Damp conditions made the race thrilling from beginning to end, saving it from another boring Honda-like domination. Simoncelli was the star of the first few laps, as he managed to move up the pack on the wet Jerez track and climb all the way to 1st place by the sixth lap.
Behind, Rossi also took control of his Ducati and started to pose a threat to the leading Hondas, as he overtook Yamaha’s Lorenzo for 3rd place by Lap 7 and started to prepare his attack on Stoner for 2nd place. While trying to pass the Australian however, in the first corner of Lap 8, he lost control of his Desmosedici and bumped right into his rival, taking him out for the afternoon.
Rossi would later rejoin the track and finish more than one minute behind the leader, in 5th place, after which he paid a visit to the Honda garage to apologize to Stoner.
In front, Simoncelli seemed to be in total control of the race and become the first privateer to win a race in the MotoGP in the last 5 years. In wasn’t to be for the Italian however, as the same first corner was wrongly approached by the Gresini rider in Lap 12 and he slid outside the track.
That gave Lorenzo the lead, which he kept until the chequered flag, although in the first laps after he’d taken 1st place, Pedrosa was closing down on his countryman. However, as the race progressed further, so did the pain in Pedrosa’s arm, which caused him to once again lose pace and later on be overtaken by Yamaha’s Ben Spies.
Nevertheless, Yamaha’s 1-2 finish was not to be, as the American joined the DNF pack after sliding outside the track with 3 laps to go. That gave Pedrosa back his 2nd place, ahead of Ducati’s Nicky Hayden.
Tech 3’s Colin Edwards had passed his countryman for the last step of the podium in the late stages of the race, but had to park his bike in the gravel at the beginning of the last lap. Gresini’s Hiroshi Aoyama scored a career high 4th place at Jerez, while Ducati secured 6th and 7th through privateers Hector Barbera (Aspar) and Karel Abraham (Cardion AB).
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