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Pedrosa Wins Honda's Home MotoGP Round as Yamaha Struggles with Massive Tire Issues

The Japanese GP turned out to be a massive surprise to pretty much everybody, as the race changed dramatically around mid-point. Dani Pedrosa had a spectacular day and took advantage of the front tire problems of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, claiming his 50th GP victory.
Dani Pedrosa wins at motegi, 2015 23 photos
Photo: motogp.com
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Declared a wet race right from the start, the Motegi GP saw Lorenzo starting from pole, with Rossi and Marquez on the front row. Lorenzo's start was less than perfect, but he managed to get into the leading position very quickly. He started to open up a gap and disappear into the distance, in his traditional racing style.

Rossi could not keep up with his teammate and was anyway busy fending off strong attacks from Dovizioso. While Lorenzo got as far as 3.5 seconds away, the rain stopped, and the racing lines at Motegi started to dry out. This was the main turning point of the entire race, and Pedrosa was the man who benefited most from it.

Yamaha struggled with severe front tire destruction in the final part of the race

Both Yamaha motorcycles started to show front tire problems after around two thirds of the race. At this point Pedrosa was faring exceedingly well, being able to put in laps that were incredibly fast compared to the front runners.

He dealt swiftly with Dovizioso, who experienced tire issues, as well, and did not take too long to do the same with Rossi. At this point, Pedrosa was lapping more than a second faster than Lorenzo. The Repsol Honda rider looked very confident in his bike's grip and passed Rossi 9 laps to go while Lorenzo began to understand that the race is lost.

It was no longer a matter of trying to win, but of trying to remain upright and avoid crashing. Slow-motion footage showed pieces of rubber flying from Lorenzo's front tire. It looks like he pushed too hard in the early stages of the round, hoping that the track will remain wet.

Five laps to go, Lorenzo ran wide at Turn 3, barely managing to stay on the track and upright, but this allowed Rossi to pass him. Having more rubber left in his front tire, the Italian charged ahead to finish the race in the second place.

Marc Marquez finished in a lonely 4th followed by Dovizioso. Cal Crutchlow, who got the better of Bradley Smith. Yamaha's wildcard Katsuyuki Nakasuga finished on a most honorable place 8 at Motegi, in front of Hector Barbera, while Scott Redding was the last man in the top ten.

Honda's wildcard Takumi Takahashi was 12th, behind Aleix Espargaro, with three more riders in the points zone, Hayden, Hernandez and Di Meglio.

The difficult weather conditions took their toll, with no less than six names on the DNF list. Pol Espargaro miraculously escaped a very fast crash ahead of Turn 11, one of the most difficult turns in the premier class calendar. He was joined on the DNF list by Jack Miller, Maverick Vinales, Loris Baz, Andrea Iannone and Danilo Petrucci.

Lorenzo's title contention grew more difficult after Motegi

Lorenzo was 14 points behind Rossi before Motegi, but with the Italian in the second position on the podium, the gap grew to 18 points. The 2015 season has three more rounds, Phillip Island, Sepang and Valencia, and Lorenzo still holds fair chances for this year's title.

However, the gap that just grew bigger means that he will have to be extra careful in the remaining races, and even so, his mission will not be at all easy. Rossi knows that the tenth title of his career is in his grasp, and all he must do is simply ride better than Lorenzo or at least comparably, and avoid crashing out of the race.

Marquez is not a threat for neither of them, but allowing him to win races is still a no-no, at least for Lorenzo, as the winner of a race has a non-negligible points advantage, even on the runner-up.

Action resumes this week in Melbourne, Australia, at Phillip Island, so stay put.
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