Casey Stoner won the Catalunya Grand Prix on Sunday for his third victory in the MotoGP championship this season.
The 2007 world champion overtook Jorge Lorenzo on the first lap and never looked back as the Australian’s Honda proved too fast to catch on the 4.727-kilometre Catalunya circuit.
“Jorge got off to a good start and I had to wait until the end of the first lap to overtake him and then he couldn’t stay with me, fortunately,” said Stoner, who won in 43 minutes 19.779 seconds.
Lorenzo was second, 2.403 seconds behind.
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“I knew Casey was going to have a fast start and I tried to keep up with him”, said Lorenzo. “But we earned 20 points.” The Canadian Press
Ben Spies got up to third at the start and stayed there to take his first podium as a factory Yamaha MotoGP rider. Behind him, Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) and Valentino Rossi (Ducati) had yet another side by side battle early on before settling into formation and chasing the American to the flag.
Polesitter Marco Simoncelli’s Gresini Honda tumbled to seventh on the first lap, and only managed to regain one place.
Tech 3 Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow claimed his best MotoGP result yet in seventh, despite dropping to 10th at the start. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) moved the other way - fighting for fifth initially before his pace faded and he slipped to eighth.
The best battle of the race was for ninth, which was disputed between most of the rest of the depleted field. Loris Capirossi emerged in front for Pramac Ducati, just ahead of Karel Abraham’s Cardion Ducati. Yahoo! Eurosport UK
Pos. Points Num. Rider Team Time/Gap 1 25 27 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 43'19.779 2 20 1 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 2.403 3 16 11 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 4.291 4 13 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSORepsol Honda Team 5.255 5 11 46 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 7.371 6 10 58 Marco SIMONCELLISan Carlo Honda Gresini 11.831 7 9 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 26.483 8 8 69 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 33.243 9 7 65 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 43.092 10 6 17 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 43.113 11 5 8 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 44.224 12 4 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 45.239 13 3 24 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 58.268 Not Classified 14 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 22 Laps 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 22 Laps
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