MotoGP: Lorenzo insists 'pain in left shoulder' won't slow him down
A small injury suffered while training has Jorge Lorenzo unconcerned ahead of the Motul Grand Prix of Japan.
While training ahead of the Japanese GP, Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo suffered a slight injury to his left shoulder and traveled to Japan with his arm in a sling. Much of this was just precautionary and the injury shouldn’t hinder the Aragon GP winner’s performance in Motegi. The Japanese circuit is known for its stop-and-go nature. Heavy braking followed by hard acceleration on paper does not play to the Yamaha M1’s strong points but Lorenzo has had multiple wins at the track. In both 2013 and 2014, Lorenzo won the MotoGP World Championship races at Motegi, having claimed at least third every year since 2011.
The 2010 race saw Rossi and Lorenzo have one of their greatest battles to date and 2015 is building to a similar boiling point as the two titans of the sport wrestle for the 2015 crown. Rossi currently holds the points advantage, but a flawless ride from Lorenzo in the Aragon GP saw him reduce the gap to just 14 points. Motegi is an important round not just for the title battle, but also for Yamaha as it is their home round and also their 60th anniversary.
Lorenzo aims for victory not just for himself but also the team and manufacturer that he has been with since joining the MotoGP class.
“I have still great feelings from Aragon,” said Lorenzo. “It was a nice victory in front of our home crowd. We were also able to achieve the World Championship Team Title for Movistar Yamaha MotoGP. The weekend was perfect and we could make up some good points compared to Valentino. The championship is amazing in this last part of the season but from now on we need to stay more focused if we want to keep the momentum and try to win the title. Next stop is Japan, a place where I have good memories, especially from the last two years. Motegi is a typical stop-and-go circuit but for some reason I could do great races in the past even if it may be better suited for our rivals. This year we go there eager to do another great battle so hopefully we could do another nice race and try to make the championship tighter. As you may have heard, I had a small incident while I was training but I‘m well, I just have a bit of pain in my left shoulder but I will race without any problems in Motegi.”
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