MotoGP Blog

In my qualifying analysis I talked about the Lorenzo domination of the qualifying session. In the race, it was all about domination again, but this time Pedrosa was in control.

Following another Qatar-like launch off the line, Pedrosa led into the first corner and never looked in danger of being passed. Rossi, Lorenzo and Hayden all got decent starts, and Stoner in particular was away well to cross the line third at the end of lap 1. It was not to last as the World Champion continued to suffer the poor front-end grip that has plagued his weekend. He first dropped to 5th at the end of lap 2 as Rossi and Hayden muscled past, then put himself pretty much out of contention with a trip through a gravel trap on lap 3.

The front runners settled into a pattern of Pedrosa, Rossi, Lorenzo and Hayden that remained for the rest of the race. Although Hayden began to close on Lorenzo mid-way through the race, a loss of rear traction and an excursion off the racing line as a result indicated the Honda was at the limits of it’s adhesion to stay in touch.

Meanwhile, Stoner was on a recovery charge. Dead last at the end of lap 3, he was past the struggling Melandri by lap 7, until a tangle on lap 23 with Nakano’s rear tyre and an off-form Vermeulen saw him run wide and have another trip through the gravel. That he maintained some sort of control of the machine and did not drop it on either trip to the beach must have been some consolation - he was still top Ducati.

Renaissance man, Colin Edwards, had a less than happy Jerez race. Awesome qualifying, including his wonder-save at Expo 92, did not translate into race performance. Under-powered, he was swamped in the first corner and eventually lost the front on lap 5, damaging the bike badly enough that he could only make it back to the pits to retire. His team-mate Toseland put on another fine display, despite an attack of bronchitis on Friday, to finish 6th, including putting himself about a bit with some aggressive “superbike-style” overtakes - what is referred to as a block pass, but with more block than pass at times. The plan is for the Yamaha pneumatic valved engine for Tech-3 at Estoril, and on the form of Edwards and Toseland we can expect them to be troubling Ducati, Honda and the Fiat Yamahas.

Capirossi had a good run, finding the anticipated speed of the Suzuki in race trim to claim a creditable 5th, however, this has to be tempered by the chasm between him and Hayden, a massive 17 seconds at the flag. That is just over 0.62 seconds per lap slower over the race distance. Suzuki still have work to do, and Capirex’s comments after the race referred to having plenty of power, but needing to find the traction to make use of it.

This is, without doubt, the bogey track for Ducati. No Ducati rider looked comfortable throughout the whole weekend, and the nature of the bike is in some way in conflict with the Jerez circuit. It would be easy to write “Crisis at Ducati” after this result, but in fact Stoner was probably good for 5th today, had he managed to hold the bike down for 27 laps. The red machine will be back at Estoril, and perhaps even Marco Melandri will have managed to make some sort of peace with it by then. The Bologna team will be glad to have this weekend over with and be on to the next one.

Rossi gave the impression his second was a good as a win for him, show-boating to the crowd on the slow down lap, getting a hug from the Rossi fans clad in yellow on the edge of the track, being excited and happy in the press conference and on the podium. He seems to be making the Bridgestones work on the Yamaha. Perhaps his tyre gamble will pay off after all.

Comedy moment of the after-race formalities went to King Juan Carlos, making Pedrosa and Lorenzo shake hands before the presentation ceremony. Pedrosa took this rather better than Lorenzo, although both managed to raise a smile.

We can also smile at the prospect of a championship with three strong teams battling it out - Honda, Ducati and Yamaha, with no clear leader after two rounds. Early days, but it is looking good.