Pedrosa wins at Motegi

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa took his third MotoGP victory of the season in an eventful race at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit in Japan, with Jorge Lorenzo second and Casey Stoner third.

The second Australian in the race, Damian Cudlin, riding in place of injured Pramac Ducati rider Loris Capirossi, crashed out after putting in a solid performance.

Amazingly, only two of the top seven riders did not either run off track or incur a ride through penalty in the race. The GP began with pole setter Stoner (Repsol Honda) launching into turn one ahead of the field, while teammate Dovizioso jumped the start from the front row, with Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) and Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) both following suit.

"I'm super happy with this victory," said Pedrosa after the race, "for the team that has been working so well, for HRC because this is the first win in Motegi with the Repsol Honda Team and for myself because it is the first time I've won here in MotoGP after doing so in 125cc and 250cc. 

"I'm happy because at this track I've had a mix of good and bad results and some bad injuries, so to come back one year later and win in MotoGP is fantastic," added the Spaniard.

Standing on the second tier of the podium, Jorge Lorenzo has closed the gap to championship leader Casey Stoner, and explained his race: "I didn't expect such a strange race, Casey going wide and Dovi having a ride through. I thought it was possible to fight with Dani but he came better and better, I think he was inspired today and at a very high level of riding.

"To win now is almost impossible," said Lorenzo, but added that "..some small possibilities!" could give him a surprise second championship.

Casey Stoner had a strong start, but did well to hold on to his bike after he got speed wobbles at close to 300km/h. "The whole weekend had gone so well for us and we got a great start and I was able to pull a small advantage," explained Stoner. "As I came out of the back straight I got a wobble on the bike, we hit the big bump and as the front came down it practically shook the bars out of my hands.

"I went for the brakes and there was nothing there so I had to pump them up a couple of times, when I pumped it the second time it flicked me up over the front and I was lucky to stay on the bike. Thankfully I avoided hitting the wall at the end of the gravel trap but it's really disappointing as we had the bike to win here today, but in the end I guess I should be thankful that we were able to climb back up to a podium spot after other people’s misfortunes and mistakes on track."

Stoner is now focussed on putting in a strong performance at Phillip Island. If he wins in Australia it will be fifth in a row at his home race. "I'm looking forward to going to Phillip Island now and to see what we can achieve there, I've got a Championship lead to protect but I also want to win races."

Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi crashed out of the first lap, forcing Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) off track, dropping the American down the order.

Meanwhile Stoner appeared set to take another victory, leading clear and free until running off the track on lap five. Shortly thereafter Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) went down, while Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) ran off track after lapping in fourth position.

Lorenzo made his way across the line in second, while Stoner rose to third. Simoncelli and Dovizioso took their ride through penalties and then engaged in a battle to the finish, with the San Carlo Honda Gresini rider holding off Dovizioso to take fourth.

Three Americans followed next, with Spies sixth in front of Hayden and Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3). Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) avoided any drama to finish ninth as did Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) who finished 10th. Crutchlow was 11th despite a runoff in addition to his ride through penalty.

That left Kousuke Akiyoshi (LCR Honda) to take 12th, as his teammate Toni Elías crashed out after lapping in sixth position. Shinichi Ito (Honda Racing Team) was the final finisher of the race in 13th, while Cudlin crashed near the end of the race, and Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) went down while running in fourth position.

Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) did not participate in the race after taking the decision not to ride. The Czech rider was still feeling the after-effects of a light head concussion sustained in a crash in the opening lap of the Aragón race.