motorcycle news - Tuesday 19th May 2009
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Lorenzo wins thriller at Le Mans
Jorge Lorenzo moved one point clear at the top of world championship standings after winning the French MotoGP ahead of Marco Melandri and Dani Pedrosa.
Slippery conditions saw all the riders come into the pits and change bikes in a bid to find the right tyres.
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Reigning champion Valentino Rossi finished last, out of the points, after crashing shortly after changing bikes.
Casey Stoner finished fifth and Briton James Toseland had his best finish of the season, coming home in ninth.
"It's been a crazy race," said Lorenzo afterwards.
"With the rain tyres it was important to change at the right time - if you changed later you can win. I think we changed at the right point and after that I was riding quite confidently and I won," he said.
Melandri's future looked to be in doubt after a nightmare spell at Ducati last year, so he was even more appreciative than most to finish on the podium.
"It's awesome, it's been very tough but after the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez I was positive, and I came here to do my best," he said.
"I knew if I was going to be quiet I could make a good race, and when I saw P2 I couldn't believe it. I saw the gap behind was quite big and I pushed to try and keep it."
Rossi had a rare point-free day which cost him the lead in the championship standings, but he wrote it off as just a piece of bad luck.
"Already by the fourth lap I felt that I was quite slow and that I couldn't ride as I wanted. I decided to change bikes early because usually this strategy - being among the first to change the bike - pays off," he said.
Lorenzo delighted to win 'crazy race'
"Of course I knew that I had to warm the tyres up a little bit but I crashed anyway in that corner because at that point the track was still wet and I just didn't ride into it in a calm enough manner."
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French MotoGP result:1 J Lorenzo (Sp) Fiat Yamaha 47:52.678
2 M Melandri (It) Kawasaki 48:10.388
3 D Pedrosa (Sp) Honda 48:12.571
4 A Dovizioso (It) Honda 48:13.133
5 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 48:23.217
6 C Vermuelen (Aus) Suzuki 48:30.140
7 C Edwards (US) Tech 3 Yamaha 48:32.869
8 L Capirossi (It) Suzuki 48:38.099
9 J Toseland (GB) Tech 3 Yamaha 48:42.985
10 T Elias (Sp) Honda Gresini 48:45.896
11 A de Angelis (RSM) Honda Gresini 48:46.228
12 N Hayden (US) Ducati 48:49.325
13 Y Takahashi (Jpn) Scot Racing 48:49.366
14 R de Puniet (Fr) Honda 49:03.977
15 N Canepa (It) Pramac Racing 49:08.063
16 V Rossi (It) Fiat Yamaha @ 2 laps
MotoGP world championship standings:
1 J Lorenzo 66 pts
2 V Rossi 65
3 C Stoner 65
4 D Pedrosa 57
5 M Melandri 43
6 A Dovizioso 43
7 C Edwards 35
8 C Vermeulen 31
9 L Capirossi 27
10 R de Puniet 26
11 T Elias 21
12 A de Angelis 20
13 J Toseland 17
14 M Kallio 16
15 N Hayden 9
16 S Gibernau 8
17 Y Takahashi 8
18 N Canepa 3
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