Malaysia 2010
IN THE ABSENCE OF DANI PEDROSA WITH HIS SHATTERED LEFT COLLAR BONE, JORGE LORENZO HAD THE CHANCE TO WRAP UP THE TITLE HERE PROVIDING HE FINISHED 9TH OR ABOVE. AND YOU COULD TELL THAT HE WAS FULLY AWARE OF THIS. HIS EQUILIBRIUM WAS DISTURBED WHEN THE TEAM COULD NOT START HIS BIKE TO GET IT INTO POLE POSITION ON THE GRID. TURNED OUT NOT TO BE A PROBLEM WITH THE BIKE BUT WITH THE STAND-ALONE STARTER MOTOR. PHEW!
NICKY HAYDEN HAD SURPRISED EVERYONE, INCLUDING HIMSELF, WITH THE SECOND FASTEST QUALIFYING LAP (HE WAS ONLY PIPPED BY JORGE RIGHT AT THE END). CASEY STONER AND VALENTINO ROSSI WERE OFF THE PACE IN 5TH AND 6TH AND ANDREA DOVIZIOSO (3RD) AND BEN SPIES (4TH) MADE UP THE REST OF THE FRONT TWO ROWS.
ROSSI GOT A BAD START, THEN GOT BLOCKED IN AND WAS IN 11TH PLACE INTO TURN 1. CASEY STONER GOT A GOOD START BUT BY HALFWAY ROUND THE FIRST LAP HE WAS OUT WITH YET ANOTHER FRONT-END CRASH. SO TWO MAIN MEN WERE OUT OF IT STRAIGHT AWAY.
THAT IS HOW IT LOOKED BUT IT WASN'T TOO LONG BEFORE VALENTINO WAS CHALLENGING FOR THE LEAD AND TAKING IT! JORGE HAD STARTED BRILLIANTLY AND ROARED INTO THE LEAD, CLOSELY FOLLOWED BY ANDREA. A FEW LAPS LATER ANDREA OVERTOOK JORGE AND LOOKED AS IF HE MIGHT BREAK AWAY. HE RECKONED WITHOUT ROSSI WHO EVENTUALLY CAME BY THE PAIR OF THEM.
JORGE NEVER LOOKED TO BE TOO INTERESTED IN WINNING THE RACE, ALL HIS FOCUS WAS ON STAYING UPRIGHT AND TAKING THE TITLE OFF VALENTINO. ANDREA, HOWEVER, NEVER LET VALENTINO GET AWAY AND DID BRIEFLY TAKE THE LEAD AGAIN UNTIL ROSSI RESTORED THE STATUS QUO.
CRITICS HAVE SAID THAT JORGE 'LUCKED INTO' THE TITLE AFTER VALENTINO BROKE HIS LEG AND STONER AND PEDROSA HAD BOTH HAD SOME BAD FORM BUT CASEY, HONEST AS EVER, HAS SAID THAT LORENZO'S FORM AND CONSISTENCY HAD PRESSURED HIS RIVALS INTO MAKING MISTAKES. A WORLD TITLE IS A WORLD TITLE - IT GOES TO THE RIDER WHO HAS SCORED MOST POINTS BY THE END OF THE SEASON - NO MATTER WHAT ELSE HAS HAPPENED - THAT IS THE ONLY CRITERION. WELL DONE, JORGE, YOU DESERVE IT!
STARTING GRID
| | | | | |
| 1.
|
Jorge Lorenzo
|
| 2.
|
Nicky Hayden
|
| 3.
|
Andrea Dovizioso
|
| 4.
|
Ben Spies
|
| 5.
|
Casey Stoner
|
| 6.
|
Valentino Rossi
|
| 7.
|
Colin Edwards
|
| 8.
|
Alvaro Bautista
|
| 9.
|
Loris Capirossi
|
| 10.
|
Marco Melandri
|
| 11.
|
Marco Simoncelli
|
| 12.
|
Aleix Espargaro
|
| 13.
|
Randy de Puniet
|
| 14.
|
Hiroshi Aoyama
|
| 15.
|
Hector Barbera
|
| 16.
|
Mika Kallio
|
RESULT
| |
| 1.
|
Valentino Rossi
|
| 2.
|
Andrea Dovizioso
|
| 3.
|
Jorge Lorenzo
|
| 4.
|
Ben Spies
|
| 5.
|
Alvaro Bautista
|
| 6.
|
Nicky Hayden
|
| 7.
|
Hiroshi Aoyama
|
| 8.
|
Marco Simoncelli
|
| 9.
|
Marco Melandri
|
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Riders :
| |
| Jorge Lorenzo
|
313
|
| Dani Pedrosa
|
228
|
| Valentino Rossi
|
181
|
| Casey Stoner
|
180
|
| Andrea Dovizioso
|
179
|
| Ben Spies
|
152
|
| Nicky Hayden
|
139
|
| Randy de Puniet
|
94
|
| Marco Simoncelli
|
92
|
Constructors :
|
| Yamaha
|
334
|
| Honda
|
305
|
| Ducati
|
230
|
| Suzuki
|
92
|
Race Results posted by
David Little
11th October 2010
The HTML code for this page has been validated by the World Wide Web Consortium.