His win was eased by a fall from pole sitter Casey Stoner in the very formation lap of the Sunday race. The Ducati rider suffered a high-side and went off into the gravel, ending the race before it even started.
With his main rival for the Valencia win out of the race – Stoner has been great during the past 3 racing weekends, winning the last two and topping all practice and qualifying sessions at the Ricardo Tormo circuit – Stoner got off to a perfect start and built a comfortable lead up front, ahead of Toni Elias and the two Yamaha riders.
Before Rossi and Lorenzo managed to pass the Gresini Honda rider, Pedrosa was already riding in a league of his own, putting almost two and a half seconds between him and the 9-time world champion. Lorenzo, who was also hoping for a home win to end his decent 2009 campaign, tried to edge closer to his fellow countryman, but the Honda rider had no problem maintaining a comfortable cushion for 1st place.
Eventually, none of the Top 3 positions changed until the chequered flag, as the Spaniard finished more than 2.6 seconds ahead of Rossi and Lorenzo. Yamaha put another rider in the Top 5 through Tech 3’s Colin Edwards, while Ducati’s Nicky Hayden ended his season on a personal high 5th place.
World Superbike champion Ben Spies made probably the biggest impression of all, securing an amazing 7th place for Tech 3 Yamaha in his very first outing for Yamaha in the MotoGP series. The American rider passed Honda’s Andrea Dozivioso a few laps until the finish line and defended well enough to record his first Top 10 finish in career.
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