Lorenzo gets lucky at Laguna Seca

Mazda raceway Laguna Seca circuit (USA). Thirty two laps, three and a half kilometre long circuit, eleven turns and one super dip in the cork screw. Round nine of MotoGP world championship was as action packed as its venue and Fiat Yamaha was the team with maximum reasons for a celebration. Rider Jorge Lorenzo rode his YZR M1 to victory and extended his championship lead to seventy two points over second runner Dani Pedrosa (team Repsol Honda). While their other rider Valentino Rossi climbed up the podium in third, just fifty one days after his nasty high side crash at Mugello.

In a predictable pattern, Dani Pedrosa made a rocket start from second row on the grid to lead the race from start while Casey Stoner (team Ducati) managed to retain his spot in second. Ben Spies (team Monster Yamaha Tech 3) dashed ahead into third ahead of  Lorenzo who started from pole but went left to take the inside line and ended up fourth out of turn one. Pedrosa’s team-mate Andrea Dovizioso started from third and stood fifth behind Lorenzo while Rossi was in sixth.

As the race progressed, Ben Spies couldn’t keep up with the pace of the factory riders and got relegated down to seventh. At the front, the first six riders were divided in two identical packs (team wise), Pedrosa-Lorenzo-Stoner were leading in the mentioned order after Lorenzo passed Stoner in lap five while the other three replicated the pattern as Dovizioso ran fourth, Rossi fifth and Nicky Hayden (team Ducati) in sixth after passing Spies. Alvaro Bautista (team Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) crashed out in lap three while Hector Barbera had the same fate a lap later. Marco Melandri (team San Carlo Honda Gresini) passed team-mate Marco Simoncelli for eighth. Colin Edwards (team Monster Yamaha Tech 3) stood tenth.

The situation didn’t last long though. Simoncelli passed Melandri in the cork screw (exact same way as Rossi passed Stoner in 2008) who further went down to tenth behind Edwards. And then came lap twelve. Dani Pedrosa who was thundering ahead in first, lost his front end and crashed out in turn five handing out Lorenzo an easy run to victory. The incident also made Rossi realise his podium opportunity and he started pushing hard to catch up Dovizioso who was over two seconds away in third. Simoncelli crashed out in lap twenty and Aleix Espargaro (team Pramac Racing) passed team-mate Mika Kallio while Spies passed Nicky Hayden a lap later. Rossi finally passed Dovizioso in lap twenty seven. Aleix Espargaro crashed out in lap twenty nine.

Three laps later, Stoner had his best result in second. Dovizioso was almost on Rossi’s tail in the last corner but went wide and finished the race in fourth. Nicky Hayden snatched his place from Spies and finished fifth while the latter had to settle for sixth. Edwards finished seventh, Melandri eighth, Capirossi ninth and Kallio finished tenth. Nicky Hayden’s brother Roger Lee Hayden (team LCR Honda) finished eleventh, Alex De Angelis (team Interwetten Honda MotoGP) completed the race in twelfth.