Jorge Lorenzo’s Championship lead was stretched to 72 points at Laguna Seca as the Fiat Yamaha rider won the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix ahead of Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi, in a round nine race that saw Dani Pedrosa crash out while leading.

A trademark lightning start from Pedrosa saw him lead into turn one of the first lap and the Spaniard appeared to be making a similar break for victory as he had done last time out at Sachsenring, as he set a fierce pace at the front of the race.

However, on Lap 11 and with Lorenzo pressuring him for the lead the Repsol Honda rider crashed out at turn five, leaving his fellow Spaniard to take his M1 to a sixth win of the season as he tasted victory at the Californian circuit for the first time.

In second place, 3.517s behind Lorenzo’s Fiat Yamaha, Ducati’s Casey Stoner scored his best result of the season so far – his fourth podium in a row – and a comfortable finish with a distance of almost ten seconds back to third place. That was taken by Valentino Rossi, the reigning World Champion achieving a superb podium finish in only his second race back from injury and one in which he worked hard throughout the race.

There were early ends to the race for Spanish rookies Álvaro Bautista and Héctor Barberá, the former crashing whilst the latter retired, with neither making it past the fourth lap. By that stage Pedrosa was already away at the front with Stoner matching him for pace, but on lap five Lorenzo – who had dropped to fourth at the start – managed to pass the Australian who ran wide at turn three.

Then the drama really kicked in as Pedrosa crashed, leaving Lorenzo first with Stoner not far behind, and Andrea Dovizioso in third with a two-second margin over his pursuers. However, Rossi quickly closed the gap on his compatriot, eventually passing the Repsol Honda rider for third place with five laps to go.

As the tyres started to go off towards the end there were changes further down the order, as Ben Spies and Nicky Hayden fought for the honour of finishing as the highest placed American, a duel that presented plenty of enthralling moments of its own.

Lorenzo eventually crossed the line with a comfortable margin over his pursuers, to take his sixth win of the season.

“This track has been a painful one for me in the past, which was why it was important to come here, finish the race and win,” said Lorenzo. “I was sat in third place after the start and I said ‘okay, we’re here and it’s time to push now’. Casey made a mistake and I got past him and I could see that Dani was riding at 110% and could crash. And he did.”

“Now I can go on my holiday and relax; throw away all the tension and pressure and comeback ready to continue the season at Brno,” added the Championship leader.

Stoner brought his Ducati Desmosedici home in second place to secure the best result of his 2010 campaign thus far.

“Everything seemed to be working perfectly at the start,” explained Stoner. “I wanted to close on Dani to put in a pass, but I lost the front a couple of times trying to reduce the gap. The third time the front closed on me Jorge came past. I was lucky to keep the bike on two wheels today; with a bit more confidence in the front I might have been able to close the gap on Jorge, and I did try, but today I had to settle for second place.”

“Jorge is riding well; he’s very fast, very consistent and, at this point, he’s a worthy champion,” concluded the Australian.

Rossi managed to hold off a late charge from Dovizioso, retaining third place at the chequered flag and finishing on the podium just seven weeks after breaking his leg in practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello.

“It was a good result for us and very important to come back on the podium so soon after the crash,” declared Rossi. “It’s been a difficult weekend for us, with problems in every session, but this morning we found a good set-up for the race. It took me a few laps to find my rhythm and I had a great battle with Dovizioso at the end. After Casey beat me last week I was determined not to make the same mistake and I rode a very good last lap.”

Hayden edged out Spies for fifth place, with the latter’s teammate, Colin Edwards, seventh. The top ten was completed by Marco Melandri, Mika Kallio and Loris Capirossi. The remaining two riders to finish the race in 11th and 12th were Roger Lee Hayden, a temporary replacement for the injured Randy de Puniet on the LCR Honda and Alex de Angelis, who was standing in for Hiroshi Aoyama on the Interwetten Honda for the second time.

