Australia’s Casey Stoner replaced Jorge Lorenzo at the top of the MotoGP standings after splashing his way to victory, his fourth win of the season, at a soggy British Grand Prix yesterday.
Lorenzo succumbed to the horrendous conditions at a wet and windswept Silverstone, flipping his bike on lap 10 to allow Stoner to move 18 points clear of the defending champion in the riders’ standings.
Stoner cruised home with a huge 15-second lead, while Andrea Dovisioso, riding in place of the injured Dani Pedrosa, completed a sweet afternoon for Honda by finishing second. Colin Edwards of the US took third on a Yamaha.
Lorenzo stole in front of pole-sitter Stoner on the first bend, but Dovisioso led Stoner past the Spaniard shortly afterwards, before the Australian deftly slipped past Dovisioso at the start of lap 2.
Italy’s Marco Simoncelli almost took Lorenzo out of the race on lap 4, running wide after a serious wobble and then cutting perilously close to the Yamaha man.
Stoner managed to keep his rivals at arm’s length, despite the slippery conditions and several large puddles of standing water on the track.
Two seconds separated the top four of Stoner, Dovisioso, Lorenzo and Simoncelli with 15 laps to go, but Lorenzo’s race came to an abrupt conclusion three laps later as he was flipped over the front of his bike after high-siding at Abbey corner.
His Yamaha teammate Ben Spies having crashed out moments earlier, Lorenzo stalked away from his prone machine in frustration and his mood was not improved by the sight of Stoner promptly setting the race’s fastest lap.
Things got even better for the Repsol Honda riders when Simoncelli slipped off after hitting a puddle in Dovisioso’s slipstream, gifting his countryman a straight run in for second place.
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