MotoGP Gran Premio Movistar de Aragon: Lorenzo closes in on title No. 3

The Motorland in Aragon is located basically in the middle of nowhere, having a small-town vibe all year round, the exception being when the Motogp fraternity comes to town. Then this community turns into a huge biking mecca.

This year, more than 67,000 fans trooped to the circuit in the hopes of watching Spanish boys Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa battle it out with championship leader Valentino Rossi for the top step of the podium.

The sun was out, the temperature was pleasant, and there was was not a single cloud in the vicinity. It was the perfect weather to go racing!

The grid was made up of Marc Marquez standing on pole position, with Jorge Lorenzo alongside him. Andrea Iannone on his Ducati slotted up in P3. The second row had Pol Espargaro, Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi line up in P4, P5, and P6 respectivelly.

Both Marquez and Lorenzo were able to get fantastic starts, but Jorge had the better line into the sweeping left hander of turn 1. Lorenzo, known for being untouchable when leading a race, kept his head down and ran away from the rest of the field. Marquez had to contend with second place, while in the mid field, Pedrosa, Espargaro and Rossi were battling to keep abreast of the leaders.

It didn’t take long for an accident to occur. Marc Marquez on board his Repsol Honda, while chasing Jorge Lorenzo, lost the bike’s front end, causing him to slide out of the track and into eventual retirement. Marc was livid, but he had no one to blame but himself. This was the fifth crash by the defending champion for this year.

The Yamaha team immediately went about informing Jorge of the incident. They placed the information on his pit board for Lorenzo to see once he came around the pit straight. Even without the benefit of a camera inside his helmet, you would know that Lorenzo would have been smiling that the challenge that Marquez had been capable of has now vanished. He just had to ride smartly to the checkered flag.

The majority of the 23-lap race went on with not so much wheel to wheel action. It was only in the closing laps when the on track action heated up. Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi were fighting it out for second place and the corresponding 18 championship points.

It was Vale who was the aggressor. He kept the pressure on Dani. Rossi tried multiple times to get ahead of the Repsol Honda, and at times the Yamaha, which had better traction at the corners, was able to get past Pedrosa. But the straight line power of the Honda ensured that Pedrosa kept Rossi at bay.

Jorge Lorenzo took the checkered flag for his sixth win of the season, and with it, 25 valuable championship points. Following the Yamaha rider was Dani Pedrosa, 2.6 seconds back, with Valentino Rossi crossing the line in P3.

Rossi still leads the championship tables, but Lorenzo has taken a significant number of points away from his lead. Now only 14 points separate the two team-mates, and, with four races to go, the championship is still up for grabs. Rossi has to ride smart to minimize further damaging his lead. Meanwhile, Lorenzo just has to make sure that Vale is always within his sights to claim his third title in the premier class. Marquez, on the other hand, has to pray to the high heavens that both Yamahas fail to finish all of the four remaining races, because with anything less than that, Marc can kiss his championship defense goodbye.