Stoner dominates at Laguna Seca

Marlboro Ducati rider Stoner dominated the Laguna Seca race by winning with close to a ten-second margin, with the Bridgestone-shod bikes of Chris Vermeulen and Marco Melandri filling the rest of the podium.

Honda Gresini rider Melandri made a brilliant recovery from tenth on the grid after suffering a big accident in yesterday's practice which saw him sidelined during this morning's warm-up.

The top Michelin rider was Valentino Rossi on his Fiat Yamaha, but the state of his tyres at the end of the race showed that the French manufacturer has still some work to do.

Dani Pedrosa on his Michelin-shod Repsol Honda finished fifth, followed by the Kawasakis of Randy de Puniet and Anthony West on Bridgestones.

Makoto Tamada finished in eighth place with his Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3, followed by Alex Barros's Pramac d'Antin Ducati again on Bridgestone, and Roger Lee Hayden in his tenth on debut on another Kawasaki.

Rossi's teammate Colin Edwards, also on Michelin, managed to stay in sixth place until seven laps from the end, when he was passed by dePuniet, Tamada and West, and ultimately closed the race in 11th place.

Pedrosa made a perfect getaway from second place to go into turn one in first place, while pole position-sitter Stoner fought with Nicky Hayden and forced him to go wide.

As the Honda rider tried to regain the racing line, he hit the Rizla Suzuki of John Hopkins who was trying to overtake him on the inside. Hopkins fell, before continuing but had to visit the pits.

Hayden was able to stay on the bike, but the accident dropped him to 12th place. On lap 24, however, he retired in the pits after being lapped by Stoner.

The problem between the Hayden and Hopkins aided Melandri to end the first lap in sixth position, after starting in tenth. The Italian was then able to overtake the Edwards's Yamaha for fifth on lap five, and the sister bike of Rossi for fourth on lap ten.

Meanwhile Stoner managed to overtake Pedrosa during the first lap and immediately started to run at a pace that was difficult to match. Pedrosa tried to for about three laps, until he was passed by Vermeulen.

The Suzuki closely followed the Ducati for the first half of the race, after which a gap opened and grew to about ten seconds by the end of the race.

Meanwhile halfway through the race Vermeulen's margin over Melandri was ten seconds, who had just passed Pedrosa for third, with Rossi in fifth.

Lap 20 saw Rossi overtake Pedrosa for fourth. He initially looked able to stay with Melandri and possibly repass him, but he instead dropped back and finished the race five seconds behind his countryman.

While Stoner won, the second works Ducati in the hands of Loris Capirossi retired on lap four, with the rider complaining of being stuck in second gear.

Classified:

Pos  Rider             Bike      Time
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    44:20.325
 2.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    +   9.865
 3.  Marco Melandri    Honda     +  25.641
 4.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    +  30.664
 5.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     +  35.622
 6.  Randy de Puniet   Kawasaki  +  38.306
 7.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  +  41.422
 8.  Makoto Tamada     Yamaha    +  42.355
 9.  Alex Barros       Ducati    +  43.520
10.  Roger Lee Hayden  Kawasaki  +  43.720
11.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    +  47.376
12.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     +  52.848
13.  Sylvain Guintoli  Yamaha    +  58.410
14.  Carlos Checa      Honda     +1:15.366
15.  John Hopkins      Suzuki    +  2 laps
16.  Chaz Davies       Ducati    +  3 laps

Not classified:

     Rider             Bike      Laps
     Nicky Hayden      Honda      22
     Miguel Duhamel    Honda      10
     Kurtis Roberts    KR212V      5
     Loris Capirossi   Ducati      3