Grand Prix of Japan Motegi October 2 Race Results: 1. Dani Pedrosa, Spain (Honda), 24 laps, 71.592 miles, 100.418 mph, 42:47.481 2. Jorge Lorenzo, Spain (Yamaha), -7.299 seconds 3. Casey Stoner, Australia (Honda), -18.380, ran off track 4. Marco Simoncelli, Italy (Honda), – 23.550, jump start, ride-through penalty 5. Andrea Dovizioso, Italy (Honda), -23.691, jump start, ride-through penalty 6. Ben Spies, USA (Yamaha), -37.604, crash 7. Nicky Hayden USA (Ducati), -39.167 8. Colin Edwards, USA (Yamaha), -45.023 9. Hiroshi Aoyama, Japan (Honda), -49.074 10. Randy de Puniet, France (Ducati), -59.022 11. Cal Crutchlow, Great Britain (Yamaha), -73.964, jump start, ride-through penalty 12. Kousuke Akiyoshi, Japan (Honda), -81.709 13. Shinichi Ito, Japan (Honda), -86.381 14. Toni Elias, Spain (Honda), -7 laps, DNF, crash 15. Alvaro Bautista, Spain (Suzuki), -11 laps, DNF, crash 16. Damian Cudlin, Australia (Ducati), -11 laps, DNF, crash 17. Hector Barbera, Spain (Ducati), -23 laps, DNF, crash 18. Valentino Rossi, Italy (Ducati), -24 laps, DNF, crash Point Standings 1. Stoner, 300 2. Lorenzo, 260 3. Dovizioso, 196 4. Pedrosa, 195 5. Spies, 156 6. Rossi, 139 7. Hayden, 123 8. Simoncelli, 119 9. Edwards, 98 10. Aoyama, 94 More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: GRAND PRIX OF JAPAN MotoGP Round 14 Motegi circuit 2 October Weather : Dry Temperature : Air: 19 degrees C, Ground: 29 degrees C Humidity : 55% Pedrosa takes maiden victory at Motegi for the Repsol Honda Team with Stoner third and Dovizioso fifth Dani Pedrosa took his third victory of the season in a dramatic Grand Prix of Japan with Casey Stoner alongside him on the podium in third position and with Andrea Dovizioso finishing fifth. Today, Dani celebrates the 400th win for a Spaniard in Grand Prix racing and has given the Repsol Honda Team its first ever victory at the Motegi circuit. It’s also the first win for Honda at this track since Makoto Tamada was victorious aboard his Camel Honda in 2004. Joining Dani on the podium, accepting the constructors trophy was Mr. Takanobu Ito – President, Chief Executive Officer and Representative Director of Honda. Casey, Dani and Andrea made a fantastic start and led the race as a pack for the first four laps, but then Casey experienced a big wobble on lap five and ended up running off the track, narrowly avoiding the barrier. Andrea whilst leading the race, was then given a ride through penalty for a jump start. Dani took the lead and improved his pace lap by lap to take a comfortable win by more than seven seconds ahead of Lorenzo. Casey was able to fight his way back up the field to finish on the podium taking important points for the Championship. After his penalty, Andrea also got back on the pace quickly and had a great battle with Marco Simoncelli on the final two laps for fourth position. Unfortunately he struggled with the tyres after such an effort to get back in front and was overtaken by Simoncelli on the last lap. With three races to go, Casey Stoner is leading the World Championship standings, forty points ahead of Lorenzo, with Dovizioso and Pedrosa third and fourth, separated by just one point. DANI PEDROSA 1st World Championship Position: 4th with 195 points “I’m super happy with this victory, for the team that has been working so well, for HRC because this is the first win in Motegi with the Repsol Honda Team and for myself because it is the first time I’ve won here in MotoGP after doing so in 125cc and 250cc. The race was strange at the beginning with Stoner and Dovi really fast on the first few laps, they pulled away and then Casey had some problem and Andrea had a ride through due to his jump start. I was alone in front with Lorenzo very close, but I tried to put my head down and push every lap to pull away. I’m really happy because at this track I’ve had a mix of good and bad results and some bad injuries, so come back one year later and win in MotoGP is fantastic”. CASEY STONER 3rd World Championship Position: 1st with 300 points “The whole weekend had gone so well for us and even the start of the race we got a great start and everything felt good in the first laps and I was able to pull a small advantage. Andrea was riding very well on the soft tyre compound and we knew ours would work well towards the end of the race, so the pace we had at that stage I was very comfortable with. As I came out of the back straight I got a wobble on the bike, we hit the big bump and as the front came down it practically shook the bars out of my hands, I was lucky to hold on. I went for the brakes and there was nothing there so I had to pump them up a couple of times, when I pumped it the second time if flicked me up over the front and I was lucky to stay on the bike. Thankfully I avoided hitting the wall at the end of the gravel trap but this pretty much ended our race. It’s really disappointing as we had the bike to win here to day, but in the end I guess I should be thankful that we were able to climb back up to a podium spot after other peoples misfortunes and mistakes on track. I’m looking forward to going to Phillip Island now and to see what we an achieve there, I’ve got a Championship lead to protect but I also want to win races which is why I’m disappointed here today”. ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 5th World Championship Position: 3rd with 196 points “I cannot believe it. I have never had a false start in my career and it happened today, in a race where I felt that I could fight for the win! I don’t know why the bike moved a little before the green light but I realised it immediately and expected the ride through. In the first laps I had a good feeling and I was pushing hard because I knew I was the only rider up there with soft tyres, in my opinion this was the right choice today and I was catching Casey. Then Casey went wide and I found myself leading the race, but unfortunately it didn’t last long. When I rejoined the race after the ride through I pushed hard but it’s not the same as when you are fighting for the victory. In the last five laps the rear tyre started to drop off and I was no longer able to be fast in the middle of the corner. Meanwhile, Simoncelli had recovered and was behind me, I did all I could to defend my position but I wasn’t able to. I’m really disappointed as I’m sure today I could have fought for the win, we can see the final gap to Dani is similar to the time it took to do the ride through. I’m sorry for the team, we did a great job and I felt competitive. It’s also a shame for the Championship points, anyway I look forward to Phillip Island because once again I showed to be fast”. More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Another lap record falls in drama-filled Japanese GP Round 15: Japan GP Race Twin Ring Motegi, Sunday 2 October 2011 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium, Hard. Rear (asymmetric): Soft, Medium Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa kept a level head and rode a faultless race to take HRC’s first MotoGP victory at Motegi in a dramatic Japanese Grand Prix. Starting from fourth on the grid, he was one of five riders to use the harder front and rear slicks and once at the front of the field, he didn’t look back and set a new lap record to round-off what has been a very fast weekend. Factory Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo followed him across the finish line in second to cut Casey Stoner’s championship lead, but only by four points to 40 with three rounds remaining. Throughout the rest of the field though, the action was far more intense. Stoner got away to an early lead until he ran wide at turn eleven on lap five, demoting him to seventh although he fought back strongly to clinch third. The top three all used the harder front and rear slicks as the sun emerged just before the start of the race, warming the tarmac enough for some riders to change their minds about the durability of the softer rear. Every rider chose the hard compound front slicks which have been favoured all weekend because of their extra braking stability. From the start of the 24-lap race, Andrea Dovizioso, Marco Simoncelli and Cal Crutchlow were given ride-through penalties for jumping the green light, demoting Dovizioso from the lead and Simoncelli from fourth. At the first corner Valentino Rossi got caught up between Lorenzo and Ben Spies, crashing out and forcing Spies to run wide. Then Hector Barbera, Damian Cudlin, Álvaro Bautista and Toni Elias all crashed out in separate incidents, Bautista from a season-best fourth position. As the field constantly changed as a result of crashes and ride-through penalties and riders fought to regain positions, some intense battles emerged in the closing stages, especially between Simoncelli and Dovizioso who almost traded paint to finish fourth and fifth respectively. Dovizioso was the highest-placed rider to use the soft compound rear slick. Yoshiyuki Morimoto Vice President and Senior Officer, Bridgestone Corporation “I would like to congratulate the Repsol Honda Team and Dani Pedrosa for their excellent victory here today at the home circuit of HRC. We are honoured to have been able to support this Japanese Grand Prix especially after the earthquake earlier this year and for MotoGP to have shown such solidarity with the Japanese people. MotoGP remains a very important platform for us and Bridgestone will continue to strive to provide tyres of consistently high quality and safety and a fair tyre service to all teams.” Hirohide Hamashima Assistant to Director, Motorsport Tyre Development Division “With the incidents on track that was a very frantic race for all but Dani and Jorge who avoided trouble to stay in front. The sun emerged shortly before the race start which meant the tarmac got hotter and with race tyre choice so dependent on the weather, many riders made their selection last minute. The hard front was always favoured for its extra stability under braking, but rear tyre choice was more mixed. With the top four riders, clearly the harder rear was the faster choice, but I am pleased that even our soft compound allowed Álvaro to run in third for a time, and we could see that until the end Andrea was able to fight hard with Marco, who used the harder rear.” Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team Race Winner “The race was a bit weird at the beginning! I tried to push my best but Casey and Andrea were faster in those laps, then Casey made a mistake and Andrea went into the pits so I had free road. I tried to concentrate to do the best laps I could and the bike was working well. I’m very happy for the win for the first time here and in front of Honda.” More, from a press release issued by HRC: Shinichi Ito proud to race for HRC, bringing hope to East Japan In an action packed race today at the Motegi circuit, HRC test rider Shinichi Ito finished thirteenth and very proud with his achievement. Ito rode a strong race in front of his home crowd at Motegi, and took this opportunity as training for testing the 1000cc machine to be ridden by HRC factory riders in 2012. HRC would like to thank Ito san and congratulate him on his performance in the Japanese Grand Prix. SHINICHI ITO 13th “First of all, I’d like to say big a very big thank you to Honda. They gave me this possibility to race a MotoGP machine again and through this I hope I brought courage to the victims of the East Japan disaster. My target for this race was to simply take the checkered flag and I achieved this. Considering that today was no ordinary race, I’m very happy with the result! I had a physical problem after Friday’s crash, so the first part of the race was difficult for me. I reminded myself the main reason for participating and I knew I could not give up. After that, in the last part I managed faster laps and I’m happy with this. The experience of today will contribute towards my training for the 1000 machine test. At this moment I don’t have any plans to participate in another Motorcycle race, but if I take part in another race category, such as GT300 Japanese Car Championship, I would like to do so with a Honda Machine”. More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Bautista crashes out from fourth position in Motegi Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista crashed out of this afternoon’s Japanese Grand Prix when he was fighting for the best MotoGP finish of his career. Bautista started from eighth on the grid and found himself up into sixth early on after narrowly missing two riders that collided in front of him on the first lap. He was then promoted to fourth as two other riders were forced to complete a ride-through penalty for jumping the start, and then almost immediately found himself in a podium position when race-leader Casey Stoner ran off the track. Bautista held third position for six laps and fought off an attack from Nicky Hayden, before Stoner re-grouped and caught and passed Suzuki’s Spanish racer. Bautista looked comfortable in fourth and began to push to secure his best-ever MotoGP finish, but lost the front near the end of the 13th lap and crashed at high-speed. He walked away uninjured, but bitterly disappointed. Today’s Japanese Grand Prix was a re-scheduled race after the initial date was cancelled due to the earthquake and tsunami that struck the country earlier in the year. A crowd of just over 34,000 showed their support for both the MotoGP racers and the people of Japan. The race was won by Dani Pedrosa, with current World Champion Jorge Lorenzo second. Current championship leader Stoner took the final place on the podium. Rizla Suzuki now has one weekend off before heading over the equator to Phillip Island in Australia for the second leg in a trio of Pacific races. Álvaro Bautista: “This was for sure not the result we expected today! I chose the softer rear tyre for the race because the conditions today were colder than yesterday and because for the first laps I needed to be as fast as possible. I didn’t get a good start because some riders jump-started and I was a bit confused by them and when the red light went off I was little bit late. There was a crash on the second corner and I then found myself in a good position. A few laps later some riders entered the pits because they did a jump start and I was then in third, but I knew it was not my real position! When Casey went past me and I saw what the distance was between me and Andrea who was the next rider and how many laps were left, I tried to follow Casey and keep the gap to Andrea. Near the last corner I lost the front and crashed and that was the end of the race for me. We worked very hard this weekend and improved in all the sessions, and in the race we were in a good position. Today the luck was just not with us! “I am sorry for the whole team because this result would have meant so much to them, and I’m sorry for Suzuki at its home Grand Prix because we wanted to make a good race and a positive result. I have to keep the good things from this weekend in my mind and in the next race we have to keep doing the same things we have done here and keep our heads up!” Paul Denning Team Manager: “When your rider crashes out of fourth position at Suzuki’s home Grand Prix it can only be described as disappointing! However, we have to take the positives from this weekend – the GSV-R performed well in cold and overcast conditions, Álvaro achieved his equal best qualifying and we were running very strongly in the race itself. We don’t quite have the speed of the Factory Hondas or Yamahas at the moment but apart from that we can race with anyone in the field, and when the opportunity presents itself like today fourth was definitely on the cards. “Álvaro’s not stupid and with just over 10 laps to go, and Dovizioso only seven seconds behind, he knew he had to push hard to keep fourth place – fifth or sixth wasn’t going to do it as far as he was concerned. That’s racing; it was a high-speed crash and Álvaro’s completely uninjured, so let’s move on and look forward to the next Grand Prix.”