And, at Laguna Seca, they did again, although not quite in the same manner. Spain’s Jorge Lorenzo took his 6th win of the season to strengthen his grip on the 2010 World Championship. Lorenzo had a shocker of a start and had to work his way to the front, but, once his compatriot and noted holeshot expert, Dani Pedrosa, crashed out with a front-end lose in T5 (one of many similar accidents on the day), it was plain sailing for the World Champion-elect.
A great battle between Rossi and Dovizioso was only resolved on the last lap which at least gave the fans something to cheer about. Rossi had looked unable to catch the Honda rider till right near the end and, once passed, I expected him to pull away. But Dovi stuck to it and almost pulled off a great pass on the last lap only to fall just short of the podium. The American riders did their best in front of their home crowd but were outclassed again; Hayden 5th, Spies 6th and a de-motivated Edwards 10th.
Only 12 bikes crossed the finishing line, and it was hardly a champagne race with Lorenzo’s dominance starting to become a little boring.