Reverend
June 24th, 2007, 18:02 PM
Championship leader Casey Stoner produced another dominant display as he won the British MotoGP at a soggy Donington Park.
The Ducati rider came home ahead of pole sitter Colin Edwards and Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen to earn his fifth win of the season.
Valentino Rossi, Stoner's nearest championship rival, was fourth and now trails him by 26 points. Vermeulen's team-mate John Hopkins came home in fifth.
Apart from a brief spell early on when Dani Pedrosa led after getting a superb start from third place, Edwards was out in front until lap 15.
But then Stoner made up a gap of more than one second to streak into the lead and after that the outcome was never in doubt, as he romped home nearly 12 seconds ahead of Edwards.
Heavy rain in the morning threatened to make a lottery of the race but in the event the rain stopped and the track dried out substantially in time for the start, and only two riders - Loris Capirossi and Carlos Checa - failed to finish.
Stoner had to battle through the pack after making an ignominious start. He got away well from fifth place on the grid but almost instantly clipped a white line and lost speed as the field swamped him.
Even after he passed Edwards, Stoner said he had doubts as to whether or not he would finish the race.
"Colin seemed to be taking it nice and slow and I knew I could go a fair bit quicker so I decided to go past him," he said.
"A few laps later I saw it was continuing to get drier and I was worried I might destroy the rear tyre and maybe we wouldn't finish, so I started going over all the wet patches I could and avoiding the dry line.
"I got to five laps left to go and realised it wasn't getting any worse so I just continued to ride on the dry line and at the end of the race it still looked pretty good."
Donington Grand Prix result:
1. C Stoner (Aus) Ducati
2. C Edwards (US), Yamaha
3. C Vermeulen (Aus) Suzuki
4. V Rossi (It) Yamaha
5. J Hopkins (US) Suzuki
6. R de Puniet (Fr) Kawasaki
7. A Barros (Brz) Ducati
8. D Pedrosa (Sp) Honda
Championship standings:
1. C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 165 pts
2. V Rossi (It) Yamaha 139
3. D Pedrosa (Sp) Honda 106
4. C Vermeulen (Aus) Suzuki 88
5. J Hopkins (US) Suzuki 83
6. M Melandri (Ita) Honda 81
7. C Edwards (US), Yamaha 65
8. A Barros (Brz) Ducati 60
BBC Sport (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/6234900.stm)
The Ducati rider came home ahead of pole sitter Colin Edwards and Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen to earn his fifth win of the season.
Valentino Rossi, Stoner's nearest championship rival, was fourth and now trails him by 26 points. Vermeulen's team-mate John Hopkins came home in fifth.
Apart from a brief spell early on when Dani Pedrosa led after getting a superb start from third place, Edwards was out in front until lap 15.
But then Stoner made up a gap of more than one second to streak into the lead and after that the outcome was never in doubt, as he romped home nearly 12 seconds ahead of Edwards.
Heavy rain in the morning threatened to make a lottery of the race but in the event the rain stopped and the track dried out substantially in time for the start, and only two riders - Loris Capirossi and Carlos Checa - failed to finish.
Stoner had to battle through the pack after making an ignominious start. He got away well from fifth place on the grid but almost instantly clipped a white line and lost speed as the field swamped him.
Even after he passed Edwards, Stoner said he had doubts as to whether or not he would finish the race.
"Colin seemed to be taking it nice and slow and I knew I could go a fair bit quicker so I decided to go past him," he said.
"A few laps later I saw it was continuing to get drier and I was worried I might destroy the rear tyre and maybe we wouldn't finish, so I started going over all the wet patches I could and avoiding the dry line.
"I got to five laps left to go and realised it wasn't getting any worse so I just continued to ride on the dry line and at the end of the race it still looked pretty good."
Donington Grand Prix result:
1. C Stoner (Aus) Ducati
2. C Edwards (US), Yamaha
3. C Vermeulen (Aus) Suzuki
4. V Rossi (It) Yamaha
5. J Hopkins (US) Suzuki
6. R de Puniet (Fr) Kawasaki
7. A Barros (Brz) Ducati
8. D Pedrosa (Sp) Honda
Championship standings:
1. C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 165 pts
2. V Rossi (It) Yamaha 139
3. D Pedrosa (Sp) Honda 106
4. C Vermeulen (Aus) Suzuki 88
5. J Hopkins (US) Suzuki 83
6. M Melandri (Ita) Honda 81
7. C Edwards (US), Yamaha 65
8. A Barros (Brz) Ducati 60
BBC Sport (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/6234900.stm)