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Dani Pedrosa is home winner in Spanish MotoGP

© Raceline Photography
By Dan Moakes March 30 2008
The night race in Qatar had proved successful, but now it was time for the MotoGP World Championship to return to its base, Europe, for the Spanish Grand Prix at Jeréz. Casey Stoner and Ducati had started 2008 as if 2007 had never ended, but would it continue for them?

Following more than 200 GPs, Carlos Checa is now a Superbike rider. But there were still three Spanish riders for the enthusiastic home crowd to get behind, with two of them likely to be in contention after podium finishes in round one. As it happens, 27-time GP winner Dani Pedrosa (with Repsol Honda), and 21-time GP winner Jorge Lorenzo (a class rookie with Fiat Yamaha) are unfriendly rivals at best. Their characters are very different, too, but they both know how to race. It was a recipe for something worth seeing for the spectators, and perhaps Alice Ducati’s Toní Elías would also show well.

In the south of Spain, Jeréz de la Frontera is one of the more technical tracks, with lots of cornering, and several tight turns. Four right-handers in a row make up the last section before the final corner. Straightline speed is clearly less of an advantage here, although it helps in a couple of places. In qualifying, the nature of the circuit certainly seemed to show the Ducatis at a disadvantage, and indeed the Marlboro-backed works riders both crashed in practice. Yamaha and Honda emerged on top.

For his second pole position in his second MotoGP race, Lorenzo was quickest. The top four all wore Michelin tyres, with Lorenzo’s team-mate Valentino Rossi fifth on Bridgestones. The Spanish rivalry saw still-injured Pedrosa take second, and partner Nicky Hayden would start fourth. In among them came the customer Tech 3 Yamaha of Colin Edwards, third as he had been in Qatar. Rookie team-mate James Toseland was only eighth, but as he was unwell this was a good result.

The LCR Honda of Randy de Puniet was sixth, which put the champion onto the third row of the grid. Stoner was seventh, but team-mate Marco Melandri was in 18th and last place. The Alice Ducatis joined him on the back row, with Elías in P16 and then Sylvain Guintoli. The first Kawasaki was ninth, with John Hopkins on board; and Rizla Suzuki man Loris Capirossi improved on Qatar to out-qualify team-mate Chris Vermeulen, P10 to P12.

In between the Suzukis came San Carlo Gresini Honda rider Shin’ya Nakano. 13th was Andrea Dovizioso, for JiR Scot Honda, then came Gresini rider and fellow class rookie Alex de Angelis. Anthony West followed on the second Kawasaki, ahead of the three tail-end Ducatis.

The race start seemed to be all about Honda. The two works Repsol RCV riders, from second and fourth, led the field as they headed for the first corner. Curva Expo 92 is a right-hander, followed almost immediately by a tighter right, Curva Michelin. Hayden tried to go around the outside of Pedrosa at Michelin, but there was no getting ahead and he left himself open to attack. Lorenzo went past, and so too did fast-starting Stoner. Edwards was fifth and Capirossi, up four places, would soon lose a place to Rossi.

Pedrosa led Lorenzo, Stoner, Hayden, Edwards, Rossi, Capirossi and Nakano. Hopkins took ninth from Toseland, then came de Puniet, Vermeulen, West, Melandri, Elías, Dovizioso, de Angelis and Guintoli. Rossi went past former team-mate Edwards at the first corner of lap two, braking on the inside for Expo 92. The long, right-handed turn five, named Curva Sito Pons after the former 250 champion, caused problems for Stoner. A ‘moment’ here sent the Australian wide, which let Hayden go past. With better momentum, Rossi passed Casey on the brakes at the end of the following back straight, where the tight right-hander is Curva Dry Sack.

Pedrosa was the man with the best speed, breaking the three-year-old lap record as he built his lead. Spain had the one-two, with action going on behind second man Lorenzo. Capirossi took sixth from Edwards at Expo 92, and Rossi went third with a pass on Hayden at Dry Sack. The same corner would spell near-disaster for Stoner, when the fifth-placed Australian went wide, and off into the gravel. He rejoined at the back of the field and, with de Puniet having crashed out of 11th, this meant P17.

Pedrosa already had a handy lead, with Lorenzo, Rossi and Hayden close in the next group. This made it a Honda versus Yamaha race, with three Michelin riders against Rossi on Bridgestone. All four had medium compound rubber tyres, but the two Spaniards had gone for harder rears. Rossi passed Lorenzo at the right-handed Curva Angel Nieto, the first of the four in a row. Capirossi and Edwards were next, with a pretty big gap opening up behind them. But then Colin crashed, and could only get his Yamaha back as far as the pits. By now Stoner was in 14th.

