If someone was betting that today’s MotoGP race at Jerez would have been an affair between Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa they would have lost, as Casey Stoner claimed his first ever MotoGP win at this particular Spanish circuit in what turned out to be a thrilling race.
Sitting fifth on the grid Stoner had a bad start as Pedrosa, Lorenzo followed by Cal Crutchlow, Nicky Hayden, Ben Spies, Andrea Dovizioso and Alvaro Bautista slipped past him at the first turn boxing him in 7th, but by the end of the first lap he had already recovered a pair of postions as a furious and fairings bashing battle was taking place ahead of him.
Stoner didn’t waste any time as he recovered the lead from his team mate with Jorge Lorenzo following right behind him, as Pedrosa suddenly found himself sandwiched between very two aggressive Yamaha Tech 3 riders, Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso.
The Australian tried to put some massive space between himself and Lorenzo, but the Yamaha rider dug in his heels and kept after him and with ten laps to go he started to close in as Stoner’s tires and arm pump issues decided to act up.
Lorenzo was just a little more than two tenths from Repsol rider when he uncharacteristically ran wide as his front tire suddenly decided to quit on him.
Stoner then flied across the finish line with almost a one second victory marginDani Pedrosa finished third after defending himself from highly effective Cal Crutchlow, the two who almost the same pace as the front runners even managed to close in on them in the closing laps.
Andrea Dovizioso despite some early dicing didn’t have the pace of his Brit team mate and settled into a safe fifth, while Alvaro Bautista took sixth after being embroiled in a middle of the race battle with Stefan Bradl and Nicky Hayden.
The MotoGP rookie conquered his th spot from Hayden, who put in some spectacular passes on the lead group after qualifying third, but he eventually faded to take 8th, but he was still the best Ducati rider on the grid.
Team-mate Valentino Rossi was 9th and a little less than six seconds Hayden and more than 34 seconds from Stoner, but he managed to save some face as he defended himself against an aggressive Hector Barbera who kept him busy for the entire race.
Ben Spies had another disasterous race as he finished 11th after starting 6th on the grid, whileRandy De Puniet suffered a technical problem on the penultimate lap that caused him to park his Aprilia CRT bike against a fence leaving the 12th spot and top CRT honours to his Aspar team mate Aleix Espargaro.
MotoGP Jerez Race Results:01- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 27 laps in 45’33.
89702- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
94703- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 2.
06304- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 2.
46505- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 18.
10006- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 21.
39507- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 28.
63708- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 28.
86909- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 34.
85210- Hector Barbera – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 35.
10311- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 38.
04112- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 1’12.
72813- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda TR003 – + 1’18.
66914- Mattia Pasini – Speed Master Team – ART GP12 – + 1’29.
14215- Ivan Silva – Avintia Blusens – FTR Kawasaki – + 1’32.
47816- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Suter BMW – + 1’40.
57717- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – 1 lap