Submitted by David Emmett on
Dani Pedrosa's form in the MotoGP class is turning into something suspiciously resembling domination, the Repsol Honda rider ruling the first session of free practice at Aragon with an iron fist. The Spaniard led for much of the session, relinquishing the top spot only briefly before snatching it back with a much bigger margin each time. In the end, Pedrosa's advantage measured over four tenths of a second, with late fast laps by Nicky Hayden and Jorge Lorenzo the only reason the gap wasn't bigger.
Lorenzo had looked certain of the second fastest time, but a hot final lap by Hayden put the Marlboro Ducati man ahead of the Fiat Yamaha rider. Hayden's teammate Casey Stoner was fourth fastest, finishing ahead of San Carlo Gresini's Marco Simoncelli and Fiat's Valentino Rossi. While Stoner was still relatively close to Pedrosa's blistering time - the Australian being just under seven tenths slower than the Spaniard - Simoncelli marked the breaking point, the Italian over a second and a quarter behind Pedrosa.
Results:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Diff Previous |
1 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | HONDA | 1'50.506 | ||
2 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | DUCATI | 1'50.917 | 0.411 | 0.411 |
3 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | YAMAHA | 1'50.928 | 0.422 | 0.011 |
4 | 27 | Casey STONER | DUCATI | 1'51.195 | 0.689 | 0.267 |
5 | 58 | Marco SIMONCELLI | HONDA | 1'51.768 | 1.262 | 0.573 |
6 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | YAMAHA | 1'51.769 | 1.263 | 0.001 |
7 | 40 | Hector BARBERA | DUCATI | 1'51.792 | 1.286 | 0.023 |
8 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | HONDA | 1'51.845 | 1.339 | 0.053 |
9 | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | YAMAHA | 1'52.027 | 1.521 | 0.182 |
10 | 11 | Ben SPIES | YAMAHA | 1'52.141 | 1.635 | 0.114 |
11 | 33 | Marco MELANDRI | HONDA | 1'52.321 | 1.815 | 0.180 |
12 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | HONDA | 1'52.340 | 1.834 | 0.019 |
13 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | DUCATI | 1'52.752 | 2.246 | 0.412 |
14 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SUZUKI | 1'52.822 | 2.316 | 0.070 |
15 | 36 | Mika KALLIO | DUCATI | 1'53.190 | 2.684 | 0.368 |
16 | 7 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | HONDA | 1'53.512 | 3.006 | 0.322 |
Comments
It can't be a surprise...
...if I predicted it several months ago. ;-)
Look at all those high-speed left-handers!
Is Lorenzo getting those
Is Lorenzo getting those championship blues. If he finishes 2nd to Dani for the rest of the year I think he loses the title, so he better get it up at some point...
Lorenzo is up by 63 with 6
Lorenzo is up by 63 with 6 races to go. If Pedrosa wins the next 6, Lorenzo can finish in 3rd for them and he'd win the title by 9 points.
Good to see Nicky near the top, hopefully he can stay near the top this weekend.
Your math is off...
If Pedrosa & Lorenzo finished 1 & 2 respectively the rest of the year, Lorenzo wins 391 to 358.
Unlikely scenario though, 1-2 for the remainder...
I was saying Jorge can
I was saying Jorge can finish as low as 3rd in each race and still win it ;)
Yes...
I understand that, I was replying to the original post. We were probably doing that at the same time... you're probably just a faster typist then me, or you add faster, whichever, or both...
ahh my mistake - I thought
ahh my mistake - I thought it was in reply to me but it was to the original post. Sorry about that.