Rossi bags second in the dry as Lorenzo wins
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17/09/2012
Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi has finally taken a 2012 dry-weather podium on the troubled Ducati, coming in four seconds behind old rival Jorge Lorenzo as Dani Pedrosa was torpedoed on the first lap by an errant Hector Barbera.
Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi has finally taken a 2012 dry-weather podium on the troubled Ducati, coming in four seconds behind old rival Jorge Lorenzo as Dani Pedrosa was torpedoed on the first lap by an errant Hector Barbera.
The Doctor took advantage of Pedrosa's misfortune and the fact that Cal Crutchlow crashed out while trying to find a way past team-mate Andrea Dovizioso to take second place, lapping faster as the clock clicked down and beginning to reel in the factory Yamaha man as they neared the chequered flag.
The result equalled Rossi best result to date, second at Le Mans, but that was in the wet conditions which favour the Ducati and it would seem the new chassis and swingarm, plus testing time, have garnered some positives for the Italian.
Lorenzo, meanwhile, extended his lead over Pedrosa by 25 points as the little Spaniard had a disastrous day. Before the start, his bike was taken off the grid with a brake problem but he was able to do the second of two warm-up laps. The race start was aborted by a technical issue for Karel Abraham on the grid.
However, because he dropped behind the safety car, he started from the back of the grid and, as he made his way through the pack, he put a pass on Randy De Puniet and Barbera decided to go underneath the pair, taking out Pedrosa's rear wheel and leaving Lorenzo with no opposition at the front.
As the Mallorcan checked out at the front, Rossi fended off a spirited charge from rookie Stefan Bradl as Alvaro Bautista made his way past Dovizioso for fifth. He then put a move on the German with eight laps to go for the final podium spot while Ben Spies, who started slowly, found some pace as the fuel load went down.
The Texan also passed Bradl in the closing stages but didn't have enough laps to do anything about Dovizioso and followed them home in fifth place. Bautista had to work hard to keep his third place and the stewards went to video evidence to see who got the last place. He was awarded it by 0.003s at the home track of Marco Simoncelli
Bradl slipped back to sixth with the injured Nicky Hayden in seventh and Britain's Jonathan Rea rode a mature if lonely race in eighth but that's big points on his debut in the class.
De Puniet bagged the CRT win with Michele Pirro and Colin Edwards behind him while James Ellison took 13th place.
Image by Bonnie Lane
