Pedrosa unstoppable in first practice

 

 

The Honda rider, fresh from his third win of the year at Indianapolis last weekend, was at the front for the majority of the session.

Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) nosed ahead by 0.076s for a spell, but Pedrosa soon reasserted his authority. Although Lorenzo improved his pace several times after that, it was only ever by a few fractions of a second - and in any case Pedrosa moved well out of reach with two minutes to go when he set a 1m34.772s lap.

 

Then as the chequered flag fell, his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso came through to take second from Lorenzo by 0.06s and complete a Honda one-two.

 

Yamaha filled the next four places - Lorenzo leading his factory team-mate Valentino Rossi and Tech 3 pair Colin Edwards and Ben Spies.

It was a tough session for Ducati. Nicky Hayden was outside the top 10 for most of the hour, jumped up to fourth briefly, and ended up seventh, while his team-mate Casey Stoner struggled with the bike and was only eighth.

Gresini Honda's Marco Melandri and Suzuki's Loris Capirossi filled the final top 10 positions, with Hector Barbera in the top five for Aspar Ducati early on but pushed back to 11th in the end.

Pedrosa pulls away for Mugello win

Reigning seven time MotoGP champion Rossi missed his home race after fracturing his lower right leg in a Saturday morning highside and could be sidelined for months. 

Just before the start, Lorenzo held up a message for Fiat Yamaha team-mate Rossi saying "Everyone can feel pain, but not everyone can be a legend”, while the whole of the Ducati grandstand displayed the word “Vale” with red and white cards. 

Rossi himself then gave a message via telephone from hospital, which wasbroadcast over the circuit PA system to the fans. Rossi, who was watching on TV (see separate story), said he missed everyone and would be back soon. 

In Rossi's absence, Pedrosa converted pole into the race lead and simply rode into the distance, helped by nearest rivals Lorenzo and Dovizioso exchanging second place in the early stages. 

Pedrosa's lead over the Lorenzo/Dovizioso battle reached eight seconds, before the Spaniard put his factory RCV into cruise control to claim his ninth MotoGPvictory by 4.014sec. 

Lorenzo shook off Dovizioso in the closing stages to be the only rider to finish all four races this season on the podium, and the #99 now holds a 25 point lead over new nearest rival Pedrosa, with Rossi slipping to third. 

Dovizioso at least had the honour of being top Italian and standing on his home podium, after his third third-place of the year. 

On the podium, an unhappy Lorenzo - he later said he wanted to win to dedicate it to Rossi and couldn't understand his lack of pace - wore a “VR 46” t-shirt. 

 

The fight for fourth was the only contest to stay alive to the flag, with Marco Melandri, Randy de Puniet and 2009 Mugello winner Casey Stoner trading places for much of the race. 

Stoner secured fourth - his best result of the season - with a last lap pass on Melandri's Gresini Honda, while LCR Honda's de Puniet was left to settle for sixth, having led the group on the penultimate lap. 

Ben Spies, who ran as high as fourth in the early laps, lost touch with the trio ahead on the final lap, but seventh place was just the kind of solid race he needed after failing to reach the flag in the past two events. 

It will also do his chances of being called up to replace Rossi no harm at all, especially since Monster Yamaha Tech 3 tam-mate Colin Edwards - favourite for the temporary promotion - sunk back to 13th in the race. 

Rossi is likely to be replaced by Catalunya at the latest, which follows Silverstoneand Assen on July 4. 

Stoner was the only Ducati rider to finish after team-mate Nicky Hayden suffered his first DNF of the year, the American sliding out of sixth on lap six. Another Desmosedici rider, Mika Kallio, also failed to finish. 

Behind Spies, the top ten was completed by Aleix Espargaro, Marco Simoncelli and Suzuki's Loris Capirossi. 

Pramac's Espargaro claimed his best MotoGP finish, while Honda Gresini's Simoncelli charged through the field after running off track on the opening lap.  

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Lorenzo wins US GP, Pedrosa falls from lead

 

The Fiat Yamaha rider claimed his sixth win from nine races after nearest title rivalDani Pedrosa crashed out of the lead on lap 12 of 32, just as Lorenzo was beginning to put the Repsol Honda rider under pressure. 

