Pedrosa wins in Valencia

Dani Pedrosa led from start to finish in today’s Grand Prix of Valencia to win the final race of the 2009 season in dominant fashion on his Honda RC212V. Underlining his brilliance at the Valencia circuit, Pedrosa set the fastest lap of the race on his way to his second victory of the season – a win which elevated him to third place in the World Championship standings following Casey Stoner’s surprise exit on the warm-up lap.

Pedrosa made it look easy today, but this was a masterclass of flat-out riding for the entire 30-lap race. The 24-year-old Spaniard led into Turn One, and an inch-perfect first five laps gave him a gap of 2.1 seconds as his pursuers squabbled over second place. Then, for the next five laps, Pedrosa was pursued hard by Valentino Rossi, and the gap hovered at around the two seconds. But Pedrosa was in control and put on a surge of speed, setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 10 and extending his lead to over four seconds by two-thirds distance. From then on, it was a case of maintaining his rhythm, and he brought his factory Honda home to take the his second MotoGP win at Valencia; his fifth win here in all classes of Grand Prix racing.

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