This was to be the 23rd running of the British Grand Prix at Donington, before the circuit switch with Silverstone between the MotoGP and Formula One circuses for 2010. Silverstone hosted the bikes in the years 1977 to 1986, but since then Donington has definitely been a favourite with both riders and spectators. The track is fast and undulating for the most part, with a few places where the bikes have to be slowed greatly for tighter corners.

Rossi was the man with seven past GP victories at Donington, and the experienced Loris Capirossi also had four successes in the 1990s. Seven of the other competitors had won here in GPs, as well as the two former Superbike champions with wins in that class. Experience helps, because there have been quite a few races hit by bad weather over the years, which obviously adds another complication.

In qualifying, the first four riders in the championship were fastest. Yamaha had two men on the front row of the grid, with Rossi on pole position and Lorenzo third. Between the two this was the sixth event in a row with Fiat Yamaha starting first. And between the two here was Pedrosa, second with the Repsol Honda. His team-mate was fifth, with Andrea Dovizioso therefore a place away from fourth man Stoner on the Marlboro Ducati.

The third man on row two was sixth placed Colin Edwards, with the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha, then came a new best with the Hayate Kawasaki for Marco Melandri, seventh. Toní Elías was eighth with the first San Carlo Gresini Honda, then it was English rider James Toseland (Tech 3), from whom a good result would be expected here. And he himself would want to make up for the disappointment of his Donington race in 2008.

Randy de Puniet was tenth with the Playboy LCR Honda, from Mika Kallio (Pramac Ducati), Alex de Angelis (Gresini), Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi (both Rizla Suzuki), Nicky Hayden (Marlboro Ducati), Niccolò Canepa (Pramac) and Gábor Talmácsi (Scot Honda).

Following a warm-up session that took place in wet conditions, by race time it was dull and windy, and with a few spots of rain starting yet again. The track didn’t seem to be wet, but in some places there was more rain than in others, and the flag-to-flag rules came in to effect. The riders took to the track with slick tyres, all except two, as the Marlboro Ducati riders felt it was soon going to be too wet, or at least gambled that way.

The start saw Rossi lead Lorenzo, with Pedrosa and Elías in behind. After the first right-hander, Redgate, the Hollywood bend feeds into the dramatic downhill left Craner Curves, then the braking zone for the Old Hairpin right. Lorenzo passed Rossi through Craner, with Elías finding a way past Pedrosa and then somehow past the two Yamahas to take the lead. Lorenzo got back in front round at the Fogarty Esses, a left-right chicane, but Toní responded and again was in front.

The track had uncertain grip levels of course, and riders have different levels of bravado when that is the case, sometimes with unfortunate results. Rossi was initially shuffled back also by Pedrosa and Dovizioso, with Toseland, Melandri and de Puniet also well up. Rossi recovered his ground to the Honda pair, with Dani and James then racing for fifth, and the Honda man getting it back.

Elías was in front and with a slender margin over the squabble behind, with Lorenzo, Rossi, Dovizioso, Pedrosa, Toseland, Melandri, de Puniet, de Angelis, Kallio, Capirossi, Canepa, Stoner, Edwards and then Vermeulen. The works Ducati guys were already in trouble with their tyre choices. The early action continued as Andrea overtook Valentino on the inside at Old Hairpin. A couple of corners later he moved forward again as he went inside Jorge for the McLeans right-hander. At the next corner, Coppice, Pedrosa passed Rossi.

Elías lost his lead on Starkeys Straight when Dovizioso went to his right and Lorenzo to his left. After the following Esses and short Shields Straight, Pedrosa also passed the Gresini rider braking on the inside at the right-handed Melbourne Hairpin. Not long after this he lost another place to Rossi at Old Hairpin. Spots of rain continued to fall as Lorenzo took the lead from Dovizioso at Redgate. Pedrosa and Rossi followed, with Elías staying in touch.

The second group was led by Toseland, now with de Puniet then Melandri, de Angelis, Capirossi and Kallio behind. Pedrosa set fastest lap then passed Dovizioso at Redgate to run second to Lorenzo, but Jorge started to break clear with a faster lap of his own. But now the rain began to increase, and this soon led to Pedrosa losing some places. Dovizioso and Rossi both got through at Old Hairpin, and a later move at the same place took Elías through as well. Meanwhile, Valentino had got second from Andrea on the inside for the Esses.

Having been sixth in both the preceding races, the chances of Elías going better here were ended as he crashed at the fast left Schwantz Curve, when he got the rear onto the white line. Lorenzo therefore led Rossi, Dovizioso and Pedrosa. But soon there was another exit: the final left-hand Goddards hairpin, after Melbourne, saw Lorenzo lose control of the front as he strayed onto the white line on the right. With Stoner well back and Lorenzo out, new leader Rossi was looking good for points to put himself a bit further clear.

