The Repsol Honda Team rider wins with intelligence and authority at the mythical American track. Dani Pedrosa, third, and Andrea Dovizioso, fifth, complete a successful weekend for the team.
Laguna Seca does not usually disappoint the thousandths of fans that year after year go to the hills of the outskirts of Monterey to enjoy the purest MotoGP essence. And, once again, the American round did not fail and the race saw another duel between the three riders in the best form of the premiere category, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.
There was only one change in the lead of the round in Laguna Seca, but it was the change that finally decided the name of the winner of the United States Grand Prix. The Australian of the Repsol Honda Team, Casey Stoner, had a pending revenge since 2008 with Laguna Seca and he settled his account with the short —the shortest— of the tracks in the Motorcycling World Championship calendar.
Lorenzo had a very fast start when the lights went out and rode constantly at 1 minute and 21 seconds, a very quick pace. Only Pedrosa seemed to be able to follow his countryman’s pace, with Stoner in third and Dovizioso fourth at the beginning of the race. Stoner rode a bit far from the two Spaniards, but he did not give in and, although he could not catch the duo, he did not lose terrain.
After the first half of the race, Lorenzo and Pedrosa kept the lead less than one second ahead of Stoner, and Dovizioso was fourth and rode alone. Stoner then started to reduce differences and caught up with Lorenzo and Pedrosa 17 laps before the end of the race, that had 32 laps. The Australian did not want wait to try and overtake Pedrosa, and he did so two laps later in an impressive manoeuvre entering the mythical corkscrew. Lorenzo, who had some tenths over Pedrosa, was within his reach.
Stoner caught up with Lorenzo four laps later, when there were 11 laps left before the end, while Pedrosa, still with some physical problems after his injuries, suffered more the fatige in the demanding American track than last week in Germany and he had already lost one second and a half. Dani secured his third position and was satisfied in the end to get a new podium in a circuit where last year he was not able to finish due to a crash.
While Dovizioso kept the fourth position but he kept losing terrain to the local rider Spies, who would eventually send him to the final fifth position, in the first position the duel was ready. Lorenzo was still on the lead but Stoner was closing the gap with each lap, until finally catching up with the Spaniard, who had physical problems due to his crash yesterday, seven laps before the end. And Stoner finally overtook Lorenzo by the outside in the mid straight, mid bend where the finish line is. Just on the limit of the asphalt, but cleanly, Stoner took the lead and did not lose it until reaching the finish line. His searing pace allowed him to cross the line with nearly six seconds over Lorenzo.
After this result, Stoner reinforces his position in front of the overall standings with an advantage of 20 points over Lorenzo. Dovizioso keeps his third place, but now 50 points behind his team mate, and Pedrosa goes up to the fourth position, 83 behind Stoner. After the race, the World Championship takes a 2-week break and will resume the action next August 14 in Brno, Czech Republic.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
3rd at 9.467 sec.
“I’m very happy with another podium, the second after my come back from injury. I could have predicted this result before coming to Laguna because I knew it would be physically very tough for me and it has been great to keep up with the pace of Casey [Stoner] and Jorge [Lorenzo] in these past two races. Today, by the middle of the race, I was very tired, almost finished, I couldn’t get my left arm strong enough and here at this track you don’t rest for a moment, so I had to drop. It’s been quite difficult to set up the bike this weekend, I had a lack of grip generally, but the team worked very well. Now we have some holidays and it will be good for me to have some days off to rest and relax my muscles and be back training to arrive fully fit to Brno”.
Andrea Dovizioso >> Audio
5th at 20.885 sec.
“We knew that it was going to be a tough race because this track is short, with very strong braking and it’s also very demanding. I made a good start and I was able to move into fourth position. In the first laps I pushed hard to stay with Casey [Stoner], Dani [Pedrosa] and Lorenzo. I was loosing a lot in some corners, such as T3 and T11 and to recover I was pushing in the other areas. I used up a lot of energy and I couldn’t be consistent for the 32 laps. I’m disappointed because today we had the speed to fight for a good result, in fact I lapped two tenths behind the fastest lap, but I couldn’t be consistent. I lost the battle with Spies and this is the first time I’ve lost a battle this year. The good point is that we were able to be fast. Now we have to focus and continue working, we are third in the Championship and we want to keep on fighting. We will take advantage of the three week break to recharge the batteries and return in Brno more determined. My congratulations go to Casey and Dani”.
Casey Stoner >> Audio
1st – 43:52.145
“All weekend we’ve been struggling a little so we weren’t too confident that we could run with Jorge and Dani [Pedrosa] in the race. However, this morning in warm up we found something I was a little happier with. Before the race I felt relaxed, confident and generally calm, we started a little slower to get the tyres warm gently but also with a full tank of fuel, the bike didn’t feel that great. So I was patient and took my time, staying with Jorge and Dani to control the gap and make sure they didn’t get too far away. I felt I had more speed but decided to wait and watch. I saw Dani struggling a bit and he started to drop back from Jorge so I had to attack at this point. Once I caught up to Jorge, I watched to see if he made a mistake and kept the pressure on him, then chose my moment to make the move and was able to slowly open up a gap and bring the race home. It’s really fantastic to come from such a difficult weekend and get a great win and I’m very thankful to all my team”.
