Lorezno MotoGP Points
The 2010 MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha M1) capped off his victorious motorcycle racing season by taking his ninth win in front of his Spanish fans at Valencia.
“Coming here to Valencia I really wanted to win one more time in this fantastic season, in front of my home fans. In the practices I was fast all weekend, but it seemed like Casey was even faster”, says the Yamaha MotoGP racer.
Actually, Lorenzo was unstoppable by the later stages of the race and the 23-year-old blazed ahead of Stoner on lap 23 to take a final MotoGP win on home soil. His win brings his season points-tally to 383, a new record for a rider in a MotoGP premier-class season.
Lorenzo says: “We are proud to have got the record for the most number of points with 383, I used to be known as a crazy rider who crashed too much so to demonstrate consistency in this way makes me proud.”
At the race start, Lorenzo dropped places as the Mallorcan slipping to fifth in the race to the first corner. Lorenzo soon began looking for a way past Marco Simoncelli but almost crashed in the process, somehow making a spectacular save but dropping several places to ninth.
On lap six, Lorenzo, who had brilliantly recovered his composure after his near-miss to gain back the places he had lost, followed him through next time around to take fourth, with Dani Pedrosa (Honda RC212V) and Casey Stoner (Ducati GP10) in front of Valentino Rossi.
At one third of MotoGP race distance Lorenzo dispatched Pedrosa and then it was Lorenzo’s turn to pass his Valentino Rossi, moving into second behind Stoner.
Rossi tried his best to go with Lorenzo but the shoulder that has plagued him all season stopped him riding at the maximum on the twisty track and he dropped off, content to at least finish on the podium for one final time with the Fiat Yamaha MotoGP Team.
Lorezno explains, “I made a good start today but in the second corner trying to pass Casey I got overtaken by three or four riders, then I had a hard fight with Simoncelli when I nearly fell! I kept calm after that and concentrated and then lap-by-lap I recovered.”
He continues, “I had a wonderful fight with Casey at the end. Winning here in front of my home crowd at this special track is one of the happiest moments of my life.”
“Thanks to Yamaha and everyone involved for a fantastic season – now we have time to celebrate tonight before we start working for 2011 on Tuesday. Finally I want to say goodbye and good luck to Valentino – I am looking forward to racing him next year!”
Wilco Zeelenberg (Yamaha MotoGP Team Manager) says: “Number 99 with nine wins in 2010 – it sounds a bit strange but we are so happy with that! I think it was the best race of the season for us.”
The Yamaha MotoGP manager continues, “It proved that Jorge is the rightful champion because he beat everybody after slipping to ninth place, like his teammate Valentino has done in so many races. What can I say except that we have the best rider on the best bike! Well done to Jorge and to all the team for a great job this season.”
Valentino Rossi finished third on his 117th and final appearance for Yamaha, bringing to a close a wonderful seven-year MotoGP partnership with his Yamaha YZR-M1.