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Before Sunday my mind was wondering just how intense is the battle between Lorenzo and Pedrosa going to be on their home soil. For once I even thought Pedrosa may just be able to pull it off nicely considering his 2nd position on grid and the kind of launches he is capable of, forgetting the fact that the man is still recovering form wrist & knee injury and Repsol Honda has not been able to put many miles in the winter testing to get that perfect setup for Dani. Never thought Stoner would be able to even reach the podium, he and Ducati have always been weak here at Jerez. In an attempt to make the bike more chuckable in windy conditions, Ducati had made a series of holes in Stoners fairing.

Over 120,000 fans turned up to watch their Spanish hero’s Sete Gibernau, Dani Pedrosa and Lorenzo. The helicopter camera caught some glimpses of the most amazing parking lot ever, thousands of sports bikes parked in endless rows. Just shows the popularity of motogp in Spain.

At pole, Lorenzo sitting calmly on his mighty Yamaha M1, oozing with confidence, it’s his second pole at Jerez. Alongside him is the injured Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, ready to fire up that mother of Honda Fireblade and blast his way into turn 1.  On the 2nd row is the 2007 champion, Stoner who was never good at this circuit on the Ducati in a race, but killed everyone’s timesheet during winter testing at Jerez. Stoner was just glad to be up in the order.

 

Just as I had imagined it, Dani Pedrosa the 'launch master' once again had the most perfect launch off the line and had left Lorenzo behind whilst Pedrosa was still going through 3-4 gears, his front wheel rising at every gear change, finally Pedrosa followed by Stoner dived into the tight right hander and had a clear track. Rossi's imaginary fears became real when Lorenzo overtakes Stoner and is chasing down Pedrosa, these two guys should never be left ahead alone, else it only meant disaster for Rossi.

Stoner too wanted to make an impression on the Spanish fans and makes a brave move on Rossi and succeeds... well not for long, Rossi has a lot of trump cards up his sleeve and is not hesitant to use them. His favorite trick, follow stoner closely and wait for that left hander, then take his left foot out to dive inside Stoners line... mission accomplished!

Pedrosa is still leading the pack and is putting out some quick times, this went on for 17 laps and then 'the doctor' had enough and suddenly starting uping his pace, almost 4/10th per lap and then strikes with surgical precision waits right behind Dani's rear wheel for the right time, and then leaves everyone behind like he always did in the previous seasons. 

Rossi is back in action!!! Every race that I’ve seen him win keeps me thinking how does he do that? Its almost like a preemptive strike! Like a fierce predator hiding in dark till the time is right and in a split second everything is lost for anyone who is not Valentino Rossi. 

 

Rossi goes on to put out the last 10 flawless laps and grabs the 1st place finish. This is Rossi's first win of the season and his 98th till now! The Doctor has come a long way and by the looks of it, the young boys have a lot to learn from the man. Agreed the Ducati is not setup for this track, but was faster in qualifying AND fastest in winter testing on these very same grounds, the Repsol Honda is still on 2008 chassis but Pedrosa was flying for most of the race. In spite of all these odds against him, Rossi was still able to up his pace around the track as if on different class of bike. Reminded me of the 1000cc era when Rossi would just lurk around in the middle of the pack and easily find his way to the top in the closing laps of the race, every race. It’s like playing chess for him.

Rossi's team mate Lorenzo was obviously high on the adrenaline flowing through his body, to give his home fans what they had come to see. Now pushing really hard to catch Pedrosa, who is now falling behind Rossi, not because he has reduced his pace but because Rossi was pulling away. Whilst at it, Stoner is chasing down Lorenzo to get that podium finish at Jerez he had never tasted before, with just 4 laps to go Lorenzo looses his front on right hander, bike is still running, but no good. Game over!

10 years ago Rossi won the Jerez GP and put on a little show for the spectators by going into the toilet next to the track for a leak, as if he finished fast so he could go to the loo.. haha! He did that again after wining the 2009 Jerez GP, well that surely reminded his fans how crazy the man can be when it comes to victory celebration.

The 30 year old Italian is a living legend and I love every bit of his success stories, his secrecy makes his victories even more interesting to watch. He quietly moves back to his motor-home after Friday testing and Saturday qualifying, does not show much pace in either of the sessions, sometimes giving a feeling that he rides slowly on purpose and shows his true colours only during closing stages of race! 

The doctor has done it again, killed his competition!

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