With five races already in the books, and an injured Valentino Rossi, Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo has firmly established himself as the man to beat in this 2010 MotoGP series. Yes, there are still 13 races left. A long way to go. But Lorenzo looks rock solid, and his Yamaha works on fast, flowing circuits as well as slower, tighter tracks. If he stays healthy, it is hard to see him finishing worse than second in very many of the remaining races, if any. The math is already getting difficult for his remaining challengers.
The riders who can realistically beat him, on occasion, are Dani Pedrosa (Honda) and Casey Stoner (Ducati), but both of them face an uphill battle.
Despite one impressive win this season, Pedrosa has had a horrible start. Already 42 points behind Lorenzo, Pedrosa is physically banged up. He crashed heavily twice last weekend, and was only able to finish the race in eighth place. Although Pedrosa says his bruised knees are not a significant problem, with Assen and Catalunya arriving back-to-back on the next two weekends, Pedrosa may still be less than fully competitive. He needs to be at his best to finish ahead of Lorenzo.
Stoner is in even worse shape. With two DNFs already, he sits a full 80 points behind Lorenzo. In addition, he is struggling to find his usual pace on the new Ducati.
With only a five point spread between first and second place (a race winner gets 25 points and second place pays 20 points) Stoner is already at the point where he can hardly hope to regain the championship this year. Pedrosa will feel the pressure of the math equation, as well, if Lorenzo can pick up a couple of additional wins over the next two weeks and Pedrossa struggles to make the podium with his physical ailments.
All in all, Lorenzo is in the driver’s (or should we say, rider’s) seat.
Where is Kawasaki??Quitters and failures of the 21st century..
Manic, that would be heir to the throne..
Don’t count Nicky Hayden out yet! Remember, he’s a former World Champ. Take away the traction control & it’d probably be him & Rossi up front… If Ducati can find a little more power in the bike, Hayden could be a contender…
Gotta love Ben Spies too… he blew past Nicky last weekend to take 3rd.
one more thing… B-E-W-A-R-E of Casey Stoner this weekend… if he gets any kind of good start,.. & the bike is ok mechanically, he’ll take the win!
The key word in racing is “consistency”, Stoner has not been there, nor has Pedrosa and Dovisioso, all of them have had mixed results. This area is where Rossi excels, by wining races and racing consistently at the front of the pack (where you make points).
And not surprisingly, Lorenzo has now the right recipe to be consistent in his racing strategy. He wll be champion this year.
“If he stays healthy” is the operative language. There’s already more titanium in his body than there is on his bike.
Actually, Rossi did develop the bike. Why do you think Yamaha holds him in such high esteem. Don’t kid yourself about Lorenzo getting into Rossi’s head, Lorenzo appears to be – rightlfully so – air to the thrown, but Rossi is still the Master. Spies may also have something to say about Lorenzo’s bid to be the Boss! Should be interesting!
Apart from what happens on the race track, its going to get really interesting if he wins the championship. Will be interesting to see how Yamaha manages 2 world champions in one team. Traditionally, its always ended in grief for everyone around. The guy not doing well always comes up with the excuse that the team is giving the other guy more support and resources.
Let’s not forget about Dovisioso. He may not be able to take on Lorenzo just yet, but he has bested Pedrosa in three of the five races this season.
Without knowing these guys except for what is read on the web, and seen on the television, It seems Lorenzo is doing his best to move into the shoes of Rossi. Using antics at the conclusion of a victory and the like. Rossi has always been good at getting into other folks head, but it appears that Lorenzo has moved into Rossi’s head this year, with Rossi not wanting to share info, and making statements about how he developed the bike, and others are just riding the bike he built…
It’s all good stuff! Great job to Spies this past weekend. Felt bad for Hayden, but Spies did what he needed to do.