Stoner dominates the British GP

The Australian finished 12 seconds clear of Colin Edwards, who had led until running wide at half-distance.

Stoner's title rival Valentino Rossi could only manage fourth, behind Chris Vermeulen.

The track was still very wet for the start of the race, and both Stoner and Rossi rode conservatively at first - with Stoner falling to the foot of the top ten on the opening lap as Dani Pedrosa and Edwards battled for the lead.

Pedrosa stayed in front until lap four, when the Repsol Honda began to lose pace and tumble down the order.

Edwards moved back ahead, but Stoner was on his tail within a lap, having rapidly moved through the frontrunners - taking Pedrosa and both Suzukis on lap five alone.

Meanwhile Rossi had dropped as low as seventh, and was even passed by MotoGP debutant Anthony West, who was flying on his first appearance for Kawasaki.

The Australian surged from 17th on the grid to ninth on the first lap, and got as high as fourth before sliding off the road at Coppice on seven. West tried desperately to stay upright as the Kawasaki slewed through the gravel, but eventually fell after clipping the tyre wall. He was able to rejoin and finished 11th.

As the track began to dry, Rossi started moving forwards, finally getting ahead of John Hopkins for third after a long dice on lap 11.

By that time, the leaders were eight seconds clear, with Stoner constantly shadowing Edwards without risking a pass.

He got his oppportunity on lap 15, when Edwards ran fractionally wide at the Melbourne Hairpin, allowing Stoner to accelerate past and into a lead he wouldn't lose, duly clinching his fifth win in eight races this year.

With the Bridgestones seemingly coping better with the drying track than the Michelins, Rossi started slipping back towards the Suzukis, with Vermeulen outbraking him for third into the Esses with four laps left.

Rossi may also have come under threat from Loris Capirossi, who set a series of new fastest laps during a charge through the field in the second half of the race.

The Ducati rider reached fifth and was closing on Vermeulen when he crashed at Redgate on lap 24.

That left Hopkins to complete the top five, despite losing speed in the final laps and coming under threat from Randy de Puniet, Alex Barros, the struggling Pedrosa and Alex Hofmann.

Marco Melandri took 10th on a disappointing day for Gresini Honda, with Toni Elias recovering from a trip off the road to take 12th, just ahead of Kurtis Roberts. Bizarrely, the Gresini bikes set the two race fastest laps as the track dried, despite finishing over a minute off the pace.

Nicky Hayden briefly ran in the top three early on, only to fall at Coppice on lap five. The world champion eventually managed to rejoin to finish last, four laps down.

Classified:

Pos  Rider             Bike      Time
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    51:40.739
 2.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    +  11.768
 3.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    +  15.678
 4.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    +  21.827
 5.  John Hopkins      Suzuki    +  35.518
 6.  Randy de Puniet   Kawasaki  +  36.474
 7.  Alex Barros       Ducati    +  38.094
 8.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda     +  38.992
 9.  Alex Hofmann      Ducati    +  39.239
10.  Marco Melandri    Honda     +1:01.526
11.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  +1:06.486
12.  Toni Elias        Honda     +1:34.074
13.  Kurtis Roberts    KR        +   1 lap
14.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     +   1 lap
15.  Makoto Tamada     Yamaha    +  2 laps
16.  Sylvain Guintoli  Yamaha    +  2 laps
17.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     +  4 laps

Not classified:

     Rider             Bike      Laps
     Loris Capirossi   Ducati    24
     Carlos Checa      Honda     4