Going into last weekend’s Dutch TT in Assen many pundits thought that the season was virtually decided already. Jorge Lorenzo held an entire race win(25 points) over his nearest rival Casey Stoner. If he just kept racking up the points he would surely be the 2012 champion.
But fate has an odd way of feeding the poor old gift horse rotten apples. Going into the first corner Lorenzo’s Spanish compatriot, Alvaro Bautista, seemingly forgot where his brake lever was and tried a hopelessly ambitious move to make up places down the inside. He went in too hot, lost the front end of his San Carlo Gresini Honda, and took out Spanish hero and championship contender Lorenzo. Cal Crutchlow said afterwards (Bautista narrowly missed the Brit but forced him off track and cost him valuable places too) that Bautista was still changing gears when everyone else was braking.
Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa roared off into the distance and finished 1-2 for the Repsol Honda team and
more importantly putting Stoner and Lorenzo back on even keel in the championship stakes.
If there is a man that can bounce back from this however, it is Lorenzo, think of him as the Fernando Alonso
of MotoGP and you pretty much have his skillset in a nutshell. Fast, consistent, tough to beat and extremely wily regarding racecraft. He is the most complete rider in MotoGP and fair to say, the world at the moment.(Please don’t stone me Rossi fans, but he has no hope on the Duke)
Sachsenring is essentially a reboot of the season as they are all square at the front, the championship, as they
say, begins now!
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