From today Silverstone should really be dubbed SilverStoner.
The Repsol Honda rider put on a masterful display of riding in treacherous conditions that one could only applaud his skill and wonder how he could manage to stay on and find his way around such a soggy track.
Oh yeah, he was also so fast that he lapped Randy De Puniet and Hector Barbera who were swimming around in the back of the field.
“At the beginning of the race we didn’t have a great start and I needed to wait for the tyres to get up to temperature,” said Stoner.
“In the first few laps when I was behind the other riders I got a lot of spray up inside the visor and it was hard for me to see, or for me to push.
At this time I was being careful, trying to cover my lines to stop them coming inside, then after five laps my visibility got clearer and the water drained away from my visor and I was able to start doing the lap times we were looking for and started to open a gap.
I was just happy to stay up on the bike, it was incredibly cold and I was so nervous, because in these conditions it’s so easy to crash! We had a great race today in very tough conditions where anything could have happened, but to come away with a win is fantastic.
”Andrea Dovizioso took an excellent second place podium in today’s race.
While Italian may not be considered one of the ‘aliens’ (even Valentino Rossi has lost that status this year) and not as fast as team mates Stoner and Dani Pedrosa and much less spectacular to watch than Marco Simoncelli, but you can always count on him to keep a cool head, be very constant and know his limits.
“I’m really happy with today’s podium.
It’s a second place that feels like gold,” said a beaming Dovizioso.
“The track conditions were very tricky, with much more water than in warm-up this morning.
We made a modification on the set-up to have more rear grip and then we did a very good strategy.
It helped us doing two sighting laps before the race to bring the tyres up to temperature quicker.
I had a very good start and then I was focused to manage the second position with Casey.
I was braking very hard to close the door to Lorenzo and Simoncelli.
I had a good rhythm, not too far from Casey’s pace, but he is very strong with these conditions so I preferred to manage my race the best I could.
I want to thank my team for the hard work and the support.
We need to improve the performance also in qualifying, but at the important moment, in the race, we are there.
We never give up.
With today’s second place we have consolidated third position in the championship and reduced the gap to Lorenzo.
The season is still long so I’m confident.
”
