Three straight for Stoner

From motogp.com

MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner continued his spectacular return to form with victory in Sunday's Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, his third win in as many races.

The Ducati Marlboro rider braved the wet conditions of the Sachsenring circuit and appeared equally adept to the task as he had been in the dry practice sessions, a sign that will have his title rivals preoccupied for the second half of the season.

The race had looked set to be a wet weather repeat of Dani Pedrosa´s comprehensive 2007 victory after the Repsol Honda rider once again used his finely-honed launch control to take the holeshot. He stormed out of the blocks and immediately created a two-second gap. The advantage increased to 7.5 seconds by the time the Spaniard crossed the line for a sixth time, but just moments later disaster struck as he lost control of the RC212V and picked up his first DNF of 2008.

Pedrosa´s crash allowed Stoner to return to the script written in practice sessions for the German race, and the Australian needed no further invitation. He assumed the reins in the same style with which he had taken the win at the past two races, breaking free and riding solo for 23 laps right up until the chequered flag was waved.

"I saw Dani riding off into the distance and thought 'fair play,' there was no way I would have been able to go so fast at that time," Stoner said. "We used a harder compound on the tires and they were taking time to warm up. Then I saw Dani tumbling and rolling in the gravel. Given his past record in the wet, he was riding very well up until then. From then on it was just a matter of making sure of increasing a small advantage with every lap."

Second place from the third row of the grid was a more-than-respectable result for Valentino Rossi, and the runner-up spot allowed the Fiat Yamaha rider to reassume the leadership of the MotoGP World Championship. Heading to the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix in just a week´s time, the five-time title holder now holds a 16-point advantage over Pedrosa, whose hand and foot injuries picked up in the crash may affect his form and perhaps even participation in the Laguna Seca race.

"It's a positive result for me, because I am top of the ranking," Rossi said. "Second is not so bad considering the track conditions today. It was fun to ride in the bad conditions, but starting from the third row we lost a lot of time at the beginning. I saw Dani in the gravel and tried to come back at Casey, but it was not possible. I´m happy because I was fast right until the end."

Rizla Suzuki´s Chris Vermeulen forced his way through the pack for a first podium of 2008, in doing so denying MotoGP rookie Alex de Angelis his maiden rostrum placing. Both had great rides in the wet, with the San Carlo Honda Gresini rider equalling his best premier class result to date and becoming the highest-finishing Honda man.

"Starting from the fifth row made it difficult for us, there was a lot of spray coming up," Vermeulen said. "I stayed upright at the start but, like Casey said, we were using the harder tire and it was difficult to get heat into it. There was no way I was going to catch these guys, they were too quick for me today."

Andrea Dovizioso finished in the top five for the fourth successive race after getting a fantastic start onboard his JiR Team Scot Honda. Dovizioso came in ahead of Sylvain Guintoli, Loris Capirossi, Randy de Puniet, Shinya Nakano and Anthony West, with all riders outside the top 10 lapped on the second shortest MotoGP circuit.

Besides Pedrosa´s tumble, there were also crashes for Jorge Lorenzo, Colin Edwards and Marco Melandri as they fell foul of the tricky conditions.

Race Results
1. C. STONER AUS (Ducati Marlboro Team) 47:30.057
2. V. ROSSI ITA (Fiat Yamaha Team) +3.708
3. C. VERMEULEN AUS (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) +14.002
4. A. DE ANGELIS RSM (San Carlo Honda Gresini) +14.124
5. A. DOVIZIOSO ITA (JiR Team Scot MotoGP) +42.022
6. S. GUINTOLI FRA (Alice Team) +46.648
7. L. CAPIROSSI ITA (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) +1:04.483
8. R. DE PUNIET FRA (LCR Honda MotoGP) +1:04.588
9. S. NAKANO JPN (San Carlo Honda Gresini) +1:16.773
10. A. WEST AUS (Kawasaki Racing Team) +1:29.275
11. J. TOSELAND GBR (Tech 3 Yamaha) +1 Lap
12. T. ELIAS SPA (Alice Team) +1 Lap
13. N. HAYDEN USA (Repsol Honda Team) +2 Laps
Not classified
C. EDWARDS USA (Tech 3 Yamaha) +10 Laps
M. MELANDRI ITA (Ducati Marlboro Team) +21 Laps
D. PEDROSA SPA (Repsol Honda Team) +25 Laps
J. LORENZO SPA (Fiat Yamaha Team) +28 Laps

Point Standings
1. Valentino ROSSI (Fiat Yamaha Team) 187
2. Dani PEDROSA (Repsol Honda Team) 171
3. Casey STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 167
4. Jorge LORENZO (Fiat Yamaha Team) 114
5. Colin EDWARDS (Tech 3 Yamaha) 98
6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (JiR Team Scot MotoGP) 90
7. Chris VERMEULEN (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) 73
8. Nicky HAYDEN (Repsol Honda Team) 73
9. James TOSELAND (Tech 3 Yamaha) 65
10. Shinya NAKANO (San Carlo Honda Gresini) 64
11. Loris CAPIROSSI (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) 60
12. Alex DE ANGELIS (San Carlo Honda Gresini) 38
13. Toni ELIAS (Alice Team) 37
14. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Alice Team) 34
15. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki Racing Team) 32
16. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team) 32
17. Randy DE PUNIET (LCR Honda MotoGP) 30
18. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki Racing Team) 22
19. Ben SPIES (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) 2
20. Tadayuki OKADA (Repsol Honda Team) 2