Mugello is one of those tracks that brings joy to riders and fans alike. A beautiful and challenging circuit set in the hills of Tuscany. What could be better. Valentino Rossi is particularly fond of this circuit where coming into this weekend he had won the last seven races. Apparently Rossi’s teammate, Jorge Lorenzo, likes Mugello too because he was quick all weekend, and sat on the pole for the race on Sunday.
The previous race at LeMans had been a wet/dry race with the riders starting on wet tires, and changing to bikes with dry tires as conditions improved. The Mugello race was set to start in similar conditions when Lorenzo crashed on his sighting lap, and was forced to make an early change to his second bike. Lorenzo’s crash led to a race filled with enough storylines to satisfy any Hollywood producer.
Chris Vermullen jumped from his eleventh starting position to take the early lead, and start a succession of riders at the front.
Chris Vermullen – lap 1
Casey Stoner – laps 2-3
Andrea Dovizioso – laps 4-7
Valentino Rossi – laps 8-9
Marco Melandri – lap 10
Dovizioso was one of the first of the early leaders to come in for dry tires. After leading early Stoner had dropped down to sixth in the wet conditions. When Melandri and Rossi came in for dry tires Dovizioso took the lead, but Stoner’s Ducati worked a lot better after changing to dry tires and he took the lead for good on lap 14. The win had to be satisfying for a Ducati team that makes its home in nearby Bologna, and uses Mugello as a development track for their MotoGP bikes.
Lorenzo and Rossi fought their way into the top three in the closing laps relegating Dovizioso and Capirossi to fourth and fifth. The not-so-friendly Tech 3 teammates, Colin Edwards and James Toseland, finished sixth and seventh with the American passing the Englishman on the last lap. Dovizioso looks stronger every race, and his bruised and battered teammate, Dani Pedrosa, crashed out after injuring himself in a practice crash.
The win puts Stoner on top of the championship with a four point lead over Lorenzo, and a nine point lead over Rossi. The next race is at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain on June 14th.
1. Casey Stoner
2. Jorge Lorenzo
3. Valentino Rossi
4. Andrea Dovizioso
5. Loris Capirossi
6. Colin Edwards
7. James Toseland
8. Randy De Puniet
9. Niccolò Canepa
10. Chris Vermeullen
11. Marco Melandri
12. Nicky Hayden
13. Mika Kallio
14. Toni Elias
15. Alex De Angelis
Not Classified
Dani Pedrosa
Yuki Takahashi
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/image/2009/motogp/mugello/1/index.htm
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