Stoner Stands Tall At Donnington

Australian Casey Stoner has sealed his second successive victory at Donnington and his second race of the season. The reigning world champion crossed the line standing on the pegs of the upright Ducati 5.7 seconds in front of 200 race veteran Valentino Rossi.

The race was peppered with intense battles, with Rossi and Honda rider Dani Pedrosa swapping positions more than 6 times in the middle stages of the race providing entertainment for the packed in British fans. Rossi ultimately eked out a gap and finished 2.4 seconds ahead of the diminutive Spaniard.

American Nicky Hayden and Australian Chris Vermeulen battled fiercely in the dying stages of the lap but their bickering allowed a fast finishing Jorge Lorenzo to catch up. Lorenzo passed Vermeulen for seventh with six laps remaining and quickly rounded up Hayden for sixth soon after. It was a good result for the Fiat Yamaha rider who missed Catalunya after knocking himself unconscious and battled pain from a skin graft on his hand and confidence all weekend.

Andrea Dovisio once again recorded a solid result, riding the Jir Team Scott Honda to a surprising fifth place ahead of factory riders and MotoGP stalwarts. Colin Edwards is the only rider to qualify in the top five for every race this season and continued his consistency with fourth place, the best of the satellite riders.

Shinya Nakano and Anthony West rounded out the top ten while Ben Spies scored his first points in his debut round replacing an injured Loris Capirossi.

James Toseland recovered only to finish seventeenth after a first corner crash and John Hopkins failed to finish when his Kawasaki prematurely expired.

Rossi now leads the championship by 11 points from Dani Pedrosa with defending champion Stoner 34 points further back in third place.