MotoGP

Pedrosa Wins As Stoner Slips Up In Germany

2 Mins read

Dani Pedrosa launched himself firmly into championship contention with victory in the German Grand Prix, beating teammate Casey Stoner in a straight fight to the flag. To make matters worse for the world champion, the no.1 Honda slid off two corners from home allowing Jorge Lorenzo to take a fortunate second.

The Repsol Honda duo were in a class of their own all afternoon with Pedrosa grabbing the lead into turn one ahead of Stoner with Ben Spies leading Lorenzo in third. On the second lap, Stoner put a forceful move on his teammate to take the lead, reminiscent of his decisive pass at Assen a week ago, but this time the Spaniard refused to be dropped.

The same couldn't be said for the Yamahas who quickly fell back into the distance with Spies holding Lorenzo back for the first four laps before the no.11 ran wide at turn ten, releasing Lorenzo. The two Tech 3 Yamahas were next up in fifth and sixth and Spies soon fell into the clutches of the satellite machines, led by Andrea Dovizioso. On lap nine, the Italian dived through into turn one and Cal Crutchlow was quick to do likewise, taking Spies into the Sachsen curve.

Back at the front, the Repsol Hondas continued to run nose to tail with Pedrosa looking threatening and on lap 19, he decided enough was enough and slipped through into the lead at turn one. It was now Stoner's turn to go on the offensive but with the final lap approaching, he was still looking for a way through.

Pedrosa maintained precision around the tight Sachsenring circuit so Stoner was forced to lay everything on the line to try and snatch victory. Heading into the penultimate bend, Casey got slightly wide and the front end of the RC213V cried enough, spitting him into the gravel. Pedrosa rode on to claim his third straight German GP win with Lorenzo arriving 15 seconds later to find his chief rival in the dirt, inheriting second place as a result.

They didn't know it at the time but the three-way Yamaha fight would have a podium finish as the ultimate prize and Dovizioso prevailed by 0.071s, not from Crutchlow but from Spies. Sadly for the British rider, he'd taken a trip through the turn one gravel trap and slipped back into a busy pack of riders scrapping over sixth.

Stefan Bradl finished at the front of it, with Stoner's late mishap handing him fifth on home soil ahead of Valentino Rossi who managed to finish as lead Ducati. Alvaro Bautista rode superbly from the back of the grid to take seventh with Crutchlow battling back past Hector Barbera and Nicky Hayden to salvage eighth on the line.

Eleventh placed Randy de Puniet took the CRT honours by five seconds from Colin Edwards while James Ellison scored the final point for fifteenth.

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