Casey Stoner wins Dutch TT as Jorge Lorenzo taken out on first lap
Casey Stoner drew level with Jorge Lorenzo at the head of the MotoGP points table by winning the Dutch TT at Assen on a day when Lorenzo was taken out at the first corner by Alvaro Bautista
Gresini Honda rider Bautista was trying to make up ground at the start following the qualifying crash that left him eighth on the grid, and outbraked five rivals down the inside before falling and sliding into Lorenzo's Yamaha, taking both out on the spot.
That left Honda duo Dani Pedrosa and Stoner clear to storm away from the field in unison. Pedrosa held the lead until lap 16 of 26, when Stoner was able to slip through and pull clear. The Australian's first win since Estoril in early May means he is equal with Lorenzo on 140 points, though the latter still has a greater win tally. Pedrosa is 19 points adrift in third.
Remaining factory Yamaha rider Ben Spies had no challenge for the Hondas, and eventually lost third place to Tech 3 Yamaha's Andrea Dovizioso after a race-long tussle.
Dovizioso's team-mate Cal Crutchlow had to go wide to miss the Lorenzo/Bautista crash at the start and dropped to 15th place. The Briton then mounted another fightback charge to recover to fifth.
Nicky Hayden was top Ducati in sixth, despite an early trip through the chicane gravel. He battled back past Pramac Ducati's Hector Barbera and his works team-mate Valentino Rossi, who eventually pitted for a new rear tyre and fell to 13th.
Stefan Bradl's promising weekend came to a sad end when he crashed his LCR Honda out of fourth on the second lap.
With Karel Abraham (Cardion Ducati) withdrawing pre-race due to continuing pain from his hand injury, the prototype field was slender even before the incidents, so top CRT rider Randy de Puniet ended up eighth, fending off Gresini's Michele Pirro. De Puniet's Aspar team-mate Aleix Espargaro had led the pack until an engine problem. Speed Master's Mattia Pasini completed the top 10.
Results - 26 laps: Pos Rider Team/Bike Time/Gap 1. Casey Stoner Honda 41m19.855s 2. Dani Pedrosa Honda + 4.965s 3. Andrea Dovizioso Tech 3 Yamaha + 11.994s 4. Ben Spies Yamaha + 14.775s 5. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha + 22.074s 6. Nicky Hayden Ducati + 31.660s 7. Hector Barbera Pramac Ducati + 59.107s 8. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia + 1m04.441s 9. Michele Pirro Gresini FTR-Honda + 1m06.980s 10. Mattia Pasini Speed Master Aprilia + 1m25.087s 11. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Aprilia + 1m32.103s 12. Ivan Silva Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki + 1m33.797s 13. Valentino Rossi Ducati + 1 lap 14. James Ellison Paul Bird Aprilia + 1 lap Retirements: Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia 14 laps Colin Edwards Forward Suter-BMW 7 laps Yonny Hernandez Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 5 laps Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1 lap Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 0 laps Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 0 laps Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati 0 laps
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