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► 2010 Motorcycle Racing News

Dani Pedrosa, Sachsenring.
Photo and Text Sources: Ducati Corse, Honda Racing, Suzuki Racing, Yamaha Racing.

Pedrosa Takes the Win

July 18, 2010 - The German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring provided a thrilling afternoon's racing, with Dani Pedrosa taking first place on his Honda and Jorge Lorenzo finishing second.

The big news of the day was Valentino Rossi, who took a huge gamble on returning to racing after his horrendous crash of only 6 weeks ago that resulted in a compound fracture of his leg.  Rossi took fourth in the race by a mere whisker.

A red flag after nine laps meant the race was restarted, with Dani Pedrosa eventually taking the win after a 21-lap 'second' race.

Starting from pole for the fourth race in a row, Lorenzo lost ground to Pedrosa at the start but retook the lead on the first lap and led the way by a couple of tenths for the first nine laps.

Rossi had dropped two places on his grid position to seventh.  On the second lap he passed Hector Barbera and then loomed up behind Marco Simoncelli, passing his fellow Italian to take fifth on lap four.

The World Champion had more than a second's gap to Andrea Dovizioso but he quickly started to close down on him and was in range on the ninth lap, passing him on the tenth.

By then however an incident involving three riders had caused the race to be red-flagged and, with positions then taken from the end of the ninth lap, that left the top five in almost their original grid order of Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Stoner, Dovizioso and Rossi.

Thirteen riders restarted the race and it was the same story all over again, with Pedrosa passing Lorenzo into turn one but the championship-leader getting back through before the end of the first lap.

The next few laps saw the two Spanish riders in some superb wheel-to-wheel action as Lorenzo tried and failed to shake Pedrosa off, the pair maintaining a nail-biting distance of about a tenth for several laps.

After three wins in a row however Lorenzo finally succumbed today and on lap nine he was unable to hold his compatriot off any longer, sensibly deciding to bring his M1 home in second place for 20 points.  The 23-year-old has now finished in first or second place at every one of the eight rounds this season.

The restart saw Rossi again lose some ground but he passed Hayden second time around to retake fifth and set off in pursuit of the leaders.  On the sixth lap he got by Dovizioso but with a near two-second gap to Stoner it looked unlikely that the Italian would make much headway on the Australian.

Rossi is always one to amaze however and he was soon lapping at the same pace as the leaders to bring himself within striking distance of Stoner with a third of the race remaining.

The final six laps saw some superb action between the two rivals, with Rossi looking as if he had never been away and several brilliant overtaking maneuvers from both riders.

On the penultimate lap Rossi took the lead in what looked like a decisive move but on the final corner Stoner somehow found a way back through and the nine-time Champion was forced to settle for fourth, albeit probably the most impressive fourth position of his career.

Lorenzo's championship lead now stands at 47 points from Pedrosa, whilst Rossi moves up one place to sixth.  The paddock now heads directly to Laguna Seca in California for the US Grand Prix in one weeks time.

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V), 1st:  "I’m very happy because we are back winning races and it’s a great feeling.  It wasn’t easy today because when the race is stopped and restarted like that, sometimes you don’t have the same feeling on the machine in the second part.  Also you get nervous again on the grid and it’s possible you won’t have the same pace after the restart.  But it went very well for us in both races.

In the first one I was very close to Lorenzo and the pace was good, but then they stopped the race and we looked at each other saying, "Why?"  It was even better in the second part.  We just made one small change with the rear suspension to get a bit more traction, but we didn’t change the tire because we didn’t have any new tires left - we went with the same ones.

I made another good start and in the first laps after Lorenzo had passed me I was pushing very to try to take him back.  I couldn’t do it with my first attempt, but when I got a second chance I just went for it.  Then it was a great feeling to stretch ahead and get the victory - the team deserve it.

This victory is even better than the one in Italy because at Mugello I just went away in front and there was no battle with anybody, but here I was battling with Lorenzo in the first and second races, and I finally beat him, so this is even more important.

Also before the race we were not 100 per cent sure about what the weather would do, but it stayed clear and finally the weekend has ended perfectly.  I was really looking forward to wear the Spain shirt on the podium.  It was difficult to get it because it wasn’t in the shops and I really wanted to celebrate a win like that.

I also want to thank the team because they worked really well this weekend, the bike was very good from Friday onwards and this is the form we need so we can to keep this consistency going from now on."

Sachsenring Race Circuit - Germany

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