MotoGP: Lorenzo is victorious rain master in front of home crowd at Jerez

Jerez- Spain, Apr 3rd 2011– Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) took victory in the wet MotoGP race at the Gran Premio bwin de España after a chaotic series of events saw Casey Stoner taken out by Valentino Rossi’s bike early on, Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) crashed out whilst leading and a series of other riders struggle to deal with the conditions.

Casey Stoner Interview after Jerez – click link below

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It was a Spanish one-two with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) claiming second position and Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) in third.

Lorenzo started from the front row and was able to pick up 25 points and claim his first victory of the 2011 season at the Gran Premio bwin de España, thus assuming the Championship lead. This result was his second successive win at the Andalusian circuit and a replica one-two with Pedrosa. The Mallorcan finished a clear 13.256s over his fellow compatriot after a gripping race which was unpredictable until the very last lap.

On a wet track Simoncelli appeared to be on his way to his first victory in the premier class with a three-second advantage over Lorenzo, but the Italian suffered a nasty highside at turn one with 16 laps remaining and was unable to continue. Pedrosa had made a tentative start to his race but managed to get back in the hunt for the win. Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) had passed the Spaniard for second in the closing stages of the race, but made a mistake and ended up in the gravel, losing a potential 20 points.

It was the same story for Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) who due to Spies’ error, was on course to take a rostrum place behind Pedrosa. However the American also ended up visiting the gravel trap and was unable to restart. It was Hayden who finished in third to take the first podium for Ducati Team this season and his second of his career with the team.

Qatar race winner Stoner (Repsol Honda) was the victim of a mistake from Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) which ended his race prematurely. The Ducati rider, who started from 12th, tried to pass Stoner on the inside but lost the front of his GP11, thus taking the Australian down with him. Rossi was able to rejoin the race but Stoner could not, the Italian eventually finishing fifth.

Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) took fourth position, his best result in MotoGP, Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar Team) built on his performance in Losail to finish sixth, ahead of Karel Abraham (Cardion ab Motoracing) who after crashing during the race was able to remount to take seventh place. Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was able to take eighth after a similar fate to the Czech rider, when he crashed whilst riding in a solid top five position in his first ride at the circuit. Last season’s Moto2 World Champion Toni Elías (LCR Honda) brought his bike home in ninth place with the final place in the top ten going to Rizla Suzuki’s John Hopkins, replacing the injured Álvaro Bautista.