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Pedrosa stuns Lorenzo in Japan MotoGP

Dunya News

Dani Pedrosa came from behind to beat Jorge Lorenzo for Japan MotoGP title.

Dani Pedrosa battled from behind to beat championship leader Jorge Lorenzo at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, closing up on the fellow Spaniard in his pursuit of a first MotoGP title.The Honda rider overtook front-running Yamaha ace Lorenzo with 13 laps to go in the 24-lap race. He never looked back to win in 42 min 31.569 sec at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit under cloudy skies.Lorenzo followed home 4.275 seconds behind, with another Spaniard Alvaro Bautista third on a Honda 2.477 seconds farther back.With his four wins in the last five races, Pedrosas points gap with Lorenzo narrowed to 28 from 33, with three races remaining in the season.It was a hard race because from the beginning the pace was very fast, said the 27-year-old Pedrosa. At the beginning, I tried to understand the bike because yesterday it had some chatter (vibration after braking).Lorenzo, starting from his sixth pole position of the season, was first around the bend with Pedrosa trailing in his slipstream.They were followed by Britains Yamaha rider Cal Crutchlow, Bautista and Australias factory Honda rider Casey Stoner, back from an ankle injury which has sidelined him in the last three races.The Grand Prix tour will stop in Malaysia and Australia in the next two weeks with its finale set for Valencia in Spain on November 11.The two Spaniards and Stoner have won the seasons 15 races so far among themselves. Lorenzo finished top or runner-up in all of them except for the Dutch Grand Prix, in which he crashed out.Lorenzo has won six races against five for Pedrosa and four for Stoner.It was Stoners first race after injuring his right ankle in a qualifying accident at the Indianapolis GP in August.