Aussie 1-2 at Laguna Seca

Australians Casey Stoner (Ducati) and Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) stood 1-2 on the MotoGP podium on Sunday after the pair effectively ran away with the race. They were followed at a distance by Marco Melandri (Honda) who fought his way into third, notably after diving past a hapless Valentino Rossi on his Yamaha.

Melandri's performance was all the more remarkable because he had suffered an appalling crash in qualifying and initially did not look a certainty for the race.

Rossi's fourth spot rounded out a less than happy weekend - he also had a big crash in qualifying and injured a hand.

It was Stoner's first win from a pole position (he's had four) and the first time this season the pole-winner has taken the race.

While the racing at the front of the pack was relatively tame, there was high drama along the way. Reigning champ Nicky Hayden collided with John Hopkins in the first turn after the start, with the latter going down. Ironically, though, it was Hopkins who remounted to finish the event, while Hayden's fading Repsol Honda ended up retiring.

In fact it was a complete reversal of form for the Repsol crew, after a ripper race in Germany. Dani Pedrosa looked like a serious challenger for the lead in the early part of the event, and shared the front row of the grid with Stoner and Vermeulen. However his machine deteriorated and he ended up a disappointed sixth.

The tyre wars definitely swung the way of Bridgestone this time around, with the brand claiming the entire podium.

It was a lousy day for the American riders in front of their home crowd – Edwards faded towards the end of the race to finish 11th, while Kurtis Roberts was a retirement. One of the few bright spots was Roger Lee Hayden, brother to Nicky, who managed a solid 10th in his wild card ride with Kawasaki.

What the riders had to say
Stoner: "Today everything was perfect, tyres...everything was working great. The whole weekend we've managed to be the fastest in every session. We finally did it in the race aftyer all the hard work and we also managed to break the run of pole-setters not winning the race."

Vermeulen: "It's a circuit I really enjoy and the Suzuki worked well here all weekend. We've been right up inside the top five for most of the sessions and I tried to give Casey a run for his money today but he had too much speed."

Melandri: "(It was) an amazing race for me, it's unbelievable to be here. I could actually ride this morning (in the warm-up) without an injection for the pain and I just have to say a big thanks to Clinica Mobile.

Race results:

Points: