STATEMENT OF INTENT FROM LORENZO AS HE CLOSES ON 250 TITLE
WITH EIGHTH WIN OF SEASON
Sylvain Guintoly, Marco Simoncelli, Hiroshi Aoyama, Andrea
Dovizioso and Alex de Angelis. Jorge Lorenzo made a bad start
to the Australian Grand Prix and this was the list of riders
he had to overtake before claiming the lead at Phillip Island
on lap ten. The Mallorcan rider rode the first half of the
race with great intelligence having made things difficult
for himself, despite starting on pole after dominating qualifying.
Little by little he fought his way back through the field,
increasing his rhythm to make it to front. From there he turned
up the heat and set a pace that only Alex de Angelis was able
to maintain as Hiroshi Aoyama and Andrea Dovizioso, his closest
title rival, were dropped. De Angelis fought all the way to
the end, but it was Lorenzo who took the chequered flag by
just 0.009 seconds from the San Marino rider. It was Lorenzo's
eighth triumph of the season, and with it he equals Dani Pedrosa's
record from 2005 with both now holding the record for the
number of race wins in a single season by a Spanish rider.
Max Biaggi, Marco Melandri and Valentino Rossi have all managed
nine, Mike Hailwood and Anton Mang ten, while the outright
record is held by the late Dajiro Kato with 11 in 2001. After
his victory, and with Dovizioso finishing back in fourth,
Lorenzo has now extended his world championship lead to 24
points with just three races left: Motegi (Japan), Estoril
(Portugal) and Ricardo Tormo (Valencia). Hector Barbera, who
had endless with problems with his suspension set-up all weekend,
took sixth position after spending the race in second group
of riders. The Valencian is seventh in the championship and
will be looking to improve greatly over the closing rounds
of the season.
JORGE LORENZO, 1st:
“I'm very happy, what a finish! It was a very hard
race that I won by a whisker. I did not expect the pace to
be so intense. I got a bad start and tried to recover, taking
a few risks on the first lap - maybe too many. De Angelis
was lapping very quickly and also deserved to win, but coming
out of the last corner I pushed really hard because I did
not want to be caught and beaten on the line. We have extended
our lead in the championship to 24 points, nearly a whole
race, but we must not get carried away. We need to keep working
hard and not relax because we can still be betaen. I am an
aggressive rider and, although Motegi is not an ideal circuit
for Aprilias, I hope to get a good result and get even close
to my objective. I am very happy and want to congratulate
Alvaro Bautista (newly-crowned 125cc World Champion), he's
a nice person and a great rider. I am sure that next season
he will give me a great fight."
HECTOR BARBERA, 6th:
“We continued to have the same problems as yesterday.
The bike was moving around a lot and I was not comfortbale
on it at any moment. The Aprilia goes very well at fast circuits,
but it is not as competitive at the slower ones. I will get
together with the technicians and we'll try to find a solution.
Despite that I'll travel to Japan feeling very motivated and
looking to get a good result."
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