Casey Stoner makes case for MotoGP title

Jun 29 2008 By Rob Gearing

CHAMPION Casey Stoner's bid to retain his MotoGP title is hitting top gear as he claimed his second win in six days with first at the Dutch TT in Assen.

The Australian followed up his win at Donington by pipping Dani Pedrosa into second with Colin Edwards third.

Ducati Marlboro rider Stoner's third win of the season means he is now 29 points behind Pedrosa in the championship.

The Spaniard leapfrogged Valentino Rossi in the standings after the Italian crashed on the opening lap and could only take 11th.

It was a bad day for Rossi but a better one for Brit James Toseland as he recovered from last week's debacle at Donington - when he went out on the first bend - to finish ninth.

Stoner was jubilant and believes the weather and a change of fortune helped him win.

He said: "I didn't want to have the weather in the mix and it managed to stay clear for the race so I'm happy.

"Valentino crashing is very unfortunate. I don't want to catch up in points that way but I've had my run of bad luck as well from the beginning of the season. So it's time we started to have some decent results."

Rossi shouldered the blame for the crash that also ended Randy de Puniet's race. He said: "I made a mistake - this is racing. I arrived too fast when the tyres were still cold. I was too hard on the brakes and I lost the rear.

"I am sincerely sorry to Randy and all of his team. After the crash I had a bent handlebar and no gear shifter but was still able to do the third fastest lap time."

Honda rider Pedrosa got off to a storming start from second on the grid and beat Stoner into the first bend. But his lead didn't last the lap as Stoner pulled ahead and never looked back, finishing 11 seconds clear of his rival.

Behind the front two, American Edwards advanced six places in five laps to move up to fourth by lap 15, hot on the heels of countryman Nicky Hayden.

That looked like how it would stay until on the last lap when Hayden appeared to run out of fuel on the final straight and had to concede a podium finish to Edwards for Yamaha.

JiR Team Scot Honda's Andrea Dovizioso finished fifth after surviving a late challenge from Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo.

Aussie Chris Vermeulen was seventh ahead of Japanese rider Shinya Nakano.

And Toseland - who was slated last week for playing a gig with his band before qualifying for the British Grand Prix that ended in misery for him - was ninth.

Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli rounded out the top 10.

After nine races Rossi sits second in the standings with 167 points, four behind Pedrosa. Stoner has 142.

Meanwhile, Kawasaki's John Hopkins returned to America yesterday for treatment after injuring himself during Friday's qualifying.

TOM SYKES will start the sixth round of the British Superbike Championship at Mallory Park from pole after putting in a last-minute charge to head off the challenge of Michael Laverty.

The Rizla Suzuki rider had been on the pace throughout qualifying despite switching to his spare bike because of a technical problem.

Huddersfield man Sykes put in a 56.005-second lap of the Leicestershire circuit to deny Suzuki rider Laverty his first pole by one tenth of a second.

Sykes said: "It was a shame about the bike - it was coming together. We had made some good changes and I was very comfortable with it.

"I had to change my style and make it all happen when I switched to the second bike but it was all good fun."