Stoner takes first win of 2010

From motogp.com

Casey Stoner took his first victory of the 2010 MotoGP campaign at Aragón on Sunday, converting his pole position at the Spanish circuit into a well-deserved win.

The Ducati Team rider finished 5.148 secs. ahead of Dani Pedrosa, with Nicky Hayden completing the podium for his first top-three result of the year after a magnificent last-lap overtake on Jorge Lorenzo.

Starting from pole Stoner held his position going into the first turn, but usual rapid starter Pedrosa dropped to fifth as the riders bunched up in the tight opening curve. The Repsol Honda rider fought back in the early stages of the race however to climb to second behind Stoner, and the gap between the two fluctuated throughout.

The pair were consistently fast for the duration of the race but Stoner managed to pull away towards the end as he achieved what was eventually a comfortable 25 points, with Pedrosa maintaining his good form in second.

"This win is a big relief, to be honest,” said Stoner, who last started from pole in the season opening race at Losail. “We had the first race in Qatar wrapped up until I made a mistake and there have been other opportunities to win this year that I have missed out on through my own errors.

“We have had a lot of problems trying to find the final two or three tenths to run with Dani and Jorge this season but we changed the bike completely this weekend to adjust my position on it and got it working almost how we want it to.”

There was slight cause for concern for Stoner and his crew when he fell during the morning warm up session, but he responded excellently in the race.

“I had a little slip off in warm up this morning which was a worry going into the race,” he admitted. “I was staying away from every white line that I could over the first few laps but we were able to pick up the pace when we needed to and bring home a win. I want to thank the team, the factory and everybody who has stuck by me – I'm just sorry it took so long.”

Second place was a pleasing result for Pedrosa in his 160th Grand Prix start, and the Repsol Honda rider continued in his mission to keep chipping away at Jorge Lorenzo’s Championship lead. That now stands at 56 points after Round 13 and Pedrosa was happy with second after he battled rear grip issues as the race wore on.

“I’m pretty happy with second place today even though of course I wanted to win in front of the Spanish fans,” said Pedrosa, who had won the two previous rounds. “In the first corner I had a slide which lost me a couple of places and then over the next few laps I had to make up some positions before getting behind Casey.

“By this point he was quite a way in front and our pace was similar at this stage so I tried really hard to catch him and managed to close the gap. But then I started to have some rear-wheel slides and it wasn’t possible for me stay with him so I thought: ‘Okay, this is my place today’.”

There were battles all the way through the field and none more entertaining than that between Hayden and Championship leader Lorenzo for the final podium spot. A fearless overtake on Lorenzo by Hayden on the final lap delivered the American the honours, and ended the Fiat Yamaha rider’s record of having placed on the rostrum at every race so far this season.

Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) notched another impressive result with fifth place as he resisted the challenge of Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda), who crashed out on the final lap while pushing hard in their contest.

Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) rounded off a tough weekend in sixth place, while rookies Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) completed the top eight with solid displays.

Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing) took top-10 finishes, while Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) escaped injury when he crashed out on lap 16.

Lorenzo’s advantage at the top of the Championship was cut to 56 points and he now stands on 284 points, with Pedrosa on 228 in second. Stoner’s victory lifts him to third on 155, with Rossi staying fourth and Dovizioso dropping to fifth.

Andrea Iannone took his third win of 2010 in the Moto2 World Championship at Aragón on Sunday with another dominant performance, securing victory from pole position by a margin of 6.203 secs. over second placed Julián Simón. Iannone’s Fimmco Speed Up team-mate Gabor Talmacsi completed the podium with Championship leader Toni Elías fourth.

Elías remains at the top of the standings and is now on 224 points, 76 ahead of Simón who retains second place. Iannone moves into third and is now four points off Simón.

Pol Espargaró took his third win of the season at Aragón on Sunday with a masterful ride that climaxed in a final-lap fight with Nico Terol, who finished the race second and moved to the top of the Championship after a highly dramatic 125cc contest.

There was a huge development not just in the race but also the Championship at the very start when Randy Krummenacher crashed at turn one on the opening lap and took Marc Márquez down with him. The Swiss rider was able to remount his bike but Marquez, Championship leader going into the race, was not and suffered his first DNF since the second round at Jerez.

The repercussions of the race result for the Championship were that Terol now leads on 208 points, with Espargaró moving into second on 202 while Márquez drops to third and remains on 197.

MotoGP Race Results
1. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati 42:16.530
2. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda +5.148
3. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati +9.496
4. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha +9.580
5. Ben SPIES (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha +13.771
6. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Fiat Yamaha +27.330
7. Marco SIMONCELLI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda +28.511
8. Alvaro BAUTISTA (SPA) Rizla Suzuki +35.254
9. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda +35.393
10. Aleix ESPARGARO (SPA) Pramac Ducati +35.467
11. Hector BARBERA (SPA) Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati +35.522
12. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha +45.360
13. Hiroshi AOYAMA (JPN) Interwetten Honda +48.319
14. Mika KALLIO (FIN) Pramac Ducati +58.047
Not Classified
Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda
Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda

MotoGP Point Standings
1. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha) 284
2. Dani PEDROSA (Honda) 228
3. Casey STONER (Ducati) 155
4. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha) 140
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda) 139
6. Ben SPIES (Yamaha) 131
7. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati) 125
8. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda) 81
9. Marco MELANDRI (Honda) 74
10. Marco SIMONCELLI (Honda) 74
11. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha) 70
12. Hector BARBERA (Ducati) 66
13. Aleix ESPARGARO (Ducati) 50
14. Alvaro BAUTISTA (Suzuki) 49
15. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki) 41
16. Mika KALLIO (Ducati) 33
17. Hiroshi AOYAMA (Honda) 29
18. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda) 11
19. Roger Lee HAYDEN (Honda) 5
20. Kousuke AKIYOSHI (Honda) 4
21. Wataru YOSHIKAWA (Yamaha) 1