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Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi finished a strong
second in an entertaining Australian Grand Prix
yesterday, chasing home Casey Stoner to finish on the
podium for the tenth successive year at Phillip Island
and for the eleventh time this season. Jorge Lorenzo's
challenge ended in the gravel trap at turn one, when a
mistake at the start saw the Mallorcan slide out of the
race.
Rossi, starting from the front row for
the tenth race in a row, finished the first lap in third
position, behind Dani Pedrosa and Stoner. On lap two both
Stoner and Rossi passed the Spaniard and then quickly began
to pull away on their own, quickly opening out a gap from
the chasing pack. Darkening skies overhead at that point
meant there was a rush in pit lane as the mechanics switched
the spare bikes over to wet settings, but the sun eventually
came out and the threat of rain subsided as the Italian and
the Australian set in for a head-to-head battle. At times
Rossi looked to be within striking distance and he made a
couple of moves at mid-race distance, but with Lorenzo out
he knew that he had to capitalise and he eventually played
it safe to come home behind the resurgent Stoner with twenty
important points in his pocket and an impressive gap of over
twenty seconds to Pedrosa in third.
Lorenzo had struggled with grip issues
all weekend and he made a mistake at the start, braking too
late and cannoning into the back of Nicky Hayden. The impact
damaged his front brake and he was unable to slow down for
the corner, losing the rear and tumbling into the gravel
trap. He was taken to the Clinica Mobile and treated for
mild cuts to his nose and the little finger of his right
hand, but there were no serious injuries and nothing that
will affect his being able to ride next week. Yesterday's
result means that Rossi now has a lead over Lorenzo of 38
points with two races left. He will have his first chance to
clinch the World Championship title at the next round, which
comes at Sepang in Malaysia in one week's time.
Valentino Rossi
"This was one of the most fun and definitely one of the most
important second places of my career! We were on the limit
for the whole race and there were some amazing slides, it
was ‘old-style' racing. To have a race like this in the
sunshine at Phillip Island is an incredible emotion and I
really enjoyed myself. Of course I wanted to win but I had
to use my head a bit and once I'd seen that Lorenzo was out,
I knew that if I made a mistake it would be a big disaster!
Anyway I tried in places but Stoner was a bit faster than
me. I didn't give up until the end but Casey really deserved
this win; I want to give him my congratulations. We leave
with twenty important points and now the championship lead
is big and we can try to finish it in Malaysia, where we
will have the first ‘match point'."
Jorge Lorenzo
"I'm a little bit sad for this crash, not for the
championship but for my mistake; I didn't expect this kind
of mistake from myself. It was totally my fault, I
miscalculated the distance off the line and Nicky braked
earlier than I was expecting and I hit him. I thought I
could save it but my front brake was broken and so when I
tried to brake for the corner I couldn't and the rear made a
big slide. I have a bit of damage to my nose and my finger
but it could have been a lot worse. This is what happens in
racing and, although I am disappointed about the race, the
most important thing is that I am not badly injured. I want
to say sorry to Nicky because I ruined his race today. As
for the points, the title was a long shot anyway and now I
just want to look forward to the final two races."
Davide Brivio (Team Manager - Rossi)
"This has been a very important day for our championship
because now we're leaving with a lead of 38 points. It is a
pity that Lorenzo crashed, because who knows what kind of
race this could have been with him in it as well? Valentino
today rode with a big heart and a lot of fight, trying to
win the race but also making sure he didn't lose these
twenty points. He tried hard but never went over the top.
The team did a great job as well this weekend to make this
possible and we have to carry this same concentration and
motivation forward to Sepang next weekend, where we will be
aiming for the maximum possible result."
Daniele Romagnoli (Team Manager - Lorenzo)
"For sure we weren't expecting a result like this, even
after such a difficult weekend! We have found a lot more
problems here than we were expecting but in the end the team
were able to make a good step for warm-up and another
improvement for the race, so we missed a chance to fight for
the podium today. It just wasn't to be this weekend. The
championship is basically finished for us now but we will
look forward to the last two races and continue as we were
before. At the end of the day, we're lucky that Jorge didn't
pick up worse injuries in a crash like this so we will count
ourselves lucky and move on to Malaysia."
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