Dani Pedrosa takes victory at Sachsenring

The German MotoGP at Sachsenring saw everything that motorcycle racing includes; thrills, spills, breaks, overtaking manoeuvres and also a comeback. The main highlight of the race was Valentino Rossi’s (team Fiat Yamaha) unexpected early comeback after his crash at Mugello (The incident occurred just six weeks ago and ‘The Doctor’ is already back on the track).  And it wasn’t a silent return either for Rossi almost had a podium finish (Casey Stoner beat Rossi for third).

The thirty lap race began with the Jorge Lorenzo (team Fiat Yamaha)-Dani Pedrosa (team Repsol Honda)-Casey Stoner (team Ducati) trio leading the pack in the mentioned order while Rossi was at fourth. Colin Edwards (team Monster Yamaha tech 3) was the first to crash early in the race. By lap nine, Rossi was up to fourth while Stoner was still running third and Lorenzo and Pedrosa were locked in a battle for first place. But down the order, Randy De Puniet (team LCR Honda MotoGP) had a crash in turn four. Behind him, Aleix Espargaro (team Pramac Racing) and Alvaro Bautista (team Rizla Suzuki MotoGP)  too crashed out as they tumbled over Puniet’s sliding bike which eventually caught fire. While Puniet suffered a broken leg, Espargaro experienced disappointment more than injuries and Bautista was seen limping.  The incident caused the red flag to be waved but only to mark a break as the race was far from over.

The race resumed with twenty one laps to go and riders starting from positions they were at before the break. This time, Pedrosa made a clean pass past Lorenzo and went on to win the race with a comfortable gap. Lorenzo had a second place finish which ended his string of back to back wins.  The battle for third was the one which saw a lot of drama as Stoner fought hard to finish on the podium ahead of Rossi. After swapping places more than six times, Rossi was running third in the last lap. But Stoner pulled out an amazing manoeuvre in the last corner (reminiscent of Rossi’s move on Lorenzo at Catalunya last year) and finished the race in third while Rossi took fourth.

Andrea Dovizioso (team Repsol Honda) won the battle for fifth, raged between him and riders Marco Simoncelli (team San Carlo Honda Gresini) who fnished sixth and Nicky Hayden (team Ducati) who finished seventh. Edward’s team-mate Ben Spies finished eighth, Hector Barbera (team Paginas Amarillas Aspar) ninth and Marco Simoncelli (team San Carlo Honda Gresini) crossed the finish line in tenth. Mika Kallio was the fifth crasher of the race making it a race to forget for the Pramac Racing team. Veteran Loris Capirossi (team Rizla Suzuki) finished eleventh while Alex De Angelis filled in Hiroshi Aoyama’s saddle (Interwetten Honda MotoGP team)  and was the last rider to see the chequered flag in twelfth.

Podium results of the support classes are as follows:

Moto2

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