Dani Pedrosa became today 250cc World Champion in the same venue as he did exactly one year ago. Alberto Puig´s pupil, despite doing rather average practice sessions due to the physical problems he´s been having since the Japanese Grand Prix, made an intelligent race taking only the necessary risks to win the race and the title. The race started with Stoner, Pedrosa´s rival in the fight for the title, starting like a whirlwind at the lead of the pack, trying to open a gap. The Australian was taking a risk lapping on cold tyres, trying to escape and crashed in the fourth lap, thus definitively loosing his chances to be in the fight for the title. Pedrosa stayed in the lead, together with also Repsol rider Sebastián Porto, and only the victory would give him mathematically the title. Any other result would leave the celebrations for Turkey or Valencia. From the sixth lap, Porto and Pedrosa opened a gap, both knowing that the rest of the race would be a duel between them. In the back, Lorenzo secured the third step of the podium and Dovizioso, Aoyama and Barberá, further in the back, were fighting for the fourth place. Randy De Puniet, again with brake problems, kept himself in a solitary seventh place until the finish line. And in the lead, the laps were passing by without Pedrosa trying to overtake Porto. In the last lap, Pedrosa took the risk and entered the last corner before the finish line very fast, in the slipstream of the Argentinean, allowing him to pass Porto right under the chequered flag. Three Repsol riders on the podium and victory including championship title for Dani Pedrosa; a perfect weekend in the quarter-of-a-litre class.
The premier class race fulfilled all expectations and the riders who had shown themselves in better shape yesterday where those who played the leading roles today, with Marco Melandri as a surprise guest. Repsol rider Max Biaggi, who had set the second fastest time this morning during the warm-up, thus achieving a one-two result at the warm-up for the Repsol Honda Team on the time sheets -Hayden had been fastest -, lost every chance to fight for the victory or a place on the podium after only a few laps, when the tyres of his Honda lost grip and he crashed, though lightly but enough to be unable to rejoin the race. In the back, a group of four escaped riders, with Hayden in the lead, followed by Rossi, Melandri and Checa was moving on quickly. Although the first two of them managed to take an advantage of more than one and a half second, with eight laps to go, the four riders had closed-up again, with Rossi in the lead. The fight for the second place between Hayden and Melandri allowed Rossi to escape five laps before the end of the race and once Hayden had managed to overtake Melandri, it was already too late to try to fight for the victory that went to Rossi, followed by the Repsol rider, with Carlos Checa third after overtaking Melandri in the last lap.
In the race of the eight-of-a-litre class, Luthi started pushing very hard leaving the rest of the pack with hardly any chance to fight for the victory. The Swiss rider escaped from the first lap leaving a large group of riders behind, who began the fight for the remaining steps of the podium from the very start as well. Repsol rider Héctor Faubel, together with Koyama, Kallio, Talmacsi, Pasini, Simoncelli and Rodríguez among others, held a nice fight, lap after lap, waiting for the end of the race to start the final attack. Faubel, who even managed to take the lead of the group, thus being second of the race, finally had to settle for the sixth place; a good result considering the pain he´s been suffering after the crash he had yesterday afternoon, caused by another rider during the qualifying practice, that forced him to take the start with an infiltration. Joan Olivé, who was starting from the third row of the grid, got stuck at the start and despite spending almost the whole race making up positions could only finish fifteenth. Sergio Gadea, who started from very back positions, improved throughout the race, finally managing to finish ninth.
Rider´s comments
MotoGP. Nicky Hayden
2nd, 4109.549:
That was a tough race and I enjoyed it. Valentino was setting a good pace so I just sat there. It all felt good running at that speed – just nice and comfortable. A couple of times Rossi picked up the pace and I could respond. Then the others caught up and me and Marco battled a bit and just gave a slight advantage to Valentino. You can´t give a guy like him a second round here with a few laps to go. The team gave me a great bike today. It was really comfortable to ride. I wanted more today. The way things were going it felt like a win wasn´t outta´ the question. We´ve got two more cracks at it. The season´s almost over and I want another W.
MotoGP. Max Biaggi,
crashed out:
It is very hard to explain my disappointment. To sit back in the garage after crashing out of the race so early and watch the race on TV is so hard when I know I could have been up at the front fighting with the leaders. This morning the bike felt much better and it was good to ride with Nicky – we were both fast. In the race I just lost the rear of the bike at turn four. One moment I was braking for the corner the next moment the bike as on its side. That´s as much as I can say. I´m really speechless with disappointment..
250. Dani Pedrosa
1st, 3918.195:
Its been a fantastic day both for having won the race here in Australia, and obviously for regaining the title. Its been a great satisfaction, and winning in Phillip Island has been even more special. Not many people expected me to win the title today, but we have done our job, knowing how to make the best out of Stoners crash. Ive made an intelligent and conservative race. From Stoners crash, I decided to lap the whole race behind Porto, and towards the end, since the team saw me skidding a couple of times, they decided to show me the OK board for the second place. Porto was very fast in the corners, but my bike was doing very well too, so my plan for the end was getting Sebas slipstream to try to overtaking him. If it worked it would be great and if not, being second wouldnt be a bad result either. There was no need to risk more than necessary. Afraid of not getting the slipstream well, I made a little mistake in the last corner. I got too close and had to get out earlier than planned. It was the first time during the whole race that I went out of the slipstream and I noticed that the bike wasnt as fast as I thought, but fortunately I was able to overtake him by only some thousands of a second. I want to thank everybody, especially my team they have been working really hard -, all those who have been always supporting me and the fans. They also deserve it.
250. Sebastián Porto
2nd, 3918.222:
I´m happy because the race went very well. At the beginning it was a little hard, because the bike didn´t get away well, but then I soon recovered. When I got into first place, I tried to push hard, but halfway through the race I saw that I couldn´t break away from Dani, so I decided to slow it down a little. Just a few laps from the end, I cranked the pace up once again, but I couldn´t get away, because his bike was quicker than mine. I´m both happy and disappointed because he overtook me on the finish line, and you feel powerless. It´s a shame because we worked hard during the race and throughout the whole weekend, but the positive thing is that the bike is going well and we are competitive once more.
250. Hiroshi Aoyama6th, 3943.067: I cant be happy with the race Ive made. This is a very complicated circuit and I havent managed to feel well throughout the weekend. I havent been able to improve position at the start and I havent been able to keep the pace of the race head. Im a bit disillusioned because I like this circuit and I was hoping to do better, but Im also very happy for Danis title. It was complicated but once again he has proved what he is able to do.
250. Randy De Puniet
7th, 3955.469:
It´s turning into a bad season for us. This weekend we had a lot of problems in the set-up. We couldn´t find a solution and in the race it was difficult to keep up the pace and pick up positions from ninth on the grid. I would like to finish the season with a good result, so let´s see if in Turkey we can have luck on our side.
125. Héctor Faubel
6th, 3803.297:
It was a very hard-fought race and difficult for everybody, our times were all very close, and so there was a constant battle in every corner. I could feel my shoulder injury from yesterday´s crash. I´m going to rest now to get back to 100% for next week.
125. Sergio Gadea
9th, 3810.898: I started from way back, and it´s hard to have a good race from there. During the qualifying sessions I had several problems which we resolved in the warm up, so I knew I could do a decent race. I fought back until I got into the second group, and I couldn´t get any further up, because the next group was too far away.
Track conditions
- Weather: sunny
- Air: 16º
- Asphalt: 20º-25º
- Humidity: 34%-36%
- Wind: 3 Km/h
Tyre´s choice
- Max Biaggi: Medium – Medium
- Nicky Hayden: Medium – Medium
- Sebastián Porto: Soft – Medium
- Randy De Puniet: Soft – Medium
- Dani Pedrosa: Soft – Medium
- Hiroshi Aoyama: Soft – Medium
- Héctor Faubel: Hard – Medium
- Sergio Gadea: Hard – Medium
Standings
125cc
- T. Luthi 3´0.352
- T. Koyama +2.663
- M. Simoncelli +2.665
- M. Pasini +2.673
- M. Kallio +2.860
- H. Faubel +2.945
9. S. Gadea +10.546
15. J. Olivé +15.048
23. M. Túnez +´7.317
25. J. Carchano +´1.312
World Championship
- T. Luthi 224 puntos
- M. Kallio 212
- G. Talmacsi 165
- M. Simoncelli 156
- M. Pasini 147
9. H. Faubel 100
12. S. Gadea 68
14. J. Olivé 51
28. J. Carchano 28
250cc.
- D. Pedrosa 3´8.195
- S. Porto +0.027
- J. Lorenzo +8.674
- H. Barberá +24.838
- A. Dovizioso +24.868
- H. Aoyama +24.872
- R. De Puniet +37.274
- A. Debon +56.602
World Championship
- D. Pedrosa 264
- C. Stoner 213
- A, Dovizioso 171
- H. Aoyama 154
- S. Porto 152
7. R. De Puniet 130
13. A. Debón 58
MotoGP
- V. Rossi 4´8.542
- N. Hayden +1.007
- C. Checa +4.215
- M. Melandri +4.232
- S. Gibernau +14.088
M. Biaggi caída
World Championship
- V. Rossi 331
- N. Hayden 170
- M. Melandri 170
- C. Edwards 162
- M. Biaggi 159
