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Casey Stoner extended his championship points lead with the Ducati ace taking the checkers at Catalunya. Stoner took the top position on the rostrum after an epic battle with his leading contender and five-time champion, Valentino Rossi. Rounding out the podium was hometown rider, Dani Pedrosa, who was in the mix for the win throughout the Spanish GP.
The 25-lap race got off to a start with Dani Pedrosa snagging the holeshot, the Spaniard followed by Stoner, John Hopkins, and Rossi. As the first lap turned, however, Ducati's Stoner utilized the power of the GP7 on the front straight to blow past Pedrosa for the lead. Meanwhile, Rossi and Hopper were tussling over third.
Honda rider Toni Elias came into contact with Randy de Puniet on Lap 4 as they battled for fifth, the Spaniard out-braking John Hopkins for fourth, but almost binning it before picking it up and contacting De Puniet. As Elias made his mistake, Rossi turned the fastest lap of the contest to that point and closed the gap on Stoner and Pedrosa up front.
With a third of the laps finished, the front four of Stoner, Pedrosa, Rossi and Hopkins had distanced themselves far ahead of the remaining competitors. Rossi moved ahead of Pedrosa with 15 to go, the beginning of a position shuffle for the podium.
As Stoner and Rossi started to edge away from Pedrosa and Hopkins, The Doctor made his move. With 14 to go Rossi tested the waters for the lead by out-braking Stoner with an inside pass, but the advantage was short-lived with the Aussie snatching the front position back after his Italian rival overshot the exit from the corner. Behind the front-runners, Elias had to retire from the race due to mechanical difficulties, his Gresini Honda billowing smoke.
At 10 to go, the podium riders were lined up in their eventual finishing order, but neck and neck for the win. Rossi and Stoner, as the laps began to wind down, were side by side at times as the two changed the lead over and over. Although remaining in third for the majority of race, Pedrosa was so close to the leaders that, at times, it was three-wide racing on the Catalunya circuit.
Five to go continued the Stoner/Rossi shuffle, with Rossi making daring moves up front and Stoner answering in short order. In the final laps, Rossi tried to put a finishing move on his Ducati rival and break away for the win, but Stoner refused to yield. The Ducati ace retook the lead for good on the front straight with two to go, shutting the door on Rossi in the final lap.
Stoner held on for the win, but the gap between first and third less than a half-second. Hopkins motored on to an unchallenged fourth-place finish, one spot ahead of Kawasaki's De Puniet, who notched his best result of the year in fifth. Loris Capirossi worked up from almost dead last at the start to finish in sixth, ahead of the second Rizla Suzuki piloted by Chris Vermeulen. Alex Barros, Marco Melandri, and Colin Edwards filled out the top 10, with the defending champion, Nicky Hayden, finished 11th, the Kentucky Kid's title defense still way off track.
For Stoner, his fourth victory of the year extends his points lead to 14 as the MotoGP season approaches the halfway mark. In spite of his success, the second-year rider is a long ways from counting his championship chickens.
"The whole team did a great job this weekend and proved wrong people who said we can't win on European tracks," said Stoner after the impressive victory. "There were some nice passing maneuvers going on everywhere. All three of us had our strong points and our weak points around the circuit, I was just trying to minimize my weak points and cover my lines, and it worked out. It was such a close race, no one could go away, it was very, very enjoyable to be racing that close. It was really good because our bike was set up quite well for the braking points, so for Valentino to pass us he usually had to run wide and we were able to pass him back immediately a lot of times. The way the team has set up the bike for me is fantastic, and the Bridgestones worked great again, at a circuit where they've struggled in the past, so they've really changed things around. Today was another great race for us, I'm still not thinking about the championship, maybe later in the season we can really start aiming for that."
The second-place finish by Rossi still keeps the championship well within grasp, but it would appear that The Doctor's respect for this unexpected rival is growing with every encounter.
"What a race! Even if I'm disappointed not to win, it's a great emotion to be part of a race like that and fantastic fun," said Rossi. "It really was an amazing battle to the end with many wonderful overtaking maneuvers by both of us in all different parts of the track! Unfortunately I lost a bit of time at the start and then it was quite hard to pass Hopkins because he was fantastic on the brakes. Then with Stoner it was a great fight and honestly I couldn't have tried harder to win, but he was a very hard rival."
Also of note, the Catalunya GP was the first non-USGP televised on network television, with Jeff Medders and former GP champion Kevin Schwantz doing commentary. Introducing the new sport to CBS viewers as "The NASCAR of motorcycle racing... welcome to MotoGP," did the American public catch on? That remains to be seen, but CBS at least did its part. The coverage included an pre-race introduction to all the American riders, as well as the popular Rossi, and a quick season intro to try and get viewers up to speed. After that the on-track action did all the talking by putting on an exciting race.
MotoGP Catalunya Results:
1. Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro)
2. Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) + 00.069
3. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) + 00.390
4. John Hopkins (Rizla Suzuki) + 7.814
5. Randy de Puniet (Kawasaki) + 17.853
6. Loris Capirossi (Ducati Marlboro) + 19.409
7. Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki) + 19.495
8. Alex Barros (Pramac d'Antin) + 24.862
9. Marco Melandri (Honda Gresini) + 24.963
10. Colin Edwards (Fiat Yamaha) + 35.348
11. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda) + 36.301
12. Makoto Tamada (Yamaha Tech 3) + 38.720
13. Alex Hofmann (Pramac d'Antin) + 40.934
14. Sylvain Guintoli (Yamaha Tech 3) + 44.399
15. Shinya Nakano (Konica Minolta Honda) + 54.103
16. Kenny Roberts Jr (Team Roberts) + 59.655
17. Carlos Checa (Honda LCR) + 1'02.315
18. Kurtis Roberts (Team Roberts) + 1'03.322
DNF Toni Elias (Honda Gresini)
MotoGP Championship Points:
1. Stoner - 140
2. Rossi - 126
3. Pedrosa - 98
4. Melandri - 75
5. Vermeulen - 72
6. Hopkins - 72
7. Capirossi - 57
8. Barros - 51
9. Elias - 45
10. Edwards - 45
MotoGP Constructors Title Points:
1 Ducati - 143
2 Yamaha - 126
3 Honda - 125
4 Suzuki - 95
5 Kawasaki - 39
6 KR212V - 4
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