MotoGP: Bitter Sweet victory for the Fiat Yamaha Team
Tyler Hopper
AllAboutBikes Staff-Writer
Valentino Rossi pounded the scorching pavement for his first win of the season at the Gran Premio bwin.com de España. Jorge Lorenzo, Rossi’s Fiat Yamaha teammate, started the race off in pole position, but the higher track temperatures led to grip problems for him and he crashed out in lap 24 as he was closing in on the podium.
Dani Pedrosa started strong and led the race for the first half. Rossi overtook teammate Lorenzo in the last turn of lap two, moving into third with his sights set on the top. Casey Stoner sat in second early on in the race, but was pushed into third as Rossi made his way to steal the lead. Not giving up his fight for the win, Stoner and Rossi exchanged places until the end of the seventh when Rossi kicked in and began his endeavor to overtake Pedrosa. Finding his rhythm, Rossi began to make up time, quickly closing in on the leader. With ten laps to go, Pedrosa was forced to stair at the rear tire of the Yamaha. Rossi, unwavering, held onto the lead to finish 2.7 seconds ahead of Pedrosa, and 10 seconds ahead of Stoner.
Randy de Puniet finished forth aboard his LCR Honda, and Hayate Racing Team rider Marco Melandri finished fifth.
Disappointingly, Lorenzo crashed out in lap 24; he looked like he might have had a chance as he narrowed the gap to Stoner within half a second.
The end of the race weekend in Jerez, Spain resulted in Rossi leading Stoner by 11 points and Lorenzo trailing Stoner by 13 in championship standings.
