It had been more than a year since the official Repsol Honda squad and often-injured lead rider Dani Pedrosa had a win, but the dry spell is now over as Pedrosa dominated Laguna Seca, registering a close victory in the United States Grand Prix.

The Spaniard started fourth on the grid and found himself in the lead in the first corner, and proceeded to build up three seconds lead mid-way through the 32-lap race.

Behind Pedrosa, Casey Stoner (Ducati) got ahead of Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) off the start, with Toni Elias (Honda) and Andrea Davizioso (Honda) following behind, while pole sitter Lorenzo blew his start and dropped to eighth place before battling back to fifth after lap one, which became fourth on lap seven when Davizioso lost the front and crashed.

Stoner hung on to Rossi for the first twenty laps before letting him go, ending up fourth, 10 sec behind the top three who stayed in a tight group, two seconds apart, right to the end.

With five laps to go Lorenzo tried to overtake Rossi, but locked up the front tire under braking and almost fell. The bobble made him go wide and let Rossi build a small, 1.5 sec lead to the end.

At the beginning of the last lap, Pedrosa’s lead dropped to 1.5 sec as he slowed his pace to secure the win. Rossi caught and tried a last gasp corner pass, his speciality, but it did not work this time, Pedrosa heard Rossi engine and pushed hard to finish less than 0.4 sec in front of a frustrated Rossi.

MotoGP Laguna Seca - Results

Pos Rider Bike Time/Gap
1. Dani Pedrosa Honda 44m01.580s
2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha + 0.344s
3. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha + 1.926s
4. Casey Stoner Ducati + 12.432s
5. Nicky Hayden Ducati + 21.663s
6. Etc…

MotoGP standings – After Laguna Seca

Pos. Rider Points
1. Valentino Rossi 151
2. Jorge Lorenzo 142
3. Casey Stoner 135
4. Dani Pedrosa 92
5. Colin Edwards 76





Photo Credit : Honda