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Pedrosa sizzles in Germany
Source: Agencies |
July 18, 2011, Monday
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SPAIN'S Dani Pedrosa sealed his return from injury by winning the German Grand Prix yesterday while compatriot and MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo snatched second place for Yamaha at the final corner.
Australian Casey Stoner, who had started on pole position and led for a while, finished third and his overall championship lead over Lorenzo was cut to 15 points with nine races left.
Pedrosa's win was his first podium finish since he won in Portugal in May, before he broke his collarbone in a collision with Italian Marco Simoncelli at the French Grand Prix that same month.
The Catalan, also last year's winner at Sachsenring ahead of Lorenzo and Stoner, missed three races after two rounds of surgery and only came back at this month's Italian round.
"(It was an) unbelievable race because the pace was so high all the time," said Pedrosa.
The Spaniard had seized the lead briefly at the start and fought a three-way battle with both Stoner and Lorenzo taking turns at the front before Pedrosa again led for the last nine laps.
"Finally a perfect result. I didn't expect it at all," he said, thanking his fans, family and doctors. "They know how hard it was for me this time. To come back and already win a race is an unbelievable feeling."
Lorenzo, who crossed the line 1.477 seconds adrift of Pedrosa, had led for eight laps before Pedrosa made his telling move and fell back to third with six laps remaining.
The champion was delighted with his day anyway after surging past Stoner with the checkered flag waiting. "From the middle of the race I got tired very soon in my left hand, so I don't know where I could find the force to keep pushing to the end."
Stoner, on his seventh successive podium, said he had struggled throughout the race. "At the beginning of the race we just felt we wanted to warm the tires up slowly and not overheat them like we did in Mugello. So I took my time, came through when I thought I was faster.
"I got to the front, tried to push for some laps and realized that ... it was going to be hard to make an advantage and decided just to drop my pace a little bit.
"We had the pace there but we just didn't have any confidence."
The next round is at Laguna Seca in California on July 24.
Italy's Andrea Divizioso was fourth for Honda with American Ben Spies fifth for Yamaha.
Italian Valentino Rossi finished ninth for Ducati after starting 16th, his lowest grid position since 2007.
Meanwhile, both Lorenzo and Stoner have ruled out taking part in this year's Japanese GP due to radiation fears.
The Honda-owned Twin Ring Motegi circuit is around 130km from the Fukushima nuclear plant, whose cooling systems were crippled by an earthquake and tsunami in March that led to meltdowns in three reactors and radiation leakages.
The Japanese race was originally scheduled for April 24 but has been rescheduled for October 2.
Australian Casey Stoner, who had started on pole position and led for a while, finished third and his overall championship lead over Lorenzo was cut to 15 points with nine races left.
Pedrosa's win was his first podium finish since he won in Portugal in May, before he broke his collarbone in a collision with Italian Marco Simoncelli at the French Grand Prix that same month.
The Catalan, also last year's winner at Sachsenring ahead of Lorenzo and Stoner, missed three races after two rounds of surgery and only came back at this month's Italian round.
"(It was an) unbelievable race because the pace was so high all the time," said Pedrosa.
The Spaniard had seized the lead briefly at the start and fought a three-way battle with both Stoner and Lorenzo taking turns at the front before Pedrosa again led for the last nine laps.
"Finally a perfect result. I didn't expect it at all," he said, thanking his fans, family and doctors. "They know how hard it was for me this time. To come back and already win a race is an unbelievable feeling."
Lorenzo, who crossed the line 1.477 seconds adrift of Pedrosa, had led for eight laps before Pedrosa made his telling move and fell back to third with six laps remaining.
The champion was delighted with his day anyway after surging past Stoner with the checkered flag waiting. "From the middle of the race I got tired very soon in my left hand, so I don't know where I could find the force to keep pushing to the end."
Stoner, on his seventh successive podium, said he had struggled throughout the race. "At the beginning of the race we just felt we wanted to warm the tires up slowly and not overheat them like we did in Mugello. So I took my time, came through when I thought I was faster.
"I got to the front, tried to push for some laps and realized that ... it was going to be hard to make an advantage and decided just to drop my pace a little bit.
"We had the pace there but we just didn't have any confidence."
The next round is at Laguna Seca in California on July 24.
Italy's Andrea Divizioso was fourth for Honda with American Ben Spies fifth for Yamaha.
Italian Valentino Rossi finished ninth for Ducati after starting 16th, his lowest grid position since 2007.
Meanwhile, both Lorenzo and Stoner have ruled out taking part in this year's Japanese GP due to radiation fears.
The Honda-owned Twin Ring Motegi circuit is around 130km from the Fukushima nuclear plant, whose cooling systems were crippled by an earthquake and tsunami in March that led to meltdowns in three reactors and radiation leakages.
The Japanese race was originally scheduled for April 24 but has been rescheduled for October 2.
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