After yesterday’s positive results where Nicky Hayden got his first Pole Position this season and teammate Dani Pedrosa got into fifth…
After yesterday’s positive results where Nicky Hayden got his first Pole Position this season and teammate Dani Pedrosa got into fifth place, today both Repsol riders had high expectations placed on the Portugese race. The race kicked off with Pedrosa taking a very fast start and getting in second place at the end of the straight behind Stoner.
The American from the Repsol Honda Team did not get off to a very good start, and in spite of reaching the first curve in third position, he had to straighten out in the middle of the curve, making him lose a place. Stoner set a strong pace from the first curve and Pedrosa stuck to his wheel trying to not let the Australian get away. Just over one second behind, a group formed and took chase, with Hayden in the lead, followed closely by Rossi, Melandri and Hopkins. The current World Champion was overtaken by Rossi, who went off alone to try and catch up with the two escaped riders up front.
Hayden lost time with Melandri, constantly passing each other, and that prevented him from going after Rossi.At the same time of Rossi’s arrival to the leading group, Hayden escaped in search of the leaders. Lap by lap, the Repsol Honda Team rider got closer to Stoner, who had been overtaken by Pedrosa and Rossi and was losing ground.
Up in front, it was clear that once the race was halfway through, the victory was going to be disputed between the Italian and the Spaniard. Hayden managed to catch up with Stoner, who was one second away from the leaders, but after trying to overtake the man at the top of the general classification, a number of mistakes made him lose contact with the Australian and had to make do with 4th place. In front, Pedrosa kept ahead of the race, with Rossi behind studying each movement.
Two laps away from the end of the race, the Italian started to attack, overtaking Pedrosa at one of the braking points of the Potugese track. The Repsol Honda Team rider tried it all in order to get past Rossi again, but finally crossed the finish line in second place hardly a tenth of a second behind. This has undoubtedly been a good weekend for the Repsol Honda Team, which is finding that the hard work done over these past weeks is finally giving its rewards.
In 250cc, the good start achieved by the two Repsol Honda Team 250cc pilots seemed to suggest a good race. Julián Simón started 5th and teammate Shuhei Aoyama 9th, completing their first lap Simón 3rd and Aoyama 9th. Simón seemed to follow the pace set by the leading group, but little by little he lost ground due to a physical problem with his right forearm, and was overtaken by Barberá, De Angelis, Hiroshi, Aoyama, Luthi and Bautista.
Teammate Shuhei managed to catch up with him, ridong both in 8th and 9th place. Shuhei abandoned the race 8 laps from the end due to mechanical problems and left Simón riding alone until the flagline, crossing it in 8th place.In the smallest of the three categories, the Repsol Honda Team riders ended a tough weekend with a slight improvement. In spite of not keeping up with the pace of the leading group, Esteve Rabat struggled for 10th position, though he finally finished 11th, and teammate Bradley Smith, who rode alone practically throughout the whole race, crossed the finish line 12th.