Marco Simoncelli suffered the disappointment of crashing out two-thirds of the way through the race when battling with teammate Melandri for eighth, whilst Aleix Espargaró fell three laps from the end when in a top ten position.

Lorenzo now has 210 points, with Pedrosa remaining second in the standings on 138 and Dovizioso third on 115.

Results next page.

Jorge Lorenzo took his fifth consecutive pole position of the campaign on Saturday with a fantastic display in qualifying at Laguna Seca, in which he and Casey Stoner battled to the very end for top spot on the starting grid. The World Championship leader won a marvellous contest with the Australian for pole at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, with a blistering late lap of 1’20.978 to take his 40th career pole.

A satisfied Lorenzo commented, “It is an impressive achievement to take five poles in a row but it was hard. It’s not so important to get pole position, but it is better to make it. Casey set some very quick lap times and I didn’t know if I was going to make it. I did one lap which wasn’t fast enough and I just thought to myself to push even harder one more time and I did it.”

Ducati’s Stoner had competed with Lorenzo and his Yamaha for the latter half of the session and led for much of it, his time of 1’21.169 the best of a consistent set of fast laps. The Australian looked to be on the verge of his second pole of the season but eventually ended the session 0.191s off the Spaniard. The battle for victory at the Californian track at 2pm local time tomorrow afternoon looks certain to feature the two rivals.

Securing third spot on the grid and taking his first ever front-row start in the MotoGP class, Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso was a fraction over six-tenths off Lorenzo’s marker, thus underlining the level to which the top two had pushed one another. The Italian set his best time on his 36th and final lap.

Heading up the second row, which was separated by 0.071s, will be last year’s race winner Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), who was just under four-hundredths off his team-mate. Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Ben Spies was impressive once more and will go for home glory from fifth after his final lap slotted him in front of Valentino Rossi, as the reigning World Champion secured sixth, repeating his position from both free practice sessions as he continues his recovery from a broken leg.

The top ten was completed by American duo Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) and Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech3), and rookies Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) and Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar).

Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) had a crash at the top of the corkscrew at the very end of the session, following his fall in the morning practice, and Roger Lee Hayden (LCR Honda) had a run off at the same spot and another at turn nine in a complicated session for the stand-in.

1 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 1′20.978
2 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Team Ducati 1′21.169
3 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1′21.617
4 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1′21.655
5 11 Ben SPIES USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1′21.679
6 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 1′21.688
7 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 1′21.920
8 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1′22.217
9 58 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1′22.300
10 40 Hector BARBERA SPA Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati 1′22.366
11 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1′22.407
12 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 1′22.647
13 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 1′22.712
14 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 1′22.770
15 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Pramac Racing Team Ducati 1′23.127
16 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM Interwetten Honda MotoGP Honda 1′23.226
17 95 Roger Lee HAYDEN USA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 1′23.764

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The MotoGP riders and teams complete what will have been a busy schedule of five races in six weekends at Laguna Seca on Sunday as round nine of the 2010 campaign, the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, heralds the halfway point in the season – one which has already been packed with plenty of drama.

Arriving at this stage in the season Jorge Lorenzo sits atop of the Championship with a 47-point advantage, and his second place in Germany maintained his form of finishing inside the top two in every race so far this season. The Fiat Yamaha rider is also the first since Valentino Rossi in 2005 to have opened the campaign with eight successive podiums. Last year Lorenzo finished third in the race despite injuries in qualifying, and he will be going for a first premier class win at Laguna – the shortest circuit on the current GP schedule at 3.61km long.

With victory at Sachsenring in the last round Dani Pedrosa drew Honda level with Yamaha on 57 wins each in the four-stroke MotoGP era, and on a personal level maintained his hold on second in the Championship. Winner of last year’s race at Laguna the Repsol Honda man is going for his first back-to-back victories in the premier class this weekend.

