Faultless ride delivers Pedrosa German victory

Dani Pedrosa firmed his grip on second in the World Championship standings with victory at Sachsenring in the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland on Sunday, his second win of the season, as Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo took second place and Casey Stoner third ahead of a courageous Valentino Rossi in his first race back after injury.

The original race was red flagged on lap nine when a crash for Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) at turn four brought down both Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) and Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing), neither of whom could avoid the Frenchman’s bike which burst into flames. The top five order at that stage was Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso and Rossi, and the trio involved in the accident were unable to line-up for the shortened 21-lap new race after failing to return to Pit Lane with their bikes within five minutes of the red flag. De Puniet was physically not able, having sustained fractures in his left tibia and fibula in the incident.

After a 25-minute interval the new shortened version began, and Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) slid out at turn one in an unfortunate end to his weekend. As he had done in the original race Pedrosa got his nose in front on the first lap, but Lorenzo quickly assumed the race lead – that would change again however.

The top order was much the same as it had been before the red flag, with Lorenzo holding off Pedrosa, Stoner in third, and Rossi and Dovizioso battling for fourth. The reigning World Champion was in front of his Italian compatriot before too long, and the Repsol Honda man was caught by the chasing pack shortly after.

The battle between Lorenzo and Pedrosa was developing into a thriller with the two Spaniards swapping the lead as they constantly looked for ways through on one another, and Pedrosa was at his best as he set a new circuit lap record on lap 10 and then again on 12, assuming the race lead and breaking his own record from the previous year and consistently riding in the low 1’22”s .

There was a good scrap going on for fifth between Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team), Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team), and the latter two went through on the rookie when he had a wobble but held onto his bike well.

Rossi was defying his precarious physical condition to engage in a great contest with Stoner for third, the two side by side with only a few laps to go and taking their duel to the bitter end.

Pedrosa crossed the line in first position, 3.355s clear of Championship leader Lorenzo thanks to a faultless ride, and Stoner managed to edge Rossi for third with a final corner move that handed the Italian fourth on his return from injury, a highly impressive result.

Dovizioso finished fifth, with Simoncelli achieving his best premier class result to date in sixth. American duo Hayden and Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) were seventh and eighth respectively, with Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) and Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) completing the top ten.

The final two riders to complete the race in 11th and 12th were Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) and stand-in rider Alex de Angelis (Interwetten Honda MotoGP). Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) had crashed out on lap seven of the original race.

Lorenzo now has 185 points at the top of the standings, with Pedrosa second on 138 and Dovizioso third on 102. Stoner moves into fourth, 19 points off Dovizioso.