Stoner wins Dutch TT as Lorenzo crashes
Casey Stoner pulled level on points with Jorge Lorenzo in the title race as he won the Dutch TT ahead of Dani Pedrosa while his Yamaha rival crashed out at the first corner.
Pedrosa took the lead off the line from Stoner while the field fought it out behind them. That's when distaster struck Lorenzo as the Spaniard was cleaned out by San Carlo Gresini's Alvaro Bautista, who just came into the first corner too hot.
With Lorenzo out of the picture, Pedrosa kept his teammate at bay as the two Hondas pulled away from Yamaha's Ben Spies. Moto2 Champion Stefan Bradl was up to fourth place when he crashed after losing the front end of his LCR Honda, elevating Andrea Dovizioso, Valentino Rossi and Hector Barbera.
Seven laps into the 26-lap race only 15 riders remained as Yonny Hernandez joined the list of crashers and Colin Edwards, who was struggling throughout the weekend, pulled into the pits and stormed away from his Forward Racing bike in frustration.
Halfway through the race Pedrosa still held the lead with Stoner right on his rear tyre. The Repsol Honda riders were over six seconds up on Spies and Dovizioso.
Behind them, Cal Crutchlow, who had to sit up on lap one to avoid the Lorenzo-Bautista accident which dropped him down to 13th, was in the midst of a Ducati battle as he fought his way past Barbera, Rossi and then Nicky Hayden to move up to fifth.
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Ten laps to go, Rossi, who had been falling back from the Ducati battled, pulled into the pits for a new rear tyres before heading out now at the back of the field.
A lap later, Stoner finally made the move on Pedrosa for the lead, easily taking it off his Spanish teammate. From there the Aussie did not look back and with five laps to go had broken any challenge his teammate may have posed.
Stoner took his third victory of the season, tying with Lorenzo on 140 points in the Championship race, while Pedrosa bought his bike home in second place ahead of Dovizioso and Spies, who had a great battle in the final few laps for the honour of the podium which the Tech 3 rider claimed on the final lap.
Crutchlow, riding with a broken ankle, finished in fifth place, well ahead of Hayden and Barbera, who had their own private battle.
Randy de Puniet won the CRT fight having taken the lead in that tussle when his Power Electronics Aspar teammate Aleix Espargaro's race came to an end with bike troubles on lap 15.
RESULTS
1 Casey STONER AUS Repsol Honda Team Honda 41'19.855
2 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda +4.965
3 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha +11.994
4 Ben SPIES USA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha +14.775
5 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha +22.074
6 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati +31.660
7 Hector BARBERA SPA Pramac Racing Team Ducati +59.107
8 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Power Electronics Aspar ART +1'04.441
9 Michele PIRRO ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini FTR +1'06.980
10 Mattia PASINI ITA Speed Master ART +1'25.087
11 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Came IodaRacing Project Ioda +1'32.103
12 Ivan SILVA SPA Avintia Blusens BQR +1'33.797
13 Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team Ducati 1 Lap
14 James ELLISON GBR Paul Bird Motorsport ART 1 Lap
NOT CLASSIFIED
Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART 12 Laps
Colin EDWARDS USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing Suter 19 Laps
Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Avintia Blusens BQR 21 Laps
Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 25 Laps
Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 0 Lap
Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 0 Lap
NOT STARTING
Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 0 Lap