Andrea Dovizioso is still hunting his first win of the season and will aim to improve on his best previous result of fourth at the American circuit from 2008, the Repsol Honda rider currently sits third in the standings. In fourth Casey Stoner is also striving for his first 2010 win, and he has a good record at the track having won and finished second and fourth in the previous three seasons.

Heading up the home contingent will be Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden, currently fifth overall. Since his victory at the circuit in 2006 no American rider has been on the podium at Laguna, something he, Ben Spies – who has AMA superbike experience at Laguna and finished eighth as a 2008 MotoGP wildcard there – and Colin Edwards of the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team will be desperate to change.

Valentino Rossi’s recovery will continue, although the reigning World Champion displayed in his battle until the last corner the final podium spot at Sachsenring that he is already highly competitive after his return from injury. The Fiat Yamaha rider has a single victory at Laguna, from 2008, and last year finished second, and now continues his attempt to recover ground in the Championship. The Italian and his team-mate Lorenzo will be displaying special new liveries on their M1 machines as well.

Randy de Puniet suffered fractures to both the tibia and fibula in his left leg in Germany and will be substituted for by Roger Lee Hayden on the LCR Honda team, making it a fourth American on the grid.

San Carlo Honda Gresini pair Marco Simoncelli and Marco Melandri, Páginas Amarillas Aspar rookie Héctor Barberá, Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista and Pramac Racing duo Aleix Espargaró and Mika Kallio will all be looking for strong results, with Alex de Angelis continuing on the RC212V of the Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team as a substitute for the injured Hiroshi Aoyama.

The first practice session gets underway on Friday at 1.55pm local time.

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Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa reduced the gap to Jorge Lorenzo in the championship standings to less than 50 points with victory in today’s restarted eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland at Sachsenring.

The original race was red flagged on lap nine when a crash for Randy de Puniet at turn four brought down both Álvaro Bautista and Aleix Espargaró, neither of whom could avoid the Frenchman’s bike as it burst into flames in the middle of the track. The top five order at that stage was Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso and Rossi, which is how they lines up on the grid for the restart after the race had been red flagged.

Espargaró and Bautista were not allowed to start the shortened 21-lap race as both failed to return to pit lane with their bikes within the allowed five-minute window after the showing of the red flag. De Puniet was physically unable to retake the grid, having sustained fractures in his left tibia and fibula in the incident.

Espargaró was later diagnosed with a cracked C6 vertebra.

After a 25-minute interval the new shortened race got underway, with Mika Kallio sliding 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. Pedrosa was at his best as he set a new circuit lap record on lap 10 and then again on lap 12, assuming the race lead and breaking his own record from the previous year and consistently riding in the low 1’22”s bracket.

There was a good scrap going on for fifth between Marco Simoncelli, Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden, with the latter two going through on the rookie when he had a bit of an out of the saddle moment on the drop down to turn 12.

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.

“I’m very happy because we are back winning races and it’s a great feeling,” said Pedrosa. “Today’s win was even better than Mugello, because I was battling with Lorenzo and finally beat him, so this is even more important. This weekend has ended perfectly.”

“I don’t think I rode as well in the second part of the race as I did in the first,” explained Lorenzo. “Dani was very strong and I was on the limit trying to stay ahead. When he passed me I tried to stay with him, but he was much faster than me today.”

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.

“Valentino was taking big chunks of time out of me and, once he went past, I didn’t think I’d be able to follow,” admitted Stoner. “I tried really hard to stay in there and had a good battle with a lot of nice passes. We touched at the bottom of the hill, but it was a good, clean fight and I’m pleased to come away with a podium.”

“I thought it was maybe possible to make fourth or fifth place, but I thought it would be very difficult. I certainly didn’t expect this,” declared Rossi. “I felt some pain from my leg and my shoulder, but the battle with Casey was so much fun I didn’t really think about it. Unfortunately though, he got the better of me on the last corner. This is a fantastic result though after missing four races.”

Dovizioso finished fifth, with Simoncelli achieving his best premier class result to date in sixth. American duo Hayden and Ben Spies were seventh and eighth respectively, with Héctor Barberá and Marco Melandri completing the top ten.

