Monday June 18, 2012

Lorenzo wins after a taste of British delicacy

SILVERSTONE: Jorge Lorenzo cruised to a comfortable win over defending world champion Casey Stoner in the British MotoGP here yesterday.

The Yamaha star, a winner here in 2010 when he went on to claim the title, extended his lead at the top of the championship standings on the strength of this his 42nd career success.

Stoner, who is retiring at the end of the 2012 season, narrowly managed to fend off his Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa for second.

Aside from Lorenzo, who now leads the championship by 25 points, the feat of the race belonged to British rider Cal Crutchlow, who crashed heavily in Saturday’s practice and competed nursing a broken and dislocated left ankle.

Despite his injuries the gutsy Yamaha rider finished an admirable sixth, having left his hospital bed and starting at the back of the grid after missing qualifying.

A drained Crutchlow, an absentee last year after crashing in qualifying, told BBC: “In all honesty it’s been an emotionally draining and tough weekend.

“It was a long day yesterday, they told me at the hospital I wasn’t going to be allowed to ride, but the medical staff here did a great job.

“Now I need to make sure I’m fit for the next race.”

In dry conditions American Ben Spies, alongside surprise pole sitter Alvaro Bautista on the front row, shot into an early lead.

The Yamaha man was closely tracked by Stoner, with Bautista lying third and Nicky Hayden on a Ducati in fourth.

This quartet were clear of a chasing pack headed by Lorenzo, who turned up at Silverstone having rejected an offer to fill Stoner’s place at Honda next season, instead signing a new two-year contract with Yamaha.

Stoner, who won by 15 seconds in the wet here last year, pounced on a mistake by Spies to hit the front on lap five as Lorenzo moved up to fourth.

Lorenzo, perhaps spurred on by having his first taste of a British delicacy – a marmite sandwich – before the race, was up to second by lap seven of 20.

Stoner was being hard pressed by the Spaniard who in turn had acres of daylight between him and Bautista.

At the midway point to this sixth leg of the championship the front pair were treating the Silverstone crowd to a nail-biting battle, with Lorenzo eventually snatching the lead on lap 11. From then, Lorenzo surged home easily. – AFP

Results

MotoGP: 1. Jorge Lorenzo (Spa) Yamaha 41:16.429, 2. Casey Stoner (Aus) Honda 41:19.742, 3. Dani Pedrosa (Spa) Honda 41:20.028, 4. Alvaro Bautista (Spa) Honda 41:21.625, 5. Ben Spies (US) Yamaha 41:27.960, 6. Cal Crutchlow (Bri) Yamaha 41:31.541, 7. Nicky Hayden (US) Ducati 41:31.956, 8. Stefan Bradl (Ger) Honda 41:38.950.

9. Valentino Rossi (Ita) Ducati 41:52.567, 10. Hector Barbera (Spa) Ducati 41:57.757, 11. Aleix Espargaro (Spa) Aprilia 42:19.586, 12. Randy de Puniet (Fra) Aprilia 42:19.872, 13. Michele Pirro (Ita) Honda 42:23.719, 14. James Ellison (Bri) Aprilia 42:31.211, 15. Yonny Hernandez (Col) Kawasaki 42:31.537.

Leading overall standings: 1. Lorenzo 140, 2. Stoner 115, 3. Pedrosa 101, 4. Crutchlow 66, 5. Dovizioso 60, 6. Rossi 58, 7. Bautista 58, 8. Bradl 51, 9. Hayden 49, 10. Barbera 37, 11. Spies 35, 12. Espargaro 20, 13. De Puniet 11, 14. Pirro 9, 15. Ellison 7.

Moto2: Pol Espargaro (Spa) Kalex 38:29.792, 2. Scott Redding (Bri) Kalex 38:31.254, 3. Marc Marquez (Spa) Suter 38:31.313, 4. Andrea Iannone (Ita) Speed up 38:32.643, 5. Simone Corsi (Ita) FTR 38:33.595, 6. Claudio Corti (Ita) Kalex 38:36.901, 7. Bradley Smith (Bri) Tech 3 38:37.419, 8. Thomas Luethi (Sui) Suter 38:37.461, 9. Dominique Aegerter (Sui) Suter 38:45.639, 10. Mika Kallio (Fin) Kalex 38:49.971.

Leading overall standings: Marquez 102, 2. Espargaro 96, 3. Luethi Suter 96, 4. Iannone 84, 5. Redding 70.

Moto3: 1. Maverick Vinales (Spa) Honda 38:55.210, 2. Luis Salom (Spa) Kalex 38:56.143, 3. Sandro Cortese (Ger) KTM 38:56.233, 4. Alexis Masbou (Fra) Honda 39:03.310, 5. Efren Vazquez (Spa) Honda 39:03.624, 6. Danny Kent (Bri) KTM 39:03.847, 7. Romano Fenati (Ita) Honda 39:04.150, 8. Arthur Sissis (Aus) KTM 39:04.256.

9. Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Mas) KTM 39:04.418, 10. Miguel Oliveira (Por) Honda 39:10.823, 11. Jakub Kornfeil (Cze) Honda 39:15.607, 12. Hector Faubel (Spa) Kalex 39:15.769, 13. Niccolo Antonelli (Ita) Honda 39:16.579, 14. Niklas Ajo (Fin) KTM 39:22.736, 15. Alberto Moncayo (Spa) Kalex 39:22.918.

Leading overall standings: 1. Vinales 105, 2. Cortese 103, 3. Salom 75, 4. Fenati 61, 5. Rossi 45, 6. Rins 44, 7. Zulfahmi (Mas) 44, 8. Masbou 42, 9. Antonelli 38, 10. Moncayo (Spa) 36, 11. Oliveira 33, 12. Sissis 31, 13. Faubel 28, 14. Kent 26, 15. Vazquez 22.

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Monday June 18, 2012

Lorenzo wins after a taste of British delicacy