The Repsol Honda Team rider Dani Pedrosa is back at the top of the World MotoGP Championship rider classification after finishing second behind the Australian Casey Stoner, who today won the Dutch GP after getting away from the rest of the riders. The 20 points that Pedrosa won today, with only 5 for Valentino Rossi who fought back to finish in eleventh position after falling at the start of the race, means that he is the overall leader again, the Repsol rider enjoying a 4 point cushion over the Italian and 29 over the Australian Stoner.
The three races of this Dutch GP were constantly threatened by the very unstable weather conditions. The first race in the morning, that of 125cc, was interrupted by rain, whereas the 250cc race and that of MotoGP were not interrupted, but with all the team´s kept one eye on the clouds.
The weekend`s star race started as has become usual, with Dani Pedrosa leading at the first corner. The Repsol Honda Team rider finished the first lap in the lead, he was followed very closely by Stoner and his teammate, the American Nicky Hayden. But Pedrosa lasted only a short time at the front, since on the second lap the Australian turned up the pace and overtook Pedrosa easily and after a couple of laps was able to enjoy a lead of almost one second and a half.
The race does not have much of a story: Stoner got away setting the fastest laps, Pedrosa made sure of second position riding comfortably without anybody pushing from behind, and Hayden was in the same situation in third place and he stayed there for almost the whole race. At the final corner before the chequered-flag, with just a few tenths of a second left, the new engine with pneumatic valves broke down. Hayden crossed the finishing line with his engine not working, carried by the bike`s own inertia, but he could not avoid Edwards overtaking him just a few metres from the the chequered-flag, and the American was relegated to fourth position. The rider who was the leader of the World Championship at the start of the race, the Italian Valentino Rossi, fell on the first lap and had to fight the whole race at the back but he was able to move up to eleventh position at the end of the race.
In 250cc, a difficult day for Julian Simón, who started in a very positive second row position and after getting off to a good start moved up to third. Nevertheless, he immediately noticed some problems with his tyres, both entering and leaving corners. After several scares, the Repsol rider began to drop dpwn the standings, and finally finished tenth. The leader of the World Championship, Mika Kallio, finished in seventh position whereas his teammate Hiroshi Aoyama, both of whom receive technical support from Repsol, was sixth.
The race in the smallest category left a bittersweet flavour for the team. In a race that was interrupted by rain, Esteve Rabat was in the end fighting for the victory, although at the last gasp he finished in sixth position after a heart-stopping finale, just half a second behind the winner, Gabor Talmacsi. Rabat was classified tenth on the first part of the race before it was interrupted by rain, and at the end of the second part, after making a good start, moved up to seventh. Little by little he climbed in the standings and was comfortable with the leading group, a battle between seven riders which lasted to the very end. On the last lap, and in fourth position, Rabat got into the slipstream of the riders in front of him and coming out of the slowest curve on the track overtook Talmacsi, Corsi, and Olivé in one swift braking manoeuvre, moving into first place. Nevertheless, after opening up a small gap of a few metres a couple of corners later, with just the chicane left he slowed down as he entered the home straight and was sixth, not having any time to react.
His teammate Marc Márquez had a bad day. But things began well for the Repsol rider and he looked like he was going to have another splendid race. He started in eighteenth position, but Márquez had moved up to eighth place at the end of the first lap, and he managed to overtake several of his rivals on the following laps. On the tenth lap he was sixth, but it began to rain and he fell on the tenth curve. The Race Director showed the red flag and announced that he would start the race again with a total of five laps, but Márquez, with the exhaust on his KTM 125 FRR broken as a result of the fall, was not able to return to the pits with his bike, and the regulations stipulate that he could not be authorised to use the second motorbike.
Dani Pedrosa,2nd at 11.310 sec. >> Audio
“I’m happy with this result because it was a difficult race and I’m happy to be in the World Championship lead once again, the 20 points we got here are very important. We’ve struggled a little bit during practice here, but my team have worked really hard, so a big thanks to all of them. Yesterday I was able to qualify on a MotoGP front row for the first time at Assen. Today I did my best in the race but unfortunately we couldn’t go with Casey because he was so fast. Now we need to keep working hard because we must try to close the gap over the next few races. Sachsenring is next. We had a great win there last year and we will try to the same again this year”.
Nicky Hayden, 4th at 20.477 sec. >> Audio
“Man, we had a pretty good race. Unfortunately this game can be cruel sometimes. To be so close to a really good result is tough, but we still finished, we made it across the line and still got some good points out of the deal, but it would’ve been nice to stand on the podium. The team certainly deserved it, they’ve worked really hard this weekend. On the sighting lap I knew something was wrong. It’s been a little bit frustrating because she hasn’t run right off the bottom since I got here, especially out of slow corners. They’ve been changing stuff and they thought they had it fixed but something was wrong. I had a dash light come on at the start of the race, though it went off after the start. She finally quit right before the finish line. It’s how it goes, I guess me and Colin are even now, he gave me one here a couple of years ago and I gave him a podium today. There at the end I was trying to make a push on Dani, I wanted to keep the pressure on him, he was coming back to me a bit. I was pushing, then on the last lap I thought ‘oh no, we’re in trouble’. Nonetheless the bike is working good, now they’ve got a week and a half to hopefully sort it out in Japan and we can keep moving on”.
Julián Simón, 10th at 28.789 secs. >> Audio
“This was not a good result at all. We started from the second row, I moved up a couple of positions and was up with the leaders on the first lap, and I tried everything to stay with those ahead of me. I soon saw that we were losing a lot of time both when taking and when coming out of corners. In addition, we had problems with the back tyre. On the fast part, the final one at this circuit, I was not able to accelerate like the other riders and it was impossible to keep up with them. We have to remember the positive things we have achieved this weekend, and think that in two weeks we will be racing at a circuit where I think our bike can work well”.
Esteve Rabat, 6th at 0,568 secs. >> Audio
“This was a very hard-fought race. They gave us five laps and I knew that I had to start well and make sure the leading group did not get away from me. The objective was to do the five laps flat out, it was a case of all or nothing. I did not have anything to lose either. On the last lap I saw that I had a chance, since I was able to keep up the fast pace. I came out of the slow curve very well, picking up the riders` slipstream and when braking strongly I overtook three riders. I did the rest of the lap at the bike`s limits, and when I reached the home straight I wanted to start it too soon and I lost things a little. The others all passed me. These are things that happen. The truth is that I am pleased because I see that I can be up with the fastest. The bike is going well and the team is helping me a lot. I hope to make a breakthrough very soon. I want to thank the team, Repsol, Alberto Puig and Raul Jara”.
Marc Márquez, fell >> Audio
“The race was going well until it began to rain. The bike`s performance was just dropping a little and so I fell back to the rear of the leading group. Later it got better, keeping up with the pace, but the the first few raindrops fell and then it did not rain anymore. Coming out of a curve the asphalt was wet and I lost control of the bike. I was not able to reach the pits with the bike and so I was not able to start the second race. The motorbike itself was fine, but the exhaust was bent and I was not able to start it again”.
