Casey Stoner dominates Spanish MotoGP

Australian Casey Stoner has dominated a weather threatened Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya in Spain.

Stoner, riding his Repsol Honda, led every lap except the first, leading home Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) by 2.403 seconds.

Lorenzo beat Stoner into the first turn and led the first lap, but Stoner quickly reeled the world champion in and pulled the decisive move on the long front straight.

It is Stoner’s third win for the year and now sits seven points behind Lorenzo at the top of the world championship.

In a largely straight-forward race, the only thing that looked like shaking up the event was the threat of rain, but it never came.

Lorenzo’s team-mate Ben Spies ran a lonely race to third place, although Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda Team) did apply some pressure in the closing laps. Dovizioso could not get close enough to make a serious challenge.

Valentino Rossi (Ducati) finished fifth, holding out his countrymen Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini). Simoncelli, the first-time pole-sitter, made a meal of the start and dropping down the order.

Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) enjoyed his best MotoGP result with seventh from Nicky Hayden (Ducati).

Rounding out the top 10 was Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing Team) and Hector Barbera (Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP) who enjoyed a spirited dice.

Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing Team) and Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Gresini Honda) crashed on early in the race.

Earlier in the Moto2 races at Barcelona, Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) took the win ahead of local riders Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) and Aleix Espargaró (Pons HP 40).

CLICK HERE for the championship points after five races

See below for the full race result