Dani Pedrosa claimed his third win of the season with victory at the rescheduled Japanese MotoGP.
Pedrosa took advantage of a slip from championship leader Casey Stoner to come home first ahead of Jorge Lorenzo.
Stoner recovered from going off the track to take third as his lead over Lorenzo at the top of the standings was cut to 40 points.
Andrea Dovizioso and Marco Simoncelli shook off ride-through penalties to finish fourth and fifth respectively.
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Aspar Ducati rider Hector Barbera was one of several riders to crash out and he suffered a broken collarbone.
Stoner and Lorenzo had both declared in July that they would not race in Japan because of safety concerns following March’s earthquake.
The Motegi circuit is situated less than 100 miles from the site of the Fukushima nuclear plant, which suffered nuclear leaks in the wake of the devastating magnitude 9.0 quake and subsequent tsunami.
The race was moved from its original date in April and was only given the go-ahead after an independent investigation showed there was no risk of radiation. BBC Sport
Three Americans followed next, with Spies sixth in front of Hayden and Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3). Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) avoided any drama to finish ninth as did Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) who finished tenth. Crutchlow was 11th despite a runoff in addition to his ride through penalty.
That left Kousuke Akiyoshi (LCR Honda) to take 12th, as his team mate Toni Elías crashed out after lapping in sixth position. Shinichi Ito (Honda Racing Team) was the final finisher of the race in 13th, while Damian Cudlin who rode in place of an injured Capirossi on the Pramac Racing team crashed near the end of the race, and Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) went down while running in fourth position.
Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) did not participate in the race after taking the decision not to ride. The Czech rider was still feeling the after-effects of a light head concussion sustained in a crash in the opening lap of the Aragón race. motogp
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