by Mark Appleton
A wet and miserable Sepang circuit greeted the riders as they took to the track for the race. The Moto2 race had been red flagged on lap 17 and then counted back due to conditions and there wasn’t really anything to suggest that wouldn’t happen here.
Jorge Lorenzo sat on pole position with the in-form Dani Pedrosa right behind him and Andrea Dovizioso, Casey Stoner and Cal Crutchlow rounding out the top five.
When the lights went out it was a great start from Lorenzo with Pedrosa right behind, the rain held off but there was a lot of standing water on the circuit. Stoner was behind his team mate in third with Stefan Bradl and Valentino Rossi following him.
Dovizioso made a terrible start and ended up back in eighth on the opening lap but had carved his way through the field to end up in fourth, behind Stoner, at the end of lap two.
At the front it was the usual story of Lorenzo being out in front with Pedrosa having now found his rhythm and catching the Yamaha rider to sit behind him for a while looking for the pass.
Ben Spies crashed out with 12 laps to go, he was seen in the kitty litter clutching his arm, as he came into turns seven and eight it looks liked he touched the white line and was punted off with a painful sounding thud. Scans would later reveal no fractures but contusions on his right shoulder. A lap later and Dovizioso came off at the same corner sliding on his butt into the kitty litter. On the same lap Pedrosa made his move and took the lead over the Yamaha riding Lorenzo.
Cal Crutchlow went down a few laps later as he came into turn 15, he too skidding on his rear into the kitty litter. As he was walking away he started to run as Randy de Puniet also crashed out at the same point. Just a few corners later and Stefan Bradl was the next man to fall as the front end folded on him.
All this crashing had left Nicky Hayden in fourth position with his team mate Rossi behind him in fifth and Alvaro Bautista in sixth. Ivan Silva was the next rider to hop off the bike which he did at high speed and could have almost landed on his feet he was catapulted that high off the bike.
At the front, as the rain came down, Stoner began to catch Lorenzo in second which would have done his team mate an enormous help in the championship. Lorenzo then had a massive moment after 15 laps and the race was then red flagged.
This gave Pedrosa his third win in a row for the first time ever, it was also the first time a Spaniard had been on the top step in the premier class at Sepang and the first time Honda had been there since Valentino Rossi won in 2003.
The MotoGP weekend round-up and rider quotes are available here.
- Dani Pedrosa (26) - Repsol Honda Team - 29.29.049
- Jorge Lorenzo (99) - Yamaha Factory Racing +3.774
- Casey Stoner (1) - Repsol Honda Team +7.144
- Nicky Hayden (69) - Ducati Team +10.518
- Valentino Rossi (46) - Ducati Team +16.759
- Alvaro Bautista (19) - San Carlo Honda Gresini +17.276
- Hector Barbera (8) - Pramac Racing Team +50.282
- Aleix Espargaro (41) - Power Electronics Aspar +51.585
- James Ellison (77) - Paul Bird Motorsport +56.676
- Karel Abraham (17) - Cardion AB Motoracing +57.622
- Danilo Petrucci (9) - Came IodaRacing Project +1.02.805
- Michele Pirro (51) - San Carlo Honda Gresini +1.02.891
- Andrea Dovizioso (4) - Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +1.28.989