The final two riders to complete the race in 11th and 12th were Loris Capirossi and stand-in rider Alex de Angelis. Colin Edwards 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.

Results next page.

Jorge Lorenzo took his fourth consecutive pole of the 2010 MotoGP campaign with the top time in qualifying for the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. The Championship leader had a dramatic session, in which an oil spill from his Yamaha M1 resulted in the session being halted after crashes for Ben Spies and Randy de Puniet, but he went on to ensure he will go for a fourth straight win from top spot on the grid on Sunday, with a fastest lap of 1’21.817.

Casey Stoner (Ducati Team) will launch his challenge for a first victory of the season from second place with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) will also be on the front row as he was the third and final rider under the 1’22” mark.

Stoner was looking on course to steal pole from Lorenzo until he found Colin Edwards in his path going into the final corner and as he hesitated deciding whether to pass or not he lost crucial time and eventually finished just 0.024s behind Lorenzo.

Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso heads up the second row as he followed three-tenths behind the Spaniard, whilst Valentino Rossi will start his first race back from his enforced break from racing in fifth spot. Having made a miraculous recovery from a broken leg at his home round in Mugello, the reigning World Champion ended up 0.578s off the pace of his Fiat Yamaha collegue Lorenzo. Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) will be alongside after he achieved his best premier class qualification to date with sixth.

The session was red-flagged with 25 minutes remaining as Lorenzo’s M1 started to spill oil, and flames then began to pour out of the side of the Spaniard’s bike as he approached turn one before he managed to pull off the track. Following behind, Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) fell in the split oil, as did De Puniet (LCR Honda) and the Frenchman collided with Spies’ stationary bike as he slid off.

De Puniet went for X-rays on his right leg in the medical centre, which confirmed no breaks, and he will be hopeful of taking his seventh spot on the grid having started 189 consecutive races since 1999.

Riding as a replacement for Hiroshi Aoyama, Alex de Angelis (Interwetten Honda MotoGP) had a crash towards the end of the session and was uninjured. He will start from last place on the grid in seventeenth, whilst compatriot Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) had a run-off late on but will start fourteenth.

2010 MotoGP Sachsenring qualifying

1 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 1′21.817
2 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Team Ducati 279.7 1′21.841
3 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1′21.948
4 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1′22.263
5 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 1′22.395
6 40 Hector BARBERA SPA Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati 1′22.454
7 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 1′22.610
8 58 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1′22.624
9 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 1′22.910
10 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1′22.917
11 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Pramac Racing Team Ducati 1′22.961
12 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1′23.026
13 11 Ben SPIES USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1′23.028
14 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 1′23.040
15 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 1′23.090
16 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 1′23.193
17 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM Interwetten Honda MotoGP Honda 1′23.515

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Jorge Lorenzo arrives at Sachsenring for the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland in the best shape possible this weekend: with a 52-point lead in the Championship and off the back of a hot run of three successive wins. Having finished in the top two in every race of 2010 so far (five of those being wins), the Fiat Yamaha man is the first rider since Valentino Rossi in 2005 to have been on the podium in the first seven races of the season. He will however be aiming for a first premier class win at Sachsenring, one of four circuits he is yet to taste victory at in any class with last year’s second place his best result there.

Closest to Lorenzo at this stage of the season is Dani Pedrosa, and the Repsol Honda man has mixed memories of the circuit. In 2007 he won there, in 2008 he was leading the Championship standings when he crashed out of the race and suffered an injury that effectively ended his title challenge, and last season he finished on the podium. His team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, now 22 points behind in third, has a best premier class finish of fifth (in 2008) and will be going for a first podium in any category at the venue.

Level on 69 points in fourth and fifth respectively are Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda). The American has more podium finishes at Sachsenring than at any other circuit, thanks to his run of third places from 2004 to 2007. De Puniet’s season continues to be one of impressive results and he will be confident of improving on his previous best MotoGP placement of eighth from 2008, the only time he has completed a premier class race at the track.

