Stoner Dominates Again in Italy
Casey Stoner leaves Misano with an 85 point lead in the overall classification and one hand on a maiden MotoGP World Championship, courtesy of his eighth victory of the 2008 season and Ducati’s first on Italian soil in the GP Cinzano di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini.
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 Casey Stoner leaves Misano with an 85 point lead in the overall classification and one hand on a maiden MotoGP World Championship, courtesy of his eighth victory of the 2008 season and Ducati’s first on Italian soil in the GP Cinzano di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini. Another superb runaway victory from the Australian, combined with Valentino Rossi’s retirement from the race with a mechanical problem, mean that Stoner could mathematically seal the World Championship at Estoril in two weeks time, but the 21 year-old could never be accused of being a winner by default as he stormed away from pole for the fourth consecutive race. The Ducati factory rider now joins Rossi as the only two riders to have won three consecutive races on a four-stroke machine. Rizla Suzuki experienced their best ever MotoGP result when they finally got Chris Vermeulen and John Hopkins together on the podium. Vermeulen had a fantastic start from the third row, and for the third race in succession the GSV-R was set loose on catching Stoner. Whilst the World Championship leader’s place was once again just a little too quick despite numerous fastest laps from his main pursuer, Suzuki have now taken second place at the last three races, also their best run of form since the introduction of the four stroke machines. Hopkins rounded off the rostrum, which for the second race in a row featured no Italian riders, and the Suzuki duo have worked their way ever-closer to Dani Pedrosa’s points tally in second position in the standings. Whilst it was good news for the top trio in well-deserved results, Rossi was dealt a devastating blow to his title aspirations after just four laps of the Misano circuit. Trying out a new pneumatic engine for the first time, the five-time MotoGP World Champion was forced to pull over to the side of the track after experiencing difficulties, and was forced to give something of a low-speed parade lap for the legions of disappointed fans in the grandstands as he inched back into pit lane. Marco Melandri has a tendency to almost thrive on injury, and completed an excellent race despite making his comeback from neck an ankle injuries and paying a trip to the Clinica Mobile yesterday morning. The Gresini Honda rider put in a superhuman performance to take fourth place, displaying an almost scary amount of guts and riding ability at a track that he had barely a couple of hours to learn. Loris Capirossi completed the first five past the chequered flag, all shod on Bridgestone tyres. Carlos Checa was the highest finishing Michelin rider, ahead of countryman and still-injured Gresini Honda man Toni Elias. Anthony West returned to form after a disappointing race at Brno, with Colin Edwards and Shinya Nakano rounding off the top ten. Reigning World Champion Nicky Hayden was once again left disappointed by a first lap incident that had little to do with his own actions, caught up in Randy de Puniet’s collision with Dani Pedrosa. The American had to manoeuvre his way round the fallen pair and, as at his home race at Laguna Seca, rejoined the race from the back of the field and without the chance of a podium finish. 250cc An eighth win of the season for Jorge Lorenzo from as many pole positions put the 250cc World Champion in the record books this afternoon, as he became the Spanish rider with the most victories in the quarter-litre class. The latest triumph, combined with title rival Andrea Dovizioso’s enforced retirement from the race, give Lorenzo a 54 point advantage in his quest to retain the crown. The Fortuna Aprilia man was on the back foot for the first half of the race, with Dovizioso leading the race for the majority of the first 16 laps. Lorenzo went diligently about closing the gap, and the two were soon head to head for another epic battle. The Italian fans were robbed of a