Stoner Brilliant in American Grand Prix

Stoner’s fifth MotoGP win of the season, and 28th overall, was an ominous sign for the competition. With the exception of 2009, when the race was won by Pedrosa, every winner at Laguna Seca has gone on to win the MotoGP World Championship, including Stoner in 2007.

Stoner kept alive his amazing record of a podium finish in every race he’s completed this season. The Australian now goes into the summer break with a 20 point lead over Lorenzo, 193 to 173. Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso, today’s fifth place finisher, is third with 143 points, and Pedrosa moved up to fourth in the championship, despite missing three races.

In the race Lorenzo led from the start with Pedrosa and Stoner chasing, and Dovi just off the back in fourth. Pedrosa and Stoner kept the Yamaha rider honest, not letting him break away for the first half. The first major change of the order came on the 18th of 32 laps when Stoner passed Pedrosa in the Corkscrew, the track’s signature corner. Then it was on to Lorenzo who was nearly a second in front.

Stoner stalked and waited, not wanting to make a rash move on the 3.610Km track that rewards momentum and punishes mistakes. There was nothing between Lorenzo and Stoner on the 23rd lap as they crossed the line separated by only .212s.

Then came Stoner’s move, which was brilliant and unexpected. He went around Lorenzo on the outside over the turn one crested kink at about 265 Km/h on the 27th lap.

Almost immediately Stoner began to pull out a gap. When the 27th lap ended his lead was already .789s. By the second split of the 28th lap his lead was over a second and when the lap ended, with four to go, the lead was 1.544s. The eventual margin of victory was 5.634s.

Pedrosa was alone in third on the physically demanding circuit. He said the pace at the beginning was quite high and as the race wore on it became too much and he had to settle for third. Still, it was his second podium in a row following his comeback to race three races ago in Italy.

Dovizioso seemed secure in fourth for much of the race. He maintained a five second cushion until the second half when Ben Spies (Yamaha) began to close in. As the race neared its conclusion Spies got closer and closer and made a pass in the final corner ending the 29th lap. Dovizioso didn’t let the Texan get away and chased him to the flag only to come up short by .680s.

Casey Stoner, Repsol Honda: Race winner
“All weekend we've been struggling a little so we weren't too confident that we could run with Jorge and Dani in the race. However, this morning in warm-up we found something I was a little happier with. Before the race I felt relaxed, confident and generally calm. We started a little slower to get the tyres warm gently, but also with a full tank of fuel, the bike didn't feel that great. So I was patient and took my time, staying with Jorge and Dani to control the gap and make sure they didn't get too far away. I felt I had more speed, but decided to wait and watch. I saw Dani struggling a bit and he started to drop back from Jorge so I had to attack at this point. Once I caught up to Jorge, I watched to see if he made a mistake and kept the pressure on him, then chose my moment to make the move and was able to slowly open up a gap and bring the race home. It's really fantastic to come from such a difficult weekend and get a great win and I'm very thankful to all my team.”

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 3rd
“I'm very happy with another podium, the second after my come back from injury. I could have predicted this result before coming to Laguna because I knew it would be physically very tough for me. Today, by the middle of the race, I was very tired, almost finished. I couldn't get my left arm strong enough and here at this track you don't rest for a moment, so I had to drop back. Now we have some holidays and it will be good for me to have some days off to rest and relax my muscles and be back training to arrive fully fit to Brno.”

Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 5th
“We knew that it was going to be a tough race because this track is short, with very strong braking and it's also very demanding. I made a good start and I was able to move into fourth position. In the first laps I pushed hard to stay with Casey, Dani and Lorenzo. I was losing a lot in some corners, such as turn three and turn 11, and to recover I was pushing in the other areas. I used up a lot of energy and I couldn’t be consistent for the 32 laps. I’m disappointed because today we had the speed to fight for a good result, in fact I lapped two-tenths behind the fastest lap, but I couldn’t be consistent.