 1 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 The Circuit de Catalunya (aka Circuit de Barcelona) is in Montmeló, to the north of Barcelona, Catalonia. It is a beautiful, magnificent European race track of the highest order. |
 2 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 Race conditions, dry; air temperature, 36°. Finally, a proper race after Qatar, Japan, France and Italy had all been impacted by rain.. |
 3 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 Rossi and Lorenzo get a good start and lead Casey Stoner down the straight into the first corner. |
 4 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 For the next corner, Randy de Puniet moves into fourth ahead of Pedrosa (who started 8th) and Dovizioso. Pedrosa is still riding with the injured hip he got from his near high side at Mugello and he's riding with pain killing injections. |
 5 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 Before long the two factory Hondas pass De Puniet and put him back to 6th. Rossi dangles the leg as he brakes hard. |
 6 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 At the beginning of lap 4 Rossi passes Lorenzo under brakes into turn 1. Stoner clings closely behind and Pedrosa is over 1 second behind. |
 7 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 Rossi tries to break away from Lorenzo but can't. |
 8 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 Over the next few laps Casey drops away. Valentino can't get away from Lorenzo, so on lap 12 he lets Lorenzo past. |
 9 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 He then follows Lorenzo until three laps from the end when he easily passes Lorenzo again under brakes into turn 1. |
 10 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 This is the long left-hander turn 10, three corners from the main straight. Up until now, Rossi was not dangling his leg but now he's serious as he tries to break away from Lorenzo. |
 11 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 Two laps from the end Lorenzo passes Rossi down the straight and moves to the edge of the track but Rossi keeps going, brakes later, and takes the lead back. Rossi was so close to the other bike that he had to tuck his knee back in. |
 12 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 On the last lap, Lorenzo passes Rossi under brakes at turn 1 and takes the lead. |
 13 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 Rossi attempts a pass, runs wide, and Lorenzo goes back under him again. Lorenzo enters turn 10 ahead of Rossi with the three right handers remaining, convinced that the win is his. |
 14 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 Turn 10 is the red "Circuit de Catalunya" left-hand corner above. In a risky and daring overtaking manoeuvre, equal to his Laguna Seca pass on Stoner at the corkscrew, Rossi flies past Lorenzo on turn 13 (the right-hander before the straight) to snatch the win by 1/10th of a second. What a race! |
 15 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 Rossi appears to be in tears - he really wanted this win. Lorenzo, with the same bike and tyres, is probably now Rossi's greatest ever competitor. Casey finished a distant 3rd, 8.4 seconds behind. |
 16 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 The joy in Rossi's garage was incredible. The guy being punched on the nose was so overjoyed and so funny, that his reaction was replayed many times on TV. |
 17 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 Rossi commented in his press conference that his two greatest recent wins were with the two guys on the podium with him. |
 18 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 It turned out that Casey became very ill during the race, had vomited in his helmet and required medical attention in parc ferme. Lorenzo was very gracious and declared that Valentino was braver than him and more experienced. |
 19 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 This was Rossi's 99th GP victory in all classes; his goal of 100 victories was now in sight. A brave Dani Pedrosa finished a creditable 6th and Nicky Hayden finally made it to the top ten. It seems that Casey Stoner is still the only person who can ride a Ducati. Gabor Talmacsi joined the Scott Honda team bringing with him a much needed injection of cash. |
 20 Round 6 - Barcelona, Sunday, June 14, 2009 Amazingly, all three leading riders were now equal on points with two wins each. Valentino was technically in front because he'd had the most recent win. Lorenzo was technically in second because he had more second places than Casey. Rossi and Lorenzo had the same number of 1st, 2nd and 3rd places. |
