Moto GP Highlights: Australian Grand Prix, Raceday
We welcome you to the highlights package of the Australian Grand Prix from Philip Island! Home-boy Casey Stoner (Ducati) dominated qualifying, and grabbed pole by a massive 0.668 seconds from 2nd place Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha). Ben Spies (Tech 3 Yamaha)
completed the front row +1.279 seconds from Stoner.
Marco Simoncelli (Gresini Honda) qualified 4th, his best grid position this year, and only missed the front row by .006 seconds. Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha) equaled his best qualifying this year for 5th, followed by Ducati's Nicky Hayden in 6th.
Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) started from 7th, followed by 8th place Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha), who had his worst qualifying position since the 2008 season. Andrea Dovisiozo too had a disappointing qualifying in the factory Repsol Honda team, and started
in 9th spot. Marco Melandri (Gresini Honda) completed the top 10 grid.
Seeing that Jorge Lorenzo has bagged the rider’s championship, the focus shifted to the runners up and third in the championship, with Dovisiozo, Stoner, and Rossi all in contention. Pedrosa was in the mix too, but was unable to take part in the race due to
his collarbone fracture a couple of weeks ago.
The warm up lap began...
The red lights went out to signal the start of the race. Stoner got off to a good star and led into turn 1. B.Spies too had a great start too and was battling for 2nd into turn 1, but tangled with Lorenzo and dropped down to 5th. Hayden
climbed upto 3rd.
Stoner had already opend up over a 2 second gap as he was chasing his 4th consecutive Australian GP win. Hayden dropped to 4th, with Dovizioso right on his heels in 5th position. V. Rossi was upto 6th and then
moved ahead of Dovizioso who seemed to have a problem.
Dovizioso entered the pitlane and it was revealed that he seemed to have a problem with the handlebars on his bike. The battle for fourth place saw Simoncelli, Rossi, Hayden and B. Spies in the mix. Rossi claimed 3rd spot after overtaking Simoncelli
while Casey Stoner looked to be running away with the show as he opened a sizeable lead from the 2nd placed bike.
Lap 9 saw Rossi 6 seconds behind Lorenzo who in turn was 3.5 seconds behind Stoner. Hayden got past Simoncelli and had caught right up with Rossi – Could he overtake the Italian? Things were spicing up as Hayden and Rossi battled for position and Spies dueled
with Simoncelli.
At the end of the field, Aoyama, Barbera and De Puniet were battling for 12th spot. Meanwhile, Hayden looked determined to challenge the Italian Fiat Yamaha racer for the final step of the podium.
Rossi was 10 seconds behind Lorenzo and bearing in mind the gap, it looked that the 3rd place was the best he could achieve for the race. At the same time, the pit lane saw a lot of teams preparing the rain bikes just in case it started raining.
De Puniet managed to storm his way past Aoyama and Barber as the scrap for 12th place continued. Hayden looked quicker and closer than before to Rossi and looked set to make a move before the end of the race. Stoner looked comfortable at the front
– It is worth reminding that the Ducati rider has won every Moto GP race he’s completed at Philip Island.
Spies got past Simoncelli to take 4th – The two rookes had been battling for much of the race. Life at the front of the pack was reasonably quiet for Stoner and Lorenzo as all the action was for the final podium position.
Lap 24 saw Hayden pull of an excellent move to claim 3rd place as Rossi fought back.
2 laps to go… Hayden desperately wanted the final podium position and was trying his best to keep Rossi behind.
Final lap… Rossi took the position back as he made his move on the hairpin! Stoner took the race win, followed by Lorenzo. Rossi took third with Hayden finishing 4th after an epic battle.
Spies took 5th after battling with 6th place Simoncelli for most of the race. Edwards had a lonely race to finish 7th. And Espargaro, Melandri and De Puniet completed the top 10.
With 2 races to go, Stoner and Rossi are in a position to challenge Pedrosa for 2nd in the championship. Things are definately heating up as the Moto GP heads to Portugal next.
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