autoevolution
 

Spies, Lorenzo, Simoncelli Crash Out of Silverstone

In a very wet British Silverstone GP that saw Casey Stoner taking his fourth victory this season - and the third consecutive win for the Repsol Honda team -, the number of crashes out of the race was unbelievable. Both Yamaha factory riders, current World Champion Jorge Lorenzo and his teammate Ben Spies, had very unfortunate falls which made them end the race prematurely.

Both riders fell victim to the difficult track conditions, with the crash leaving their race machines damaged for good. Fortunately, they were both given the all clear after the medical check up.

"I feel disappointed because the crash was my own mistake,” Lorenzo said after the race. "I was riding with confidence, but I had to wait my moment to overtake Andrea. I think I could have fought for the victory with Casey. I wasn’t worried that Simoncelli was catching me; I was worried because Casey was going if I didn't overtake Andrea... then I crashed!”

“The track was really wet, when I hit the brakes going into turn one the front just dropped away and I hit the wall before I knew it. I hit my back pretty badly, my back protector is really busted up, but it did its job,” added Spies.

The San Carlo Gresini Honda rider, Marco Simoncelli, was also one of the unlucky riders who suffered from the wet track conditions at Silverstone. He crashed out of another potential podium finish, after running for third and fighting for second with Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda).

"I had already had a moment in that corner so I tried to be more careful but the front closed and I found myself on the floor waving goodbye to the podium once again. I am gutted!” Simoncelli said.

Fausto Gresini refrained from criticizing the Italian, but he needs to start getting some results. "We can't afford to throw any more points away now and even though we all know we have a great rider in our team we need some results to give everybody a boost of morale and confidence," stated Gresini.

Round 6 of the 2011 MotoGP World Championship saw a 1-2-3 podium formed of Stoner, Dovizioso and injured Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha). Stoner had thus moved into the championship lead, followed by Lorenzo and Dovizioso.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories