The MotoGP Aragon race saw Ducati take spots one and three on the podium today, with Casey Stoner winning in one of his classic races – starting first, riding fast and finishing off in a mostly uncontended top place for him.
Despite appearing on the podium a couple of times this season, it’s a first place at the top for Casey and the smile on his face suggested he enjoyed the victory.
Nicky Hayden had more of a battle for his third spot, managing to slip past Jorge Lorenzo on the last lap, shoving the Spanish rider back into fourth place.
Dani Pedrosa won a good second place after seemingly showing Lorenzo what that rider hasn’t been doing with the M1 of late; Honda continues to look good late in the season.
The result should be pleasing for Pedrosa as he continues his steady results and closes the gap between the standings leader and himself.
More interesting racing at the Aragon MotoGP was happening back in fifth spot with Ben Spies and Andrea Dovizioso exchanging some attempts at passing one another, with Ben Spies pulling off a splendid last lap overtaking move, forcing Dovizioso into sixth place, who then unfortunately crashed and didn’t finish the race.
The most intriguing thing about today’s race lies not in the riders’ results themselves, but in seeing Ducati take first and third place as the company waits for the arrival of Valentino Rossi next year.
Rossi is widely considered the best bike developer in the MotoGP paddock and seeing Ducati successful today bodes well for his work, dressed in red, next year.
Rider times after the jump.
1 Casey STONER 42′16.
5302 Dani PEDROSA +5.
1483 Nicky HAYDEN +9.
4964 Jorge LORENZO +9.
5805 Ben SPIES +13.
7716 Valentino ROSSI +27.
3307 Marco SIMONCELLI +28.
5118 Alvaro BAUTISTA +35.
2549 Marco MELANDRI +35.
39310 Aleix ESPARGARO +35.
46711 Hector BARBERA +35.
52212 Colin EDWARDS +45.
36013 Hiroshi AOYAMA +48.
31914 Mika KALLIO +58.
047Not Classified4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team Honda 164.
9 1 Lap14 Randy DE PUNIET LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 163.
3 8 Laps