Moto GP 
/ Trent Burton / 23 July 2011 / Leave a Comment 
Jorge Lorenzo looked fantastic in practice yesterday
"It’s Lorenzo who’s fastest so far and the smiles are wide in his garage. It’s the first time this year we’ve seen him favourite, at [2.88], but the way he’s riding at the moment, it’s probably justified."
It's a three-way fight for favouritism between Stoner, Pedrosa and Lorenzo as we head to the States and of these three it is the latter who looks to have the best tools at his disposal to end up on the highest part of the podium, says Trent Burton.
As the bikes head Stateside this weekend, the championship is wide open again.
Germany saw the race of the year so far as Dani Pedrosa stunned everyone, and by his own admission - himself, by taking the win just two races after returning from injury. But in what was a remarkable weekend, that wasn't the main story.
There was the subplot of Ducatis' continuing, and it seems worsening struggles, highlighted by Valentino Rossi qualifying in 16th. And then there was the bigger picture of the championship battle between Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner.
For the second race in a row Stoner had lead only to suffer from rear grip problems towards the end of the race. And again he lost second place on the last lap. But this time it stung a little more as he lost the position to Lorenzo, enabling him to take another four point bite out of his title lead. So much in sport is about confidence and Lorenzo's is through the roof right now. Stoner's is ever so slightly on the wane and Rossi has been putting up posters on lamp posts looking for his.
Laguna Seca is one of the most technical and challenging circuits we go to. The first half of the lap is flowing and pure Yamaha territory with the second half a little more point and squirt, which suits the Honda.
It's Lorenzo who's fastest so far and the smiles are wide in his garage. It's the first time this year we've seen him favourite, at [2.88], but the way he's riding at the moment, it's probably justified. His consistency in yesterday's afternoon session was a thing of sheer beauty as he reeled off long strings of fast laps, all within a tenth of each other, as everyone else searched for setup.
Stoner loves Laguna and has finished on the podium here three of the last four years, with one win. But he struggled a tad on Friday. They seem to have found a cure for the tyre problems of late but have sacrificed in other areas as a result. Even so, [3.3] seems a little too big. I've no doubt they'll sort the problems on Saturday and we'll see Lorenzo and Stoner almost as equal favourites.
Pedrosa is looking like his old self again, which is great to see. Quick on Friday, he'll be in the mix with the other two for the win. At [4.3] it's Pedrosa who is probably the best value to win as there's little to separate him from his team-mate and countryman. Having missed four races, he's also not got a championship to worry about, just this race.
The best hope someone has of rattling the top three should be Ben Spies. The American was a little off the pace on Friday but supremely confident they had at least another half a second in the bike. He's ridden Laguna Seca more times than anyone in the field from his Superbike days and, whilst it will take an extraordinary effort, I think he can make that podium. There's been a bit of a 'feeling' around the number 11 garage this week and he seems immune to home race pressure. [2.84] is an excellent price for what, to some, would be a surprise podium. Not this writer, though.
Remember the time difference so the race will be live from 22:00 on Sunday night. For the first time in ages there's zero chance of rain so here's hoping for a race every bit as cracking as last week's.
Recommended bets
Back Jorge Lorenzo for the win at [2.88]
Back Ben Spies for the podium at [2.84]
Italian fans are desperate to see their hero triumph at Mugello but Trent Burton has bad news. He reckons the usual suspects will be in contention and another home rider might yet turn the corner....
Trent Burton looks ahead to Saturday's race in Assen where he can't see past runaway championship leader Casey Stoner leading the field home...
Australian driver leads the championship after excellent ride lands him win in British MotoGP......
No comments:
Post a Comment