When it was still round 14 to go and everyone said Stoner was not fit enough, its all in his head, Pedrosa didn’t have what it takes to be a champion and above all Lorenzo was not mature enough to beat Rossi to the championship! And that Rossi has already won the championship. Well thanks to Stoner and Pedrosa, Lorenzo has three more shots remaining to snatch the trophy from Rossi who still leads the championship but by just 18 points.
Lorenzo celebrating his victory!
The excitement touched a new level at Estoril with Stoner's return and Lorenzo's win. Once again after a huge break in MotoGP the riders championship still is undecided, though it may dangle between just Rossi and Lorenzo, the fight for the third place has just begun between Pedrosa and Stoner and mean while Collin Edwards and Andrae Dovizioso will fight it out for the fourth spot.
I can only imagine what will happen when the WSBK star Ben Spies joins Tech 3 Yamaha next season. Ben will try to win the WSBK championship for Yamaha this year as he starts just ten points behind the Ducati rider Haga. So why is the current Yamaha star joining a satellite team, well the rules say that he has to, no rookie rider can ride a factory bike but has to spend aa year in a satellite team.
So if either Rossi or Lorenzo decide to leave Yamaha in 2011, Ben will surely take that free spot.
Three more rounds to go with just 18 points away from Rossi and the lead by which he has won the Estoril GP, the rival teammate Jorge Lorenzo has a pretty good chance of winning his first of many MotoGP championships at the age of just 22. Rossi recently rightly compared Lorenzo and Stoner to sharks who were ready to attack on sighting his smallest mistake and weakness. Well that's what champions do!
2009 has been the Yamaha duo's playground, where each one of them have had similar DNF's and wins, though Rossi has won six races till now but was beaten at Mugello where the doctor has been winning since 2002! Done that Stoner and Lorenzo knew Rossi was beatable this season and they need to be more consistent and grab each and every opportunity to have a chance at the championship.
Indianapolis was a smooth victory for Lorenzo once he had overtaken Rossi who crashed after two laps leaving him disappointed. Misano in return was a smooth victory for Rossi thanks to Dani Pedrosa whose fantastic defensive riding which kept Lorenzo in third position for long enough to allow Rossi to gain a good enough advantage. Then Estoril, which is one of the most demanding and difficult circuits of all is where Rossi was missing his killer attitude. No one knows for sure what made the doctor loose pace on race day, was it due to bad setup or something was wrong with the bike itself.
The new engine conservative rules might have a role to play in this as Rossi might be saving the last of the ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) for the final two or three races. Whatever the reason, he was proved to be 'slow'!
Casey Stoner who had missed the last three races due to his illness and was recovering it at home in Australia returned to racing at Estoril, and surely answered some of his critics. He was blamed of being under pressure and the illness was just a mental block and that it was time he would do something more suitable for him. But the illness was real and so is the 'greed' to win each race.
Stoner was quick right from the beginning, overtaking Rossi and Pedrosa with ease, but at around lap 2 he lost his right footrest and was having difficulty in the right handers. A reason as to why he was not able to close the gap on Lorenzo.
Lorenzo took a flawless victory and Stoner came back with a huge bang much to Ducati's relief. Dani Pedrosa took the third place on podium surely has the pace but the RC212V needs more development and maybe 2010 is when he might lead the pack.
Valentino Rossi still leads to rider championship but by just 18 points. The next three races would be critical for the two Yamaha riders and would once again depend a lot on Stoner and Pedrosa.
Estoril was also when a amendment was made to the engine change rule. Till now the rider would be penalized by taking away 10 points for an engine change every single time after finishing his seasons quota, but henceforth the constructor will face 10 points penalty and the rider would start from back of the grid. Makes sense now as the rider has nothing to do with engine reliability but use is conservatively up-to some extent.
And that is the reason why Yamaha was not awarded their Constructors Championship trophy, as there may be a chance for Yamaha to loose some earned points if at all the engines are changed. Its more of a case of Champagne on ice at the moment and will be popped only when its mathematically impossible for Honda to beat them.
The pressure is now mounting on Rossi as we progress towards the Australian GP of Philip Island. Lorenzo on the other hand still has nothing to loose but only win the championship, all he has to do is try to win all the remaining races and hope that Pedrosa and Stoner together finish higher than Rossi to increase the point difference between the two Fiat Yamaha riders.
Next race will challenge Lorenzo to beat two riders, Rossi and Stoner as the later will be in the frame of mind when you go to race at your home GP.
My money is on Lorenzo for the chmapionship, though my heart still says to be loyal to The Doctor!
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a guest
said:
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... Your money is on Lorenzo? Even if he wins every race remaining and Rossi comes second (which would be a massive improvement on performance so far) he wouldn't win the championship! Best keep your money in your pocket! Spies isn't just on a Satelitte bike next year because of the rules - he is unproven in motogp apart from wildcards. Towsland was far more successful than Spies has been on superbikes but failed to perform in motogp. Spies is on a satelitte bike because theres every chance that when he steps up to motogp he will be an also ran |
Kunal Ghate
said:
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... Considering that this is the first year for Ben on SBK as opposed to James's million... Ben has completely outperformed. And Valencia wont be the first time he will ever ride a motogp bike, he has managed to score 20 points in 3 races on a 'Suzuki' ! and James managed a 105 in 18 races on a Yamaha ! so clearly James sucks and Ben does not ! Well now that the race is over and Lorenzo crashed on the first corner there is not a doubt that Rossi will not win the championship. |
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