Spanish world champion Jorge Lorenzo won the Valencia MotoGP yesterday, the final round of the World Championship to break the record for the total amount of points garnered in a season.
The Yamaha rider won his ninth race of the season – to reach 383 points for the campaign, breaking Valentino Rossi’s previous record of 373 – and beat home Australia’s Casey Stoner on a Ducati while Rossi bade farewell to Yamaha with a third placing.
The Yamaha stable reciprocated what Rossi termed the end of a love affair by shedding their team strip to display bright yellow tee shirts emblazoned with ‘bye bye baby’ after a 46-race relationship which sees the exuberant Italian depart for Ducati.
With 15 laps remaining Stoner – who had won three of the last four races and will join Honda next season – led Lorenzo by a hair’s breadth with Rossi close up in third.
Marco Simoncelli was hard on the heels of Dani Pedrosa, who had been in contention but had dropped back as he was still feeling the after effects of the broken collarbone he suffered earlier in the season.
Pedrosa, Simoncelli and another Italian, Andrea Dovizioso, were fighting out their own battle for the minor placings as they were five seconds off the top three with 13 laps to the chequered flag.
As Rossi dropped away, Lorenzo saw his chance and passed Stoner with just over eight laps remaining driving the Spanish crowd wild with joy.
Back down the field, Dovizioso passed Simoncelli while Ben Spies stayed doggedly on their wheels with Pedrosa now trailing. However, the thrilling ding-dong battle saw Spies go fourth with three laps remaining as Simoncelli failed to overtake Dovizioso and the American took advantage to go past both Italians.
Up front, Lorenzo had pressed home his advantage and was over two seconds ahead of Stoner going into the final lap to round off a stunning season.
Earlier, Spain’s Marc Marquez (Derbi) secured the 125cc world title after finishing fourth at the Valencia Grand Prix, which was won by Britain’s Bradley Smith (Aprilia).
Smith’s victory, the third of his career, allowed him to finish fourth in the overall standings and also brought an end to 26 consecutive race victories by Spanish riders in the 125cc category.
Standings (top five): 1. Lorenzo (Yamaha) 383, 2. Pedrosa (Honda) 245, 3. Rossi (Yamaha) 233, 4. Stoner (Ducati) 225, 5. Dovizioso (Honda) 206.