Defending champion Jorge Lorenzo gave notice on Sunday at Misano that even though he sat 44 points behind Casey Stoner with six races remaining in the season, he was not about to be dethroned without a fight. The factory Yamaha rider immediately jumped in front of pole sitter Casey Stoner to lead the race from start to finish and win the San Marino MotoGP in dominant fashion. And with the help of fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa — who took second place away from his Repsol Honda team-mate Stoner on lap 23 of 28 — Lorenzo was able to cut the deficit between he and Stoner to 35 points. It’s still a large gap with now just five races remaining, but not mathematically impossible for Lorenzo to hold on to his title — especially since a now healthy and very pesky Pedrosa, who is hungry to amass enough points to finish third overall, has not (as yet) been given orders to relent on his Aussie team-mate and could, in the process, continue to run interference for Lorenzo.
Two more Honda riders also fought hard at Misano to prove their worth. San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli and Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso, battled back and forth in an exciting display of racing, with Simoncelli ultimately prevailing on the final lap to take fourth place by just 0.037 seconds.
The next race takes place at Aragaon on September 18th.
2011 San Marino MotoGP at Misano Race Results
1 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing 44’11.877
2 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team +7.299
3 Casey STONER AUS Repsol Honda Team +11.967
4 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini +17.353
5 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team +17.390
6 Ben SPIES USA Yamaha Factory Racing +18.092
7 Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team +23.703
8 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +30.678
9 Hector BARBERA SPA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP +37.502
10 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +37.720
11 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini +39.548
12 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing +40.506
13 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +53.349
14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Pramac Racing Team +1’02.366
15 Toni ELIAS SPA LCR Honda MotoGP +1’20.156
Not Classified
65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Pramac Racing Team 20 Laps
69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team 26 Laps
2011 MotoGP Championship Standings
1 Casey STONER Honda AUS 259
2 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha SPA 224
3 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Honda ITA 185
4 Dani PEDROSA Honda SPA 150
5 Ben SPIES Yamaha USA 135
6 Valentino ROSSI Ducati ITA 133
7 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati USA 105
8 Marco SIMONCELLI Honda ITA 93
9 Colin EDWARDS Yamaha USA 87
10 Hiroshi AOYAMA Honda JPN 82
11 Hector BARBERA Ducati SPA 69
12 Alvaro BAUTISTA Suzuki SPA 57
13 Karel ABRAHAM Ducati CZE 50
14 Toni ELIAS Honda SPA 47
15 Cal CRUTCHLOW Yamaha GBR 45
16 Randy DE PUNIET Ducati FRA 29
17 Loris CAPIROSSI Ducati ITA 29
18 John HOPKINS Suzuki USA 6
19 Kousuke AKIYOSHI Honda JPN 3
