Dani Pedrosa won his second race of 2010 during a restarted German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring yesterday. The Repsol Honda rider was on the championship leader Jorge Lorenzo’s rear wheel when the race was stopped on lap 10 of 27, due to a fiery crash involving Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda), Aleix Espargaro (Pramac Ducati) and Alvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki). de Puniet has since undergone surgery for a tib-fib left leg fracture and Espargaro is still being examined for a back injury.
Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) and Pedrosa began the restart running one-two again, but a determined Pedrosa passed his compatriot on lap 10, and opened up a 3 second lead. From then on the focus of the race became a battle for third between Casey Stoner (Marlboro Ducati) and defending champion Valentino Rossi—making a surprise return to action just six weeks after a compound leg fracture. The two traded the final podium position back and forth during the last third of the race and with less than a lap to go it looked like Rossi was about to make a miraculous podium comeback until Stoner stung the Fiat Yamaha rider with a block-pass into the last corner, just before the finish line.
Pedrosa now heads into next week’s US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca 47 points behind Lorenzo, 5 points closer than when he started the weekend.
2010 German MotoGP – Race results
1. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team 28m 50.476s
2. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Fiat Yamaha Team 28m 53.831s
3. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 28m 55.733s
4. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 28m 56.099s
5. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team 29m 7.634s
6. Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 29m 8.233s
7. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team 29m 8.411s
8. Ben Spies USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 29m 11.433s
9. Hector Barbera ESP Paginas Amarillas Aspar 29m 12.476s
10. Marco Melandri ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 29m 25.693s
11. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 29m 35.518s
12. Alex de Angelis RSM Interwetten Honda MotoGP 29m 35.68s
DNF:
Mika Kallio FIN Pramac Racing
Alvaro Bautista ESP Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
Aleix Espargaro ESP Pramac Racing
Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP
Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
2010 MotoGP Championship
POS RIDER TEAM POINTS
1 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 185.00
2 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 138.00
3 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 102.00
4 Casey Stoner Ducati Marlboro Team 83.00
5 Nicky Hayden Ducati Marlboro Team 78.00
6 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 74.00
7 Randy de Puniet LCR Honda 69.00
8 Ben Spies Monster Yamaha Tech 3 67.00
9 Marco SimoncelliSan Carlo Honda Gresini 49.00
10 Marco Melandri San Carlo Honda Gresini 45.00
11 Hector Barbera Aspar Racing Team 41.00
12 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech 3 39.00
13 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 30.00
14 Alex Espargaro Pramac Racing Team 28.00
15 Alvaro Bautista Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 25.00
16 Mika Kallio Pramac Racing Team 24.00
17 Hiroshi Aoyama Interwetten Honda 18.00
18 Kousuke Akiyoshi Interwetten Honda 4.00
= Alex de Angelis Interwetten Honda 4.00
20 Wataru Yoshikawa Fiat Yamaha Team 1.00
