Today, Sunday, at the Japanese track of Motegi, the Repsol rider Pedrosa got his first podium finish in the top category with Bridgestone tyres, and at the same time his first with the new Honda engine that uses pneumatic valves. Pedrosa, who set the 5th best time yesterday in classification, confirmed his hopes of fighting for the podium in the Japanese GP after setting the second best time in the this morning`s warm up.
The race began with Stoner in the lead, as always setting a very fast pace. Pedrosa had a good start from the second row and he completed his first lap in second position. Behind Pedrosa was his teammate Hayden, then Lorenzo and Rossi. This group of five quickly opened up a gap between themselves and the rest of the field. On the second lap, Pedrosa moved to the front followed closely by Stoner. The two began to get away from the other riders and only Rossi was able to keep up with them, he left Hayden and Lorenzo trailing in his wake.
So the three riders that have been fighting for the title this season were out in the front alone and they continued to set a very fast pace. On the sixth lap Stoner overtook Pedrosa when he braked at the end of the home straight, in this manouevre he forced the Repsol rider to open his line. Rossi also took advantage of this on the next corner. From that moment on Pedrosa gradually lost contact with the two leading riders, watching how they got away from him without being able to do anything about it. Safe in third position Pedrosa completed the rest of the race making sure that Lorenzo did not get past him, the Spanish rider caught him up later after overtaking Hayden. On the last lap Lorenzo hit the rear part of Pedrosa`s bike with his front wheel when he tried to overtake him in a desperate move. Fortunately Pedrosa stayed on his motorbike and crossed the finishing line in third place. Hayden, after suffering from tyre problems, finished a race which he was expecting to do better in, in 5th position after starting in third position on the grid
Valentino Rossi`s victory meant that the fight for the world title is now over because the Italian was proclaimed World MotoGP Champion.
Simón almost on the podium in 25cc., and falls for the two Team Repsol KTM 125cc riders on the first lap
Julián Simón put in his best performance of the season at Motegi and at the same time his best in 250cc. The Team Repsol KTM 250cc rider, who started from the second row of the grid after setting the 7th fastest time, moved up two places after the start but ended the first lap in 6th position. After getting past Kallio, Espargaró and Aoyama, Simón was in 3rd position and he went after Debón – second – and Simoncelli the leader, who had both set a blistering pace to get away from the rest of the field. He caught and passed Debón on the third lap, he then caught Simoncelli on the eighth, although the faster top speed and greater acceleration on the Italian`s Gilera meant that he never really had a chance to overtake him. Halfway through the race Bautista, who had been way down the field, upped his pace and as he overtook his rivals he finally caught Simón up. At the same time the Repsol rider was not able to keep up with Bautista`s Aprilia, and he was overtaken with a few laps to go, as well as by Debón again. In the end, 4th position for Simón at Motegi, just 7 tenths from what would have been his first podium finish.
The 125cc race lasted just a couple of corners for the two Team Repsol KTM riders. Marc Márquez who satrted from the fourth row of the grid with the 13th best time made an excellent start, ending up 6th after the first curve. But when he reached corner number 2, a left-hander, the young Repsol rider took it too quickly and he was not able to avoid colliding with Espargaró, both of them ending up on the ground. His teammate Esteve Rabat was not able to complete the first lap either since the Italian Iannone fell in front of the Repsol rider when they were entering the corner just before the finishing line, and he also ended up on the ground trying to avoid him.
Dani Pedrosa, 3rd at 4.866 sec >> Audio
“Third place was not so bad today, though of course I tried to be faster. I have had some difficult races recently and some injuries, so it was a good feeling to be competitive again. I wasn’t so fast at the beginning of the race, I expected to be faster. Later on I was able to improve my pace, my times got better lap by lap, so I am happy about that. My pitboard told me that Lorenzo was coming, I got ‘plus zero’, ‘plus zero’, ‘plus zero’. I expected him to get faster because he was chasing me. On the last lap he touched me but I was able to stay on the bike. My thanks to Honda and to Bridgestone. Also congratulations to Valentino [Rossi, who won today’s race to seal his sixth premier-class crown], he rode a great race.”
Nicky Hayden, 5th at 24.593 sec >> Audio
“I got a pretty good start and was certainly in the mix there for a couple of laps but they just had a little bit more pace everywhere. I tried to make up for it a few times on the brakes, but I just didn’t have the pace. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I had high expectations, I thought maybe we could get in there and find something extra for the race. We rode about as hard as we could and it got harder as the tyres went away. That pack was coming for me, I just tried to not make any mistakes, keep my rhythm and hold them off. I knew there was a couple of guys chasing but I didn’t know there was that many coming for me. The bandana I wore on the grid, some fan gave it to me yesterday. I wore it for qualifying and got on the front row, so I figured, try it again. Congratulations to Valentino [Rossi, who won today’s race to claim his eighth world title]. I know what it takes to win one and it takes a bad dude to win eight of them. Much respect.”
Julián Simón, 4th at 9.151 sec >> Audio
“I was very close to the podium. This was a very good race, I enjoyed myself a lot, which is what this is all about. We had a good pace in all the practice sessions and I knew that I could be up with the leaders. The start was a little difficult since I was left on the outside on the first corner and I lost a few positions. But I quickly moved up to second. I knew that my reference was Simoncelli if I wanted to get away from the big group and to avoid being overtaken, above all because I lacked a little engine power. I was able to do this and I spent a few laps behind Simoncelli until I made some mistakes because I was riding at the very limit. Bautista arrived and following him was even more complicated since his bike accelerated better. At the end, I was fighting with Debón, but he had more options because his pace was better. And when I was fighting with him I made another mistake which definitively stopped me from fighting for third position. I am happy with the result, for the team and for my work in the race since I fought as you have to.”
Esteve Rabat, fell >> Audio
“This was a pity, because after working hard the whole weekend, even though we were not near the front of the grid, I was able to make a good start and it seemed that we could be with the fastest. But Iannone fell and I was not able to do anything to avoid his motorbike. These are things that happen in racing and now we can do nothing about it. Luckily on the physical side of things nothing has happened. I only got hit on the knee.”
Marc Márquez, fell >> Audio
“This was a pity, since the whole weekend we had been making more and more progress. In the warm-up we made some tests with the race in mind and these worked out well, and it seemed that we had things clear. But at the start, when the tyres are still cold there are always riders that touch and fall, and this time it was me. It was my fault. I made a good start but on the second corner I fell and I hit Pol [Espargaró]. I hope he is OK and now I am already thinking about Australia and to go there in an optimistic frame of mind.”
