News

Stoner obliterates the field at laguna

22/07/07

By David Miller

Ducati's Casey Stoner fired enough warning shots across MotoGP's bows this weekend, totally dominating every session and looking like an unstoppable force. And he proved himself right, winning the USGP at Laguna by 10 seconds from a valiant Chris Vermeulen.

The 21-year-old Aussie left everyone wondering which way he went as he upped and cleared off after narrowly missing a first-corner incident of which he could have been the instigator.

As the lights went out, the field charged into turn one and reigning champion Nicky Hayden was trying a move around the outside of Stoner. Hayden then ran wide, and maybe had a hand from the Ducati, before turning in tight, straight into the path of fellow American John Hopkins. The pair collided and Hopper crashed while Hayden miraculously stayed on but only managed to recover way down the field.

Hopkins went into pitlane on the next lap while Hayden carried on, valiantly trying to glean some points but found himself behind Britain's Chaz Davies (see separate story here. The Kentucky Kid pulled into the pits with 10 laps to go with front brake problems.

His Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa managed to get away at the front and led for a good few corners before the inevitable happened and Stoner got his nose in front. After that, Stoner built and built his lead, and he wasn't bothered again.

Pedrosa was obviously suffering from serious tyre wear from the halfway point as he fell victim to Marco Melandri (see separate story here) and then Valentino Rossi. But Rossi was not having a good time, lapping a second slower than the world championship leader at one point.

Davies, riding a MotoGP bike for the very first time at Laguna for the very first time finished in 16th, just outside the points after coming in to change a rear sprocket that had lunched itself. He was deputising for the injured Alex Hoffman, and may do so again at Brno if this performance is anything to go by.

Results

1 25 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Team DUCATI 44'20.325
2 20 71 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 44'30.190
3 16 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA Honda Gresini HONDA 44'45.966
4 13 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 44'50.989
5 11 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 44'55.947
6 10 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 44'58.631
7 9 13 Anthony WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 45'01.747
8 8 6 Makoto TAMADA JPN Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 45'02.680
9 7 4 Alex BARROS BRA Pramac d'Antin DUCATI 45'03.845
10 6 95 Roger Lee HAYDEN USA Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 45'04.045
11 5 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 45'07.701
12 4 56 Shinya NAKANO JPN Konica Minolta Honda HONDA 45'13.173
13 3 50 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 45'18.735
14 2 7 Carlos CHECA SPA Honda LCR HONDA 45'35.691
15 1 21 John HOPKINS USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 2 laps
16 57 Chaz DAVIES GBR Pramac d'Antin DUCATI 3 laps
Not Classified
1 Nicky HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 10 laps
17 Miguel DUHAMEL CAN Honda Gresini HONDA 22 laps
80 Kurtis ROBERTS USA Team Roberts KR212V 27 laps
65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 29 laps 

For a full report and results, get your copy of BikeSport News, on sale August 7.