 1 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 The Sachsenring racing circuit is located in Hohenstein-Ernstthal near Chemnitz in Saxony, Germany. Turn 8 is directly in front and is where many riders crashed during wet qualifying. |
 2 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 The last two corners are turns 13 (Sachsen curve) and turn 14. The circuit is quite small being only 3671 metres in length. The race had 17 entrants as the Grupo Fernando entry with Sete Gibernau withdrew for the rest of the season. |
 3 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 Last year, during a wet main race, Dani Pedrosa streaked away into the lead and then crashed at turn 1 on lap 7. The crash, in which he broke his wrist and suffered other injuries, ended his championship hopes for 2008. He was in the points lead at the time. |
 4 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 During the practice session on Friday, Chris Vermeulen had a huge high side. Injuries from the highside affected his performance for the rest of the weekend. |
 5 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 During Saturday qualifying it rained heavily and, during QP, there were eight crashes. |
 6 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 Valentino was clearly the fastest in the conditions. |
 7 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 He took pole by .6 seconds over Jorge Lornenzo. |
 8 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 Front row: Valentino ROSSI, Jorge LORENZO, Casey STONER Nicky HAYDEN, Alex DE ANGELIS, Randy DE PUNIET Dani Pedrosa qualified in 8th position. |
 9 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 Race day: crowd 96,000; conditions dry. From pole, Valentino held the lead into the first corner while Pedrosa moved into second spot. Valentino held the lead for the first six laps. |
 10 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 On lap 5 Stoner passed Pedrosa to move into second. |
 11 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 He then overtook Rossi on lap 7 to take the lead. Lorenzo momentarily lost fourth to Andrea Dovizioso but took it back again as Dovi's front tyre deteriorated. Pedrosa is in this group, you can just see the top of his helmet. |
 12 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 On lap 9, Lorenzo passed Pedrosa and moved into third. |
 13 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 Pedrosa dropped back a bit at this stage after he lost the front end. He rode cautiously until he regained his confidence. |
 14 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 Towards the end of the race, as in previous races, it was the two Fiat Yamahas in front . Casey maintained third place for a while but his rear tyre was fading. Interestingly, the top riders were using different combinations of the two compounds that Bridgestone had provided. The white stripe on Rossi's rear indicates the softer compound while Lorenzo uses the softer compound on the front. |
 15 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 Five laps from the end, Lorenzo took the lead. He was still injured from his crash two weeks ago at Laguna Seca, |
 16 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 With two laps to go Rossi took the lead back again with a block pass at turn 1. Lorenzo tried to go around the outside but this move doesn't work on Rossi. As a result, he lost a few valuable metres to Rossi. |
 17 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 Rossi defended his position to the end and won by .099 seconds from Lorenzo. It was another brilliant race between the pair. Lorenzo is now in serious salary negotiations with Yamaha and Honda becuase he knows that he's the only one who can beat Rossi in the future. There is no doubt that he is destined to become number one. |
 18 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 Casey had a big moment when his rear tyre let go and he decided to take the points for fourth. His health did not seem to be the worry that it had been in the previous three races. Pedrosa is more competitive now. His health is good and Honda has provided a new chassis and new engine. |
 19 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 Lorenzo says that he is learning how to beat Rossi but at the moment Rossi still has the experience. Lorenzo was noticeably miffed that he hadn't won but was still very sporting in defeat. |
 20 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 Randy de Puniet had his first crash in competition and did not complete lap 1. Andrea Dovizioso, after a promising start, had to withdraw as his front tyre failed. Nicky Hayden was disappointed with eighth as he had qualified in sixth but he got pushed wide on turn 1 on lap 1 and spent the rest of the race trying to recover. |
 21 Round 9 - Sachsenring, Sunday, July 19, 2009 With the two top riders, Yamaha is streaking ahead and Rossi is on track for another Championship. With all riders on the same tyres, there is no longer a nearly automatic disqualification for Michelin riders as there was last year and for Rossi the two years prior to that. The single supplier rule is a resounding success for the people who matter: the riders and the spectators. |
