Stoner wins, Pedrosa second, Rossi falls - championship open

Race in Assen today once again proved that when Casey Stoner finds right set-up, which was obviously case this weekend, he is unstoppable. After taking first place from Pedrosa, Stoner checked-out and finished race in first place, more than 11 seconds in front of Pedrosa, bringing first victory to Ducati, Bridgestone and himself on Dutch circuit. Dani Pedrosa rode lonely race in second place, but this was enough for him as Rossi crashed in lap 1 bringing Randy de Puniet with him. Rossi managed to re-join the race and finish in 11th place, but new championship leader is now Pedrosa, who is 4 points ahead of Rossi. Final podium step has gone to Colin Edwards, who profited from bad luck of Nicky Hayden, who run out of fuel in last corner, and had to give his deserved 3rd place to fellow American.

Inertion brought Nicky Hayden to 4th place, while Andrea Dovizioso once again managed to finish in top 5. Jorge Lorenzo once again gradually improved through the race to finish in 6th, running out of time to improve further. Chris Vermeulen was 7th today, edging Shinya Nakano for this position. James Toseland was 9th, while Sylvain Guintoli shown signs of improvement on Ducati by taking 10th place.

After reaching halfway point today, MotoGP championship is still open - Pedrosa and Rossi are still in significant advantage over Stoner (25 and 29 points, respectively), but astonishing form that Stoner demonstrated in last few races shows that his chances for title defense are more than good.

Source:
http://www.highrevs.net


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