It took ten long races (Motegi 2011 was his last win) but Dani Pedrosa finally took his first victory of the season at Sachsenring continuing his love affair with the track that saw him win in the last two years.
With Casey Stoner crashing out, the consistent Spaniard is now second in the standings and just 14 points behind Jorge Lorenzo.
“I’m really very happy with this win.
We finally made it happen and it’s great not only for me, but also for my team that never gave up, for my family and fans that have been pushing and supporting me all this time when we were taking second and third places, but missing out on the victory.
The podiums we had this season were very important, but I really wanted to give a victory to my team and it arrived today at a circuit that I always enjoy.
It’s been a really hard day though.
Casey had a superb race also and put a lot of pressure on me at the end, but I knew that I had the pace and that we both would need to fight for the victory until the last turn.
I tried to brake hard, close all the doors and to take the win.
”Casey Stoner tried to bend his team mate and ended up lowsided out losing valuable points in the making.
Was he right to try to go for it as every hot blooded racing fan wants or should he have played accountant and remembering all the problems that his Honda has been having this season and settleed for 20 points considering that rival Lorenzo was only third? Too bad that Stoner felt the need to criticize the marshals (like at Jerez last year – had hopefully they won’t launch another investigation on the matter) for not pushing him as his engine shut down (didn’t they change something in that feature after Jerez?)- saying that this is another great invention by Dorna because of the six engine rule.
“I’m pretty disappointed, I had planned to go for my ‘win or bin’ effort in the last corner, not that one! I was happy on the bike and felt we had a few tenths a lap over Dani and confident I could pull him back in.
On the final lap I made a mistake going into the first turn and I had to push a little more than I wanted through some of the sections but I got on to Dani exactly where I wanted and planned to make my overtake in the last corner, if I didn’t have an opportunity earlier in the lap.
I felt confident but as soon as I tried to turn in a little more, the front went.
I was already off the brakes and not in the hard braking area, as soon as I eased of the brakes I guess the weight came off the front and down I went.
I’m frustrated I wasn’t allowed to get up and try and score some points, the bike was perfect, but the marshals pushed me away.
It’s our first crash in a race, down to our own mistake, for the first time in a long time so I’m disappointed for sure, but we knew we had the pace.
If we can continue this momentum for the rest of the season then we shouldn’t be so worried for the Championship.
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