Home victory for Dani Pedrosa at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana, as the Repsol Honda man enjoyed a start-to-finish win in the final race of the 2009 season.
The drama started before the race had even commenced, as pole position holder Casey Stoner’s high-side crash on the warm-up lap meant he was unable to take his place on the grid. That allowed Pedrosa to lead the charge from his position on the front row, and after taking the first corner in the lead the Repsol Honda rider never relinquished it, sealing third spot in the overall standings in the process.
World Champion Valentino Rossi followed the Spaniard home in second place, finishing 2.630s behind Pedrosa as he ended his title-winning season with his 13th podium of the campaign.
The Italian’s Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who did well to hold onto his bike when a moment on the opening lap almost threw him off, was a further 0.283s behind as he took third, having already sealed second spot in the Championship by virtue of Stoner’s non-start.
The Australian ended the season in fourth place overall, with Colin Edwards’ fourth place in the race allowing him to snatch fifth in the 2009 standings from Andrea Dovizioso.
The top five on the day was completed by Stoner’s Ducati Marlboro team-mate Nicky Hayden, who held off the challenge of Toni Elías as the Spaniard came in sixth in his final race with the San Carlo Honda Gresini team.
Wildcard rider Ben Spies rode to an impressive seventh-placed finish, and in depriving Dovizioso of that spot – the Italian finished eighth – played a direct role in helping his future Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team-mate Edwards take fifth in the Championship.
MotoGP Race Classification
Pos./ Points/ Num. /Rider/ Nation/ Team/ Motorcycle/ Total time Km/h/ Gap1 25 3 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 46'47.553 154.062 2 20 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 46'50.183 153.918 2.630 3 16 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 46'50.466 153.903 2.913 4 13 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 47'20.068 152.299 32.515 5 11 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 47'22.138 152.188 34.585 6 10 24 Toni ELIAS SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 47'22.441 152.172 34.888 7 9 11 Ben SPIES USA Sterilgarda Yamaha Team Yamaha 47'25.259 152.021 37.706 8 8 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 47'25.917 151.986 38.364 9 7 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Pramac Racing Ducati 47'30.044 151.766 42.491 10 6 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 47'31.242 151.702 43.689 11 5 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 47'33.571 151.578 46.018 12 4 52 James TOSELAND GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 47'37.779 151.355 50.226 13 3 44 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Pramac Racing Ducati 47'44.721 150.988 57.168 14 2 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 47'54.430 150.478 1'06.877 15 1 7 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 47'59.254 150.226 1'11.701 16 41 Gabor TALMACSI HUN Scot Racing Team MotoGP Honda 48'01.958 150.085 1'14.405 17 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA Hayate Racing Team Kawasaki 48'20.978 149.101 1'33.425
Not starting 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati (crashed on warm-up lap)
