MotoGP finale a winner for Honda

Honda Racing Corp must have breathed a collective sigh of relief when young Spaniard Dani Pedrosa blitzed new world champ Casey Stoner to win the MotoGP finale at Valencia last weekend.

Stoner did a typical bolt off the line and initially led the race, but Pedrosa reeled him in and just managed to hold a 1.5 second gap for the rest of the race, which was run at a blistering pace. It proved the Honda is now finally the equal of the Ducati, albeit too late in the season.

John Hopkins signed off after five years with Suzuki (he's heading off to Kawasaki in 2008) with a spirited if lonely ride to third place.

The real story behind the day however was the Valentino Rossi versus Pedrosa battle to get second place in the championship. Rossi simply had to finish reasonably well in the points, while Pedrosa had to finish as high as possible (hence the win) and pray something happened to his Yamaha rival.

It certainly did. Rossi suffered a bad crash in practice that fractured a number of bones in his hand, and planted him at the back of the grid for the race after he was patched up. He was steadily making his way through the field and looked almost certain to get enough points to hold the runner-up position, when disaster number two struck - his bike failed. He lost runner-up spot by a lousy one point...

It's unclear exactly what went wrong, but it was serious enough to spear the Italian way off line at one corner and eventually forced him to pull in. It was a bitter end to a torrid year.

Next year Rossi will switch from Michelin rubber to Bridgestone - the latter has dominated this year's racing - while his new team-mate Jorge Lorenzo will compete on Michelin from a separate pit garage.

It was a reasonable weekend for the Aussies. Stoner held on to second and seemed happy with that, while Chris Vermeulen worked his way up from an ordinary grid position on his Suzuki to score a fighting sixth. Anthony West had a torrid time, landing a lowly 16th, and putting it down to lack of set-up experience. "I thought it was all about the rear grip but actually I've just been lacking confidence in pushing the front. Now I realise that's what I should have been working on all weekend," he said.

We saw a couple of notable final rides this weekend. Loris Capirossi moves to Suzuki next year after being with Ducati from the start, while popular Texan Colin Edwards moves to the Tech 3 satellite team. Carlos Checa had his last MotoGP ride and moves to superbikes, while Alex Barros has finally retired after 18 years of competition in the premium class. In 1990, he was the youngest-ever rider to join the 500cc two-stroke field, aged 20.

Dani Pedrosa, Honda, 1st:
"I'm very happy with this result. I really wanted to win this race very much and so actually achieving it feels fantastic. The race was very tough and I had to push at the maximum from start to finish. In the early laps I was struggling a little with grip from the front tyre but then in the second half of the race it was very good. The pace today was really fast and Casey was chasing hard so there was no moment to relax or back off. Towards the end of the race I was sliding in some of the left-handers but I was still able to push hard.

I must say thanks to the team because they have worked very hard for me this weekend and all year and the bike was perfect today. Also, I must thank Michelin too because the tyres were very good today. I didn't know until I arrived in the parc ferme that I had second in the world championship and this was nice surprise. I didn't expect this because there was only a very, very slim chance of doing this coming into this weekend. After quite a difficult season second place is better than third and gives the Repsol Honda Team some reward for sticking with it and never giving up this year. It will give us even more motivation for winter testing because we must now take another step forward so that we can arrive at the first race of 2008 with the best possible package. I think the crowd has enjoyed this weekend and I'm very proud to have given my fans a great result at my home circuit - it's a great feeling!"

Casey Stoner, Ducati, 2nd:
"I expected the pace to be low 33s, but I didn't expect it to be so fast for so long. Everything seemed good, then Dani came past and pulled a bit of an advantage straight away and I wasn't able to claw it back. I could pretty much hold it, then he'd eke out a tenth or two, then I'd get some of it back, then he'd take out a little more. He rode a faultless race, so he deserved the win. I'm happy for him because I now know what it's like to win your home GP - it's a very good feeling, especially in this class.

We were pushing hard and I had a couple of front-end slides but the bike was feeling good. Then with five laps to go I lost some grip, so I eased off a bit because we were quite a distance in front of the rest. I'm happy with the way I rode, I got the best out of the bike, so I'm reasonably happy. It's been a fantastic year, we can't say anything bad about it, my worst result was the race where we won the championship so the title made up for that! I think next year everyone will come out a little tougher, a little stronger, so I'm going to make sure I do everything I can to come out on top again."

John Hopkins, Suzuki, 3rd:
I have just got to thank everyone at Suzuki - that is my first and foremost task. To every member at Suzuki I want to pass on my ultimate thanks to them, Suzuki has given me my life in MotoGP and established me and I just cannot show enough gratitude to them.

"Today the tyres and the bike worked awesome and I just went for it from the beginning! I got a good start and then got around Nicky Hayden, but from there it was a pretty lonely race. I just had to push myself against the clock and make sure I pulled away from the riders behind me. I succeeded in that but it was very emotional on the last few laps with that comfort and I had to concentrate real hard to keep focused! It's a great result because my Mum, sister, fiancée and her family are all here today so it was an unbelievable feeling when I crossed the line - it was a great way to end the year. I would have liked to have put the bike on the top step for Rizla Suzuki and especially all my crew, but that's for Dani and the home fans today!

"I just want to say thanks once again; it's been a fantastic five years and I've had a top time. Now I just want to take it all in tonight and have a good time with the boys!"

RESULTS

  (16 Anthony West)

  (15 West 59)

Sources:
World.honda.com
Yamaha-racing.com
Ducati.com
Suzuki-racing.com
Kawasaki-motogp.com
Motogp.com