MotoGP Championship Tightens

by Vicki Schouten

The fight for the MotoGP championship is far from over. Atleast, that's if defending number one plate holder Jorge Lorenzo has anything to say about it.  The Factory Yamaha rider completed the perfect race at the Misano circuit in Italy last Sunday, grabbing the holeshot from points leader Casey Stoner and holding off the Repsol Honda rider, crossing the line 7.299 seconds clear of second place finisher Dani Pedrosa, and a full 11.967 seconds ahead of Stoner. "This was a special victory," explained Lorenzo, who had been fighting off difficulties in the last few rounds, "the championship is not over." 

Stoner, who had won the last three MotoGP races, was struggling to recover from the travel period between Indianapolis and Misano, as well as a lingering neck injury he received in Assen, "We had the bike to win the race today," explained Stoner, "I just started to get tired and there was no way I could keep the pace." 

After attempting to challenge Lorenzo for the first half the race, Stoner was eventually overtaken by Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa who crossed the line in second, leaving the current world championship points leader to settle for third. 

A three-way battle for fourth entertained the crowd as Honda's Marco Simoncelli worked his way through the grid from 7th position, challenging Yamaha's Ben Spies and Repsol Honda's Andrea Dovizioso in a tight three way battle that saw the Italian Simoncelli come out on top. Although quite pleased with his 4th place result, Simoncelli only wishes he'd had a better start that might have afforded him the opportunity to challenge for a podium position, "I'm satisfied with this result as 4th place was a realistic target," explained the Italian, "but I'm a little bit angry because I made a mistake off the start."

Spies, who struggled in morning warm-up, made a big change to the motorcycle before the race and it took him a while to get used to the new settings. By the time he got comfortable with the changes and closed on Rossi, he wasn't quite able to overtake the Honda riders, leaving the popular Texan to settle for 6th place position. 

Casey Stoner continues to lead the MotoGP championship by 35 points over Jorge Lorenzo. With 5 races remaining the battle for the championship is tightening. The next round of the MotoGP series takes place at Motorland Aragon on September 16. 

Current MotoGP World Standings after 13/18 races:

1. Casey Stoner, Respol Honda, 259 Points;

2. Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing, 224;

3. Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda, 185;

4. Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda, 150;

5. Ben Spies, Yamaha Factory Racing, 135;

6. Valentino Rossi, Marlboro Ducati, 133;

7. Nicky Hayden, Marlboro Ducati, 105;

8. Marco Simoncelli, San Carlo Gresini Honda, 93;

9. Colin Edwards, Monster Tech 3 Yamaha, 87;

10. Hiroshi Aoyama, San Carlo Gresini Honda, 82;

11. Hector Barbera, Mapfre Aspar Ducati, 69;

12. Alvara Bautista, Rizla Suzuki, 57;

13. Karl Abraham, Cardion AB Ducati, 50;

14. Tony Elias, LCR Honda, 47;

15. Cal Crutchlow, Monster Tech 3 Yamaha, 45;

16. Randy de Puniet, Pramac Ducati, 29;

17. Loris Capirossi, Pramac Ducati, 29;

18. John Hopkins, Rizla Suzuki, 6;

19. Kousuke Akiyoshi, San Carlo Gresini Honda, 3