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► 2009 Motorcycle Racing News

Ben Spies.  Photos and text courtesy BMW Motorrad, Ducati Corse, Honda Racing,
Suzuki Racing, Yamaha Racing.  Edited by webBikeWorld.

2009 MotoGP Round 17 - Valencia, Spain - Qualifying
Final MotoGP Race of 2009

In a portent of 2010, Dani Pedrosa and his Honda ran away with the final round of the 2009 MotoGP Championship with a flag-to-flag dominance.

Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo finished second and third, the ninth time the pair have shared the podium this season.  It ensured that Yamaha won the Triple Crown for the second year running after Rossi took the Riders title, Fiat Yamaha the Team title and Yamaha the Constructors title.

The result also sealed Lorenzo the runner-up spot in the Championship in just his second year in MotoGP.  Between them the Italian and the Spaniard have taken ten wins and a further seventeen podiums, Yamaha's most successful year ever in MotoGP.

With pole-man Casey Stoner out of the race in a strange crash on the warm-up lap, the first corner shuffle saw Dani Pedrosa take the lead followed by Toni Elias, Rossi and Lorenzo, who quickly passed Rossi to re-take third.

The first few laps were a mini battle between the Yamaha team-mates as Lorenzo fought to hold off Rossi and look for a way past Elias at the same time.

He passed his fellow Spaniard in the last sector of lap three and Rossi followed quickly in his footsteps, overtaking Elias on the brakes into turn one on the fourth lap.  A huge slide by Lorenzo soon after however left the 22-year-old unbalanced and shaken up and Rossi went through, leaving Lorenzo to take a bit of time to find his rhythm again.

The World Champion set off after Pedrosa and for a little while looked like he was gaining but Valencia is a notoriously tricky track to make up ground on and in the end he was content to chase home the Spaniard for second place, his best result at Valencia since 2004. Lorenzo finished just three tenths off Rossi but was delighted to seal second in the championship in front of his home fans.

As well as Yamaha sealing the Triple Crown and filling the first two spots in the championship, a brilliant performance from Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards today saw him take fourth and ensure fifth place in the championship, the top non-factory rider.  Yamaha wild-card Ben Spies finished a brilliant seventh in his first MotoGP race on the M1 and James Toseland finished 12th in his farewell race for the team.

Spies Takes Well-Earned Seventh in Valencia GP
Ben Spies made a good job of silencing any critics he may have today as he set about putting his mark on the GP field ahead of his racing year in 2010.

Starting from ninth on the grid he had a good start to hold his position until Marco Melandri passed him towards the end of the first lap.

As he got used to his race tires and settled into his pace he dropped further until lap eight where he held 12th behind Andrea Dovizioso.  As lap 11 got under way the American wildcard tucked in and got down to business, taking Melandri for 11th and beginning to chase down Mika Kallio.

He caught him on lap 17 to take 10th then swiftly dispatched De Angelis on the next lap for ninth.

By lap 19 Spies was turning in a 1'34.1 second lap, quick enough to be running with Colin Edwards in fourth.  The speed enabled him to catch Randy De Puniet by lap 21 for eighth and close in on Dovizioso in seventh.

With six laps to go, he capitalized on a mistake as the Repsol Honda rider ran wide, passing on the inside to take seventh and hold it to the line, claiming his first top ten MotoGP race finish for Yamaha.

2009 MotoGP Round 17 - Valencia, Spain - Qualifying
Final MotoGP Race of 2009

Jorge Lorenzo qualified third today in the final MotoGP qualifying session of the season in Valencia. It was the 16th time the Spaniard has been on the front row this season, more than any other rider.  His Fiat Yamaha team-mate and the 2009 World Champion Valentino Rossi qualified in fourth at the Spanish track, ahead of tomorrow's season finale.

Lorenzo continued from where he had left off yesterday afternoon, making some more improvements to his M1-Bridgestone package throughout the session and going into provisional pole with just over ten minutes remaining.

He immediately surrendered his lead to eventual pole-man Stoner however and was eventually moved one place further down when Dani Pedrosa also bettered his time by just 0.018.

The 22-year-old is happy to be on the front row however and with a strong race pace he is confident of a good race tomorrow, from which he needs just one point to confirm the runner's-up spot in the championship.

It was a more difficult day for Rossi, who has a somewhat turbulent history with this tight and twisty Spanish circuit.

The Italian and his crew were unable to come up with a set-up today that gave them enough grip to allow him to ride as he would like and they are faced with some hard work overnight to improve the situation.

