by Tracy Hagen

World Champion Jorge Lorenzo rode a mistake-free race to claim his and Yamaha’s first win of the year at Jerez, round two of the MotoGP championship.

The race was held on a damp track under dark skies that dripped rain through much of the race. Plenty of crashes were expected going into the race, but the drama did not begin until the race was 25 percent complete.

The first incident was a doozy and will be written about in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. Ducati’s Valentino Rossi, starting near the back of the grid after crashing in practice, ran down second-place Casey Stoner going into Turn 1 on the start of lap 8. The front wheel slid away on Rossi’s Ducati, and the Duc slid under Stoner’s Honda. Stoner, winner of the first race of 2011, was unable to continue. Rossi was more fortunate and rejoined the race a half-lap behind. The Italian superstar rode more cautiously and came home a remarkable fifth.

The second incident was almost as shocking: race leader Marco Simoncelli, with two seconds on second place Lorenzo, high-sided his Honda. The Italian was looking good for his first win in MotoGP and moving up in the championship. Now he has his work cut-out for the rest of the year.

Lorenzo, who was down in fourth earlier on, became the new leader. Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, who tip-toed through the opening laps and was as low as eleventh, was steadily figuring out how to ride the sketchy circuit. The short Spaniard was within a second of Lorenzo on lap 14, and then gradually fell further behind. In the post-race press conference Pedrosa confirmed that he will be operated on the following day to relieve a pinched nerve in his shoulder.

Texan Ben Spies caught Pedrosa without difficulty and was in second place with four laps to go. It looked like an easy one-two for Yamaha, but Spies low-sided on lap 24 and was out of the race.

Indeed, while the Honda’s were having misfortune in the first-half of the race, the second-half misfortune was all Yamaha. In addition to Spies crashing out of a safe second place, Cal Crutchlow crashed while in fifth-place on lap 19, and Colin Edwards crashed with one lap to go while in third-place. Ducati’s Nicky Hayden took home the third place trophy that on any other day would have gone to someone else.

John Hopkins survived his MotoGP comeback to finish tenth on the aging Suzuki. At mid-race Hopkins was in a pack of six riders that included Hiroshi Aoyama. When the track dried out Aoyama and others sped up, while Hopkins and others slowed down. On the run to the checkered flag Hayden had to horse-whip the Ducati to stay ahead of Aoyama. If the Suzuki was as good as any other factory bike, Hopkins might have been on the podium.

Every MotoGP rider, save Lorenzo, was probably thinking “would’ve, could’ve, and should’ve” after this race.

Lorenzo leads the championship on 45 points. Pedrosa is second at 36 and Stoner is third at 25.