Moto GP: The Portuguese Grand Prix, Part 1
Bettor.com welcomes you to the highlights package of the penultimate round of the 2010 Moto GP championship from Estoril in Portugal!
Qualifying was a washed out affair and the grid position was therefore, determined by combined practice times. Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) was on pole, followed by Ducati's Nicky Hayden in 2nd and Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) in 3rd.
The second row was headed by Casey Stoner (Ducati) in 4th, followed by Ben Spies (Tech 3 Yamaha) in 5th and Marco Melandri (Gresini Honda) in 6th. Further down the grid, Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) found himself in an unfamiliar 12th position. This was his
comeback race after fracturing his collarbone 3 races ago. The event in Portugal also saw a new rider on the grid: Carlos Checa came in place of the injured Mika Kallio in the Pramac Ducati team.
Riders mentioned before the race that they would prefer a wet race as all the practice sessions were under wet conditions. On the other hand, a dry race could be considered a bit of a gamble on the settings. Let's see how the weather holds up as the feature
continues.
The Riders were out on their sight-er laps. The conditions were windy but dry for the time being. This was the first dry session of the weekend, so it was bound to be interesting, as riders did not have any testing on the dry surface. Tyre choice was going
to be extremely tricky.
The first drama of the race saw Ben Spies crashing on his warm up lap! It was a high-side crash on turn 4. As he struggled to get up, he was immediately taken away on the stretcher. It seemed that Spies' race was over - extremely disappointing for the Rookie
of the Year.
The warm up lap began! Riders were set to lap 28 times around the Estoril circuit.
The Red lights went out and the race got underway. Lorenzo got off to a good start and led into turn 1. Dovizioso had a dream start; he was up to second after starting 7th. It was effectively, Hayden 3rd and Rossi 4th.
Positions were changing rapidly as the race headed to the second lap. Hayden overtook Lorenzo for the lead while Stoner, Rossi and Dovizioso were in a scrap for 3rd. Meanwhile, Espargaro was the first race-related casualty of the day.
The race headed to lap 3 and things were getting too close for comfort – A total of 4 riders went side by side on the start finish straight. Lorenzo and Rossi led into turn one but Hayden was making life extremely hard in the mix. However, moments later,
Rossi managed to shake off Hayden and was right up the back of the leading FIAT Yamaha.
The duel for race lead continued. The front two were so busy at pushing each other to the limit that they were opening up a slight gap to Stoner in 3rd place. Rossi finally managed to go past Lorenzo to take P1. Interestingly, the uphill chicane
that the Italian used to his advantage is the ‘slowest’ corner in Moto GP.
Rossi led Lorenzo as the 5th lap began. As the race continued, the race leader was able to build some breathing space between him and his team mate behind. However, it wasn’t all rosy for the Yamaha team as Stoner in 3rd, was catching
up with Lorenzo. Minutes later though, it appeared that it was likely to be a good day at the office for the team as Stoner crashed out at Parabolica in his haste to overtake Lorenzo.
The top 3 were spreading out. The order read Rossi in front, followed by Lorenzo with Hayden rounding up the top 3. The Spanish Yamaha rider looked intent on chasing down Rossi. Further down the grid, Pedrosa had moved up to 7th. There was news
on the extent of Spies’ injury as it was later confirmed that it was a dislocated ankle.
Things were heating up as half a dozen laps were already up.
To find out what happened next, Stay tuned…
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