One-third of race distance saw Rossi leading Dovizioso, with third man Pedrosa having lost touch in more tricky conditions. Toseland had lost out to de Puniet, de Angelis and Capirossi, and led Kallio, Melandri, Edwards and Canepa. Dani’s relative lack of confidence in the wetter conditions saw him drop back into range for Randy, and they went on to change places a few times and in a few different places. By half-distance, with the rain increasing and de Angelis catching, de Puniet was able to get past Pedrosa and this time ease a couple of seconds clear.

Half-distance also saw a bit of an increase in the rain at the far end of the circuit, and by this time the gap from second man Dovizioso to third man de Puniet had gone beyond twelve seconds, although after he got past Pedrosa this began to reduce again. Meanwhile, de Angelis had established himself in fifth, and Toseland had a battle on his hands for sixth, with Edwards having moved through to run behind his team-mate, and Kallio, Capirossi and Melandri all close behind.

Elías and Lorenzo were gone from the lead group, and Pedrosa had dropped away, so the race looked like being between Rossi and Dovizioso. But, like his team-mate, Rossi lost the lead when his Yamaha went down. The rear slid round at the Esses, but Valentino got back up and could continue. By the time he was back up to full speed a few more riders had gone past and he was eleventh. Dovizioso had a ten second lead, but now the rainfall became more significant.

With eight laps still to run, Capirossi and Melandri now opted to pit and switch bikes for those set for the wet weather, soon followed by Vermeulen. Meanwhile, Pedrosa was struggling to match the pace of some of his rivals, falling behind de Angelis. Edwards had already overtaken Toseland and pulled away, and now he moved up again. Dovizioso led, his margin over de Puniet reducing, with Edwards up to third and tailed by de Angelis. Pedrosa and Toseland were next.

Kallio had been battling with Capirossi and Toseland before the Italian had stopped, and then Mika had become the fourth man to swap bikes, rejoining behind Melandri, who now led those that had also stopped. But the more intense rain proved short lived, and this meant the likes of Canepa and Rossi gained places by not going into the pits. At this stage Toseland overtook Pedrosa for fifth, and soon Rossi was also past the Spaniard, making the move at Redgate.

The last few laps were reeling off, with Dovizioso looking on course for his first MotoGP win, but with his lead over de Puniet steadily reducing. There was still rain in some places, and the prospect of a battle to the last. Andrea had less than five seconds in hand with four laps left, and two laps later it was under two seconds. Second man de Puniet had been caught by Edwards, and any one of the trio was now in sight of a first MotoGP win.

Colin had moved up to second at the Old Hairpin but had been repassed by de Puniet at Melbourne. The lead of Dovizioso was just under a second going into the final lap, but he then eased it out to nearer 1.5s, just getting the pace right to make it to the flag for that important début victory. It had looked like de Puniet just about had Edwards covered on that lap, but the Texan got by for second at Goddards, the final corner. With de Angelis on his own in fourth, the first four men home each took their best results of the season so far.

Toseland had put in a good race for his fans, and fifth had been in prospect, and therefore his best GP result. The last lap had seen Rossi on the case behind James, and he had gone ahead into the Esses, only for the customer Yamaha man to get it back on the way out. But Valentino managed to again make a move at the next corner, Melbourne, which secured him fifth place. He was the leading championship contender across the line, even after a crash. It could be critical.

Sixth was still Toseland’s equal best result of the season, just behind Rossi. Melandri was the lead man home on wet tyres, and had got by Canepa late on for seventh. The 21-year-old rookie got his best result so far in eighth, and was the first to finish for Ducati. Pedrosa was ninth, heading Kallio, Capirossi, Talmácsi (another best), Vermeulen, Stoner and Hayden. The works Ducatis, on the wrong tyres in the barely wet early going, had been lapped before half-distance.

With nine previous Grand Prix wins in the lower capacity classes, Andrea Dovizioso’s first MotoGP success was in fact his first podium result of 2009. Like third man Randy de Puniet, it was only his second podium visit in the class, and none of the men on the podium at Donington had been there previously this season. Colin Edwards, as well as winning twice here in Superbikes, had twice previously been second in a GP at this circuit.

The unusual result also saw only the first appearance of two Honda riders on the podium for this season, and for the LCR team their second in this class, with the first having been taken by Casey Stoner back in 2006. Alex de Angelis was another man to make no mistakes, whilst Valentino Rossi’s mistake had worked out much less costly than those made by Jorge Lorenzo and Stoner. It was an exciting finish for MotoGP at Donington Park, and we can only hope that Silverstone can follow suit when their turn comes next year.

Standings after ten races: Rossi 187; Lorenzo 162; Stoner 150; Pedrosa 115; Edwards 103; Dovizioso 94; Melandri 78; de Puniet 74; Vermeulen 67; Capirossi 65.
Yamaha 230; Honda 164; Ducati 156; Suzuki 89; Kawasaki 78.

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