Casey Stoner claims another victory in the San Marino Grand Prix

With an 85-point advantage, Casey Stoner rider of the Ducati Marlboro Team, claimed another victory in the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano.

Stoner overtook Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) and John Hopkins (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP). Loris Capirossi, Stoner’s team mate from Ducati Marlboro Team took the 4th place.

misano moto gp

Carlos Checa (LCR Honda RC212V) fancied his chances here after a successful testing stint at Brno. And despite some technical troubles that prevented him from qualifying as high up the grid as he would have liked, the evergreen Spaniard was riding a strong race in sixth, where he would finish.

So too was Toni Elias (Gresini Honda RC212V), still only at 60% of full fitness while recovering from a broken leg. The resilient Spaniard held seventh place – and he was not going to let that go, finishing the race in just that slot to remind the paddock what a fully fit Elias is capable of.

san marino grand prix

Shinya Nakano (Konica Minolta Honda RC212V) ended the race tenth, equaling his best result of the season thus far. Kurtis Roberts (Roberts KR212V) came in 15th after the first lap incident then encountering some problems with his bike’s electronics early in the race.

The World Championship points table shows Stoner in a commanding position now with five races left to run. He has an 85 point lead now over Rossi and with both the former World Champion and Pedrosa both recording DNFs here, Rossi retains second position overall with 186 points to Dani’s 168. Vermeulen lies fourth on 144.