Casey Stoner claimed another victory at the MotorLand circuit on Sunday, giving the Australian his eighth win of the season and Repsol Honda their 100th win. The important vicoty puts the Australian 44 points clear of defending World Champion Jorge Lorenzo. Dani Pedrosa finished the round in second place behind his team mate, while Lorenzo made his way to the final podium spot.

Marco Simoncelli finished 6 seconds behind Lorenzo to take fourth, a strong finish for the Italian considering he ran off the track on his first attempt at passing the YZR-M1 of Ben Spies on lap 9. The Yamaha rider had a great start off the outside of the first row, leading into turn one in front of fellow front row starters Stoner and Pedrosa, but the two Honda riders got past him by lap two, and the American finally finished the race in fifth place.

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Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa had his usual great start, taking the hole shot ahead of Lorenzo and Stoner at the start of the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland MotoGP race in what was to be a 30 lap fight to the finish at the Sachsenring circuit.

The Spaniard’s win is his fifth Grand Prix victory at the Sachsenring circuit and only his second race after returning from surgery for his broken collarbone.

At the end of lap one, Lorenzo was in the lead ahead of the three Repsol Honda’s of Pedrosa, Stoner and Dovizioso, who fought amongst each other for second until the Australian made his attack on lap 5 to take the lead, only to have Lorenzo regain the lead status a few laps later. The Mallorcan then tried desperately to defend his line, until lap 21 when Pedrosa got a huge drive out of the last corner to launch himself into the lead for the last time.

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Following his crash on Sunday at the French Grand Prix, the probability that Dani Pedrosa makes an appearance at his home Grand Prix in Spain is slim after tests confirmed that he has a neat break to his right collarbone.

Pedrosa and Italy’s Marco Simoncellie came together on the 18th lap at the end of the back straight as the two were fighting for second position. Simoncellie braked a bit later into the lefthander and tried to go around the outside of the Spaniard cutting Perdosa off and leaving him with no room to maneuver. Pedrosa collided with the Italian’s back wheel, flogging him over his bike and landing on his right shoulder.

After the race Pedrosa returned home to Barcelona and was admitted to the Clínica Teknon where his doctors confirmed a neat break to his right collarbone. The 25 year-old spent the night in the hospital and will decide within the next few days whether or not he will undergo surgery to repair the break with a new metal plate or let the bone heal itself.

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After a long duel with with fellow spaniard, Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa raced to victory in Portugal and with it claiming his first win at the Estoril circuit in any class.

The race was welcomed by dry weather and bright sun shines which helped the Honda stay on track. In the dry conditions, the Ducati team was not helped as their power plant was not sufficient enough to compete with the other top squads.

Pedrosa who only recently had surgery on his injured shoulder, had been seemingly pacing himself behind the leader, Lorenzo, until the final three laps, when the Repsol Honda rider, passed the Yamaha down the straight and then delivered a succession of fastest laps to pass the chequered flag first.

Pedrosa finished just over three seconds ahead of the reigning MotoGP World Champion and closed the gap on Lorenzo’s lead in the standings to just four points. Pedrosa’s triumph also prevented the pole sitter clinching four successive victories at the Estoril circuit.

Stoner had a lonely race in third and was over seven seconds behind his team mate who won the race. The former MotoGP World Champion has never won at Estoril (one of only five circuits the Australian has failed to clinch victory at). The eyes were all on the battle behind the Australian between Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) and Andrea Dovizioso. (more…)