Pedrosa Off While Leading, Loses Champ Lead...

Casey Stoner continued his return to form with victory at Sachsenring, his third win in as many races. The Ducati Marlboro rider braved the wet conditions of the Sachsenring circuit and appeared equally adept to the task as he had been in the dry practice sessions, a sign that will have his title rivals preoccupied for the second half of the season.

The race had looked set to be a wet weather repeat of Dani Pedrosa´s comprehensive 2007 victory, after the Repsol Honda rider once again used his finely-honed launch control to take the holeshot. He stormed out of the blocks and immediately created a 2 second gap. The advantage increased to 7.5 seconds by the time the Spaniard crossed the line for a sixth time, but just moments later disaster struck as he lost control of the RC212V and picked up his first DNF of 2008.

Pedrosa´s crash allowed Stoner to return to the script written in the practice sessions for the German race, and the Australian needed no further invitation. He took the lead in the same style with which he had taken the win at the past two races, breaking free and riding solo for 23 laps right up until the chequered flag was waved.

Second place from the third row of the grid was a more-than-respectable result for Valentino Rossi, and the runner-up spot allowed the Fiat Yamaha rider to return to the lead of the MotoGP World Championship. Heading to Laguna Seca in just a week´s time, the five-times title holder now holds a 16-point advantage over Pedrosa, whose hand and foot injuries picked up in the crash may affect his form and perhaps even participation in the Laguna Seca race.

Besides Pedrosa´s tumble, there were also crashes for Jorge Lorenzo, Colin Edwards and Marco Melandri as they fell foul of the tricky conditions.James Toseland finished in 11th place, 3rd Michelin rider across the line.

Race Results: Top Ten+1

10 Shinya NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini 64

Stoner (Morini 500) leads Rossi (Velocette 500) and Vermeulen (Morini 350) out of Mallory Park's hairpin...

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