Casey Stoner is two points further back in sixth but the signs of a resurgence are already there and the Ducati Team rider comes into this weekend having taken back-to-back podiums in the two previous rounds. A first win of 2010 for the Australian will be fancied by many, and he has taken victory once before here in 2008.

Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) finds another new track in what is already proving to be a strong debut season, and he holds a 20-point advantage over San Carlo Honda Gresini pair Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli who are level and complete the top ten in the standings going into the weekend.

Making a return to the premier class this weekend is Alex de Angelis, who begins his spell as the substitute rider on the Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team in place of the injured Hiroshi Aoyama. Fiat Yamaha and Valentino Rossi will make a final decision on Wednesday as to whether the World Champion makes his return from injury this weekend, with Wataru Yoshikawa prepared to ride in place of the Italian once more if he decides Sachsenring is too early.

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Jorge Lorenzo became the first Yamaha rider to win three successive premier class races from pole position since Eddie Lawson back in 1986, when he took his fifth victory of his 2010 campaign at today’s Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya. The Mallorcan is now 52 points clear at the top of the championship standings as a result of his phenomenal run of form and his second win on home soil this season.

Dani Pedrosa made one of his trademark rapid starts from the second row to lead into Turn 1, but he then ran wide coming out and had dropped down to ninth by the end of the first lap. It was an error Pedrosa managed to recover from in the early laps however, as he quickly fought his way back to third.

Aleix Espargaró had a run-off as he pushed hard to move up the order and Andrea Dovizioso started a fight for the lead with Lorenzo on lap three when he overtook to move into first, but it was a lead Lorenzo regained on the next lap as the battle lines were drawn.

Running in third place, Casey Stoner ran off track shortly after and dropped to fifth as Randy de Puniet and Pedrosa came through. Espargaró then suffered disappointment in his home race when he crashed out on lap six.

Lap 14 proved to be an eventful one as first Marco Simoncelli crashed out of sixth place, as he chased his best premier class finish to date. Then, in a decisive moment for the race, Dovizioso also went down as he pushed himself when chasing Lorenzo at the front, rejoining the race in 15th place shortly after.

With that, Lorenzo was clear by just over 5.5s with less than half the race to go, and Stoner and Pedrosa began duelling for second place with de Puniet further back in fourth. Lorenzo’s lead proved to be too much and he crossed the line 4.754s clear to take his fifth win of the season. Pedrosa won the scrap for second by just two-tenths of a second from Stoner, as the podium of the previous round at Assen was repeated.

Fourth place and his best result of the campaign so far went to de Puniet after yet another impressive ride on the satellite RC212V of the LCR Honda team. In fifth with a superb ride was rookie Álvaro Bautista, as he produced a magnificent effort on his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R.

Ben Spies continued his progress with sixth place on another new circuit, and Loris Capirossi, Nicky Hayden, Marco Melandri – on his return from a dislocated shoulder and fractured sternum – and Héctor Barberá all finished inside the top ten, with Dovizioso eventually finishing 14th.

Lorenzo now has 165 points with Pedrosa on 113 in second. Dovizioso remains third on 91, with Hayden, de Puniet and Stoner all leapfrogging the absent Valentino Rossi to fill positions four to six.

Results next page.

Jorge Lorenzo put in a strong run at the end of qualifying to take pole position for Sunday’s Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya at Montmeló, coming out on top in an hour-long battle for supremacy in the session. The Fiat Yamaha rider’s best time of 1’42.046 ended up placing him 0.364s clear, but only after top spot had changed hands a number of times.

Lorenzo commented, “I’m really happy with this third pole position, it seems we’re doing a very good job and it’s very special to get it at my home round. It was a hard session but finally I was able to do some quick laps at the end with the soft tyre. It is so hot here and I think it’s easy to say that tomorrow will be the hardest race so far this season.”

