Stoner breezes to victory
Australia's Casey Stoner roared past MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo on the 27th lap of 32 to win the US Grand Prix on Sunday and stretch his lead in the overall standings.
Honda rider Stoner, who started the race just behind Yamaha's Lorenzo on the front grid, powered home to finish 5.634 seconds ahead of the Spaniard, who triumphed at Laguna Seca last year.
Stoner waved to the fans after crossing the finish line, having extended his run of successive podiums this season to eight. It was his fifth win of the year and increased his championship lead over Lorenzo to 20 points with eight races left.
Honda's Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, champion here in 2009 and winner of last week's German Grand Prix, took third place, with American Ben Spies giving the home fans something to celebrate by finishing fourth. Italy's Andrea Dovizioso was fifth ahead of Valentino Rossi in sixth.
Stoner, who won there in 2007, was delighted to taste victory again at the twisting and technically challenging Laguna Seca circuit after struggling with his bike set-up earlier in the week.
"It was amazing," the beaming 25-year-old said.
"I am very happy. I love this track, love this atmosphere in America. I'm very happy to win here again.
"I just had an extreme pace before the start of the race and had a lot of confidence. All week it has been tough, but in the warm-up we found something and thought we could run with these guys."
Stoner was quickest in the morning's final practice session.
"After that, I had something inside knowing I wasn't worried about him (Lorenzo) getting away," said Stoner, who dropped back into third early on before overtaking Pedrosa on the infamous Corkscrew turn on lap 17, and, finally, Lorenzo.
"I knew I had full pace and we were just waiting for later in the race. As soon as Dani started to drop back, that dropped us both off the back of Jorge and I thought: 'Right, now is the time to go and get up to Jorge.'
"I was behind Jorge and realised I could go faster. I waited a few laps to see if he would make a mistake or do something and then decided to put the hammer down as much as I could. We managed to pull a nice gap."
Lorenzo, who began the race on pole for a third successive year at Laguna Seca, failed to capitalise on a fast start and said he was still feeling bruised after crashing in practice on Saturday morning.
Spaniard Alvaro Bautista, American Ben Bostrom, Britain's Cal Crutchlow and Italy's Marco Simoncelli all crashed out during the race.
With eight rounds of the championship to go, Stoner leads the standings with 193 points. Lorenzo has 173 and Dovizioso is third with 143 points.