Henny Ray Abrams | July 4, 2010
MONTMELO, SPAIN, JULY 4 – Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo ride into the record books continues.The Majorcan became the first Yamaha rider since Eddie Lawson in 1986 to win three in a row from the pole when he dispatched with an early challenge from Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso to claim his fifth victory of the year in front of a partisan crowd of over 81,000 on a boiling day at the Circuit of Catalunya.The battle ended when Dovizioso crashed entering turn ten on the 15th of 25 laps. That gave Lorenzo a clear path to the checkered flag, which he took with a wheelie and 4.754 secs. margin of victory.Lorenzo, who is from Majorca, but lives in nearby Barcelona, extended his championship lead to a whopping 52 points, 165 to 113 over Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), second today. Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner was third.Both ruined their chances of victory by running off the track in turn one. Pedrosa got the jump on the field but ran off in turn one at the very start. Pedrosa explained that the bike gave him a headshake down the front and when he got to turn one there were no brakes. After he ran wide, he made sure to rejoin the race without gaining an advantage. Stoner would run wide in one while in third on the fifth lap. Once Dovizioso crashed, ten laps later, it was these two fighting for second.Try as he might, Stoner couldn’t find an opening and had to settle for third. The podium was the same as at Assen eight days earlier.LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet’s gamble on the harder rear Bridgestone option didn’t pan out. He wasn’t able to keep pace early and the second half of the race was no better. Still, his fourth place finish was the best of the season.The same could be said of Alvaro Bautista. The Rizla Suzuki-riding Spaniard, who’s been having a difficult season, collected by far his best MotoGP finish. His previous best this year was tenth in Jerez.Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Ben Spies nearly caught Bautista, after a slow start, but came up short by .142 secs.Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) had his best result of the season in seventh, comfortably in front of Ducati Marlboro’s Nicky Hayden. Hayden had struggled in practice and qualifying and didn’t find the right combination for the race.San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Marco Melandri rode to a gritty ninth. The Italian had separated his shoulder at Assen and skipped the race.Hector Barbera (Paginas Amarillas Ducati) was tenth, followed by Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards.
Results:
1.Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)
2. Dani Pedrosa (Honda)
3. Casey Stoner (Ducati)
4. Randy de Puniet (Honda)
5. Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki)
6. Ben Spies (Yamaha)
7. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki)
8. Nicky Hayden (Ducati)
9. Marco Melandri (Honda)
10. Hector Barbera (Ducati)
11. Colin Edwards (Yamaha)
12. Mika Kallio (Ducati)
13. Kousuke Akiyoshi (Honda)
14. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda)
15. Wataru Yoshikawa (Yamaha)
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.
