Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner edges out Ben Spies to win Valencia Grand Prix – MotoGP news
Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner took a close win from Ben Spies of Tech3 team at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit at Valencia.
The 2011 world champion well earned his victory at the MotoGP season finale event proving his mettle for the crown. The final few laps of the race were affected by rain which significantly dropped the rider’s pace.
Stoner said, “My heart was in my throat! We did such a good job all the race and then it started to rain heavily. Being the first one to arrive to the conditions on the track, I wasn't sure how hard to push so I slowed up to ensure I finished the race and
I thought if they come past I can stay with them.”
The Australian rider started off the race from his season’s 12th pole position in the 2011 season. He was able to lead the race since start off.
The Aussie added, “Then coming onto the back straight I made a slight mistake when I went into neutral instead of first gear and Ben came past me.”
The new world champion pushed hard to take the advantage of about 9 seconds from his teammates Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa.
Both Dovizioso and Pedrosa were engaged in a battle for second position which went almost went on until the end of the race.
With just about five laps on the countdown, rain hit the track and started a new session of the race, which was hard for factory Hondas to manage.
The Aussie rider got conscious about the slightly wet track. Stoner was in doubt about the pushing margin for his RC212V. However, he still managed to hold the lead in unpleasant conditions.
Closely behind Stoner, Spies overtook Dovizioso and Pedrosa as they were struggling to keep up in the wet conditions.
Then Stoner made a mistake with gearshift and went into neutral instead of shifting to first for the corner exit. The Aussie went wide and Spies took the vantage point to step in the lead.
The Texan rider was had a well sorted race setup on his Tech3 M1 which complemented his riding style on wet track.
However, he hooked on Spies’ tail and entered the final corner, but the exit of that bend left Stoner with another victory in the season.
Stoner took the inside line on the corner exit and throttled up to the finish line just milliseconds ahead of Spies.
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