sport™: Lorenzo

Jorge Lorenzo Guerrero(born May 4, 1987 in Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain), is a Spanish professional motorcycle road racer. He is the 2006 and 2007 250cc World Champion,and the 2010 MotoGP World Champion. He is currently a rider in the MotoGP Class, on the Yamaha Factory Team.Lorenzo made his championship debut on his fifteenth birthday, on the second qualifying day for the 2002 125cc Spanish Grand Prix, after having to miss Friday practice as he was not old enough to race. Lorenzo dominated the 2007 250cc World Championship.His nine pole positions led to nine victories in 2007, and all his 2006 poles bar Motegi led to victories in 2006.Jorge's victory at Misano in 2007 was his 16th in the 250cc class, making him the most successful Spanish rider of all time in the 250cc GP class – with one more victory than Dani Pedrosa and Sito Pons.After being linked with a Yamaha MotoGP ride for 2008,on 25 July 2007 he was confirmed as Valentino Rossi's partner on a two year deal for the 2008 MotoGP season.Lorenzo made a great start to his MotoGP career, finishing 2nd after qualifying on pole for the Qatar night race. He followed this up with pole at the second round in Jerez, Spain and 3rd Position, and pole in round 3 at Estoril, Portugal. He converted this pole into a victory, his maiden win in the Premier Class. In doing so, he became the youngest rider in MotoGP to finish on the podium in his first three races,taking the record from compatriot (and bitter rival)Dani Pedrosa by a single day.By this stage of the Championship, Lorenzo was in joint first place with Pedrosa, but on May 1, 2008 Lorenzo was thrown from his bike during practice for the MotoGP Grand Prix of China. Lorenzo suffered a chipped bone and snapped ligament in his left ankle, and a fractured bone in his right.He was still able to finish the race in 4th place. Two weeks later at Le Mans, Lorenzo suffered two accidents in the practice sessions but managed to post a 2nd place result.In the following race in Italy he crashed during the race after qualifying seventh on the grid,The next week at Catalunya he experienced his fifth crash in four meetings, the practice session accident forcing him to miss the race.At both Donington Park and Assen, he was observed to be riding more conservatively after a series of injuries, but moved up the order in the later part of the race to finish 6th in each case. He has commented that he is stronger in the latter parts of races, preferring the bike when it is low on fuel. In the next meeting at Sachsenring, however, Lorenzo crashed out of the race during very wet conditions. Lorenzo suffered yet more injuries to his feet at the USGP at Laguna Seca on July 20, when he experienced his seventh crash in only three months. During the first lap a spectacular highside left Lorenzo with a sore right foot (or ankle) and three broken bones in his left foot, specifically the third, fourth and fifth metatarsals. At Misano, Lorenzo clinched 2nd place. Indianapolis saw him on the podium again this time in third position. He eventually finished the season in 4th position.In 2009, Lorenzo stayed with Yamaha. His season started strongly, with two wins out of four races: in Japan and France.As a consequence of a crash in qualifying at the Laguna Seca round, Lorenzo suffered a small fracture in the head of the fourth metatarsal in his right foot, contusions to the bones in both ankles and damage to his collarbone in his right shoulder.Two crashes later in the season, during the rain hit British Grand Prix and at Brno hampered his title bid, as he was 50 points behind championship leader Valentino Rossi prompting Lorenzo to claim his chances of winning the title have gone. He won at Indianapolis, while both Rossi and Pedrosa crashed, reducing Lorenzo's gap to Rossi to 25 points.His first corner crash with Nicky Hayden in Australia was a blow to his title chances and Rossi clinched the title with a third place finish in Malaysia.

On 25 August 2009, Lorenzo ended speculation surrounding a possible move to Honda or Ducati by signing a contract to race with Yamaha in the 2010 MotoGP Championship.Ducati reputedly offered him a 15 million dollar contract to take Nicky Hayden's position.Lorenzo broke two bones in his hand in a pocket bike crash pre-season, therefore missing most of the pre-season testing. He fought through the field to finish second to Rossi in the season opener in Qatar, whilst still not fully fit.After Rossi broke his leg in a crash at Mugello, Lorenzo became the title favourite, with a 47-point lead after four wins in the first six rounds. Victory at Assen made him only the seventh rider ever to win in 3 classes at this prestigious circuit.During a break between the Italian and British rounds of the championship, Lorenzo rode a Yamaha in a parade lap around the world famous Snaefell Mountain Course at the Isle of Man TT. He rode alongside former World Champion Ángel Nieto, later describing the experience as 'amazing'.Despite nearest rival Dani Pedrosa making up ground in the latter stage of the season, Lorenzo was still in control with five races remaining. Pedrosa, the only man who could still overtake Lorenzo in the standings, then suffered a broken collarbone during practice, causing him to miss the next two races and virtually guaranteeing Lorenzo would become champion. On 10 October, Lorenzo clinched the title with a third place finish at the Malaysian Grand Prix behind Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso.Lorenzo has become known for his celebration antics, which have become more frequent over the 2010 season. These have included Lorenzo imitating a spaceman, and Nintendo's mario brothers making an appearance at the trackside.In January 2010, Lorenzo got involved with the Oxfam international confederation's efforts in assisting support for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.The character Jorge in the video game Halo: Reach is named for him, after Lorenzo wore a helmet at the 2009 Valencian Grand Prix that replicated a style of helmet from Halo 3.During his reign as 250cc champion, Lorenzo was known to be very aggressive in his riding, particlularly when overtaking others. He was penalised by suspending him from taking part in Malaysia in 2005. Lorenzo's tenure in the Fiat Yamaha team has been underscored by an intense rivalry between himself and his team mate Valentino Rossi. This rivalry resulted in the Fiat Yamaha team being divided. In an interview after signing with Ducati, Rossi said that "the wall" between him and Lorenzo never existed when the team was around, as his skills and set-up details were passed on to Lorenzo. Lorenzo has stated in many interviews that he does not quite know how the bike works, and he is working towards enhancing his knowledge in order to boost his analytical skills.In 2011, Lorenzo was seen arguing with fellow rider Marco Simoncelli, who was under fire from Lorenzo for his dangerous riding. Simoncelli retorted by reminding Lorenzo of his race suspension after he was overly aggressive while overtaking a rider in 2005, which included clashing of fairings. Lorenzo said, "if it doesn't come from you again there will be no problem". Simoncelli put even more fuel to the fire by saying "will I be arrested?", to which a visibly angry Lorenzo reacted by saying, "this is no joke, we are playing with our lives here". Simoncelli claimed that he still has his leathers which were left blackened at the knee slider after a previous incident with Lorenzo at the final round of the 2010 season.