Stoner takes seventh season win

The Ducati Marlboro rider took his seventh season win by finishing 7.903 seconds ahead of Rizla Suzuki's John Hopkins. He extended his advantage over seventh placed finisher Rossi in the title chase to 60 points with six races remaining.

World champion Nicky Hayden took his third podium finish in four races with third place, ahead of Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa.

Stoner led away from pole position, with Pedrosa briefly moving up to second before Hopkins snatched the place under braking for the first chicane.

At the end of the first lap Stoner had a 0.7 seconds advantage over Hopkins, who in turn was opening up a small gap over the pursuing Pedrosa, Hayden and Loris Capirossi.

Hayden moved past Pedrosa for third early on the second lap, while Capirossi took fourth from the Spaniard on the following lap.

Behind this group of riders, the pursuing Rossi was initially unable to make much progress in sixth as he lapped ahead of Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet and Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen.

At the front Stoner could not initially open out any more of a margin over Hopkins, who was able to consistently match the Australian's lap times as they edged clear of Hayden by a couple of tenths per lap.

On lap five, Stoner did extend his advantage by half a second, but Hopkins responded and was still able to shadow the Australian to keep the gap at just more than one second.

The major excitement at this point of the race was in the battle for fourth, with Pedrosa retaking that place from Capirossi on lap five, as Rossi also looked for a way past the Ducati.

Rossi eventually made his way through on lap eight as Capirossi appeared to concede the place after running wide, but the Fiat Yamaha rider was unable to make further progress with Pedrosa at this stage three seconds up the road.

The man on the move at this stage was Vermeulen, who moved past de Puniet for seventh on lap 10, and then two laps later the Australian snatched sixth from Capirossi as he began to pursue Rossi.

Within a lap Vermeulen was right on Rossi's tail and, after several attempts to get past, he eventually grabbed fifth spot on lap 14.

Rossi appeared to be in trouble with his tyres and two laps later he lost a place to Capirossi on the start-finish straight before then coming under pressure from de Puniet.

He was able to hold on to seventh place to the chequered flag, although the result was not what he needed to keep his championship ambitions alive.

While Rossi's troubles meant further bad news for his title challenge, Stoner was firmly in control at the front. He edged out a couple of tenths per lap over Hopkins in the final third of the race to come home almost eight seconds seconds ahead at the chequered flag.

Hayden was untroubled by Pedrosa to take third spot, while Vermeulen held on to fifth ahead of Capirossi.

Colin Edwards had another disappointing outing, crashing out from eighth place on the second lap. Although he got the bike back on the track, his Yamaha was too badly damaged to continue.

"I came out of Turn 3 and went into Turn 4, and everything felt normal and perfect," said Edwards.

"I was pushing and I wasn't expecting it. It is not like me to crash in the first lap or two. It was strange, but I am OK."

Classified:

Pos  Rider             Make           Time
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  43:45.810
 2.  John Hopkins      Suzuki    (B)  +   7.903
 3.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  +  13.100
 4.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda     (M)  +  15.800
 5.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  +  17.303
 6.  Loris Capirossi   Ducati    (B)  +  19.363
 7.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (M)  +  22.485
 8.  Randy de Puniet   Kawasaki  (B)  +  23.073
 9.  Alex Barros       Ducati    (B)  +  32.292
10.  Carlos Checa      Honda     (M)  +  35.153
11.  Toni Elias        Honda     (B)  +  37.748
12.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  +  38.250
13.  Sylvain Guintoli  Yamaha    (D)  +  43.694
14.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (M)  +  57.069
15.  Kurtis Roberts    KR        (M)  +1:09.603
16.  Ivan Silva        Ducati    (B)  +1:21.410
17.  Makoto Tamada     Yamaha    (D)  +1:25.804

Not classified:

     Rider             Make           Laps
     Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)   2
     
Fastest lap: Stoner, 1:58.301 on lap 3