Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) made an extraordinary race during the Aragon Grand Prix of the MotoGP World Championship 2015 held at the Motorland Circuit in Alcañiz, getting a hugely praiseworthy second position after enduring Valentino Rossi´s (Movistar Yamaha Team) attacks with great courage and resolve throughout the last five laps of the competition, since Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha Team) was far ahead in first position following the fall of Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda Team) in the second lap, and the Italian pilot did need to add up all the possible points.
In spite of the fall of Marc Márquez — who had attained the pole position with a stratospheric tome of 1´46.635, beating the circuit record — prevented the spectators from watching a probable Lorenzo-Márquez duel for the victory in the race, the tremendous fight for the second position between Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi featuring truly ferocious instants and displays of top-notch piloting by both of them, made that the 114,131 spectators (an impressive success of public, because it was about to beat the 116,931 spectators attendance record of the year 2010, first season in which the Aragon Grand Prix of MotoGP was celebrated in Motorland) revelled in a great and unforgettable race oozing the genuine essence and magic of MotoGP, the most important motorcycling competition in the world and the one in which the cream of pilots take part.
With five laps to go, Valentino Rossi starts his onslaught on Dani Pedrosa.
The best motorcycling pilot ever is approaching more and more. This is the moment that the 114,131 spectators of this really breathtaking race have been waiting for some minutes.
The motorbike paroxysm reaches its climax and turns both the stands and the pelouse area of the Motorland Circuit into a giant melting pot of emotions and feelings in their greatest extent.
The audience is made up by people from three different generations.
A number of them began their idyll with the queen category during seventies, eighties and nineties with the golden period of the 500 cc two stroke motorcycles (Barry Sheene, Kenny Roberts, Marco Lucchinelli, Eddie Lawson, Freddie Spencer, Kevin Schwantz, Wayne Rainey, Michael Doohan, Álex Crivillé ... ).
Other younger ones became infatuated with it already in the XXI century with Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, Casey Stoner ...
It´s also abundant the presence of children, sons and daughters of motorbikes lovers, who have brought them to the Motorland Circuit in order that they can revel in this grandiose show, which will leave an indelible memory on them.
The 1000 c.c and around 290 hp real power of Dani Pedrosa´s Honda RC213V and Valentino Rossi´s Yamaha YZR-M1 roar as corresponds to authentic masterpieces of miniaturized mechanical engineering able to reach approximately 17,800 rpm and that make possible to push these awesome machines beyond 350 km/h.
Rossi goes on coming close to Pedrosa, particularly in the bends, studying the Repsol Honda pilot and trying to choose the best area to overtake him along with the most suitable attack angle.
But Pedrosa defends tooth and nail, clinging to each meter of asphalt and doing his best to be 100% concentrated to keep the pace in every lap,
Valentino Rossi is already attacking with full intensity, increasingly raising the pressure on Dani Pedrosa, who goes on fighting to the death and doesn´t give in.
The 9 times World Champion is already around two meters behind Pedrosa and has been realizing for some laps that the Repsol Honda pilot´s Honda RC213V has steadily being losing grip.
It can be seen in this image the huge perfection and smoothness of piloting exhibited by Valentino Rossi, who is able to go all out striving after catching up with him, keeping his bike very leant at the beginning of the bend exit, but preserving a remarkable bike/pilot balance in spite of the fact that both his left knee and elbow are within few centimeters from the ground, while Pedrosa has been bound to bend his motorcycle to the utmost — visibly more than Valentino Rossi — to gain every feasible millisecond and curb the attack of Movistar Yamaha´s pilot who is coming straight at him. Pedrosa is playing out of his skin, putting himself at risk, with apparent danger of a fall at high speed.
Both pilots go on engaged in an uncompromising duel. Only two laps to go now and Valentino Rossi does his utmost to give chase to Pedrosa, who doesn´t surrender and keeps on with his great defense, beating Rossi,
even in the corners, where fight is fierce and Rossi manages to overtake Pedrosa twice again, but Pedrosa reacts quickly and overtakes Rossi, recovering the second position.
This is being a hardly fought contest, with instants which are enrapturing the 114,131 spectators located in the stands and pelouse areas of the Motorland Circuit.
Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi have just completed the 22nd lap. It´s only one lap to go and the exhausting strife between both pilots keeps on, though the greatest physical and mental attrition is being experienced by Pedrosa, who has been getting ahead of Rossi throughout most of the race.
But Valentino Rossi storms onto him during this last lap and manages to overtake him two more times, but once again, with exceddingly strong will and superb riding, Dani Pedrosa overtakes him on each occasion, above all on being able to decisively overtake him in the final chicane before the finishing line, when the Italian pilot had just passed him a few seconds before.
Notwithstanding, Valentino Rossi never gives up, makes a final strenuous effort and tries to overtake Pedrosa before going out of the last bend, but Pedrosa endures the onrush. He does want to be again among the greatest pilots of MotoGP and he´s fighting with nothing less than Valentino Rossi, the best pilot in the history of the competition.
Suddenly, on reaching the penultimate straight stretch, Pedrosa opens full throttle and the Honda RC213V is pushed forward like a shot,
gaining some vital meters of advantage over Valentino Rossi´s Yamaha YZR-M1.
Pedrosa runs already at full speed toward the finishing line, which he crosses in second position.
He has just made an outstanding feat on beating Valentino Rossi during the final laps, in which has probably been the best race in his life.
A HISTORICAL MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
The great race made by Dani Pedrosa during the Aragon MotoGP Grand Prix at the Motorland Circuit — overtaking Valentino Rossi six times during the last five laps after been passed by him, something within the reach of very few pilots — has been a further milestone of this MotoGP 2015 World Championship which is being truly mind-blowing, having already turned into one of the best in history on its own merits, reaching impressive levels of public attendance, irrepressible excitement and expectation, with two pilots who probably will dispute the MotoGP World Championship until the last race: the 36 year old Valentino Rossi, who is enchanting the spectators race after race with his fabulous riding, wise strategy in competition and very intelligent management of them, and Jorge Lorenzo, who is in very good condition, running very fast and also showing a great consistency, it all being fostered by the presence of Marc Márquez, a pilot able of doing the most stunning things (his 1´ 46.635 with which he broke the Motorland Circuit record and got the pole position was one of the highlights of the weekend, though his many falls throughout this season have left him virtually without chances of getting his third world championship), Dani Pedrosa improving more and more and in high spirits and Andrea Iannone steadily growing as a pilot and who is awaiting for his chance, currently being in fourth position of the MotoGP World Standing, behind Rossi, Lorenzo and Márquez.
An emotional intensity and massive attendance of audience comparable to the one experienced during the eighties mythical time of the two-stroke 500 c.c category bikes is being lived again — something unthinkable only a few years ago — and the four races still to dispute of this MotoGP 2015 World Championship slated to be held at Motegi (Japan), Phillip Island (Australia), Sepang (Malasia) and Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Cheste (Spain) promise to be exceedingly interesting.
Text and Photos: José Manuel Serrano Esparza