A better flying lap near the end of the session was good enough to secure him fourth on the grid so he will be in touch to challenge tomorrow, as long as he is able to make a step forward in warm-up.  Rossi's fourth position today sealed him the 2009 best qualifier award, for which he will receive the prize of a new car.

Fantastic Fifth for Edwards
Colin Edwards qualified on the second row of the grid in Valencia today to give his hopes of securing a brilliant top five finish in the 2009 MotoGP world championship a huge boost.

At a sunny but windswept Ricardo Tormo circuit, Edwards took full advantage of improvements with the front-end handling of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1 machine to set the fifth quickest time.

Forced to take anti-inflammatory tablets to ease the discomfort of a recurring neck injury, a best lap of 1.33.085 clinched fifth on the grid for the sixth time in the last seven races and saw Edwards finish just 0.163s behind reigning world champ ion Valentino Rossi.

Trailing Andrea Dovizioso by just four-points going into tomorrow's final race, Edwards is confident he can overhaul the Italian to clinch fifth in the final points standings.

Finishing behind dominant the quartet of Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa would be a remarkable achievement for the popular 35-year-old, who is determined to end 2009 on a high to reward the hard work of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha crew throughout 2009.

Spies Just Misses Second Row Start for Valencia
True to form, Sterilgarda Yamaha rider Ben Spies got straight down to business today making gradual improvements through the free practice and following qualifying session.

Having had time overnight to digest his first experience on the M1 in yesterday's free practice Spies put his new knowledge to productive use and started shaving his times.

The first heat in the morning saw him cut nearly a second off his times from yesterday, taking a lap best of 1'34.1 as he started to work more with the Bridgestone tires.

The afternoon's qualifying session saw more improvement again as he picked up the pace, hitting as high as 8th on the board with a provisional second row start until he was dropped to ninth at the closing seconds of the session.  The times tumbled too, picking up where he left off in the morning, he took over six tenths of a second off the morning time to secure his top ten start in tomorrow's MotoGP race.

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Circuit Name: Comunitat Valenciana:
Record Lap: C. Stoner (Ducati) 2008, 1'32.582
Best Lap: V. Rossi (Yamaha) 2006, 1'31.002

The highs and lows of another stunning MotoGP season draw to a close this Sunday at the traditional season-ending finale at Valencia in Spain.

The Fiat Yamaha Team of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo have swept all before them this year, dominating the season by taking ten race wins between them and putting on some of the most entertaining racing displays of recent years.

Ducati had its ups and downs, but the comeback of Casey Stoner has been phenomenal and should erase any doubts that anyone had about his fantastic talent and abilities.

Rossi clinched his ninth World Championship title last time out in Malaysia and, with the Teams' title already in the bag and Yamaha looking odds-on to confirm the Manufacturers' title this weekend, the Japanese marque is hoping to take its second consecutive 'Triple Crown,' the third since Rossi joined in 2004.

A ninth world title shows that Rossi's star shows no sign of waning yet but the 30-year-old admitted in Sepang that this season has been one of his toughest, due largely to his determined young team-mate.

His six wins this year are less than he has taken in any of his other eight championship-winning seasons but he will be determined to try to increase that by one and round off the season on the highest possible note this weekend by finishing on top of the podium.

The Italian hero admits that the tight and twisty track is not one of his favorites but he has two wins to his name there and a further three podiums, including third place last year.

Lorenzo's second season in MotoGP has been even more spectacular than his first, with four wins and some stunning battles with his much older and more experienced team-mate.

The 22-year-old has never won at the Ricardo Tormo circuit but has some great memories from the track, having finished as runner-up in 2005 before clinching the first of his two 250cc titles there in 2006.

The Mallorcan needs just one point from this last race in order to confirm second place in the championship, which he says will be more than enough of a prize for him in just his second MotoGP season, but he, too is determined to end the year on a high note and will be aiming for the podium at the very least.

The championship will wrap up in the usual spectacular Spanish style in front of some 130,000 race-day fans, packed into the unique stadium-style surroundings of the track. 

The layout is characterized by a never-ending burst of tight corners connected by short straights, whilst the long penultimate looping left-hander and the fast entry to turn one contrast with the otherwise geometric flip-flop chicanes and slow speed corners of the infield.

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More:  2009 MotoGP Racing Schedule  |  2009 World Superbike Racing Schedule  |  wBW Motorcycle Racing Page (News and More Schedules)

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