Stoner storms to fourth home victory

The Ducati rider never looked remotely threatened, charging away into a three-second lead in the first few laps, and eventually winning by 8.5 seconds.

World champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) had half a chance to pass Stoner at the start, but could not make it through. After that Lorenzo was left to have a very lonely run to second place.

Entertainment was therefore provided by the battle for the final step of the podium. Fast-starting Ben Spies had clipped Lorenzo at the first corner and was passed by Nicky Hayden's Ducati and Gresini Honda's Marco Simoncelli.

Andrea Dovizioso also pounced on Spies' Tech 3 Yamaha, but would soon retire with a steering problem - ending a miserable weekend for the works Honda team and seriously damaging Dovizioso's hopes of taking third in the championship.

Having fallen from eighth to ninth at the start, Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) made rapid progress and soon joined Simoncelli, Hayden and Spies' spectacular tussle for third - a dice that saw all three in front at various stages before Rossi carved his way through to the head of the queue on lap eight.

Hayden did not let him get away, though, sticking to the Yamaha's tail and diving back past at the hairpin with two laps to go. But he could not hang on, with Rossi responding with a similar manoeuvre on the very last lap. Hayden tried his utmost to get back in front, crossing the line just 0.038s behind the Yamaha.

Spies and Simoncelli fell away slightly in fifth and sixth, with Colin Edwards seventh on the second Tech 3 Yamaha.

Aleix Espargaro (Pramac Ducati) just beat Marco Melandri (Gresini) to ninth, while LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet recovered after a trip off the road to finish 10th.

Only 15 riders took the start, Honda's Dani Pedrosa and Suzuki's Loris Capirossi having withdrawn due to pain from injuries - in Pedrosa's case the collarbone that he broke at Motegi, and groin damage for Capirossi following his qualifying crash.

Pos  Rider             Team                  Time/Gap
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati              41m09.128s
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                + 8.598s
 3.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha               + 17.997s
 4.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati               + 18.035s
 5.  Ben Spies         Tech 3 Yamaha        + 22.211s
 6.  Marco Simoncelli  Gresini Honda        + 25.017s
 7.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha        + 35.168s
 8.  Aleix Espargaro   Pramac Ducati        + 46.194s
 9.  Marco Melandri    Gresini Honda        + 46.294s
10.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda            + 59.635s
11.  Mika Kallio       Pramac Ducati        + 59.664s
12.  Alvaro Bautista   Suzuki               + 59.732s
13.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Interwetten Honda  + 1m05.029s
14.  Hector Barbera    Aspar Ducati       + 1m05.053s

Retirements:

     Andrea Dovizioso  Honda              3 laps