It seems the key to exciting close racing in MotoGP is to have a tight, twisty circuit as Sachsenring provided some great entertainment. Maybe MotoGP should visit the BSB tracks!
Great start from Dani Pedrosa as usual as he hit the front from the off with Jorge Lorenzo in second and Casey Stoner in third.
At the end of lap one Lorenzo took the lead with Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso and Stoner chasing him down, Marco Simoncelli was next in line.
As the three Repsol Honda’s sorted themselves out it let Lorenzo get away as he pulled out a slight lead over Dovizioso in second.
Alvaro Bautista was having a fantastic race as a few laps down he passed the leading Ducati of Nicky Hayden into seventh. At the front Casey Stoner had moved past his team mates up to second and was closing quickly on Lorenzo.
Once Stoner hit the front he kept the hammer down and did his best to pull away from Lorenzo, Dovizioso and Pedrosa were chasing hard with Simoncelli a few bike lengths behind.
Valentino Rossi made his way slowly through the field from 16th and was in 10th with 22 laps to go and on the next lap took Colin Edwards to move up to ninth just behind Bautista.
At the front Pedrosa was all over the back of Lorenzo with neither being dropped off from Stoner and in fact with 16 laps to go Lorenzo got back past Stoner for the lead.
Stoner seemed to be having issues, possibly with tyres again, as he was then passed by Pedrosa who then began to chase Lorenzo down. Rossi was having a great battle for seventh with Bautista and Hayden, whilst Cal Crutchlow was fighting for 11th with Randy De Puniet.
With nine laps to go Pedrosa took Lorenzo as they came across the line as Lorenzo’s front wheel lifted slightly under power.
With six laps to go Stoner came back into the fore as he took Lorenzo to make it a Repsol Honda 1,2 at the front.
In the dying laps Stoner was sliding all over the place and Lorenzo was doing his best to close the gap enough to have a go for second.
On the final corner Lorenzo got the run out and managed to keep in front of Stoner to take second place.
- Dani Pedrosa (26) – Repsol Honda Team – 41.12.482
- Jorge Lorenzo (1) – Yamaha Factory Racing +1.477
- Casey Stoner (27) – Repsol Honda Team +1.568
- Andrea Dovizioso (4) – Repsol Honda Team +10.513
- Ben Spies (11) – Yamaha Factory Racing +10.719
- Marco Simoncelli (58) – San Carlo Honda Gresini +10.923
- Alvaro Bautista (19) – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +27.451
- Nicky Hayden (69) – Ducati Team +27.510
- Valentino Rossi (46) – Ducati Team+27.576
- Colin Edwards (5) – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +33.491
- Hector Barbera (8) – Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP +38.944
- Karel Abraham (17) – Cardion AB Motoracing +39.148
- Randy De Puniet (14) – Pramac Racing Team+39.415
- Cal Crutchlow (35) – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +39.477
- Hiroshi Aoyama (7) – San Carlo Honda Gresini +54.516
- Toni Elias (24) – LCR Honda MotoGP +1.12.335
- Sylvain Guintoli (50) – Pramac Racing Team +1 lap
