Pedrosa wins for Honda in Germany

The Repsol Honda rider, who last won at Donington on 2 July last year, crushed all opposition by winning with a gap of more than 13 seconds over Marlboro Ducati rival Loris Capirossi.

On a day when Bridgestone tyres didn't seem to be able to last for the entire race, Capirossi was the exception to the rule.

The next rider on Japanese rubber was Ducati teammate Casey Stoner down in fifth, almost 20 seconds behind the Italian, who after the race said he made a different tyre choice compared to everyone else.

But Stoner can be happy to leave Germany with an even greater advantage in the world championship over Valentino Rossi.

The Fiat Yamaha rider slid off on the fifth lap while trying to overtake Randy de Puniet's Kawasaki for sixth place. The Italian ended up on the gravel, tried to restart his bike but couldn't and retired. He now lies 31 points behind Stoner.

Pedrosa made a perfect start from second on the grid to take the lead at the first turn. He was followed by Stoner, who on the third lap attempted a passing manoeuvre on the Spaniard but instead went wide and slotted back again into second.

On the same lap Carlos Checa fell off his Honda LCR but managed to retake the track. The next lap saw Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen forced to have a ride-through from 15th place for jumping the start.

When Rossi retired from the race, Stoner seemed content with his second place. He kept Honda Gresini's Marco Melandri behind for 15 laps, but on lap 20 the Italian was all over him, making two unsuccessful overtaking attempts.

Capirossi, who was right behind Melandri, decided to take two birds with one stone by overtaking Stoner and Melandri in just one move for second place at the first corner on lap 21.

The next two laps saw Stoner dropping to fifth place by being passed first by Melandri and then by Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden.

The reigning world champion had a fine race from 14th place and immediately started making up positions. He was seventh by lap 15 and ultimately finished in third place, 16 seconds behind his winning teammate.

Fiat Yamaha's Colin Edwards also had a good race that saw him following Hayden throughout, with the former starting in 13th place and ending up fourth.

Rizla Suzuki's John Hopkins finished seventh, followed by Anthony West on Kawasaki, Alex Hofmann on the d'Antin Ducati, and Michel Fabrizio - standing in for Toni Elias at Honda Gresini - rounding up the top ten.

Classified:

Pos  Rider             Bike      Time
 1.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda     41:53.196
 2.  Loris Capirossi   Ducati    +  13.166
 3.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     +  16.771
 4.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    +  18.299
 5.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    +  31.426
 6.  Marco Melandri    Honda     +  31.917
 7.  John Hopkins      Suzuki    +  33.395
 8.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  +  41.194
 9.  Alex Hofmann      Ducati    +  43.214
10.  Michel Fabrizio   Honda     +  44.459
11.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    +1:01.894
12.  Kurtis Roberts    KR        +1:10.721
13.  Makoto Tamada     Yamaha    +  2 laps
14.  Carlos Checa      Honda     +  3 laps

Not classified:

     Rider             Bike      Laps
     Randy de Puniet   Kawasaki  29
     Shinya Nakano     Honda     19
     Alex Barros       Ducati    9
     Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    5
     Sylvain Guintoli  Yamaha    3