Round 8 of the Moto GP Championship saw the action take place at the Sachsenring Circuit in Germany and the track certainly proved to be the undoing of even the best riders this weekend!
The track, which has ten left-hand turns and only two right-hands, took many casualties even before the race had begun! Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo suffered another nasty crash which compounded the already painful collar-bone injury he sustained two weeks ago, bending the metal plate he’d had inserted during surgery following the crash in Assen!
And although he battled on through the pain two-weeks ago, he conceded that he would need to sit out not only the action in Germany, but next weekends Moto GP in Laguna Seca too. Let hope he’s back at Indianapolis in the middle of August as we are certainly going to miss him – not sure the rest of the field will though!
So with Lorenzo definitely out for the weekend, the focus was turned sharply on Honda’s Dani Pedrosa who must’ve been eyeing up a great weekend points-wise with his number one rival totally out of contention.
However, as we are seeing race-in, race-out this year, you cannot take anything for granted and a bad crash for Pedrosa saw him also sitting on the side-lines with a collar-bone injury too! Just like his compatriot did last time round, Pedrosa was hoping to battle on through the pain, but a medical check-up on Sunday morning before the race saw him ruled out with blurred vision and low blood pressure.
All being well Dani is set to be in action next weekend and it will be great to have him back!
So now that the top two riders were out, the attention turned to the third Spanish rider, and Pedrosa’s team-mate, Marc Marquez. Qualifying in pole-position, the young Spaniard had not only a very mature qualifying and practice session, but he rode a near-on faultless race too. There’s been a lot said about this ‘young, reckless’ rider this year, but if this weekend is anything to go by, the old-boys need to be taking a leaf out of Marquez’s book!
After initially loosing ground at the start of the race, Marquez expertly clawed his way back to the front of the pack, overtaking two of the crowd favourites on his way – Valentino Rossi and local lad Stefan Bradl. The German fans must’ve thought this was going to be the race of their lives when Bradl over-took Rossi to the lead the pack, but sadly it was not to be and he finished the race just outside the podium places in fourth-position.
So with Marquez smoothly reinstated in the lead, the next battle on was for second position between the Factory Yamaha and the Satellite Yamaha with Rossi and Crutchlow respectively. After starting the race in second position, Cal found himself somewhat swallowed up by the pack and back in sixth position.
Showing the grit, determination and skill which he is becoming renowned for, he managed to work his way through the grid, overtaking Rossi on lap 16 to finish the race as he’d started in second position, with Rossi just behind him in third.
Cal really did try his best to chip away at Marquez’s lead but sadly it was not to be. Marquez’s second win of the series therefore leap-frogs him into the top-spot with the riders standing as follows:
- Marc Marquez – 138 points
- Dani Pedrosa – 136 points
- Jorge Lorenzo – 127 points
- Cal Crutchlow – 107 points
- Valentino Rossi – 101 points
Cal’s fellow Tech 3 rider Bradley Smith also had another superb weekend finishing the race in an equal career-best sixth position. Seeing as this is Smith’s first season of Moto GP, I seriously believe he does not get the praise and recognition he deserves. He has been consistent week-in, week-out on the satellite Yamaha, and alongside Cal, is doing us Brits extremely proud.
The action continues at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix in Laguna Seca and with Lorenzo definitely out, there are plenty of points up for grabs. So, will Pedrosa be back in action? Can Cal take the last step forward to his first GP win? Has Rossi still got what it takes to make it three podium place finishes on the bounce? With less than a week to wait, I can promise you that all will be revealed very, very soon!
