Stoner on the Repsol Honda who had his front wheel taken out from under him by the Desmosedici.
Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda held on to second place until he was passed, with 4 laps to go by a hard charging Ben Spies on the second factory Yamaha, having tracked the Spaniard for most of the latter part of the race and offered the position when the Honda had a ‘twitch’ in Turn 5, just to return the position moments later when the Texan was let down by his Bridgestone tyres and crashed out into the sand at the side of the circuit.
Veteran Colin Edwards kept his Tech 3 Yamaha upright and almost returned to the podium after a long hiatus, but had to face disappointment in what appeared to be a mechanical failure on the second last lap to present his fellow American Nicky Hayden on the Ducati with the last podium place.
Fourth over the line was Japanese rider Hiroshi Aoyam on the San Carlo Honda Gresini, offering some compensation to the team whose Italian rider Marco ‘Super Sic’ Simoncelli, while in the lead and looking good for his first victory, lost grip to also slide out of the race.
Multiple champion Valentino Rossi worked his way back up the field to fifth as numerous riders were loosing traction and falling off from worn wet weather tyres in the worsening conditions, to take the chequered flag ahead of the satellite Aspar Ducati of Hector Barbera in sixth.
In what some commentators confessed to be controversial circumstances involving the track side marshals, who were deemed to have assisted Rossi return to the track without offering much help to Stoner, the disenchanted Australian retired to the back of the team garage and then after the race accepted the apologies from Rossi, jokingly suggesting to Vale: “Your ambition outweighed your talent?”
Weather: Wet | Air temp: 17ºC | Track temp: 15ºC | Humidity: 90%
MotoGP race results:
Pos. | Rider | Team | Bike | Speed | Time / Gap |
1 | Jorge LORENZO | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 141 | 50'49.046 |
2 | Dani PEDROSA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 140.1 | +19.339 |
3 | Nicky HAYDEN | Ducati Team | Ducati | 139.7 | +29.085 |
4 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 139.6 | +29.551 |
5 | Valentino ROSSI | Ducati Team | Ducati | 138.2 | +62.227 |
6 | Hector BARBERA | Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP | Ducati | 137.9 | +68.440 |
7 | Karel ABRAHAM | Cardion AB Motoracing | Ducati | 137.7 | +74.120 |
8 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 137.4 | +79.110 |
9 | Toni ELIAS | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda | 136.4 | +102.906 |
10 | John HOPKINS | Rizla Suzuki MotoGP | Suzuki | 136.2 | +108.395 |
11 | Loris CAPIROSSI | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 136 | +111.876 |
12 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 133.6 | 1 lap |
NC. | Colin EDWARDS | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 140 | 1 lap |
NC. | Ben SPIES | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 141.3 | 3 laps |
NC. | Randy DE PUNIET | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 140.3 | 11 laps |
NC. | Marco SIMONCELLI | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 143.9 | 16 laps |
NC. | Casey STONER | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 144 | 20 laps |