Brilliant podium for Nicky Hayden in an eventful Catalunya GP.
The North American rider, who finished second today, keeps the overall leadership after a race marked by accidents and retirements. Pedrosa and Aoyama did not finish due to a crash and Smith almost managed to score in the 125cc.
Intense and dramatic race day at the Circuit de Catalunya today, especially marked by the spectacular accident in the first lap of the MotoGP race, involving, among other riders Dani Pedrosa, Loris Capirossi, Sete Gibernau and Marco Melandri, in a multiple collision of which only Pedrosa came out unhurt. The injuries of the other involved riders are not serious, but they did not take part in the following race, which was started thirty minutes later, with Nicky Hayden clinching a brilliant second position that consolidates him in the leadership of the MotoGP World Championship.
Hayden got away from the accident of the first start and, after the red flag, he was again very efficient in the next race, staying always in the leading group without making any mistake, marking the distances to Roberts and Hopkins who were fighting for the third place on the podium. He did not manage to clinch the victory that went to Valentino Rossi, but the points achieved confirm him as the class leader. Pedrosa, who started from far in the back, crashed but was unhurt, after changing his bike for the second race and fighting for the third place on the podium after a spectacular recovery.
In the 250 and 125 classes, the Repsol riders were not able to achieve the expected results either. In the 250 Shuhei Aoyama crashed in lap four; a light crash without serious consequences while he was eighth, very close to the leading group.
In the 125cc, Bradley Smith finished sixteenth and missed the chance to score his first points. It was however evident that the young rider has clearly improved compared to the previous races. The victories in the 125cc and 250cc went to Álvaro Bautista and Andrea Dovizioso. The next meeting of the championship will be in Assen for the Dutch GP which will be staged next Saturday, June 24th.
Rider´s comments:
Dani Pedrosa:
What can I say? I think today was not my day. We were very unlucky at the first start but even in that moment I was the lucky one because I was totally unhurt after the crash, and thats the most important thing. But also the other lucky thing was that I could take part in the second race. We had some more problems at the restart with Vermeulen and the race was restarted again. So I think there was too much confusion this caused me to lose a little bit of concentration – and I was nervous too by now. I made a bad start second time round but I was actually quite calm to make my way through the field and overtake one by one. But then I crashed – I dont know why because I was not going so fast at that moment. Anyway, we must look forward to the next race and try to get a better result there.
Nicky Hayden:
Sure I want to win, but Im kinda happy with being able to run that pace today because Ive struggled a bit all weekend. I was 10th in the warm up this morning and 10th on Friday, and I knew today that when the light went out I really had to find some speed and really dig in to recover as best I could. So I was really happy to be able to raise my game. There was a lot of drama at the first corner, but I just had to stay focussed, thats my job, and luckily it seems like everyones ok, which is really important. Rossi was playing today he had more in the tank and was saving his tyres so I knew it was going to be hard to stay with him at the end of the race, especially the hotter it got out there because that made traction an even bigger issue. I wanted to be smart and stay consistent today I cant afford to have any off-days. Somewhere along the way consistency wont be enough though – I want to win some races.
Shuhei Aoyama:
Its been a shame. We had some problems this morning with the first bike and I had to take the start of the race with bike number two, so even if the set-up was the same, the bike didnt work the same way. I made a good start but I lost some positions in the first corner; I guess its because I still have what happened in Turkey in my mind. On lap number four, my bikes steering closed in the last left-hander of the circuit and that was the end of my race. Im sorry for my team, for Alberto and for Repsol because the race here was like a home race for them.
Bradley Smith:
Im happy in a sense, I did a good race but Im not happy for missing out on the points. I had a good start and did a good first lap, and I learned a lot from the first lap. I realised how hard youve got to push; the limit that you got to beat, and that if youre in the top group its much easier than when your fighting with people that arent as fast so Im happy in that way but disappointed because I didnt get any points.
Standings:
MotoGP
- V.Rossi (Yamaha) 41’31.237
- N.Hayden (Honda) + 4.509
- K.Roberts (KR) + 9.174
- J.Hopkins (Suzuki) + 13.465
- C.Edwards (Yamaha) + 22.548
World Championship
- N.Hayden, 119 points
- L.Capirossi, 99
- V.Rossi, 90
- M.Melandri, 89
- D.Pedrosa, 86
250
- A.Dovizioso (Honda) 41’28.179
- J.Lorenzo (Aprilia) 0.095
- A. de Angelis (Aprilia) 0.422
- R.Locatelli (Aprilia) 1.587
- A.Debón (Aprilia) 3.136
World Championship
- A.Dovizioso, 133 points
- J.Lorenzo, 108
- Y.Takahashi, 89
- H.Aoyama, 85
- R.Locatelli, 80
10. S.Aoyama, 34
125
- A.Bautista (Aprilia) 40’56.370
- H.Faubel (Aprilia) 0.187
- S.Gadea (Aprilia) 0.423
- M.Pasini (Aprilia) 1.094
- L.Pesek (Derbi) 2.235
16. B.Smith (Honda) + 36.238
125 World Championship
- A.Bautista, 144 points
- M.Kallio, 88
- M.Pasini, 84
- H.Faubel, 87
- S.Gadea, 83
