Daily Update MotoGP

Valentino Rossi extended his points lead and ended Casey Stoner's run of three victories by winning a ferocious battle with the Australian at Laguna Seca.
The pair swapped the lead several times in the first part of the race, running absolutely together and producing the most exciting racing of the year so far.
Rossi never allowed Stoner to stay ahead for long, and their tussle was decided with just over eight laps to go, when Stoner ran wide avoiding Rossi at the final corner and fell in the gravel. Their advantage was so great, however, that the reigning champion was able to rejoin still in second.
Today's win increases the Fiat Yamaha rider's championship advantage over his Ducati Marlboro rival to 25 points, while Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa, who had to withdraw from the event, now lags 41 points behind the Italian.

Rossi, who had never won at the California track before, edged ahead of Stoner for the lead on the first lap at the entry of the circuit's legendary Corkscrew.
At the start of lap four Stoner overtook Rossi on front straight, but the latter took it back on the second corner. Stoner got ahead again just before the Corkscrew, but Rossi would have none of it, and grabbed the lead back by putting both wheels in the gravel at the inside of the famous corner and just managing to stay on the bike.
Meanwhile, their lead over the rest of the pack started increasing by about one second every lap. The two exchanged the lead again on lap five, 13, 14, and 24, just before Stoner fell at the last corner of the lap.
Stoner lost almost 14 seconds to Rossi with that fall, but at the beginning of that lap the lead was more than 22 seconds over third-placed Chris Vermeulen.
JiR Honda's Andrea Dovizioso, who ended up fourth eight seconds behind the Rizla Suzuki, beat the factory Honda of Nicky Hayden and the LCR Honda of Randy de Puniet.
Toni Elias got his best result of the year by finishing seventh with his Alice Ducati. The Spaniard finished just ahead of Suzuki's wild card Ben Spies and Tech 3 Yamaha's James Toseland.
American Jamie Hacking, standing in for injured John Hopkins at Kawasaki, ended his MotoGP debut at 37 years of age in eleventh place, soundly beating Anthony West who finished 17th and last with the same machinery.
Marco Melandri had an encouraging early part of the race with his factory Ducati that saw him getting up to ninth place, before having a long run through the gravel that dropped him dead last on lap 10. The Italian eventually classified 16th.
Rossi's teammate Jorge Lorenzo had a major high-side on the first lap right after passing Dovizioso for fifth, with the Spaniard flying high and crashing hard on the asphalt.
The MotoGP rookie was reportedly left with two fractures in his foot that should not require surgery.
Pos Rider Bike Time
1. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (B) 44:04.311
2. Casey Stoner Ducati (B) + 13.001
3. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki (B) + 26.609
4. Andrea Dovizioso Honda (M) + 34.901
5. Nicky Hayden Honda (M) + 35.663
6. Randy de Puniet Honda (M) + 37.668
7. Toni Elias Ducati (B) + 41.629
8. Ben Spies Suzuki (B) + 41.927
9. James Toseland Yamaha (M) + 43.019
10. Shinya Nakano Honda (B) + 44.391
11. Jamie Hacking Kawasaki (B) + 46.258
12. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati (B) + 55.273
13. Alex de Angelis Honda (B) + 55.521
14. Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) +1:02.380
15. Loris Capirossi Suzuki (B) +1:08.207
16. Marco Melandri Ducati (B) +1:10.962
17. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) + 1 lap
Retirements:
Rider Bike Laps
Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha (M) 0
ref[AS]
Read More......

Valentino Rossi´s best efforts in Laguna Seca were not enough to deny Casey Stoner a fifth consecutive pole position, although the Italian will start the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix from the front row.

At times the performances of MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner have left his rivals with little option but to laugh so as not to cry, with a recent run of three victories and five pole positions on the bounce showing the Australian´s quality for all to see. A rider more used to dishing out the punishment than receiving it, Valentino Rossi was tasked with seeing the funny side of his nemesis´ dominance in qualifying for the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix.
`To stop Stoner, you´d have to shoot him,´ said Rossi when asked by Spanish television channel TVE as to how he could beat the Ducati Marlboro man in Sunday´s race.
Rossi did, however place on the front row for the Laguna Seca showdown, having identified a top grid position as a must in the run-up to this weekend´s race. His pace may have been consistent mid-1´22 laps rather than the daunting mid-1´21´s recorded by Stoner, but he remained confident of at the very least a positive result to take him into the summer break as the World Championship leader.
`Second is a good position to start from tomorrow. We have had one or two small problems that perhaps it will be possible to fix when we do a few small modifications. Our race pace isn´t so bad,´ noted the Fiat Yamaha rider.
Whilst Rossi would probably not be permitted by the FIM to take weaponry onto the grid, he did have another tongue-in-cheek scheme up his sleeve in order to be the quickest on the draw on Sunday; when questioned in the immediate live international press feed as to whether he had a plan for victory over Stoner, the five-time MotoGP World Champion quickly replied:
`Yes. Start 30 seconds earlier than him.´
ref[motogp.com]
Read More......