Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa has taken his fourth MotoGP win in five races by defeating title rival Jorge Lorenzo in Motegi’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Pedrosa stalked the Yamaha rider during the opening stages of the race, eventually taking the lead with 13 laps to go and pulling away to win by 4.3s.
Gresini Honda rider Alvaro Bautista likewise got the better of his Tech 3 Yamaha counterpart Cal Crutchlow to complete the podium, taking the flag just two seconds adrift of Lorenzo.
Crutchlow’s race would eventually retire from the race after running out of fuel on the final lap, elevating team-mate Andrea Dovizioso to fourth and Casey Stoner to fifth.
In his return race from the ankle injury sustained at Indianapolis in mid-August, Stoner ran as high as fourth early before losing ground as the laps unfolded.
Stefan Bradl and Valentino Rossi enjoyed quiet afternoons on the way to sixth and seventh respectively, while Nicky Hayden was one place further back in eighth.
It was another disappointing weekend for 2013 Ducati signing Ben Spies, who fell from his factory Yamaha on the second lap.
Lorenzo now leads Pedrosa by 28 points with just three races remaining in Malaysia (Sepang), Australia (Phillip Island) and Spain (Valencia).
See below for the full race result
|
Pos. |
Rider |
Team |
Bike |
Km/h |
Time/Gap |
|
1 |
Dani PEDROSA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda |
162.6 |
42’31.569 |
|
2 |
Jorge LORENZO | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha |
162.3 |
+4.275 |
|
3 |
Alvaro BAUTISTA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda |
162.1 |
+6.752 |
|
4 |
Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha |
161.5 |
+16.397 |
|
5 |
Casey STONER | Repsol Honda Team | Honda |
161.3 |
+20.566 |
|
6 |
Stefan BRADL | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda |
161.0 |
+24.567 |
|
7 |
Valentino ROSSI | Ducati Team | Ducati |
160.9 |
+26.072 |
|
8 |
Nicky HAYDEN | Ducati Team | Ducati |
160.3 |
+36.724 |
|
9 |
Katsuyuki NAKASUGA | Yamaha YSP Racing Team | Yamaha |
160.3 |
+36.794 |
|
10 |
Hector BARBERA | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati |
158.2 |
+1’10.729 |
|
11 |
Karel ABRAHAM | Cardion AB Motoracing | Ducati |
157.9 |
+1’15.658 |
|
12 |
Aleix ESPARGARO | Power Electronics Aspar | ART |
157.5 |
+1’22.769 |
|
13 |
Colin EDWARDS | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | Suter |
157.3 |
+1’24.968 |
|
14 |
James ELLISON | Paul Bird Motorsport | ART |
157.1 |
+1’29.388 |
|
15 |
Michele PIRRO | San Carlo Honda Gresini | FTR |
156.8 |
+1’34.612 |
|
16 |
Roberto ROLFO | Speed Master | ART |
155.8 |
+1’50.853 |
|
DNF |
Cal CRUTCHLOW | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha |
162.1 |
1 Lap |
|
DNF |
Danilo PETRUCCI | Came IodaRacing Project | Ioda-Suter |
156.3 |
1 Lap |
|
DNF |
Ivan SILVA | Avintia Blusens | BQR |
155.2 |
10 Laps |
|
DNF |
Randy DE PUNIET | Power Electronics Aspar | ART |
153.3 |
10 Laps |
|
DNF |
Ben SPIES | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha |
152.8 |
23 Laps |
|
DNF |
Yonny HERNANDEZ | Avintia Blusens | BQR |
146.5 |
23 Laps |
See below for the updated points standings
| 1 | Jorge LORENZO | 310 |
| 2 | Dani PEDROSA | 282 |
| 3 | Casey STONER | 197 |
| 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | 192 |
| 5 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | 144 |
| 6 | Valentino ROSSI | 137 |
| 7 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | 135 |
| 8 | Stefan BRADL | 125 |
| 9 | Nicky HAYDEN | 101 |
| 10 | Ben SPIES | 88 |
| 11 | Hector BARBERA | 70 |
| 12 | Aleix ESPARGARO | 55 |
| 13 | Randy DE PUNIET | 53 |
| 14 | Karel ABRAHAM | 37 |
| 15 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | 28 |
| 16 | Michele PIRRO | 26 |
| 17 | Colin EDWARDS | 25 |
| 18 | James ELLISON | 21 |
| 19 | Jonathan REA | 17 |
| 20 | Mattia PASINI | 13 |
| 21 | Danilo PETRUCCI | 11 |
| 22 | Ivan SILVA | 11 |
| 23 | Toni ELIAS | 10 |
| 24 | Katsuyuki NAKASUGA | 7 |
| 25 | Steve RAPP | 2 |
| 26 | David SALOM | 1 |