Second position was Casey Stoner’s after the Ducati rider overcame what was a clear dissatisfaction with his bike to move up several places on his 19th of 21 laps. The Australian did snatch first spot with his time of 1’42.410, but only momentarily as Lorenzo hit back with his penultimate lap.

Completing the front row after another superb qualifying practice will be Randy de Puniet, and the LCR Honda rider’s consistency throughout the session was impressive. The Frenchman led until ten minutes before the end when the battle heated up, eventually lapping a tiny 0.102s behind Stoner to make it three front-row starts in succession.

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa also made a late surge and he sat on the provisional front row for a few minutes before eventually finishing fourth, just eight hundredths of a second off De Puniet in a breathless final few laps. Ben Spies also made a charge at the end of the session and improved his standing considerably, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider following up impressive work on his first viewing of the Catalunya circuit in free practice with fifth place on the starting grid.

Andrea Dovizioso completed the second row as he took his Repsol Honda round in the sixth best time. Loris Capirossi will have been pleased with the marked improvement on the GSV-R of the Rizla Suzuki team as he placed seventh, with rookies Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) also taking third row places.Bautista had been as high as fourth midway through the session but still took his best qualification so far this season.

Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech3) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) were 10th and 11th respectively as they were bumped down the order in the latter stages. Their positions reflected a penalty applied to Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Ducati), who originally was classified eighth but had his fastest lap cancelled after having cut the corner between turns one and two.

The Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya MotoGP race gets underway at 2pm local time on Sunday.

1 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 1′42.046
2 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Team 1′42.410
3 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 1′42.512
4 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team 1′42.592
5 11 Ben SPIES USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1′42.710
6 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team 1′42.866
7 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1′42.903
8 58 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1′42.994
9 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1′43.025
10 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1′43.059
11 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team 1′43.068
12 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Pramac Racing Team 1′43.380
13 40 Hector BARBERA SPA Paginas Amarillas Aspar 1′43.417
14 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1′43.621
15 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Pramac Racing Team 1′43.685
16 64 Kousuke AKIYOSHI JPN Interwetten Honda MotoGP 1′45.577
17 8 Wataru YOSHIKAWA JPN Fiat Yamaha Team 1′45.759

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Montmeló hosts round seven of the 2010 FIM MotoGP World Championship this weekend as the Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya completes a series of three back-to-back races. That said there will only be a one-weekend break before the call on Sachsenring, and the rapid succession of the calendar in recent weeks has played into the hands of Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo. The Fiat Yamaha rider comes into his home GP off the back of successive wins at Silverstone and Assen and with a 47-point lead, and is now the first rider to have finished on the podium in the first six MotoGP races of the year since team-mate Valentino Rossi in 2005.

The duo put on one of the most thrilling battles of the modern era last season when they fought to the bitter end for victory at the Barcelona circuit, but Rossi will not be present this time around as he continues his recovery from injury. His replacement steps in this weekend however in the shape of Yamaha test rider Wataru Yoshikawa.

Dani Pedrosa moved up to second in the standings and will have renewed confidence after taking second place at Assen. The Repsol Honda rider has a formidable record at Catalunya, having become the only rider other than Rossi to have won in all three categories there when he took victory in the premier class in 2008. The Spaniard will have his sights set firmly on challenging for the win.

Andrea Dovizioso is battling with his team-mate to challenge Lorenzo and only four points separate the Repsol Honda pair in second and third. Dovizioso has been on the podium four times this season and finished fifth in Assen, so will be hoping to get back inside the top three especially seeing as he has finished fourth at Catalunya in his two premier class seasons to date.

Ducati Team rider Nicky Hayden is fifth in the standings and has drawn level on 61 points with Rossi, and the American has Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) hot on his tail as the contest for fourth place gets closer. Hayden’s team-mate Casey Stoner recovered important ground with his first podium of 2010 at Assen and will aim for a second quick-fire top three, and the Australian was on the rostrum at Catalunya last year.

