Stoner takes victory in Shanghai

Stoner kept his head throughout the race as he fought off the advances of former world champion Valentino Rossi, eventually breaking clear when Rossi outbraked himself trying to take the lead from Stoner with seven laps remaining.

"It was a really difficult race today," said Stoner after the race. "I had a lot of pressure from Valentino in the rear; he made a couple of small mistakes and ran wide. I think both of us were pushing quite hard."

Rossi recovered from his moment to take second place, with Rizla Suzuki rider John Hopkins taking his first-ever podium finish with third place.

Rossi's Fiat Yamaha teammate Colin Edwards, who started on the front row, finished eleventh, while two riders who had collided in qualifying and started near the rear of the field, Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen, rode great races to finish in sixth and seventh respectively.

Stoner's win extends his lead over Rossi to 15 points, with Dani Pedrosa next closest rider on 49 points, 22 behind Rossi.

At the start, Hopkins took the lead ahead of polesitter Rossi, with Colin Edwards and Stoner close behind. Further back in the field Toni Elias clipped the back of Nicky Hayden, Elias falling while Hayden was forced wide, Alex Barros also forced to come to a halt before resuming.

At the front Rossi took the lead at the sharp left before the back straight, Stoner following past Hopkins down the straight before taking the lead from Rossi as they completed lap one as Stoner began to edge out a small gap.

Marco Melandri was next to pounce, taking third from Hopkins as they started lap two, and taking second from Rossi at the hairpin before the lap was over.

Rossi stayed close and retook second place at the beginning of lap five and began closing in on Stoner. Melandri lost another place two laps later when early leader Hopkins moved back ahead of him.

Lap eight saw Rossi take the lead at the same place he had on lap one, Stoner slipstreaming past down the back straight before Rossi outbraked Stoner into the hairpin. However, he outbraked himself as well and dropped back to second. Lap nine saw Melandri's slide continue as Pedrosa moved ahead of him into fourth place.

On lap eleven Rossi again took the lead at the sharp left, before Stoner's Ducati showed its superior top speed to retake the lead down the straight, this action repeated again on the next lap. This dicing allowed Hopkins to close in on the leading duo which soon became a leading trio.

On lap sixteen of 22 Rossi, running second, tried to outbrake Stoner into the hairpin at the end of the back straight. But it soon became clear he had made a misjudgment as he dived inside Stoner to avoid running into the back of him, running on the the run-off as he dropped to third behind Hopkins.

For the first time since the early laps of the race, Stoner had a gap back to his nearest challenger. However, second-placed Hopkins soon had Rossi on his tail again, and on lap eighteen Rossi retook second place. Rossi pushed over the closing laps but there was nothing he could do to stop another Stoner win.

Pos  Rider              Bike      Time
 1.  Casey Stoner       Ducati    44:12.891
 2.  Valentino Rossi    Yamaha    +   3.036
 3.  John Hopkins       Suzuki    +   6.663
 4.  Dani Pedrosa       Honda     +  14.090
 5.  Marco Melandri     Honda     +  17.276
 6.  Loris Capirossi    Ducati    +  26.256
 7.  Chris Vermeulen    Suzuki    +  26.591
 8.  Randy De Puniet    Kawasaki  +  27.025
 9.  Alex Hofmann       Ducati    +  28.108
10.  Carlos Checa       Honda     +  32.957
11.  Colin Edwards      Yamaha    +  35.053
12.  Nicky Hayden       Honda     +  37.327
13.  Sylvain Guintoli   Yamaha    +  50.705
14.  Alex Barros        Ducati    +  55.264
15.  Kenny Roberts Jr   KR        +  57.736

Did not finish:

     Shinya Nakano      Honda 
     Makoto Tamada      Yamaha 
     Toni Elias         Honda