Lorenzo unflappable as title battle heats up

Valentino Rossi currently leads the MotoGP World Championship. Jorge Lorenzo is following him all the way. A wall separates the Fiat Yamaha duo in the garage, but these two rivals are even closer on track as the Spaniard gives his more experienced teammate plenty to worry about.

A fifteeth Grand Prix podium in Assen continued Lorenzo’s near-perfect run of rostrums in 2009 –only a crash when chasing third at Jerez stands out as an anomaly on his recent record- and the sophomore competitor was left pondering what might have been had he been speedier off the line on Saturday.

“I am happy, because despite an awful start and there being some sections of the track where I lost a lot of ground, I pushed at my limit. Especially at the start of the race,” said number 99.

“When I saw that my front tyre was starting to slide, I said ‘enough’ and settled for second place,” he added, showing the maturity in chasing points rather than glory that has won many a rider the World Championship. “We had a great race with a fierce pace that dropped half a second, so I really couldn’t have done any more.”

Next week’s race takes place at Laguna Seca, where Lorenzo crashed out last season just seconds into the Sunday showdown. He is, as one would expect, unfazed by this fact.

“I don’t put limits on myself with tracks. I won in Japan this year and Portugal last season without ever having won at those tracks, so I don’t think having had less track time there will be very important,” he concluded.