Ben Spies continues to go from strength to strength in his debut MotoGP season and the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider is currently the highest placed rookie in eighth position at just two points off Stoner.

Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) complete the top ten as it stands, with 11th placed Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini) expected to return after his absence from the Assen race with a dislocated shoulder. Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing), Héctor Barberá (Paginás Amarillas Aspar) and Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) are all in search of more Championship points, whilst Kousuke Akiyoshi will again ride in place of the injured Hiroshi Aoyama for the Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team. Rizla Suzuki duo Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista will want to improve their individual points hauls as well.

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Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo marked the 80th anniversary of the Dutch TT with an emphatic win from pole position. The Spaniard’s fourth win of the season stretched his lead at the top of the championship standings to 47 points over today’s second place finisher, Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa. Ducati’s Casey Stoner claimed third in today’s TIM TT Assen, securing his first visit to the podium this season.

Ben Spies and Pedrosa gained major benefits from good starts as both improved four places from their grid positions to slot into second and third place respectively, as Lorenzo led the field into the Haarbocht turn from pole position.

Lorenzo started to open up a very early lead and for the first couple of laps it looked like the Spaniard would race clear as he did at Silverstone, but Pedrosa and Stoner both passed Spies on lap three, before closing the gap on the leader.

Andrea Dovizioso passed Spies as well early in the race to move into fourth, and by the midway point he was a second ahead of the American, who in turn led sixth placed Randy de Puniet by just over 1.5s.

As Stoner struggled to find a way past Pedrosa, just as he had done six days ago at Silverstone, Lorenzo started to again edge away, extending his advantage little by little as the laps flew by. Further back Spies closed right up on Dovizioso and passed the Italian to move into fourth, with de Puniet also joining the three-way fight for fourth place

At the front Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner became further separated from one another, whilst de Puniet and Dovizioso fought intensely to the last lap, with the Frenchman out of the seat on more than one occasion, as he pushed his tyres to the limit.

Lorenzo eventually crossed the line 2.935s ahead of Pedrosa, but it quite wasn’t the easy win that many expected at Assen for the Spaniard.

“The race was a big more difficult than Silverstone, because Dani was so fast with the softer tyre early in the race,” declared Lorenzo. “I went with the harder rear tyre, which I knew would come good towards the end, but even then I was sliding around quite a lot. Actually, I made a mistake at the chicane in the closing stages and nearly crashed, so I was quite glad to finish!”

Lorenzo celebrated by planting the usual ‘Lorenzoland’ flag in a gravel trap and then getting his entire team to sign a world cup football in parc ferme.

“The football was to celebrate my ‘hat-trick’ of wins at Assen; I’ve won here in all three classes now,” explained the championship leader.

Pedrosa’s second place was enough to elevate the Spaniard back to second in the championship standings, ahead of his Repsol Honda teammate, Andrea Dovizioso.

“I’m surprised by this result, because we had a lot of problems in practice and I wasn’t expecting to be able to run this pace today,” said Pedrosa, after the race. “I knew the soft tyre would give me an advantage early on, so I pushed really hard, but then I started losing time through the first part of the circuit and lost touch with Lorenzo. I’m happy I’m second in the championship today, but I’m more pleased with second place in the race.”

Stoner finally took his first podium of the season in third aboard the Ducati. Spies finished fourth in another impressive display from the rookie, with Dovizioso edging out de Puniet for fifth with another overtake on the chicane just before the finish line.

Nicky Hayden, Colin Edwards, Marco Simoncelli and Aleix Espargaró all took top-ten finishes. Marco Melandri was absent from the race after he dislocated his left shoulder in the second free practice session on Friday morning.

The result extended Lorenzo’s lead at the top of the Championship further and he now stands on 140 points after six rounds, having finished in the top two in every race. Pedrosa moved into second on 93 with his podium finish, ahead of teammate Dovizioso who is third on 89.

Results next page.