800px-Jorge_Lorenzo_2010_Indianapolis

Joshua Peacock,

Correspondent (Sport)

 

PHILIP ISLAND — In a race filled with controversy, reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo kept his title hopes alive with a dominant victory after championship leader Marc Marquez was disqualified.

The drama began as the first practice sessions of the weekend revealed that the Bridgestone tyres used throughout the grid were unable to cope with the heat generated by the newly laid track surface. Due to safety concerns the race was shortened from 27 laps to 19 and riders were required to change bikes mid-race, given a two lap window to do so.

Due to an error, now attributed to his pit crew, Marquez failed to pit during the window and was duly disqualified. This gave pole-setter Lorenzo the optimum chance to massively reduce the points gap to Marquez in the standings, a chance he grabbed with both hands. Marquez’s teammate Dani Pedrosa also kept his title hopes mathematically alive after he came second. Pedrosa was the first on the grid to pit but still finished nearly seven seconds back from the leader.

Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi held off familiar challengers Cal Crutchlow and Alvaro Bautista to finish third in what was the closest battle of the race. Rossi’s podium secured at least fourth position in the standings overall in what has been a season dominated by fourth places for the Italian.

Tech3 Yamaha rider Bradley Smith finished an impressive but lonely sixth position after once again bettering the Ducati team. Aspar bound Hayden finished seventh with Pramac Ducati rider Andrea Iannone bettering compatriot Andrea Dovizioso by finishing in eighth, despite being on a satellite bike.

Randy de Puniet rounded out the top ten and finished top CRT ahead of teammate Aleix Espagaro in eleventh and Pramac rider Yonny Hernandez in eleventh. After the race was being tipped to be Marquez’s chance to secure his maiden MotoGP title, the pressure is now on the rookie not to falter at either of the two remaining races. The 18 point gap he holds over Lorenzo means it’s entirely possible for the Repsol rider to be crowned champion next time out in Motegi, however few would rule out the possibility of this one going down to the last race.

 

Phillip Island Race Results:

  1. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA, Factory Yamaha)
  2. Dani Pedrosa (SPA, Repsol Honda)
  3. Valentino Rossi (ITA, Factory Yamaha)
  4. Cal Crutchlow (GBR, Tech3 Yamaha)
  5. Alvaro Bautista (SPA, Gresini Honda)
  6. Bradley Smith (GBR, Tech3 Yamaha)
  7. Nicky Hayden (USA, Ducati)
  8. Andrea Iannone (ITA, Pramac Ducati)
  9. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA, Ducati)

Image Courtesy: By motoracereports (Picasa Web Albums) [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons