Stoner wins at Laguna Seca

Added on Sunday, July 24th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments

Casey Stoner stormed to another MotoGP victory today at the technically demanding Laguna Seca circuit, to strengthen his 2011 championship charge.

After securing pole position yesterday, Jorge Lorenzo got the holeshot off the line to immediately launch into the lead of the thirty-two lap race. Despite suffering a crash during practice earlier in the weekend, the Yamaha rider fought through his bruises and pain to lead the majority of the race.

The early stages saw Lorenzo lead the trio of Repsol Honda riders around the challenging circuit, with Dani Pedrosa heading them. As the outing progressed, Stoner edged closer to the lead duo, before diving passed Pedrosa into the infamous Corkscrew series of bends for second place.

Before long, Stoner had latched onto the rear of Lorenzo’s Yamaha and soon began to pile on the pressure. After a toug crusade he swept passed the injured Spaniard and into the lead of the race. For the remaining few laps Stoner was able to extend his advantage, giving him the win and another twenty-five points towards his title bid.

Having edged out a gap earlier in the race Lorenzo was able to battle through his back and arm pain to take second place, whilst Pedrosa completed the podium in third.

A close battle between Ben Spies and Andrea Dovizioso saw Spies get the better if the Repsol Honda rider in the closing stages to steal fourth place. Dovizioso held onto fifth place, with Valentino Rossi sixth. Nicky Hayden fought with his teammate to seventh place, whilst Colin Edwards worked his way up to eighth place.

Hector Barbera secured a top ten finish in ninth, ahead of Hiroshi Aoyama in tenth. The final three finishing positions went the way of Karel Abraham, Loris Capirossi and Toni Elias. Sadly Alvaro Bautista, Ben Bostrom, Marco Simoncelli and Cal Crutchlow suffered retirements.

Stoner has extended his lead at the top of the championship standings, however Lorenzo is still chasing him furiously. There is now a three week break until round eleven of the championship, which takes place at Brno on the 14th August.

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