There’s no stopping Jorge Lorenzo this year, the Fiat Yamaha rider took his sixth win of the season and won the first time at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca after Dani Pedrosa who got the holeshot crashed out of the lead on turn five of lap ten giving Lorenzo a big 72 point as the championship heads into the summer hiatus.
Casey Stoner took second and finished 3.
5s from Lorenzo after taking the circuit record.
Third went to a very exhausted Valentino Rossi who took third after catching and then battling with Andrea Dovizioso who took fourth, despite a mistake in the final corner that could have cost him his spot to Nicky Hayden who rode under the chequered in fifth.
Ben Spies had been as high as third before being passed by Lorenzo and then a mistake let three riders by and had to regroup and was running with the same times as Rossi and Hayden, but made a second mistake running wide at turn 11, that would leave him in a frustrating sixth.
Teammate Colin Edwards was seventh after battling with Marco Simoncelli and Marco Melandri.
Marco Simoncelli would later crash on lap 19th while holding the 9th position and it was his third crash of the weekend.
Mika Kallio took the ninth spot from Loris Capirossi in a photo finish by 0.
001s.
Roger Lee Hayden finished in 11th on his first outing with the LCR Honda as Randy de Puniet’s replacement rider ahead of Alex de Angelis, who is subbing for Hiroshi Aoyama on the Interwetten Honda,Spaniards Hector Barbera, Alvaro Bautista and Aleix Espargaro also crashed out.
There was a cock-up on the podium when instead of playing the Spanish anthem the organizers initally played the Italian anthem.
MotoGP Laguna Seca Race Results:01- Jorge Lorenzo – Fiat Yamaha Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – 34 giri in 43′54.
87302- Casey Stoner – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 3.
51703- Valentino Rossi – Fiat Yamaha Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 13.
42004- Andrea Dovizioso – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 14.
18805- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 14.
60106- Ben Spies – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 19.
03707- Colin Edwards – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 40.
72108- Marco Melandri – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 47.
21909- Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 52.
81310- Loris Capirossi – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Suzuki GSV-R – + 52.
81411- Roger Hayden – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 1′14.
08912- Alex De Angelis – Interwetten Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 1′14.
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