Dominant Pedrosa keeps pressure on Lorenzo
The Repsol Honda star seized the lead from Lorenzo on the seventh lap and never looked back, powering away to take his fourth triumph of the season by 6.4 seconds from Lorenzo.
Pedrosa, whose hopes of the title took a battering when he was taken out of contention on the opening lap at Misano, has now closed the gap to the Yamaha rider to 33 points with four rounds of the championship remaining.
His team faced a race against time to completely rebuild his RC213V before today's race, but Pedrosa made amends in the best way possible.
Lorenzo remains a strong favourite to lift his second premier class crown, but Pedrosa served notice this afternoon that he will battle all the way.
“In the race I remained calm and was able to focus, Jorge began very fast in the early laps but I was able to stay with him and then after a few laps I saw I could increase the pace,” said Pedrosa, who celebrated his 27th birthday yesterday.
“I passed him and tried to find my own rhythm. I was concentrating so hard that I almost forgot that it was a race, then I realised there were only four laps to go!
“I had a few issues with the clutch into the corners, shifting down, as I did yesterday, but overall the bike was working well so thanks to all my team for their hard work last night and to my fans and family for their support, this victory is for them all.”
Honda now leads the Constructors Championship by six points ahead of the manufacturer's home Grand Prix in Japan.
HRC will confirm next week whether reigning champion Casey Stoner will return at Motegi.
His replacement, Jonathan Rea, finished a creditable seventh at Aragon.
