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Pedrosa beats Lorenzo in Germany

Dani Pedrosa beat Jorge Lorenzo to victory in a restarted German Grand Prix, while Valentino Rossi narrowly missed out on a podium finish on his return after a six-week layoff with a broken leg

Honda rider Pedrosa overcame Yamaha's Lorenzo following a long battle before pulling away to take the Sachsenring win. Rossi (Yamaha) and Casey Stoner (Ducati) then provided the excitement in the closing laps with a stunning battle for third finally won by Stoner at the very last corner.

Pedrosa had burst into the lead at the first start but only stayed there for half a lap before being outbraked by Lorenzo - although the championship leader could not shake off either Pedrosa or Stoner even once in the lead, the trio running within a second of each other.

Rossi had dropped to seventh with a cautious start but soon started making progress and was challening Andrea Dovizioso's Honda for fourth when the race was halted on lap nine.

The stoppage was caused by a violent three-bike accident that started when Randy de Puniet - already limping having crashed on Lorenzo's oil in qualifying - crashed at Turn 4. Dodging to avoid the Frenchman, who had landed on the track, both Aleix Espargaro (Pramac Ducati) and Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki) slammed into the crashed LCR Honda bike and were sent flying.

De Puniet was taken to the medical centre and was diagnosed with a broken leg, while Espargaro was also in clear pain afterwards. Bautista was unhurt and keen to take the restart, but was barred - to his team's frustration - having not got back to the grid within the prescribed time.

At the restart 20 minutes later Lorenzo lost out to Pedrosa again but managed to hang on to second under braking despite the pack starting to swamp him off the line.

He then passed Pedrosa on lap two but once again the Honda stayed glued to the Yamaha's tail. Although Pedrosa probed the inside repeatedly on corner entries, Lorenzo always managed to brake later - and when Pedrosa did go deeper into Turn 1 on lap seven, his lead lasted less than a second before he slid wide and Lorenzo nipped back through.

Now convinced that outbraking was not the answer, Pedrosa finally made a pass stick next time around, drafting Lorenzo on the pits straight and getting past the Yamaha before the braking area. This time there was no way back for Lorenzo, who could only watch the Honda inch away from him for the rest of the race as Pedrosa went on to claim his second win of 2010.

Not far behind, Rossi and Stoner spent the second part in the race in an enormous battle for third place, once they had shaken off fast-starters Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden. Riding as if his broken leg had never happened, Rossi gave it everything to try and make the podium, with the pair swapping places eight times before Stoner finally grabbed third at the very last corner of the race.

Dovizioso overcame Marco Simoncelli (Gresini Honda) and Hayden - who had flown forward from 15th on the original grid - to win a big tussle for fifth, with Ben Spies (Tech 3 Yamaha) beating Hector Barbera to eighth. The Aspar Ducati rider had blasted through from his career-best sixth on the grid to third at the first start, before gradually slipping back.

Marco Melandri completed the top 10 for Gresini Honda, with Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) and returnee Alex de Angelis (Interwetten Honda) the remaining finishers. Colin Edwards crashed his Tech 3 Yamaha while running near the back in the first part of the race, and Mika Kallio (Pramac Ducati) had an accident at the first corner of the restart.

Pos  Rider             Team                 Time/Gap
 1.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda              28m50.476s
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha               + 3.355s
 3.  Casey Stoner      Ducati               + 5.257s
 4.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha               + 5.623s
 5.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda               + 17.158s
 6.  Marco Simoncelli  Gresini Honda       + 17.757s
 7.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati              + 17.935s
 8.  Ben Spies         Tech 3 Yamaha       + 20.957s
 9.  Hector Barbera    Aspar Ducati        + 22.000s
10.  Marco Melandri    Gresini Honda       + 35.217s
11.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki              + 45.042s
12.  Alex de Angelis   Interwetten Honda   + 45.204s

Retirements:

     Mika Kallio       Pramac Ducati      0 laps
     Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda          did not restart
     Aleix Espargaro   Pramac Ducati      did not restart
     Alvaro Bautista   Suzuki             did not restart
     Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha      did not restart

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