Dani Pedrosa gave Honda a well-deserved victory to Honda as he capitalized on a mistake made by team-mate and polesitter Casey Stoner in the early stages of the MotoGP Grand Prix of Japan.

Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo finished second while Casey Stoner's third place has decreased the gap between the two title contenders to 40 points.

The Japanese Grand Prix was eventful and filled with incidents taking out of action a lot of riders: starting with Valentino Rossi as he made contact with Lorenzo at Turn 2 on the opening, losing the front end and also collecting Yamaha's Ben Spies as he slid into the gravel and out of the race.

Stoner managed to keep his distance out in front and began creating a gap until he made a mistake on lap four that made him run through the gravel into Turn 11, dropping him to seventh.

His companion at Honda's, Andrea Dovizioso, took over his duties as leader of the pack only to find himself being imposed a drive thru penalty, the stewards having judged that he had jumped the start along with Gresini's Marco Simoncelli and Tech 3's Cal Crutchlow.

At the end it became a battle between the two Spaniards as Pedrosa finally beat Lorenzo to the finish line by no less than 7 seconds to earn his third win of the year.

Simoncelli and Dovizioso were able to get back at the front, despite their earlier penalties and completed the top 5 at Motegi.

MotoGP Grand Prix of Japan Results - 24 laps:

<sup>Pos Rider Team/Bike Time/Gap
1. Dani Pedrosa Honda 42m47.481s
2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha + 7.299s
3. Casey Stoner Honda + 18.380s
4. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda + 23.550s
5. Andrea Dovizioso Honda + 23.691s
6. Ben Spies Yamaha + 37.604s
7. Nicky Hayden Ducati + 39.167s
8. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha + 45.023s
9. Hiroshi Aoyama Gresini Honda + 49.074s
10. Randy de Puniet Pramac Ducati + 59.022s
11. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha + 1m13.964s
12. Kousuke Akiyoshi LCR Honda + 1m21.709s
13. Shinichi Ito Honda + 1m26.381s

Retirements:

Toni Elias LCR Honda 17 laps
Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 13 laps
Damian Cudlin Pramac Ducati 13 laps
Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 1 lap
Valentino Rossi Ducati 0 laps
Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati DNS</sup>