Jerez MotoGP: Lorenzo wins wet crash fest

Reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo has won the Jerez MotoGP in wet conditions by 19 seconds ahead of compatriot Dani Pedrosa in a race which only had 12 finishers.

Casey Stoner got the holeshot and pulled away on the first lap, with Jorge Lorenzo in second, but neither rider was able to stop Italian Marco Simoncelli taking the lead and opening up a gap.

Meanwhile Valentino Rossi was on a charge for the front, running faster than the leaders. Rossi attempted to pass Stoner into turn one on lap eight, but lost the front on his Ducati and collected the Honda rider.

Stoner was unable to restart the race, but Rossi remounted to finish a remarkable fifth.

Despite having a commanding lead, Simoncelli also lost the front at turn one a few laps later to hand Lorenzo the lead. But the action wasn’t over there.

Ben Spies managed to pull back several seconds on Dani Pedrosa, who was now second, and after a few laps overtake the Spaniard, only to crash out several corners later.

This moved Colin Edwards up into third place, only for Edwards to run into the gravel at turn one, also ending his race prematurely. This in turn pushed Hayden on to the podium, who kept it upright to score his first podium of the year.

Cal Crutchlow was riding extremely well and at one stage was upto fifth, until he too lowsided at turn one, but the Brit remounted and brought his Tech 3 Yamaha home in eighth.

1 25 1 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 141.0 50’49.046
2 20 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 140.1 +19.339
3 16 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 139.7 +29.085
4 13 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 139.6 +29.551
5 11 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team Ducati 138.2 +1’02.227
6 10 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP Ducati 137.9 +1’08.440
7 9 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 137.7 +1’14.120
8 8 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 137.4 +1’19.110
9 7 24 Toni ELIAS SPA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 136.4 +1’42.906
10 6 21 John HOPKINS USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 136.2 +1’48.395
11 5 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 136.0 +1’51.876
12 4 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 133.6 1 Lap