MotoGP at Estoril in Portugal...no one's home race. Valentino Rossi came into this round with a 30 point championship lead over teammate Jorge Lorenzo. Casey Stoner came into this round fresh off a self-induced 3 race absence that he spent back in the land down under being treated for a brutal case of Kangaroo Flu. Many wondered if Stoner would even show up at all. Well...he showed up, told Schwantz to shut the fuck up, and qualified in 3rd. Not bad for being off the bike for 9 weeks. JLo and Rossi started from Pole and 2nd respectively. What about the 'mericans? Edwards started from Edwardth and Hayden from 9th. So there.
This is also 'contract time', when under performing and sponsorship-challenged riders get canned to make way for new blood. Rossi and Lorenzo will be back next year with Fiat Yamaha. Rumor is that Rossi may jump ship to Ducati at the end of 2010. World Superbike hotshot Ben Spies will be pardner'd up with Edwards at Tex 3 Yamaha...Toseland got shuffled back to World Superbike to ride a factory Yamaha R1 and play a Yamaha piano in his gay cover band. Vermeulen is also heading off to World Superbike, where he will ride for the 'factory' Kawasaki team, while 250cc maniac, Alvaro Bautista, will step up to take his seat on the Suzuki MotoGP bike along side Capirossi. Stoner and Hayden at Ducati. Dovi and Pedrosa at Repsol Honda. Melandri and Simoncelli at Gresini Honda. Elias looks to be off to Moto2, and DeAngelis to a disco.
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Back to the race...Lights out and Pedrosa, who is made of styrofoam, went straight to the front of the pack. Pedro's lead lasted roughly 4 corners, until he ran wide and let Lorenzo and his fucking sweet Neil Armstrong tribute helmet up into the lead. From there, JLo pretty much scurried off to a lonely 4th win of the season by a gap of over 7 seconds. Meanwhile, Rossi sat in 3rd with Stoner right on his ass. 2 corners into the 2nd lap, Stoner took Rossi for 2nd courtesy of a rather ballsy inside move and quickly closed down on Pedrosa in 2nd. As for Rossi, that was as good as it was going to get. That's right, the world champ finished in 4th...this was also the first time he has ever finished off the podium at Estoril. Gutted.
26 laps to go, and Stoner smokes Pedro on the brakes at the end of the front straight to take over 2nd...but not before grinding his right footpeg on the previous corner. Nine weeks off the bike? Yeah, right.
With JLo long gone, the top four places were pretty much done and dusted. What else was going on, you ask? Well, not a whole hell of a lot. Homeboy Hayden had gotten a decent start, but was starting to go backwards and ended the day in 9th. Edwards finished where he started...in 5th. Elias was in true 'contract time' mode and finished 6th from his 13th place start...ape style.
Yep...Lorenzo's win cut Rossi's lead in the champeenship from 30 to 18 points with three races to go. Even though he missed three races, Stoner was only 3 points off of Pedrosa in 3rd. After another one of his epic celebration wheelies, Lorenzo pulled to the side of the track, grabbed a 'Lorenzoland' flag, and did a slow motion space walk into the gravel to plant the flag...excellent. Not only is JLo challenging Rossi for the title, but also in the post race celebration department.
Race Result:
1) Lorenzo-Yamaha
2) Stoner-Ducati
3) Pedrosa-Honda
4) Rossi-Yamaha
5) Edwards-Yamaha
6) Elias-Honda
7) Dovizioso-Honda
8) Hayden-Ducati
9) Toseland-Yamaha
10) Vermeulen-Suzuki
11) DePuniet-Honda
12) Melandri-Hayate
13) Canepa-Ducati
14) Talmacsi
DNF:
Capirossi-Suzuki
Kallio-Ducati
DeAngelis-Honda
Next stop: Phillip Island
T...out
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