MotoGP: Stoner rules in France

MotoGP hopped off in France over the weekend. As much as they would have loved to relax at the Eiffel Tower, riders were too preoccupied with twisting throttles at the world renowned Bugatti Circuit at Lemans.

Repsol Honda riders, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso are doing more than their part to keep reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo honest. This was reinforced in qualifying. Casey Stoner took the pole position on an all Honda front row. Lorenzo qualified 5th.

Dani Pedrosa is dynamite at the start of a race. He is explosive! He led into turn 1, but he was hounded by teammate Casey Stoner. Simoncelli held 3rd with Lorenzo in 4th .

Simoncelli

As the race progressed the talking points materialized.  Casey Stoner’s brilliance left him unchallenged at the front. Dani Pedrosa lost pace and fell into Simoncelli’s clutches. The shootout between the two led to misery. Simoncelli committed a ‘rough riding’ act on Pedrosa. Pedrosa hit Simoncelli’s rear wheel, crashed out and broke his collar bone!

The Simoncelli and Pedrosa fracas laid a welcome mat for Dovizioso and Rossi. Rossi’s machine is still in development, so a podium invite would not go unaccepted. Like a shark at dinner, Rossi devoured the moment, rattled Dovizioso a bit, but had to settle for third – a victory for Ducati!

There was no question about who was the best in France at Round 4. Stoner took all the love France had to offer, but showed none to his opponents. His dominance prompted a standup wheelie as he celebrated his victory in style. Lorenzo finished a distant 6th and despite a ride through penalty, Simoncelli finished 5th!

With Honda on fire and Rossi gaining momentum, 2011 will be a difficult year for Lorenzo!

Moto 2

The winner of the Moto2 race, Marc Marquez, is the reigning 125 world champion, he is only 18 years old and he has 50 MotoGP starts already! Remember that name. The Moto2 race was a blast. The riders were drifting the machines, approaching, through and exiting the corners. Awesome!

Cecil Munroe Gleaner On-Line Writer