Pedrosa had shot from fourth on the grid to first with a brave outside-line over the crest into the turn two hairpin, with Lorenzo in third behind Ducati's Casey Stonerby the end of the first lap. 

Stoner surrendered second to Lorenzo when he ran wide on lap six, just as Pedrosa looked in danger of breaking clear at the front. 

Lorenzo then began to claw time back from his fellow Spaniard, and was 0.6sec behind when Pedrosa saw his hopes of victory end in a cloud of dust after a lowside fall. 

The accident marked Pedrosa's first non-finish of the year and has at least delayed his hopes of scoring three wins in one season for the very first time in MotoGP. Pedrosa will have plenty more chances to do that, but the title damage may prove irreparable. 

Thereafter, Lorenzo slowly edged away from Stoner - who backed off after several front-end scares - to win by 3.517sec. 

The #99 celebrated by changing into a NASA-type spacesuit and doing a mock moonwalk before planting his Lorenzo Land flag at the top of the corkscrew. 

 

US MotoGP: Title ‘difficult’ admits Dani Pedrosa

 

The Spaniard got his trademark fast start to grab the holeshot and led for the opening 12 laps.

But just when he started to come under intense pressure from Spanish rival Jorge Lorenzo, he lost the front of his factory RC212V at turn five.

Pedrosa went hurtling into a trackside air fence but was able to walk away unscathed.
Unfortunately his title hopes suffered a much more serious blow as his blunder left Lorenzo unchallenged to scorch to his sixth win in nine races.

Lorenzo heads into the summer break with a comfortable 72-point lead in the championship and Pedrosa admitted he needed a miracle to get back into serious contention.

"For sure it is very difficult. Jorge with his results he is doing very good and he is three races ahead, so it is difficult.

"I have to try to do the best results possible, “said a downbeat Pedrosa, who was on course to win back-to-back races in MotoGP for the first time in his career.

Lorenzo had taken 0.5s out of Pedrosa’s lead in three laps and the 24-year-old said: “At the time I that I crashed I was pushing hard to maintain the gap to Lorenzo and my rhythm was good.

"Unfortunately though I hit a bump on the way into the corner and I couldn’t do anything - I was down. It’s very, very disappointing obviously but this can happen when you’re trying everything to win.

"You have to push as much as you can and take risks - and I really wanted to win this race.

"The one thing we can do now is to remember that we were having a good race until this moment, and we were leading the race - this is what I want to take from the weekend.

"You cannot sit there with your arms crossed thinking about what could have been.

"For the whole weekend me and the team were working well and we put ourselves in a winning position. It hasn’t worked out for us but we’ll come back fighting at the next one.”

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Pedrosa won't give up, but it'll be tough

Lorenzo leads the standings by 72 points after his victory at Laguna Seca, with Pedrosa currently second behind his fellow Spaniard.

“This season my performance has been up and down,” Pedrosa said during a visit to the Indonesian capital Jakarta, “which is not the best way to win the title. 

“Lorenzo performs consistently and has a great bike. There are nine races left but it is difficult. However my team and I never give up and we will keep going to try and get closer.” 

Pedrosa admits he has been left with mixed feeling after failing to score at Lagune Seca. The Honda rider led the race before falling from the lead – which has reduced his chance of beating Lorenzo to the crown.

“This year I started racing with lower performances,” he said. “After that I could compete but it is still hard to be on top. I tried to push Lorenzo but after the incident at Laguna Seca, it has become harder. 

“I had great racing in Germany. I could beat Lorenzo but he and Yamaha are still strong. Not that I lost my motivation in United States - I have motivation the all time.”

Pedrosa revealed that he is keen to remain with Honda for next season whenCasey Stoner moves over to join the team from Ducati and Gemma Roders, marketing manager of Honda Racing, said Pedrosa's future will probably be decided in August. 

“It's too early to talk about negotiations,” she said. “We have not talked about that, probably in August. We are confident Pedrosa will stay because we want him and he wants us.”

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