MotoGP World Championship. Holland GP. Races
 DANI
PEDROSA, SECOND, BACK AT THE TOP OF THE STANDINGS IN MOTOGP
The Repsol Honda Team rider rode alone without any incident.
A mechanical problem with the engine that uses pneumatic valves
ruined Nicky Hayden`s first podium finish
The Repsol Honda Team rider Dani Pedrosa is back at the top
of the World MotoGP Championship rider classification after
finishing second behind the Australian Casey Stoner, who today
won the Dutch GP after getting away from the rest of the riders.
The 20 points that Pedrosa won today, with only 5 for Valentino
Rossi who fought back to finish in eleventh position after
falling at the start of the race, means that he is the overall
leader again, the Repsol rider enjoying a 4 point cushion
over the Italian and 29 over the Australian Stoner.
The three races of this Dutch GP were constantly threatened
by the very unstable weather conditions. The first race in
the morning, that of 125cc, was interrupted by rain, whereas
the 250cc race and that of MotoGP were not interrupted, but
with all the team´s kept one eye on the clouds.
The weekend`s star race started as has become usual, with
Dani Pedrosa leading at the first corner. The Repsol Honda
Team rider finished the first lap in the lead, he was followed
very closely by Stoner and his teammate, the American Nicky
Hayden. But Pedrosa lasted only a short time at the front,
since on the second lap the Australian turned up the pace
and overtook Pedrosa easily and after a couple of laps was
able to enjoy a lead of almost one second and a half.
The race does not have much of a story: Stoner got away setting
the fastest laps, Pedrosa made sure of second position riding
comfortably without anybody pushing from behind, and Hayden
was in the same situation in third place and he stayed there
for almost the whole race. At the final corner before the
chequered-flag, with just a few tenths of a second left, the
new engine with pneumatic valves broke down. Hayden crossed
the finishing line with his engine not working, carried by
the bike`s own inertia, but he could not avoid Edwards overtaking
him just a few metres from the the chequered-flag, and the
American was relegated to fourth position. The rider who was
the leader of the World Championship at the start of the race,
the Italian Valentino Rossi, fell on the first lap and had
to fight the whole race at the back but he was able to move
up to eleventh position at the end of the race.
In 250cc, a difficult day for Julian Simón, who started
in a very positive second row position and after getting off
to a good start moved up to third. Nevertheless, he immediately
noticed some problems with his tyres, both entering and leaving
corners. After several scares, the Repsol rider began to drop
dpwn the standings, and finally finished tenth. The leader
of the World Championship, Mika Kallio, finished in seventh
position whereas his teammate Hiroshi Aoyama, both of whom
receive technical support from Repsol, was sixth.
The race in the smallest category left a bittersweet flavour
for the team. In a race that was interrupted by rain, Esteve
Rabat was in the end fighting for the victory, although at
the last gasp he finished in sixth position after a heart-stopping
finale, just half a second behind the winner, Gabor Talmacsi.
Rabat was classified tenth on the first part of the race before
it was interrupted by rain, and at the end of the second part,
after making a good start, moved up to seventh. Little by
little he climbed in the standings and was comfortable with
the leading group, a battle between seven riders which lasted
to the very end. On the last lap, and in fourth position,
Rabat got into the slipstream of the riders in front of him
and coming out of the slowest curve on the track overtook
Talmacsi, Corsi, and Olivé in one swift braking manoeuvre,
moving into first place. Nevertheless, after opening up a
small gap of a few metres a couple of corners later, with
just the chicane left he slowed down as he entered the home
straight and was sixth, not having any time to react.
His teammate Marc Márquez had a bad day. But things
began well for the Repsol rider and he looked like he was
going to have another splendid race. He started in eighteenth
position, but Márquez had moved up to eighth place
at the end of the first lap, and he managed to overtake several
of his rivals on the following laps. On the tenth lap he was
sixth, but it began to rain and he fell on the tenth curve.
The Race Director showed the red flag and announced that he
would start the race again with a total of five laps, but
Márquez, with the exhaust on his KTM 125 FRR broken
as a result of the fall, was not able to return to the pits
with his bike, and the regulations stipulate that he could
not be authorised to use the second motorbike.
Quotes
MotoGP
Dani Pedrosa >> 2nd at 11.310 secs.
“I’m happy with this result because it was a difficult
race and I’m happy to be in the World Championship lead
once again, the 20 points we got here are very important.
We’ve struggled a little bit during practice here, but
my team have worked really hard, so a big thanks to all of
them.
Yesterday I was able to qualify on a MotoGP front row for
the first time at Assen. Today I did my best in the race but
unfortunately we couldn’t go with Casey because he was
so fast. Now we need to keep working hard because we must
try to close the gap over the next few races. Sachsenring
is next. We had a great win there last year and we will try
to the same again this year.”
Nicky Hayden >> 4th at 20.477 secs.
“Man, we had a pretty good race. Unfortunately this
game can be cruel sometimes. To be so close to a really good
result is tough, but we still finished, we made it across
the line and still got some good points out of the deal, but
it would’ve been nice to stand on the podium. The team
certainly deserved it, they’ve worked really hard this
weekend.
On the sighting lap I knew something was wrong. It’s
been a little bit frustrating because she hasn’t run
right off the bottom since I got here, especially out of slow
corners. They’ve been changing stuff and they thought
they had it fixed but something was wrong. I had a dash light
come on at the start of the race, though it went off after
the start. She finally quit right before the finish line.
It’s how it goes, I guess me and Colin are even now,
he gave me one here a couple of years ago and I gave him a
podium today. There at the end I was trying to make a push
on Dani, I wanted to keep the pressure on him, he was coming
back to me a bit. I was pushing, then on the last lap I thought
‘oh no, we’re in trouble’. Nonetheless the
bike is working good, now they’ve got a week and a half
to hopefully sort it out in Japan and we can keep moving on.”
250cc
Julián Simón >> 10th at 28.789 secs.
“This was not a good result at all. We started from
the second row, I moved up a couple of positions and was up
with the leaders on the first lap, and I tried everything
to stay with those ahead of me.
I soon saw that we were losing a lot of time both when taking
and when coming out of corners. In addition, we had problems
with the back tyre. On the fast part, the final one at this
circuit, I was not able to accelerate like the other riders
and it was impossible to keep up with them. We have to remember
the positive things we have achieved this weekend, and think
that in two weeks we will be racing at a circuit where I think
our bike can work well.”
125cc
Esteve Rabat >> 6th at 0,568 secs.
“This was a very hard-fought race. They gave us five
laps and I knew that I had to start well and make sure the
leading group did not get away from me. The objective was
to do the five laps flat out, it was a case of all or nothing.
I did not have anything to lose either. On the last lap I
saw that I had a chance, since I was able to keep up the fast
pace.
I came out of the slow curve very well, picking up the riders`
slipstream and when braking strongly I overtook three riders.
I did the rest of the lap at the bike`s limits, and when I
reached the home straight I wanted to start it too soon and
I lost things a little. The others all passed me. These are
things that happen. The truth is that I am pleased because
I see that I can be up with the fastest. The bike is going
well and the team is helping me a lot. I hope to make a breakthrough
very soon. I want to thank the team, Repsol, Alberto Puig
and Raul Jara.”
Marc Márquez >> fell
“The race was going well until it began to rain. The
bike`s performance was just dropping a little and so I fell
back to the rear of the leading group.
Later it got better, keeping up with the pace, but the the
first few raindrops fell and then it did not rain anymore.
Coming out of a curve the asphalt was wet and I lost control
of the bike. I was not able to reach the pits with the bike
and so I was not able to start the second race. The motorbike
itself was fine, but the exhaust was bent and I was not able
to start it again.”
Official Results
MotoGP
1. Casey STONER (DUCATI) 42:12.337
2. Dani PEDROSA (REPSOL HONDA) at 11.310
3. Colin EDWARDS (YAMAHA) at 17.125
4. Nicky HAYDEN (REPSOL HONDA) at 20.477
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (HONDA) at 27.346
250cc
1. Álvaro BAUTISTA (APRILIA) 40:54.117
2. Thomas LUTHI (APRILIA) at 4.597
3. Marco SIMONCELLI (GILERA) at 6.003
4. Alex DEBÓN (APRILIA) at 9.034
5. Héctor BARBERÁ (APRILIA) at 9.079
10. Julián SIMÓN (REPSOL KTM) at 28.789
125cc
1. Gabor TALMACSI (APRILIA) 9:04.520
2. Joan OLIVÉ (DERBI) at 0.128
3. Simone CORSI (APRILIA) at 0.255
4. Sandro CORTESE (HONDA) at 0.340
5. Bradley SMITH (APRILIA) at 0.425
6. Esteve RABAT (REPSOL KTM) at 0.568
NC. Marc MÁRQUEZ (REPSOL KTM)
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