Colin Edwards extended his impressively consistent run of results, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider racing to a hard fought seventh position. After lamenting the lack of power the Texan was happy with how his day went in front of his home town fans,
"I was top non-factory rider, I got another top ten and I moved up another place in the Championship, so it wasn't a bad afternoon's work. We go to Misano now and see if we can fight for the top six," the Texan said.
Pramac Ducati's Randy De Puniet was the highest placed Ducati with 8th, finishing just ahead of Hiroshi Aoyama.
"I'm happy, this is my best race of the season!" the Frenchman said "A Bad start for the race when Loris touched me and I lost at least three positions, otherwise I could stay with the group and probably I could have fought for better positions. But it?s ok, our pace, as I declared yesterday, has been steady and good until the end and this allowed me to overtake many riders in the second half of the race. I'm satisfied with how things went today, the team has worked very well and after a difficult start of the season we all deserve a good result," he said.
Hiroshi Aoyama was involved in a spirited battle for eighth that was decided in the final corner. Hector Barbera made a run at the Japanese rider, only to overshoot the corner and crash, handing Aoyama a secure ninth.
Valentino Rossi fought doggedly to earn as many points as possible in a race that was affected by a series of difficulties. A transmission problem had caused the Italian to slip to last place by the ninth lap, but he recovered as far as tenth place by the finish.
"A number of things happened this weekend that contributed to making this a particularly difficult race: the crash yesterday in qualifying, which robbed some confidence and was part of the reason we had to start so far back on the grid, and today there was a problem with the gearbox. The bike stuck in neutral six or seven times, and the first two caused me to go straight and lose time. I found myself in last place, but I decided to do what I could to at least get some points," Rossi explained.
Cal Crutchlow held out Simoncelli to claim 11th.
"After the bad recent run it was important to finish the race and I did that," Crutchlow said. "The result wasn't the best but my speed at the end of the race was really good and I'm happy about that, so there are a lot of positives to take to Misano. At the end of the race I was lapping faster than Jorge Lorenzo. I was a long way behind him but that still gives me a lot of encouragement," he added.
Marco Simoncelli was one of many riders to suffer tyre degradation. The tall, bushy-haired Italian challenged at the front from the start, and was in fourth as late as the 11th lap, but as the race progressed he found traction increasingly compromised. Simoncelli hung on as long as he could, but eventually dropped down to 12th, one spot up on Toni Elias, the 13th place finisher.
Elias had a problem with rear wheel-spin the whole race which prevented him from sustaining his corner entry speed. He was a few tenths slower than what he'd hoped, which took him out of the battle just ahead.
Nicky Hayden was the final finisher. The Texan got a great start and was in the top four, but the decision to use a soft front tyre didn't pay off. After seven laps, he steadily lost ground before finishing in fourteenth place.
"It was a really tough day. We thought the soft front tyre could be a good option for the race, but unfortunately it only worked for seven or eight laps," Hayden lamented.
The MotoGP paddock now heads quickly back to Europe for next Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix in Misano, Italy on September 4.
Main Photo: Casey Stoner
Credit: HRC
Event results - Round 12 - Race 1
1 Casey Stoner 46m52.786s AUS HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Dani Pedrosa +4.828s SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Ben Spies +10.603s USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
4 Jorge Lorenzo +16.576s SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
5 Andrea Dovizioso +17.202s ITA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
6 Alvaro Bautista +30.447s SPA SUZUKI Suzuki MotoGP
7 Colin Edwards +39.690s USA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
8 Randy De Puniet +53.416s FRA DUCATI Pramac Racing Team
9 Hiroshi Aoyama +53.790s JPN HONDA Honda Gresini
10 Valentino Rossi +55.345s ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
11 Cal Crutchlow +57.184s GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
12 Marco Simoncelli +1m00.141s ITA HONDA Honda Gresini
13 Toni Elias +1m02.169s SPA HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
14 Nicky Hayden +2 Laps USA DUCATI Ducati Team
15 Hector Barbera DNF - 1 Lap SPA DUCATI Aspar Ducati
16 Karel Abraham DNF - 8 Laps CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Ducati
17 Loris Capirossi DNF - 12 Laps ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing Team
Championship standings
1 Casey Stoner 243 pts AUS HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Jorge Lorenzo 199 pts SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
3 Andrea Dovizioso 174 pts ITA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
4 Dani Pedrosa 130 pts SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
5 Ben Spies 125 pts USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
6 Valentino Rossi 124 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
7 Nicky Hayden 105 pts USA DUCATI Ducati Team
8 Colin Edwards 84 pts USA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
9 Marco Simoncelli 80 pts ITA HONDA Honda Gresini
10 Hiroshi Aoyama 77 pts JPN HONDA Honda Gresini
11 Hector Barbera 62 pts SPA DUCATI Aspar Ducati
12 Alvaro Bautista 49 pts SPA SUZUKI Suzuki MotoGP
13 Toni Elias 46 pts SPA HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
14 Karel Abraham 46 pts CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Ducati
15 Cal Crutchlow 39 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
16 Loris Capirossi 29 pts ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing Team
17 Randy De Puniet 27 pts FRA DUCATI Pramac Racing Team
18 John Hopkins 6 pts USA SUZUKI Suzuki MotoGP
19 Kousuke Akiyoshi 3 pts JPN HONDA Honda Gresini
20 Sylvain Guintoli 0 pts FRA DUCATI Pramac Racing Team
