Casey Stoner secures first win of 2010 at Aragón

Casey Stoner has taken his first victory of the 2010 MotorGP season at Aragón, converting his pole position at the Spanish circuit into a well-deserved win.

The Ducati Team rider finished 5.148-seconds ahead of Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), with team-mate Nicky Hayden completing the podium for his first top-three result of the year after a magnificent last-lap overtake on Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha).

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.

“It’s a big relief,” said Stoner, who last won in Malaysia in October last year.

“We had the first race (this season at Qatar) wrapped up until I made a mistake.

“We’ve been struggling to get the bike on the pace this year, but this weekend we tried something totally different, and since then we’ve had a better feeling with  the front end.

“I had a slip up this morning, but we were able to pick up the pace when we needed to and get the win.”

Honda’s Pedrosa paid credit to the Ducati team: “Ducati were very strong, with both riders on the podium.

“I tried everything, I didn’t start well but I recovered,” he said of his battle with Casey.

“But I was too far from Casey. We did many laps at the same pace but couldn’t get him on corners. He did good.”

Pedrosa praised the Ducati team.

“Ducati were very strong, with both riders on the podium,” said Pedrosa.

“I tried everything, I didn’t start well but I recovered.

“But I was too far from Casey. We did many laps at the same pace but couldn’t get him on corners. He did good.”

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.

“I didn’t mean to leave it that late,” said Hayden.

“In the final laps, Jorge kept the doors shut.

“It’s been a very good weekend for us.”

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 whilst pushing hard in their contest.

Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) rounded off a tough weekend in sixth place, whilst 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-ten finishes, whilst 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 from fifth on 155, with Rossi staying fourth and Dovizioso dropping to fifth.

MotoGP heads to Japan on 3 October at Twin-Ring Motegi.

Check out the video highlights

 

 

Race Results: Gran Premio A-Style de Aragón

1	Casey Stoner	AUS	Ducati Team	Ducati	42:16.530
2	Dani Pedrosa	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	+5.148
3	Nicky Hayden	USA	Ducati Team	Ducati	+9.496
4	Jorge Lorenzo	SPA	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	+9.580
5	Ben Spies	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	+13.771
6	Valentino Rossi	ITA	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	+27.330
7	Marco Simoncelli	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	+28.511
8	Alvaro Bautista	SPA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	+35.254
9	Marco Melandri	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	+35.393
10	Aleix Esparago	SPA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	+35.467
11	Hector Barbera	SPA	Paginas Amarillas Aspar	Ducati	+35.522
12	Colin Edwards	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	+45.360
13	Hiroshi Aoyama	JPN	Interwetten Honda MotoGP	Honda	+48.319
14	Mika Kallio	FIN	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	+58.047
NC	Andrea Dovizioso	ITA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1 Lap
NC	Randy de Puniet	FRA	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	8 Laps

MotoGP Standings after Race 13 of 18

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 Esparago	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