Sunday’s race was very exciting. The first two days of practice and testing at Motegi was done in the rain. The weather finally broke for race day, leaving all of the teams scrambling to try to guess what the best dry weather setup would be for the bikes. Rossi started on pole and opened up a bit of a gap, right away. It only lasted a few laps, however, as Jorge Lorenzo worked his way up the chain. There was a brief battle of back and forth passing at the front, but ultimately Lorenzo made his pass stick and was able to open up a bit of a gap. Pedrosa had a great race, as well. After being passed by Lorenzo, Rossi had to contend with Pedrosa, late in the race. Pedroso traded passes in corners 2 or 3 times on Rossi, before the final lap. Rossi was able to maintain his position in second spot, when they came across the line on the last lap. This is Lorenzo’s second victory in the GP class, his first at Motegi. Stoner finished up barely off of the podium in 4th spot, after a less than ideal start and a hard battle. Here are the full results.
There was some drama early in the race. As you may recall, Nicky Hayden suffered a very messy high-side wreck before Qatar, which required minor surgery. He is still healing from that tumble. In fact, they haven’t even taken the stitches out yet. At fate would have it, the GP rookie, Takahashi plowed into the back of Hayden entering a turn, on the very first lap of the race, Sunday. It was a nasty spill. Takahashi walked away, Hayden was taken out on a stretcher. It is said that Hayden will be fully recovered in time to race next Sunday in Spain.