Rossi Over Lorenzo in a Classic

Henny Ray Abrams | June 14, 2009

Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi passed teammate Jorge Lorenzo in the final corner to win the Grand Prix for the ages on a steamingly hot day on the Circuit de Catalunya north of Barcelona, Spain.The often stated statistic of no passes on the final in the 800 era was shattered when the lead changed hands several times on the last lap. The decisive pass came in the final turn 13 that leads onto the front straight, a place where passing is never done. But no one told Rossi. And when he dove up the inside of Lorenzo the Spaniard had no answer for Rossi and the crowd of 88,502 that came to cheer on the Mallorcan couldn’t believe it.The race, held in 100-degree weather, was the best since last year’s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix and one of the best ever. An instant classic.”Here is the last breath to the last corner and the last overtake was fantastic,” Rossi said before dedicating the race to his longtime crew chief Jeremy Burgess, whose mother passed away yesterday.Not only was the finish close, but so are the points, the closest they’ve ever been at this point in the season. Six races into the season three riders are tied at 106 – Rossi, Lorenzo, and Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner, who was exhausted after holding off Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso for third. Rossi leads the championship by virtue of more second places than the other two. All three riders have two victories.”Halfway through I gave up, I was actually dead, ” Stoner said after explaining that he’d gotten gradually sicker over the course of the weekend. “The last two laps I put a bit more effort in.”Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi finished fifth after passing Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa on the 17th of 25 laps. Pedrosa did well to finish sixth, riding in extreme pain two weeks after two incidents on the Italian GP weekend.Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards wasted a second-row start and had to battle back to the front. He finished seventh after passing LCR Honda’s Randy De Puniet.Pramac Racing’s Mika Kallio fought off a late charge from Ducati Marlboro’s Nicky Hayden to take ninth with Hayden 10th – his best finish of the year.Rizla Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen was 11th in front of San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alex De Angelis.Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s James Toseland was alone in 13th, as was Hayate Racing’s Marco Melandri in 14th. Grupo Francisco Hernando’s Sete Gibernau was the final points finisher.

MotoGP:

1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha)

2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)

3. Casey Stoner (Ducati)

4. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda)

5. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki)

6. Dani Pedrosa (Honda)

7. Colin Edwards (Yamaha)

8. Randy De Puniet (Honda)

9. Mika Kallio (Ducati)

10. Nicky Hayden (Ducati)

Henny Ray Abrams | Contributing Editor

Abrams is the longest-serving contributor at Cycle News. Over the course of his 35-some years of writing and shooting photos, he’s covered events from MotoGP to the Motocross World Championship - and everything in between.