Pit Pass: Jorge Lorenzo's Landing

"Yeah, circumstances give me this chance, at the moment, because it is a lot of championship to finish," he said. The championship is a three-rider battle "and we have this option to win the championship. Will be difficult, no? Because Valentino has won five championships in the maximum class and he has more experience and this experience of winning championships I don't have, because I only won in 250. But anyway I feel strong on the bike, I feel quite confident and we will see what happens."

Confidence can only take you so far. At Laguna Seca, it took him to the infield medical center with a partial separation of his right collarbone, damage to both ankles, and broken fourth metatarsal in his right foot. Seeing Lorenzo being carried on a stretcher, then later in a wheelchair, was sobering. Was the championship decided?

"Certainly the accidents are going to play a big part in the whole championship," Kenny Roberts Senior said. "It seems like the guys have been jumping off here regularly. I don't know if that's a qualifying issue or tire issue. The tires certainly seem to be very, very good. Lean angles are what's causing all the trouble. There's really no way to save that. You have that much grip, you're going to have that much lean angle. To have that much corner speed and to rely on the ignition to save your ass a lot, seems to me to be a little on the fragile side."

Of the 17 MotoGP riders who took part in the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, 12 crashed at some point, a higher percentage than anyone could remember. And many, including Lorenzo and Stoner, crashed in one of the tracks four right-handers (there are seven left turns) where the tires take longer to heat up. "I fell because the tire wasn't hot," Lorenzo said on his blog.

The older guard of American Grand Prix stars-Roberts, Lawson, Rainey, Schwantz-are amused by the "closed throttle highsides", the term given to the corner entry crashes. To them, the current riders are simply rolling into the corner with too much entry speed and too much faith in the bike's electronics. Traction control can do nothing if the rider is off the throttle. Lorenzo sped into turn 10 with the throttle closed and the suspension and chassis heavily loaded. When the tire slid and then caught traction, Lorenzo was spit into the air, the Majorcan landing heavily on his right shoulder and leg as he and the YZR-M1 tumbled into the gravel. Ten minutes earlier he'd run two fast laps, either of which would have put him on the pole. As it turned out, no one could match his pace and he had his fourth pole of the year.

The accident occurred as Lorenzo was thick in discussions about his future. The specter of his crash-plagued 2008 season loomed large. There was no need for him to be going that fast at that time. His decision-making process was questioned.

Any question about his resolve was answered on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Lorenzo appeared to be riding as if fully able-bodied, but had diminished strength in his right side. Still, he caught up to and challenged Rossi for second in turn 11 with less than five laps remaining. But the attack failed and Lorenzo nearly crashed. "Yes, the lap before I look that Valentino braked a little bit earlier than me, so I thought that I could pass him in this corner, but if you enter the line more deeper in this corner, there is more bumps, and then I brake so, so late and then my rear tire start to move a lot," he said. "And I was closing my eyes because I thought I was going to crash. So God helped me this occasion."