BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Motorbikes | Superb Stoner seals Donington winAfter a rain affected qualifying, Casey Stoner lead the grid with the dominating performance in the wet. The usual suspects were up front with the notable exception of Pedrosa. He only managed 9th place though he has more recently been a lot better in the rain. The home favourite James Toseland had trouble, falling off the bike twice during the final stages of the qualifying session. This was a omen of what was to happen to him at the first corner during the race. He did remount to finish the race but would really have been better calling it a day as the sorry sight of him being lapped was difficult to watch.
The race itself echoed practice and qualifying, at least as far as Stoner was concerned. He took the lead at the outset and all that the others saw of him was his rear end getting smaller as the gap increased all the way to the finishing line. The battle for second place was more what the punters had come to see with perennial protagonists, of late, Rossi and Pedrosa, duking it out for points and the second step on the podium. Whenever the racing between these two is close contact stuff, Rossi seems to get the better of it and so it was here. You have to admire the way that Pedrosa, despite only qualifying on the 3rd row, gets off the line quickly and makes up the deficit so deftly. He doesn’t seem to relish the close quarters stuff whereas Rossi thrives on it. Next stop Assen.
