The Repsol rider achieves in Japan Spain’s 400th victory in motorcycling. Stoner saves a delicate situation and gets a valuable third place. Dovizioso fifth despite receiving a ‘ride through’.
The Repsol Honda Team rider, Dani Pedrosa, added today to his track record a new victory in the premiere category, the 400th of Spanish Motorcycling history and his third win of the season. It was a chaotic race, where his team mates Stoner and Dovizioso were out of the fight for victory —when they were leading the race—, the first due to a problem with the brakes and the second due to a ‘ride through’ penalty after taking the start a bit early. Despite that, Stoner finished on the podium —third— and Dovizioso was fifth.
Dani Pedrosa’s relationship with Japan is undoubtedly very special. He has won races here both in 125c.c. and 250c.c., and in this very same track he suffered last year the injure that ended his chances to fight for the MotoGP title. Today, three days after turning 26, he received a present in the form of the victory in the premiere category, after a good start from fourth position, that placed him second in the first corner, at Casey Stoner’s wheel and in front of Andrea Dovizioso. The Australian soon took some advantage, setting a very fast pace from the second lap, the same lap where Dovizioso overtook Pedrosa.
Nevertheless, the situation changed dramatically when in the fourth lap, a strong jolt on the front of Casey Stoner’s Honda left him temporarily without brakes, forcing him to have an off. In the manoeuvre to go back on track he fell to the seventh place, leaving Dovizioso in front. A lead that only lasted one lap, because in the next he had to do the ‘ride-through’ penalty for getting ahead of the start.
From that moment on, Pedrosa found free track to achieve a new victory, the first of a Honda rider in his own circuit since 2004. The Spaniard of the Repsol Honda Team stood the initial pressure from Jorge Lorenzo to increase the pace a bit later, set the fastest lap of the race in the eleventh lap and secured the win with more than seven seconds over Lorenzo and 18 over Stoner.
The Championship leader improved four positions to get again on the podium and add another 16 points very valuable for the overall standings, which he leads with an advantage of 40 points. His team mate at the Repsol Honda Team, Andrea Dovizioso, went back to the track on tenth position after his penalty and recovered lost ground by overtaking Edwards, Aoyama and Elías. Benefiting from Bautista’s crash, he finished fighting during the last laps with Marco Simoncelli for the fourth place, but finally had to settle for the fifth position.
The next stop of the World Championship will be in two week’s time at the Australian circuit of Phillip Island, Casey Stoner’s home race. The Repsol rider will have his first opportunity to secure the title, as he has 40 points of advantage and there are still 75 up for grabs —he will need to score 10 points more than Jorge Lorenzo—.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
1st – 42:47.481
“I’m super happy with this victory, for the team that has been working so well, for HRC because this is the first win in Motegi with the Repsol Honda Team and for myself because it is the first time I’ve won here in MotoGP after doing so in 125cc and 250cc. The race was strange at the beginning with Stoner and Dovi really fast on the first few laps, they pulled away and then Casey [Stoner] had some problem and Andrea [Dovizioso] had a ride through due to his jump start. I was alone in front with Lorenzo very close, but I tried to put my head down and push every lap to pull away. I’m really happy because at this track I’ve had a mix of good and bad results and some bad injuries, so come back one year later and win in MotoGP is fantastic”.
Andrea Dovizioso >> Audio
5th at 23.691 sec.
“I cannot believe it. I have never had a false start in my career and it happened today, in a race where I felt that I could fight for the win! I don’t know why the bike moved a little before the green light but I realised it immediately and expected the ride through. In the first laps I had a good feeling and I was pushing hard because I knew I was the only rider up there with soft tyres, in my opinion this was the right choice today and I was catching Casey [Stoner]. Then Casey went wide and I found myself leading the race, but unfortunately it didn’t last long. When I rejoined the race after the ride through I pushed hard but it’s not the same as when you are fighting for the victory. In the last five laps the rear tyre started to drop off and I was no longer able to be fast in the middle of the corner. Meanwhile, Simoncelli had recovered and was behind me, I did all I could to defend my position but I wasn’t able to. I’m really disappointed as I’m sure today I could have fought for the win, we can see the final gap to Dani [Pedrosa] is similar to the time it took to do the ride through.
I’m sorry for the team, we did a great job and I felt competitive. It’s also a shame for the Championship points, anyway I look forward to Phillip Island because once again I showed to be fast”.
Casey Stoner >> Audio
3rd at 18.380 sec.
“The whole weekend had gone so well for us and even the start of the race we got a great start and everything felt good in the first laps and I was able to pull a small advantage. Andrea [Dovizioso] was riding very well on the soft tyre compound and we knew ours would work well towards the end of the race, so the pace we had at that stage I was very comfortable with. As I came out of the back straight I got a wobble on the bike, we hit the big bump and as the front came down it practically shook the bars out of my hands, I was lucky to hold on. I went for the brakes and there was nothing there so I had to pump them up a couple of times, when I pumped it the second time if flicked me up over the front and I was lucky to stay on the bike. Thankfully I avoided hitting the wall at the end of the gravel trap but this pretty much ended our race. It’s really disappointing as we had the bike to win here today, but in the end I guess I should be thankful that we were able to climb back up to a podium spot after other peoples misfortunes and mistakes on track. I’m looking forward to going to Phillip Island now and to see what we an achieve there, I’ve got a Championship lead to protect but I also want to win races which is why I’m disappointed here today”.
