The top three finishers in the San Marino Grand Prix, from left: Jorge Lorenzo, second; Valentino Rossi, first; Dani Pedrosa, third

San Marino GP Race Report

By Paul Kelly
indianapolismotorspeedway.com

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Valentino Rossi can remove the donkey from his helmet after galloping to victory from pole in the San Marino Grand Prix on Sept. 6 at Misano Adriatico, Italy.

Six-time MotoGP World Champion Rossi beat Fiat Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo, winner of the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 30 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, by 2.416 seconds. Dani Pedrosa finished third on his Repsol Honda Team machine.

Rossi expanded his lead to 30 points over Lorenzo with four races remaining.

"Since Indianapolis, when I made that mistake, we have been so focused and concentrated, and everyone deserves this result," Rossi said. "I was the 'flying donkey' today!"

Rossi traditionally picks a special helmet design for the two Italian rounds in MotoGP, and he placed a large donkey face from the movie "Shrek" on his helmet for this event because he was embarrassed about crashing out of the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 30 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"I have the donkey on it because in Italy, if you make a stupid mistake we say that you are a donkey," Rossi said. "As soon as I hit the ground at Indianapolis, I thought what a donkey I was."

Rossi was perfect at his home event, as he grew up about 5 miles from the Misano circuit. He dropped from pole to third on the first lap, which included a pileup triggered by San Marino native Alex de Angelis that took out Americans Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden.

Pedrosa and Toni Elias dueled for the lead in the early laps, but Rossi passed Lorenzo and Elias for second on Lap 5. On the next lap, he passed Pedrosa and began to pull away, creating too large of a gap for Lorenzo to bridge once he passed Pedrosa for second.

Edwards and Hayden qualified fifth and sixth, respectively. But neither could fulfill that promising qualifying pace into a strong race result due to an over-optimistic late-braking maneuver on the first lap by de Angelis, who finished second Aug. 30 at Indianapolis.

De Angelis' San Carlo Honda Gresini machine pile-drove into the left side of Edwards' Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine in the left-handed Turn 2, sending both tumbling into the gravel. Edwards' sprawling machine then clipped the rear wheel of Hayden's Ducati, also dropping Hayden into the gravel.

"We are in Italy, and occasionally you have to deal with an Italian rider who wants to be a hero, and today that was de Angelis," Edwards said. "Turn 1 at the start with 17 bikes is not the place to be going at race pace, and he was never going to make through there. Today de Angelis is the guy who needed to be wearing Valentino's donkey helmet."

The next event is the Grand Prix of Portugal on Oct. 4 at Estoril.

***

RESULTS

MISANO ADRIATICO, Italy - Results of the 28-lap Grand Prix of San Marino MotoGP race, with position, rider, country, motorcycle, time behind winner. All riders on Bridgestone tires:

NC - Not classified

Fastest lap: Rossi, 1:34.746, Lap 16; Pole lap: Rossi, 1:34.338

***

POINTS

Riders: Rossi 237, Lorenzo 207, Pedrosa 157, Casey Stoner 150, Dovizioso 133, Edwards 123, Capirossi 97, de Angelis 88, de Puniet 88, Melandri 87, Vermeulen 84, Elias 80, Toseland 78, Hayden 73, Kallio 51, Canepa 35, Sete Gibernau 12, Talmacsi 12, Yuki Takahashi 9, Aleix Espargaro 8.

Manufacturers: Yamaha 305, Honda 220, Ducati 191, Suzuki 120, Kawasaki 87.

***

PODIUM QUOTES

VALENTINO ROSSI (Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha/Bridgestone, winner): "This is a great feeling. It's taken me some time to get used to Misano and view it as a 'home' race because Mugello is so special to me, but I can honestly say that winning here today, in front of everyone dressed in yellow and with 46s everywhere, is a great emotion and I want to thank everyone for making it so special. Today I had to go quite carefully with the full tank at the start and I took some time to get to the front, but once I was there, it was great, and my bike felt fantastic. We didn't expect to be this competitive here, but it's been a perfect weekend. Since Indianapolis, when I made that mistake, we have been so focused and concentrated, and everyone deserves this result. I was the 'flying donkey' today!"

JORGE LORENZO (Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha/Bridgestone, second): "I did what I had to do today and took as many points as I could, which is the most important thing when you're not perfect. Unfortunately, we struggled a bit all weekend to find the right setting, and so I thought it was better to take care and ensure the second place today. I took some time to get past Dani and Toni, and then it was too far to Valentino. After I was nearly brought down on the second corner, I wanted to make sure I got the points in order to keep the championship alive. We have some work to do, but we will make sure we're back to our best in Estoril, where I have great memories from last year and my first win."

DANI PEDROSA (Repsol Honda Team Honda/Bridgestone, third): "A podium finish is a good result for us, and I think it fulfilled our potential here this weekend. I made a good start and pushed to the maximum in the opening laps to stay ahead of the others. I was riding really hard and getting quicker every lap, which allowed me to keep in front for quite a long time. First Valentino and then Jorge came past though, and they were able to brake harder and get through the corners a little better that me, which meant I just couldn't stay with them. I was actually quite lucky at the end because I ran out of fuel on the slowing-down lap and had to hitch a ride back to the pits with Toni Elias. Third is OK here, and there was no way I could follow the leaders' rhythm, so I'm reasonably satisfied. I've moved into third in the championship, but with Casey not riding here, it's not an even situation, so I'm not too concerned about that. This weekend I also re-signed with Honda, and I'm very happy about this. They know my potential very well, and I know their potential, too, and I'm sure we can work well together into the future."

***

AMERICAN RIDER QUOTES

NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Team Ducati/Bridgestone, not classified): "It's easy to say it now, but I just know I was set for a good race today, so I'm extremely disappointed. Maybe I wasn't going to win the race, but I at least could have run with the front guys for a while and given all the Ducatisti to cheer for, as well as picking up some vital experience and data for this machine and having some fun myself. To be honest, I had a feeling de Angelis might create some drama here. He's at home and fighting for his job, and when I saw him in the corner of my eye, I just tried to gas it and get out of his way. Unfortunately, he slightly clipped my rear wheel, and that was the last I knew about it. I know in racing people can make mistakes and I have done plenty in my life, but I'm not happy with Alex because this wasn't racing - it was just stupid to try and pull a move like that on cold tires, in the second corner on the first lap. Anyway, we're all OK and looking forward to Portugal."

COLIN EDWARDS (Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha/Bridgestone, not classified): "I thought I had the pace to easily be fourth and maybe fight with Pedrosa for a podium, but we are in Italy and occasionally you have to deal with an Italian rider who wants to be a hero, and today that was de Angelis. Turn 1 at the start with 17 bikes is not the place to be going at race pace, and he was never going to make through there. Today de Angelis is the guy who needed to be wearing Valentino's donkey helmet. I didn't know what happened until I was sliding through the gravel. Turn 1 is the most dangerous time to crash with so many bikes around you; it is unacceptable. I've been fighting with Dovizioso in the championship most of the season, and now he has 10 points on me with four races to go. That's racing."

***

MotoGP SUPPORT CLASS WINNERS

250cc: Hector Barbera, Spain, Pepe World Team Aprilia.

125cc: Julian Simon, Spain, Bancaja Aspar Team 125cc Aprilia. American Cameron Beaubier finished 22^nd and is tied for 27^th in the World Championship standings.

***

NEXT RACE

Grand Prix of Portugal, Estoril, Oct. 2-4. Round 14 of 17.

***

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