MotoGP News
Date: 6/November/2011
The last race of the 800cc MotoGP era was also the closest, ending in victory for world champion Casey Stoner by just 0.015sec at Valencia on Sunday.
The Repsol Honda rider looked set to claim his tenth win of the season with ease, but ever-present spots of rain intensified in the closing stages of the 30-lap race - washing away Stoner's ten-second lead in the process.
Stoner was then overtaken by Yamaha's Ben Spies after a bobble under braking with three laps to go, but kept in touch with the American and edged ahead by the tiniest of margins on the dash to the finish line.
The previous closest 800cc win had been a 0.069sec victory by Stoner over Valentino Rossi at Catalunya in 2007. There has only been one other race victory of less than one-second this season.
Stoner explained that he took 'risks that I haven't taken all season' to deny Spies.
"It rained the whole time in the race, but the amount of rain was different at almost every corner of every lap," he said. "I built up a good lead and felt but, then it got to the point where the rain got heavier - the rear of the bike came around several times and I backed off.
"Ben came past after I made a small mistake. He was looking great to be honest. I didn’t think I was going to get a chance to win. Then in the last half of the last lap I thought 'this is it' and just decided to go for it. Take some risks that I haven't taken all season.
"I was able to catch Ben going into the last turn, then got fantastic drive on the way out. I managed just to pip him on the line. Sorry Ben!"
Spies, who had shaken off Stoner's team-mates Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso to reach the front, was
"I made a couple of passes and then all of sudden Casey appeared in front of us. Followed him for a bit, then he made a mistake and I went by. It was still raining quite bad and without anybody in front of me it was hard to know how grip was on the track.
"The last two laps I just tried to stay consistent. Like he said, he took some risks and caught us. I tried to get a run out of the last corner, but we just lacked a little bit of steam going to the line. That's the way it goes.
"I'm happy to end the season like this after a horrible month and I'm looking forward to testing for next season," added Spies, who finished his second MotoGP season fifth in the championship.
Dovizioso finished third in the race and the world championship.
The much-maligned 800cc motorcycles - introduced in 2007 in an effort to reduce the speeds seen with the previous 990cc bikes, but delivering processional racing - will be replaced by 1000cc models for 2012.
Testing with the 1000cc bikes, which feature new technical restrictions to limit outright engine performance, will take place at the same Valencia circuit on Tuesday and Wednesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment