Catalunya MotoGP: Stoner wins titanic battle

Casey Stoner has won a decisive head-to-head with his two closest rivals in the championship, Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa at today’s Catalan GP.
The three riders spent the entire race glued together, with Rossi and Pedrosa piling immense pressure on the championship leader.
Rossi started the race from pole, but it was Stoner who got the jump on the green light, leapfrogging from the second row of the grid up to second behind Dani Pedrosa.
Rossi fought his way to the front with Suzuki’s John Hopkins tagged onto the rear of the Fiat Yamaha.
The closing stages saw a colossal battle between Rossi and Stoner, with the Marlboro Ducati obliterating anything in its sights on the straights and Rossi’s well balanced Yamaha so capable through the corners.
It looked as though Rossi would stretch an advantage once he’d passed the Australian with only a few laps remaining, but Stoner retook the lead and rode a superb last lap to keep the Italian behind him.
And although the Ducati was in a league of its own on the straights, it was in the corners where Stoner held his nerve and maintained the slight gap over Rossi.
Pedrosa, who had the best seat in the house tracking the Rossi versus Stoner battle, was unable to make a move.
The Spaniard had the speed and manoeuvrability on the Repsol Honda but looked more likely to wait to see if he could take advantage of mistakes by the leading pair rather than make a challenge.
John Hopkins ended in a lonely fourth with Randy De Puniet taking the hero award for an unbelievable fifth considering the injuries he’s carrying from crashes at Le Mans and Mugello.
Loris Capirossi took fifth and Vermeulen completed the top six.
112,600 fans certainly got their moneys worth today with some awesome racing and gorgoeus conditions with an air temperature of 31 degrees.
Apart from the great action – undoubtedly the best race so far this season – GP bosses will be glad to see no repeat of the crash scenes of last years race with only Toni Elias unable to finish due to a mechanical failure.
Stoner has now extended his championship advantage over Rossi to 14 points.
After beating Valentino at one of, if not his favourite circuit of the year, will Stoner be able to deny Rossi victory at Donington Park in two weekend’s time?
For all the coverage from the British GP keep your eyes on motorcyclenews.com. 

RESULT

1. Casey Stoner
2. Valentino Rossi
3. Dani Pedrosa
4. John Hopkins
5. Randy de Puniet
6. Loris Capirossi
7. Chris Vermeulen
8. Alex Barros
9. Marco Melandri
10. Colin Edwards
11. Nicky Hayden
12. Makoto Tamada
13. Alex Hofmann
14. Sylvain Guintoli
15. Shinya Nakano
16. Kenny Roberts
17. Carlos Checa
18. Kurtis Roberts

DNF:
Toni Elias