Lorenzo storms to stunning Silvestone victory

Jorge Lorenzo ran away with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone this afternoon, storming home to win by 6.743 seconds to take his first UK win in the Premier Class. The Fiat Yamaha Team's sole representative in the absence of the injured Valentino Rossi, Lorenzo led from the first lap to come home ahead of Andrea Dovizioso and Tech 3 Yamaha rider Ben Spies, who took his maiden podium in MotoGP. The Mallorcan got a strong start from pole position and led out of turn one but it was not all plain sailing as he became embroiled in a feisty first-lap battle with Dani Pedrosa. The pair traded the lead several times but it was Lorenzo who eventually led over the line and he was unchallenged from there on in, gradually extending his lead lap-by-lap and leaving his rivals trailing in the wake of his blue and white M1. With two laps remaining the gap to Dovizioso stood at more than eight seconds but Lorenzo slowed down on the final two laps to ensure he came home safely, which he duly did to the delight of the 70,000 British fans who are quickly adopting the spirited Spaniard as one of their own. His third win of the season and another 25-point haul extends Lorenzo's lead to 37 points over Dovizioso in second, with Pedrosa now third. The absent Rossi falls to fourth in the championship but Lorenzo's consistency ensures that the Fiat Yamaha Team still leads the Teams' standings and Yamaha the Manufacturers'. The MotoGP paddock now faces a quick turnaround in order to get to Assen in time for next weekend's Dutch TT, which is as always a Saturday race. Jorge Lorenzo - 1st, 41'34.083 "This was an important day for me and an important win, because I felt so strong and I enjoyed riding my Yamaha so much. I had a different feeling today; I felt that it was going to be a good race. It was quite hard to be fast at the start and the first lap with Dani was difficult, but once I got past him I felt very relaxed and comfortable. I thought he would follow me for a bit longer but he didn't and then I was on my own, so I just had to focus on myself; I didn't even know who was behind me! I never dreamt of taking three wins from five races but here we are and I am feeling very strong mentally at this moment. I want to thank my team, Yamaha and Bridgestone for this victory. The Beatles celebration was something fun for the fans, I love their music and I thought it was nice to make a homage to them, since we're in England!"

Spies storms to maiden Silverstone podium Ben Spies stormed to a stunning debut MotoGP podium for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team this afternoon after a thrilling battle at the spectacular Silverstone circuit.Competing in only his ninth MotoGP race, Spies was locked in an early battle with fellow rookie Marco Simoncelli for sixth place before he became embroiled in an epic fight for second place. Spies passed Dani Pedrosa on lap nine and then launched a brilliant pursuit of the group in front dicing for second that included Andrea Dovizioso, Randy de Puniet and fellow American Nicky Hayden. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider stalked the trio befo re he began a breathtaking late attack, firstly overtaking de Puniet for fourth place on lap 17. That clinical pass left Spies hounding Hayden's Ducati and the 25-year-old timed his crucial attack to perfection, the Texan ignoring the discomfort of a small fracture in his left ankle that he aggravated in a big qualifying crash yesterday. Spies produced a daring overtake on Hayden at the fast Abbey Corner on the final lap and then defended supremely under immense pressure to claim third and his first premier class rostrum. The result moved Spies into seventh place in the overall world championship standings with 36-points and helped the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team close the gap on fourth place in the all-important Team World Championship classification. Texan team-mate Colin Edwards rode a determined 20-lap race after a difficult w eekend where he never found the optimum setting with his YZR-M1 machine. He also encountered a repeat of the arm pump issue that hindered him at the last round in Mugello, but he was satisfied having rode to a creditable ninth position to maintain his record of scoring points in every race so far in 2010.

Ben Spies

Colin Edwards Colin Edwards - 9th +27.954 sec. "I don't want to be finishing in ninth at all but honestly I'm reasonably happy with the way I rode and it was a lot better than I expected after what has been a tough weekend. I'm still a fair way behind the top group but I had so many problems this weekend that even a top ten was looking lik e a difficult result to achieve. I didn't leave anything out there and I went better than I did in qualifying but it was still not easy. The bike isn't agile enough and having to muscle it around gave me a small arm pump problem, but not as bad as Mugello. If I could get the bike to go where I want it to go I could save lots of time, but we've got some ideas for the future. It was a bit of a lonely race but I rode as hard as I could for as long as I could. I want to congratulate Ben though because he did an awesome job and I've got nothing but admiration for him. He showed today what a great rider he is and it is great for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team to be back on the podium." Herve Poncharal - Team Manager "We knew Ben really liked this circuit and we thought he could do a good race. But he rode an incredible race because he didn't get a fantastic start but he was v ery aggressive in the first two laps and got himself into contention. He never let that group in front of him go away and we know his strength is on worn tyres, so we expected him to hang in until the end. He was quickest on track at one stage but I was worried a little bit because Casey was catching quite quickly. But he kept his cool and made some good passes and the best was on the last lap to beat Nicky. It his first podium in MotoGP and certainly not his last because he is such a bright talent for the future. I'd like to say thanks to Yamaha and to Bridgestone and also to the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team because since the start of the season it has been a little bit up and down. But we've never stopped trying hard and today we got a big reward. Colin rode a steady race and as always he never stopped trying to improve his situation and we know better results will come for him soon. Now we look forward to Assen that both Colin and Ben like a lot and we are confident of anot her competitive weekend."

Circuit Length: 3619 Temp: 17 Crowd: 70000 Weather: Dry Lap Record: 1'56.459 (Chris Vermeulen, 01/01/2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'56.096 (Jurgen van den Goorbergh, 01/01/2003)

2010 MotoGP Great Britain - Silverstone 20/06/2010

Race 1 - 20 Laps

Pos.	Rider	Manu.	Nat.	Total Time
1	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha	ESP	41'34.083
2	Andrea Dovizioso	Honda	ITA	0'06.743
3	Ben Spies	Yamaha	USA	0'07.097
4	Nicky Hayden	Ducati	USA	0'07.314
5	Casey Stoner	Ducati	AUS	0'07.494
6	Randy De Puniet	Honda	FRA	0'09.055
7	Marco Simoncelli	Honda	ITA	0'14.425
8	Daniel Pedrosa	Honda	ESP	0'15.313
9	Colin Edwards	Yamaha	USA	0'27.954
10	Aleix Espargaro	Ducati	ESP	0'42.394
11	Hector Barbera	Ducati	ESP	0'43.365
12	Alvaro Bautista	Suzuki	ESP	0'43.408
13	Mika Kallio	Ducati	FIN	0'43.580

Rider Standings

20/06/2010

Pos.	Rider	Manu.	Nat.	Points
1.	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha	ESP	115
2.	Andrea Dovizioso	Honda	ITA	78
3.	Daniel Pedrosa	Honda	ESP	73
4.	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	ITA	61
5.	Nicky Hayden	Ducati	USA	52
6.	Randy De Puniet	Honda	FRA	46
7.	Ben Spies	Yamaha	USA	36
8.	Casey Stoner	Ducati	AUS	35
9.	Marco Simoncelli	Honda	ITA	32
10.	Marco Melandri	Honda	ITA	32
11.	Colin Edwards	Yamaha	USA	26
12.	Hector Barbera	Ducati	ESP	24
13.	Aleix Espargaro	Ducati	ESP	22
14.	Hiroshi Aoyama	Honda	JPN	18
15.	Mika Kallio	Ducati	FIN	15

Manufacturer Standings

20/06/2010

Pos.	Manufacturer	Points
1.	Yamaha	120
2.	Honda	97
3.	Ducati	65
4.	Suzuki	23