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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