MotoGP Valencia

Valencia...MotoGP's yearly 'last chance for romance'. The championship is done and dusted, with Rossi wrapping up his 9th world title last time out at Malaysia. Lorenzo still has a drunk frat boy in Tijuana's chance of maintaining 2nd in the championship over K.C. Stoner and his hot wife.

Regardless of what everyone else does (or doesn't) Pedrosa is going to end his season 3rd in the champeenship. Number 5, Colin the Edwards, who is starting from 5th, is looking to secure 5th overall over Repsol Honda's Dovizioso. 2009 World Superbike series dismantler, Ben's Pies, is making a wildcard appearance this weekend on a 5th Yamaha M1. Spies is using this race to gain additional seat time on the Yamaha before slotting into the Monster Energy Tex-3 team fulltime for 2010.

So then, we have Stoner on pole, followed by Pedrosa and Lorenzo. Rossi, Edwards, and Hayden sat their asses on the second row, in that order. Pies did good to qualify in 9th. Rad.

Alrighty then, the bikes are fired up, the umbrella talent scurry back to pit row, and the riders set off on their warm up lap. As usual, Stoner waves everyone by so that he can be the last to arrive back on the grid and smugly needle his way through the other riders and up to his spot at the front of the grid. Not this time...Stoner managed to highside his Ducati while waiving at the crowd, and found himself out of the race before it even began. Everyone else survives the warm up lap, and it's away we go. Pedrosa gets his usual excellent start, goes directly to the front, and trots off to win the race by a day or two...no more bandwidth will be wasted on him.

Toni Elias also managed a good start and slotted in to 2nd place (for now). Lorenzo and Rossi sat in 3rd and 4th, respectively. Edwards took his usual spot in Edwardth. Hayden sat in 7th and Pies back in 11th. A few laps later, Lorenzo went past Elias into the final corner to take over 2nd. Rossi wasted no time and destroyed Elias on the brakes at the very next corner to take 3rd. A few corners later, Lorenzo shit his leathers as he almost tossed his Yamaha into the weeds coming out of turn 11. Rossi took advantage of this and blew past Lorenzo and up to 2nd. Rossi wasn't able to reel in Pedro and had to settle for a 2nd place finish. JLo sorta kinda reeled in Rossi, but wasn't able to seal the deal...3rd place finish for him.

Meanwhile, back in the pack...Homeboy Haystack was looking strong and was making his way forward. He sat behind DePuniet for a few laps before completely stuffing him up the inside to take over 6th. Pies was back in 10th, but was tagged right on the back of Dovi, DeAngelis, Melandri, and Kallio. Before the race, Pies admitted that the first few laps would be difficult as he wasn't really comfortable on his Yamaha and the limits it offered over his World Superbike machine...he was basically using the first half of the race as another test session. Well...that test paid off. The Ben began to pick off the MotoGP regulars in front of him one at a time. The pinnacle of this little sorte' came when Pies stuffed Repsol Honda's Dovizioso on the brakes and took over 7th. Pies' demoting of Dovi also guaranteed Edwards of a 5th (imagine that) finish in the final 2009 championship standings. After the race, ran over to Pies' pit box and rewarded him with a uniquely Texan hug/hump. Tex-Trois in full effect, boyeee.

As Fletch would say; 'There ya' have it'. Pedrosa cruised home for the win, followed by Rossi, Lorenzo, Edwards, and Hayden. Pies bagged himself a 7th place finish...not too shabby, considering he's had about 3 hours on the bike.

Result;

1 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Honda

2 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Yamaha

3 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Yamaha

4 Colin Edwards II Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha

5 Nicky Hayden Ducati Marlboro Ducati

6 Tony Elias San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda

7 Ben Spies Yamaha

8 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Honda

9 Mika Kallio Pramac Racing Ducati

10 Alex De Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda

11 Randy De Puniet LCR Honda Honda

12 James Toseland Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha

13 Aleix Espargaro Ducati

14 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki Suzuki

15 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki Suzuki

16 Gabor Talmacsi Honda

17 Marco Melandri Hayate Racing Kawasaki

That's a wrap. The 2009 racing season is done and dusted. This race reporting is a tough racket. It's time to turn in my expense reports to Jeff and set off to Puerto Penasco, Mexico

T...out