Rossi beats Stoner to Laguna victory

The pair swapped the lead several times in the first part of the race, running absolutely together and producing the most exciting racing of the year so far.

Rossi never allowed Stoner to stay ahead for long, and their tussle was decided with just over eight laps to go, when Stoner ran wide avoiding Rossi at the final corner and fell in the gravel. Their advantage was so great, however, that the reigning champion was able to rejoin still in second.

Today's win increases the Fiat Yamaha rider's championship advantage over his Ducati Marlboro rival to 25 points, while Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa, who had to withdraw from the event, now lags 41 points behind the Italian.

Rossi, who had never won at the California track before, edged ahead of Stoner for the lead on the first lap at the entry of the circuit's legendary Corkscrew.

At the start of lap four Stoner overtook Rossi on front straight, but the latter took it back on the second corner. Stoner got ahead again just before the Corkscrew, but Rossi would have none of it, and grabbed the lead back by putting both wheels in the gravel at the inside of the famous corner and just managing to stay on the bike.

Meanwhile, their lead over the rest of the pack started increasing by about one second every lap. The two exchanged the lead again on lap five, 13, 14, and 24, just before Stoner fell at the last corner of the lap.

Stoner lost almost 14 seconds to Rossi with that fall, but at the beginning of that lap the lead was more than 22 seconds over third-placed Chris Vermeulen.

JiR Honda's Andrea Dovizioso, who ended up fourth eight seconds behind the Rizla Suzuki, beat the factory Honda of Nicky Hayden and the LCR Honda of Randy de Puniet.

Toni Elias got his best result of the year by finishing seventh with his Alice Ducati. The Spaniard finished just ahead of Suzuki's wild card Ben Spies and Tech 3 Yamaha's James Toseland.

American Jamie Hacking, standing in for injured John Hopkins at Kawasaki, ended his MotoGP debut at 37 years of age in eleventh place, soundly beating Anthony West who finished 17th and last with the same machinery.

Marco Melandri had an encouraging early part of the race with his factory Ducati that saw him getting up to ninth place, before having a long run through the gravel that dropped him dead last on lap 10. The Italian eventually classified 16th.

Rossi's teammate Jorge Lorenzo had a major high-side on the first lap right after passing Dovizioso for fifth, with the Spaniard flying high and crashing hard on the asphalt.

The MotoGP rookie was reportedly left with two fractures in his foot that should not require surgery.

Pos  Rider             Bike           Time
 1.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)  44:04.311
 2.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  +  13.001
 3.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  +  26.609
 4.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  +  34.901
 5.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  +  35.663
 6.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)  +  37.668
 7.  Toni Elias        Ducati    (B)  +  41.629
 8.  Ben Spies         Suzuki    (B)  +  41.927
 9.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)  +  43.019
10.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)  +  44.391
11.  Jamie Hacking     Kawasaki  (B)  +  46.258
12.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)  +  55.273
13.  Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)  +  55.521
14.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  +1:02.380
15.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)  +1:08.207
16.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)  +1:10.962
17.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  +   1 lap

Retirements:

    Rider             Bike           Laps
    Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)  0