Another Casey Stoner MotoGP victory isn’t really much of a surprise, but the manner by which this one came about was.

From the start, Stoner marched off into the distance away from the rest of the riders, but the real action was happenning behind him – a crash on the straight immediately after the start saw Alvaro Bautista take out Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, and Randy De Puniet before the riders had even got round the first turn.

After the chaos had settled, the main action came from Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso who were both fighting for second place in the race, and third in the Championship standings. Ben Spies soon caught up and joined the battle.

When the rain came in the closing laps, Spies managed to take on both Pedrosa and Dovizioso, and then started closing down Casey Stoner. A brave charge in wet conditions saw Spies take the lead from Stoner with two laps to go.

Spies maintained his lead, with Stoner following hotly behind, but the Yamaha rider seemed to have done enough to secure the win as he came round the final turn onto the home straight. However, Stoner got a better run out of the corner and with a little bit of extra Honda grunt, he managed to draw level with Spies, before crossing the line only 0.015 seconds ahead of him.

Andrea Dovizioso claimed third in the race, giving him third place in the Championship standing. Cal Crutchlow took fourth position after a long battle with Karel Abraham, securing his best MotoGP finish and the Rookie of the Year title.

MotoGP race results from Valencia:

1. Casey Stoner Honda 48m18.645s
2. Ben Spies Yamaha + 0.015s
3. Andrea Dovizioso Honda + 5.936s
4. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha + 8.718s
5. Dani Pedrosa Honda + 9.321s
6. Katsuyuki Nakasuga Yamaha + 23.818s
7. Josh Hayes Tech 3 Yamaha + 33.118s
8. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati + 37.952s
9. Loris Capirossi Pramac Ducati + 48.953s
10. Toni Elias LCR Honda + 52.501s
11. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati + 1m06.519s
12. Hiroshi Aoyama Gresini Honda + 1m08.760s

Retirements:

Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 0 laps
Randy de Puniet Pramac Ducati 0 laps
Nicky Hayden Ducati 0 laps
Valentino Rossi Ducati 0 laps

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