Casey Stoner Reigns In Spain

Repsol Honda‘s Casey Stoner wrapped up his weekend in Spain with a dominant win around the Circuit de Catalunya ahead of both Yamaha’s, with Jorge Lorenzo securing a 2nd place at his home grand prix ahead of a seasons best finish for teammate Ben Spies.

Stoner gained from a poor starting pole sitter, San Carlo Honda Gresini‘s Marco Simoncelli, but had to keep with Jorge Lorenzo who had crept into the lead at the start. It only took a lap as Stoner then passed the reigning world champion on the pit straight to claim the lead, and even though the possibility of a flag to flag race loomed midway through the race, Stoner kept his cool in a relatively quiet race to claim a third win of the season.

Lorenzo and Spies had an equally quiet race with Spies with their position gains coming again from the poor start of Simoncelli. Behind the leading procession Stoner’s only teammate this weekend, Andrea Dovizioso took fourth place at the start and set off after Spies, however the pace proved too much and he almost fell into the clutches of Valentino Rossi on the Ducati.

Rossi held on to grab fifth place ahead of Simoncelli who seemed to be very reserved throughout the race and Monster Yamaha Tech3‘s Cal Crutchlow continued his impressive and consistent form to claim seventh place after starting 6th on the grid.

Ducati’s Nicky Hayden finished in 8th after being passed by Crutchlow on the first lap, as the factory Ducati rider led the satellite Pramac machine of Loris Capirossi in 9th and a strong finish from Karel Abraham on the Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati rounded out the top ten.

Abraham led a pack of four dueling riders across the line, with Hector Barbera on the Mapfre Aspar Ducati in 11th, Álvaro Bautista on the Rizla Suzuki in 12th. Bautista could have had a stronger finish but it seemed as though he was struggling with the damp conditions. Toni Elias was the final finisher in 13th on the LCR Honda.

Hiroshi Aoyama on the San Carlo Honda and Randy De Puniet on the Pramac Ducati both slid out on the same corner early on in the race, but both riders walked away uninjured. Dani Pedrosa and Colin Edwards missed the race due to injury, but Colin Edwards turned up at the Monster Yamaha Tech3 garage in the morning wanting to ride. Considering he had only had his broken collarbone pinned yesterday, he failed to pass a medical.

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