further spectacle just two laps later in an unfortunate turn of events, as Dovizioso pulled up with a mechanical problem and saw the championship slip ever further out of his grasp. Hiroshi Aoyama would perhaps have been grateful for an extra few laps, as he racked up consistently fast times en route to second place. The KTM man had duked it out with his team-mate Mika Kallio until the final stages of the race, when the Finn took a massive highside which left him without the chance of a podium finish. Hector Barbera completed the rostrum places in an improved showing for the Team Toth Aprilia rider. Thomas Luthi, home rider Alex de Angelis and Shuhei Aoyama completed the top six, just ahead of highest finishing Italian Roberto Locatelli in his best race since his return from a horror crash at Jerez earlier this year. 125cc Mattia Pasini gave the crowd at Misano reason to celebrate after taking a superb victory in the 125cc class. The Italian rider, who hails from Rimini, took the race by the scruff of the neck right from the early stages, making the most of his front row start to snatch the holeshot and blasting past Hector Faubel on lap seven. Once the lead had been extended, Pasini never looked in danger, extending his lead to four seconds with five laps to go. The Polaris World rider could not rest entirely easy, however, as he has been cursed by mechanical problems this season when in the lead. To the delight of the crowd, who gave him a huge ovation, Pasini was able to cross the line first to take victory number three of the season. Gabor Talmacsi was second, and was an innocent contributor to a crash between his team-mate Hector Faubel and Simone Corsi. The Aspar rider had the inside line when the duo in front of him slowed down, and evasive action from Faubel caused both of them to collide and force them out of the running. The flu-ridden Talmacsi reversed the championship lead between himself and Faubel, and now heads the Spaniard by ten points. Tomoyoshi Koyama completed the podium, ahead of Sergio Gadea, an extremely impressive Pol Espargaro and Randy Krummenacher in the top six. The first ten past the chequered flag also included Stefan Bradl, Bradley Smith, Raffaele de Rosa and Michael Ranseder. Lukas Pesek saw his title hopes fade further away after crashing out on lap 20, nearly taking out Koyama on his slide off the track. The Czech rider had started from pole from the first time this year. MotoGP - San Marino Race Result Pos-Rider-Team-Time 1-Casey Stoner-Ducati Marlboro Team-44m 34.720s 2-Chris Vermeulen-Rizla Suzuki MotoGP-+ 4.851s 3-John Hopkins-Rizla Suzuki MotoGP-+ 16.002s 4-Marco Melandri-Honda Gresini -+ 22.737s 5-Loris Capirossi-Ducati Marlboro Team-+ 24.787s 6-Carlos Checa-Honda LCR -+ 34.986s 7-Toni Elias-Honda Gresini -+ 40.896s 8-Anthony West-Kawasaki Racing Team-+ 41.774s 9-Colin Edwards-Fiat Yamaha Team-+ 47.146s 10-Shinya Nakano-Konica Minolta Honda-+ 48.808s 11-Alex Hofmann-Pramac d'Antin -+ 49.299s 12-Sylvain Guintoli-Dunlop Yamaha Tech-+ 1'09.176s 13-Nicky Hayden-Repsol Honda Team-+ 1'20.424s 14-Makoto Tamada-Dunlop Yamaha Tech-+ 1'34.223s 15-Kurtis Roberts-Team Roberts -+ 1 lap -not classified -Alex Barros-Pramac d'Antin -+ 13 laps -Valentino Rossi-Fiat Yamaha Team-+ 23 laps -Randy De Puniet-Kawasaki Racing Team -Dani Pedrosa-Repsol Honda Team World Championship Standings Pos-Rider-Team-Points 1-Casey Stoner-Ducati Marlboro Team-271 2-Valentino Rossi-Fiat Yamaha Team-186 3-Dani Pedrosa-Repsol Honda Team-168 4-Chris Vermeulen-Rizla Suzuki MotoGP-144 5-John Hopkins-Rizla Suzuki MotoGP-140 6-Marco Melandri-Honda Gresini-126 7-Colin Edwards-Fiat Yamaha Team-100 8-Loris Capirossi-Ducati Marlboro Team-98 9-Nicky HaydenRepsol Honda Team -92 10-Alex Barros-Pramac d'Antin Ducati-83 11-Alex Hofmann-Pramac d'Antin -65 12-Toni Elias-Honda Gresini-63 13-Randy de Puniet-Kawasaki Racing Team-58 14-Carlos Checa -Honda LCR-45 15-Anthony West-Kawasaki Racing Team-41 16-Shinya Nakano-Konica Minolta Honda-37 17-Makoto Tamada-Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3-33 18-Sylvain Guintoli-Dunlop Yamaha Tech-28 19-Kurtis Roberts-Team Roberts -10 20-Roger Lee Hayden-Kawasaki Racing Team-6
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