Newly crowned champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) won today’s MotoGP race at the Estoril circuit ahead of his teammate Valentino Rossi in second place and Honda factory rider Andrea Dovizioso in third. Rookie of the Year Ben Spies (Yamaha) crashed on the warm-up lap, injuring his ankle. He did not start the race.
For additional details, results and points, visit the official MotoGP site.
Maybe crashing on the warm up laps is directly a result of simply forgetting to turn on the computers, or using the wrong mapping…Sadly, gone are the days where the rider imputs control the machine…nowadays…if the computer crashes..well you know the rest of the story!..
Indeed it sucked to watch Nicky slide backwards. He looked great in the tricky conditions but it wasn’t long before the Yamahas then later the Hondas got away. Watch the aerial shots – the difference between the Hondas and Ducati out of the corners was striking. Then cut back to the on-bike cams and notice that Nicky’s bike was spinning and jacking as the others pulled away. His trip backwards certainly wasn’t for lack of hard riding!
Hope Spies’ injury is less severe than it sounded on TV.
He rides as hard as any out there. I hope the kid does better when the bikes go back to 1,000cc. It would be awesome to see him win the title again – he has a good attitude and spirit. He’s hungry for it and he scrambles so hard. Let’s hope Rossi shares his set-up tricks with him next year on the Ducati.
I’ve had this exact hope since they announced they’d transition back to 999cc. The smaller displacement bikes have clearly put Nicky at a disadvantage since he’s not nearly as small as many of the other riders out there. The 999s also just seem to match his riding style much better, while the 250 veterans seem to take kindly to the 800s.
Nicky had fitted the softer tires to each end just to get the bike to stick to the track. Knowing that, I kinda expected to see (but was hoping not) that he’d fade a few laps in. I think Ducati’s new CF frame is still a bit too rigid laterally to maintain good traction when banked hard into a bumpy turn.
Feel badly for Spies. Would be great to see him finish out a terrific rookie season, but a dislocated ankle has got to hurt. And why do the Ducatis handle so poorly? It was hard to watchtower Hayden go from first to fifth.
Meant to say “watch Hayden”… stupid cell phone spell correcting.
The poor Ducati guys have to frustrated. Either they place 4-5th or loose the front end.
Will be interesting to see what happens when Rossi moves over. Hopefully Hayden doesn’t get lost in his shadow.
“what is the deal with crashing on the warm up lap” – most likely cold tires
i realize that must be the case, but what are they riding at on the warm up lap? less than 50% speed? Are those race tires that worthless just of the warmers?
what is the deal with crashing on the warm up lap, didn’t stoner also do this a few races ago….
Jorge beats Rossi again. 🙂