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Casey Stoner increased his lead at the top of the MotoGP standings with a brilliant win at Laguna Seca.
The 25-year-old produced memorable moves to pass first Dani Pedrosa and then second-placed Jorge Lorenzo to win in California.
The Australian now leads the championship by 20 points from Lorenzo with eight races left.
American Ben Spies was fourth at his home circuit while British rider Cal Crutchlow crashed out early on.
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Stoner said: “We found some pace in the warm-up this morning and I went into the race confident.”
“I was making time up on the brakes but slowly the bike got better and better and when everyone was struggling with grip I made a move.”
“With a few laps to go I put the hammer down and it is a great weekend to come through and win.” BBC Sport
“We felt good, really good, at the end. I think people have forgotten about us a little bit over the last few weeks. We’ve definitely struggled, but for some reasons that we know.”
“It’s really good to come back with a race like this and show everybody that we can still win.”
Lorenzo, who suffered a nasty crash in practice, said: “I’m lucky to be in the second position this weekend, because after the crash yesterday morning, in the first moments I thought it wasn’t possible to take part in the race.”
“‘So after qualifying I really hoped to fight for the victory until the end. But sometimes expectations are not the reality, and today Casey was faster than us, especially at the end. He had something more than we had.” Daily Mail
Dovizioso crossed the line in fifth place, ahead of the battle for sixth between the Ducati Team riders Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden. Hayden lost out to the Italian, crossing the line on his GP11 seven tenths behind the GP11.1 of his teammate.
Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was unable to improve the feeling of his bike after citing struggles with it after qualifying the day before, ending the race what is sure to be a disappointing eighth place in front of a huge following of loyal fans at the circuit. Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) finished in ninth, one place behind his qualifying position and Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) met his top ten goal, finishing in tenth. Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) finished eleventh, in front of Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing) who is still struggling with pain from injuries, and Toni Elías (LCR Honda) in thirteenth. motogp.com
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