I Love Surprises!

Well, Rossi did beat Stoner to the finish line, but guess who beat them both? Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo! Rossi got the holeshot, but "that other Spaniard" Pedrosa had a spectacular start from the fourth row, jumping up into second behind Rossi. Lorenzo quickly worked his way up and swapped back and forth for the lead with Rossi at this late-braking Nirvana track. Lorenzo out-Rossi'd Rossi and was able to hold onto the lead. As Lorenzo opened a small gap, Rossi was passed by Pedrosa, flipping Rossi's "faster" bit that upped the pace. Every time Pedrosa out-braked Rossi and dove inside, he ran slightly wide and Rossi took advantage on the inside, taking back second place. Eventually, Rossi went inside Pedrosa, elbow-down, so close that it looked like Pedrosa's bike was laying on top of Rossi's. I think that freaked Pedrosa enough that he didn't dare challenge Rossi again. Now that's more like it ... that's a motorcycle race. Stoner had problems initially staying with leaders, but then slowly but methodically worked up from fifth, catching Dovizioso with a couple of laps to go, then passed him cleanly to finish fourth.
Lorenzo now leads the series over Rossi by one point and Stoner by three. Close or what? Marco Melandri pushed his Kawasaki to 6th, although the gap to Dovizioso was more than 20 seconds. Edwards had early mechanical problems and finished way back, while Gibernau low-sided out and Hayden was punted off the track when he was torpedoed from behind by local wildcard rider Takahashi. It looked like Nicky may have injured a hip or leg, but there's been no news story saying so.
With Pedrosa's sudden come-back, it appears there are now four riders capable of winning the championship: Rossi, Stoner, Lorenzo and Pedrosa. What a difference a track layout makes. This is going to be an exciting season after all. It's now a quick trip back to Jerez for next week's race ... another good track and both Lorenzo and Pedrosa are on home turf. We could even see them go 1 - 2 with Rossi and Stoner fighting for third. Promises to be another good race.