by Tracy Hagen

After the unpredictable events at Misano two weeks ago, the MotoGP race at Aragon felt like déjà vu of three or four other races from earlier in the season. This time Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo led from pole over the first six laps. Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa, on the Repsol Honda, formed a two rider breakaway right from the start, with Pedrosa taking over on lap seven to the end. Lorenzo had a big moment at Turn 1 on the start of lap nine and thought it would be better to finish second today and go into the next race in Japan with a 33 point advantage on Pedrosa.

Lorenzo’s decision to concede early caused the drama to shift to the race for third. The early running order in this battle was Ben Spies (Yamaha), Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha), Stefan Bradl (Honda), and Andrea Dovizioso (Yamaha). Bradl moved ahead of Crutchlow at the end of the third lap, but the German crashed out at the start of the fourth lap, unhurt. Dovizioso passed Crutchlow on lap 10 and then passed Spies on lap 15. Crutchlow passed Spies on lap 18 and then started clawing forward to Dovizioso. Unlike Spies, who typically runs wide and lets his pursuers pass through, Dovizioso would take a line to allow Crutchlow to dive bomb and then run off the racing line, and Dovizioso scamper away while Crutchlow tried to collect himself. The Italian finished ahead of the Brit by just 0.137 seconds. It was entertaining.

Jonathan Rea finished a credible seventh on the Repsol Honda. Rea banged fairings with the great Valentino Rossi on the opening lap, sending Rossi off the track and way back to last. Rea was unfazed by his brush with fame and, to some extent, it was what we used to see from Rossi in his younger days when he was unafraid to mix it up with anyone of any stature.

Rossi eventually made it back to eighth. In what appeared to be another bought of daydreaming, Rossi ran off on lap 18 but did not lose a position.

Rossi’s teammate, Nicky Hayden, had a frightful day. The American ran off the track and straight into and over the tire wall. According to the press releases Hayden was uninjured. We’ll see how true that is in first practice at Japan.

Next race: Motegi, October 14.