The two Honda factory pilots battled for the win yesterday at the Sachsenring circuit with Casey Stoner ultimately crashing out in the closing stages of the race and Dani Pedrosa taking the win. Second place went to new points leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha), while Andrea Dovizioso (Yamaha) again held off Lorenzo’s factory teammate Ben Spies to take third.
For additional details, results and points visit the official MotoGP site here.
Sachsenring, Sunday, July 08, 2012
| Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
| 1 | 25 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 159.3 | 41’28.396 |
| 2 | 20 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 158.4 | +14.996 |
| 3 | 16 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 158.0 | +20.669 |
| 4 | 13 | 11 | Ben SPIES | USA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 158.0 | +20.740 |
| 5 | 11 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | GER | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda | 157.6 | +27.893 |
| 6 | 10 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 157.6 | +28.050 |
| 7 | 9 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 157.5 | +28.246 |
| 8 | 8 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 157.5 | +28.447 |
| 9 | 7 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 157.5 | +29.053 |
| 10 | 6 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 157.5 | +29.226 |
| 11 | 5 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | FRA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 156.0 | +53.176 |
| 12 | 4 | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | USA | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | Suter | 155.7 | +58.204 |
| 13 | 3 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 155.3 | +1’04.654 |
| 14 | 2 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | COL | Avintia Blusens | BQR | 154.8 | +1’13.543 |
| 15 | 1 | 77 | James ELLISON | GBR | Paul Bird Motorsport | ART | 153.7 | +1’30.318 |
| 16 | 2 | Franco BATTAINI | ITA | Cardion AB Motoracing | Ducati | 153.6 | 1 Lap | |
| 17 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ITA | Came IodaRacing Project | Ioda | 153.1 | 1 Lap | |
| 18 | 22 | Ivan SILVA | SPA | Avintia Blusens | BQR | 152.2 | 1 Lap |
Three or four weeks ago, Stoner and Pedrosa were getting smoked by Yamaha Factory and Tech 3 riders due to tyre wear. Now Pedrosa and Stoner(almost) finished 10+ seconds ahead of the closest Yamaha after the weekend. Lozenzo may be leading the points, but he would have to be concerned at the masive gap that Honda pulled during the race.
Well Ducati let Hayden’s contract option expire at the end of June, so draw your own ideas from that. It’s crazy to think that Ducati would let Nicky go as he’s been better than Rossi last season and this one as well. That also is the problem with GP as there’s no American team to help American riders. Spanish teams with Spanish riders, also removing the rookie rule to let that happen. It’s a marketing devisions dream for Ducati with Rossi or Repsol with Pedrosa and probably Marquez next season.
To be fair, as a Texan I’m partial to Spies and Edwards but that’s my bias. It would take an American company coming in to build a team to help guys from the States. Even then that company would want the “best” riders which may not be Americans.
As much as I dislike Stoner and I chuckled at Gary’s comment about Stoners VR comment coming full circle, he’ll be right back with Lorenzo in the points soon.
i’m not a rossi fanboy, but i’m curious: by what measure has hayden been better than rossi? certainly not by rider points. rossi finished higher than hayden last year, and rossi’s ahead of hayden now.
re: “Well Ducati let Hayden’s contract option expire at the end of June so draw your own ideas from that.”
they may be doing him a favor.
re: “It’s crazy to think that Ducati would let Nicky go”
not if they have information that the grandprix team is going to have it’s christmas cancelled, but they’re not at liberty to say anything at this time.
Nick may have shot himself in the foot at the recent Ducati when he was on stage with past and present racers. Everyone was ‘Business casual’ dressed, except for Nick, who had his ball hat on sideways and was holding his too big pants, up by his crotch. DAH, probably not the best way to get noticed by your new bosses at Audi.
@ David, Great Race? I disagree. This race was over in the first 5 laps as the two honda riders were in a class by themselves (and kudos to them, until that dumb move at the end).
The action was in places 4 through 10, although nice, I would prefer to see that for first place.
I only watch about 50% of the MotoGP race as I have no problem getting up from the TV to do other things (drinks, check the weather,ect). WSB and Moto2 is much more effective keeping me in my seat, even through the TV sponsors commercials.
Just read on another site that Ducati has let Nicky Haydens contract expire.
Great race! At some point one of the speakers said that Ducati offered a seat to Cal. That is interesting! But who’s leaving and to go where?
re: “Great race! At some point one of the speakers said that Ducati offered a seat to Cal.”
i’m waiting for Cal to say AUDI offered him a seat. since they are about to own the company, if that’s just a verbal offer…? then it’s basically worthless. i’m afraid the thought that audi is going to show up (even with VR46) and just start pumping cash into the grandprix is nothing more than an extension of our desire as consumer’s to have someone else pay for our motorcycling. that’s all it is. german expediency will more likely see them go the complete opposite and shelve the GP program altogether while retaining an option on rossi’s services.
Actually in a recent press release (Moto GP site) Audi said they want to strengthen Ducati in the GP department too. Whether that is true or just a cheap way to look good I don’t know.
I could not believe Stoner threw it away like that, two corners from the end. Good effort; poor judgment. What was it he told Rossi last year after he crashed? “Apparently your ambitions exceeded your capabilities.” Ayup. He could be leading the championship. Now it will be very tough for him to pull it off.
Mistakes happen even if only rarely. If he had layed up and dropped back to save the points (and admitted it) everyone would call him a wimp for not going for it. At least he didn’t take his team-mate with him as happened to Hayden when he was on Honda.
re: “I could not believe Stoner threw it away like that”
i could. people overlook that having a “win it or bin it” riding style means at any point in time there’s a 50% chance of “bin”.
Norm … I did not think Stoner operated in a “win it or bin it” style. But hey … you never know what’s going on between his ears. People with that style of racing (cough … stewart .. cough) may win a lot of races but they often fall short in championships.
Although not as action packed as I would have liked there were several battles that were really good. The Pedrosa /Stoner battle ws great as was the battle further back between Hayden, Crutchlow, Rossi and Bradl. Got to Congratulate Pedrosa for a well deserved win, he rode well.Also have to give props to Stoner for his effort even though it resulted in his crash and loss of share of championship. He could have safely taken second and the points lead, but that’s not his style. Appreciate the sportsmanship that both he and Lorenzo displayed when the other crashed. 1st class!