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Back to April 2012 Motorsports News Archive
| 30-04-2012 at 16:00: Epic Victory for Stoner | |
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With rain throughout much of the practice sessions, and the ever-imminent threat of rain, it had looked like a wet race may ensue. However the Jerez sky was kind to the riders and the fans, resulting in some tremendous racing from the off. Repsol Honda Team´s Dani Pedrosa took the wholeshot in front of Yamaha Factory Racing´s pole-sitter Lorenzo, with Monster Yamaha Tech3´s Cal Crutchlow charging behind. Some tough overtaking saw the pack shuffled numerous times in the opening four laps, as Ducati Team´s Nicky Hayden was bumped wide by Crutchlow, and Lorenzo touched Tech3´s Andrea Dovizioso´s bike after an aggressive move up the inside. Pedrosa´s team mate Casey Stoner then found his stride and moved to the front as he passed Lorenzo and then team mate Pedrosa, after which he did not relinquish the lead all race, despite being taken right down to the wire by Lorenzo in the closing stages. “We didn’t get a great start so I tried to stay out of trouble, there were people out braking each other, touching and it was important just to keep out of the way,” said Casey Stoner. ”Then I managed to gain a lot of positions in a short space of time and reached the front. I didn’t try to pull a gap, as I knew Jorge and Dani were very fast, but I just wanted to stay in front with them and pull away from the others. Then I saw that Jorge and I had slightly better pace and we could make a gap. I was focusing on where I wanted to go as there were a lot of wet patches and it was easy to make a mistake. We managed the race for the conditions of the circuit and as they improved I pushed a little more, the bike on a whole felt much better than in qualifying. I did get some arm pump again but thankfully not to the extent I had it in Qatar. Considering the weekend in general and how fast Dani and Jorge are at this track, to win here is something very special for me”.
Hayden, who had started on the front row and was pushing hard in the opening stages, dropped off towards the end of the race and finished seventh. This put him ahead of team mate Valentino Rossi, who tussled with Pramac Racing´s Hector Barberá throughout. Lorenzo´s team mate Ben Spies had another disappointing race, as he finished a full eight places behind his team mate in 10th. An annoyed Randy de Puniet, who had looked on course to finish top CRT in 12th, pulled off in the last lap with mechanical issues, leaving the way for his team mate Aleix Espargaró to take top CRT honours. Britain´s James Ellison of the Paul Bird Motorsport team also pulled into the pits on the last lap with a mechanical issue Pos.RiderBikeNationPoints1Jorge LORENZOYamahaSPA452Casey STONERHondaAUS413Dani PEDROSAHondaSPA364Cal CRUTCHLOWYamahaGBR265Andrea DOVIZIOSOYamahaITA226Alvaro BAUTISTAHondaSPA197Nicky HAYDENDucatiUSA188Stefan BRADLHondaGER179Valentino ROSSIDucatiITA1310Hector BARBERADucatiSPA13
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On a day when MotoGP fans around the globe were treated to three absolutely thrilling races, reigning World Champion Casey Stoner took his first premier-class victory at the Jerez track at the Gran Premio bwin de España, as he fought an epic battle with championship rival Jorge Lorenzo. 
Pedrosa had to hold off the advances of Crutchlow until the bitter end as well, as the Briton continues to impress in his second-only season in MotoGP. His team mate Dovizioso could not keep up the pace, having opted for a soft front tyre compared to Crutchlow´s hard choice, and finished fifth in front of San Carlo Honda Gresini´s Álvaro Bautista and LCR Honda MotoGP´s rookie Stefan Bradl, who is having a solid start to his debut season.^ Back to top ^
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