Pedrosa took his advantage from around 1.5s out to three seconds and beyond. Lorenzo, despite a lurid sideways moment at the exit of Sito Pons, stayed with Rossi, and Hayden also stayed in touch. Capirossi was on his own in fifth, but there was enough action involving the next bunch. Dovizioso had been on a charge from P16, and he overtook Toseland at Dry Sack to head the group for sixth. Vermeulen followed with his own pass of the Englishman. Ninth was disputed by Nakano and Hopkins, who took it at Expo 92. Then came West, Melandri and de Angelis, all of whom would soon lose out to Stoner.

The three-man group behind Pedrosa began to get a touch spaced out, as Dovizioso brought some of his pursuers up towards Capirossi. At half-distance, this group was made up of Vermeulen, Toseland, Hopkins and Nakano; and Stoner was moving clear of the rest as he looked to close in. Dani took his lead beyond four seconds, with Lorenzo falling back by about 0.5s from Rossi. Hayden had to save his Honda in a near-fall when the front gave way at Expo 92, but he kept it together, although losing touch with the Yamahas in the process.

With four laps left to run, Pedrosa’s lead over Rossi began to fall to nearer three seconds, but he was comfortable as he brought it home to victory. Valentino kept a small gap to Lorenzo, with Hayden securing a lonely fourth. Much of the action at the finish was in the battle for fifth. Three riders from the next group had closed in on Capirossi, and in fact Dovizioso and Toseland led the Suzuki rider on the run to the last corner. Curva Ducados is a tight, left-hand hairpin, where Andrea went in late and wide. James went to his inside for the pass, but left enough space for Loris to force through right at the kerb. The Suzuki was past and first to the line, from the Tech 3 Yamaha. Dovizioso’s mistake took him out to the exit kerb, so that Hopkins also came by on the drag to the line.

Ninth would have been between Vermeulen, Nakano and Stoner, but the Ducati man’s late-braking attack at Dry Sack was foiled as the Honda man passed the Suzuki on the inside. Casey had to go out into the gravel again and, although he returned to the track without losing eleventh, the last laps did not allow him enough time to rejoin the battle. Nakano improved on his best result of 2007 and headed Vermeulen, then Stoner, Melandri, West, de Angelis, Elías and Guintoli. Edwards and de Puniet were the non-finishers.

It was a good day for Spain, and a good race from Dani Pedrosa. Casey Stoner’s misfortunes meant that it was the Honda rider who took the championship lead, and this victory was Dani’s eighth GP win at home in Spain - some of the others having come at Barcelona and Valencia. Valentino Rossi had been able to defeat his works Yamaha partner with different tyres, unlike in Qatar, but Jorge Lorenzo made it two podiums and stayed second on points. However, for Rossi it was his 100th podium visit since joining the top GP class in 2000. He has 136 in total.

Nicky Hayden was an encouraging fourth, for his best result since September. But fifth place was the talking point. Loris Capirossi battled for it, and it was a good second race in his Suzuki career. James Toseland might have got the place, but in sixth he was good enough to match his début, and despite his illness - he looked spent after the race. But Andrea Dovizioso missed out on the position, which would have backed up his fourth in Qatar. He was still first of the customer Hondas.

Ducati had their worst race of the 800cc era - their worst of 2007 also came at Jeréz, where their leading man was fifth. Despite his off-track moments, Casey Stoner was their best finisher today in eleventh. With tyres, Michelin had a better day, but Stoner was still behind five other Bridgestone runners. A five-point finish helps him keep his title defence going, and the speed of the Ducati Desmosedici GP8 should help him as they move on to faster tracks.

UK fans might want to note that James Toseland already looks on course to overhaul the best British points scorer since at least 2002, when Jeremy McWilliams managed 59. ‘Jezza’ scored 76 in 2000, but the last five years saw him, as one of the best Brits - together with Neil Hodgson and James Ellison - score only between 20 and 40. James will get the M1 engine with pneumatic valves next time out, at the Portuguese GP in Estoril, and his prospects will be better if he is fully fit.

Standings after two races: Pedrosa 41; Lorenzo 36; Rossi 31; Stoner 30; Dovizioso 21; Toseland 20; Capirossi and Hayden 19; Hopkins 13; Nakano 10.
Honda 41; Yamaha 40; Ducati 30; Suzuki 19; Kawasaki 13.


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