap times. Rossi rides well when the tires begin to go away. Lorenzo is going to win. But, he needs them, because he's used four of his allocation of five engines for the season before they have to ask to build more. The Honda motors have had more reliability than the Yamaha ones have.
Five laps left to run. Lorenzo runs a 1:43.8 and Pedrosa and Marquez both turn 1:43.6 second laps. Can Pedrosa and Marquez close up on Lorenzo? Bradley Smith is running right up on Andrea Dovizioso. The Ducati's have had a so-so race. The Yamaha is very strong in the stadium part of the course as they fly down the straight. Pedrosa won't let Marquez by. The battle between the Repsol Honda's, will just give more of a gap to Lorenzo and allow him to win this thing. But, this will be a battle royal to the end. Bradley Smith and Andrea Dovizioso battle. Pedrosa is going for it, making it tough for Marquez.
The two Repsol Honda riders are really close together. Th crwod is going bananas cheering for Marquez and surely, for Pedrosa, and others will cheer for Lorenzo. No move for Marquez. He slides. Bradley Smith passes Andrea Dovizioso. Marquez has a disastrous wiggle! He ALMOST crashes! Lorenzo is in control of this race. Can Lorenzo take back-to-back championship wins? Can he take back-to-back wins at Catalunya? Marquez will not stop, trying to catch Pedrosa? Wow. He's pushing. Is Marquez close enough? Pedrosa dives for it. Lorenzo wins! Pedrosa gets second ahead of Marquez.
#99 Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha
The next MotoGP race is the Assen TT (or Tourist Trophy) in Holland, at the Assen Circuit... a race that used to be called the Dutch TT. The race will be run in two weeks. But, fans, take note. It will be run on Saturday, rather than Sunday. So, look for a full race report on Saturday, June 29th. Should be a good one.
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