Casey Stoner followed up his first win of the season at Aragón with a second victory of 2010 in the Grand Prix of Japan on Sunday, with pole man Andrea Dovizioso second and Valentino Rossi third. It was another strong win from Ducati rider Stoner as he slowly pulled away from Dovizioso throughout the 24-lap race, but the real excitement was drawn from team-mates Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo’s intense battle for the final spot on the podium.
As he did last time out at Aragón Stoner got a fast start and took the lead on the opening lap, and as he settled into his rhythm and consistently posted fast laps Dovizioso – starting from pole for the first time in the premier class – stuck with him for the early stages. Lorenzo hinted at what was to come as he passed Rossi to assume third, and that was just the start of the duo’s enthralling contest.
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Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) ran off at turn five together on only the second lap as they dropped down the order, whilst rookie Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) pitted their wits against one another in the push for fifth. Motogp.com
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards easily produced his best ride of the season, the veteran American claiming fifth after an exciting dice with Italian Marco Simoncelli.
Alvaro Bautista was an impressive seventh on the factory Suzuki with Ben Spies claiming a heroic eighth place.
The Texan’s hopes of finishing top non-factory rider for the sixth successive race were effectively ended on the second lap after an incident with compatriot Nicky Hayden.
Spies and Hayden both nearly ran into the back of Loris Capirossi at turn five and had to take evasive action that put them both in the gravel.
He dropped back to 15th but then produced a masterclass in overtaking to fight his way back into the top ten.
Ducati rider Hayden could only recover to finish. Motorcycle News
Pos. Points Num. Rider Team Time/Gap 1 25 27 Casey STONER Ducati Team 43'12.266 2 20 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSORepsol Honda Team 3.868 3 16 46 Valentino ROSSI Fiat Yamaha Team 5.707 4 13 99 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team 6.221 5 11 5 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 27.092 6 10 58 Marco SIMONCELLISan Carlo Honda Gresini 30.021 7 9 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 31.826 8 8 11 Ben SPIES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 35.572 9 7 14 Randy DE PUNIET LCR Honda MotoGP 47.564 10 6 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA Interwetten Honda MotoGP 49.598 11 5 33 Marco MELANDRI San Carlo Honda Gresini 49.999 12 4 69 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 50.703 13 3 40 Hector BARBERA Paginas Amarillas Aspar 51.422 14 2 41 Aleix ESPARGARO Pramac Racing Team 52.843 15 1 36 Mika KALLIO Pramac Racing Team +1'14.668 Not Classified 65 Loris CAPIROSSI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 3 Laps
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