BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Motorbikes | Rossi claims maiden US MotoGP winIn a race that was expected to be very one-sided, the only thing that was being speculated on was who would be runner-up. Casey Stoner once again dominated practice and qualifying to be the outright favourite for the race. His nearest challenger looked to be Rossi who did an admirable job to get within half a second of Stoners qualifying time. And with the fast starting Pedrosa out injured, the race was a foregone conclusion. All Stoner had to do was stay on the bike start reasonably well a nd let his dominance prevail.
Well, this was not in Valentino Rossi's plan. Stoner got off the line quickly but so did Rossi and after some swapping of positions with Nicky Hayden, Stoner and Rossi took off into the distance. There were several changes of lead but the closeness of the racing between these two was asight to behold. Not since the days of Rossi v Biaggi or Rossi v Gibernau have I seen a close battle such as this. There were times that you feared that somewhere one or other, or perhaps both would come to grief. And it came to pass that with eight laps remaining, Stoner make the mistake of getting too close to Rossi and had to bail out on the gravel. it was a very slow speed crash and he was able to remount. such was the lead that they had developed, that he retained 2nd place.
Roos's maiden win on this course, gives him a much better lead in the championship and the psychological edge going into the summer break.
