Rossi now leads the championship with 187 points
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CASEY STONER held his nerve in foul conditions to take victory at a sodden Sachenring circuit at the German Grand Prix on Sunday.
It looked as though Dani Pedrosa was about to extend his championship lead when the Respol Honda rider crashed at the end of the start finish straight, putting Pedrosa out of the race with suspected fractures to his ankle and wrist. Stoner took advantage of the situation, crossing the finishing line just ahead of Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi.
Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen dazzled again in murky conditions to clinch third spot on the podium.
The result means Valentino Rossi now has a 16-point lead in the championship with 187 points over Dani Pedrosa with 171. The win elevates Casey Stoner to third in the standings with 167 points.
Here's what the riders had to say:
Casey Stoner - Ducati - 1st
"I saw Dani ride off into the distance and I thought 'fair play' - there was no way I could keep that pace in those conditions at that time. We definitely needed a bit more time to get the tyres up to temperature and Dani just kept edging away, but then after a few laps I was coming down the main straight and I could see his bike bouncing around in the gravel at turn one. It's a shame for him but even though he crashed he was still very impressive today. From then on it was a case of keeping my concentration but that wasn't easy because I've been a little sick all weekend and I wasn't feeling at all good during the race. Also, we went with quite a hard rear tyre compound and I had quite a few small moments that made me nervous but kept me on my guard. I kept pushing where I could and managed to keep opening out the advantage with every lap, then kept it upright to the end. It's nice to close the championship down a little bit more and once again I owe a huge 'thank you' to the team, who have adapted the bike to virtually any condition here. This win is dedicated to them."
Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha - 2nd
“I’m really happy with this result, even if racing in the rain today wasn’t quite as much fun as I’ve had in some of my past races here! For the championship this is very, very important; I made a mistake last week in Assen and today Dani did the same. It’s unlucky but this is racing and now we are back in front and this is a very good feeling. Dani is tough and we know he will be back fighting at the front, but sincerely at the moment we need to think about how to catch Casey because he has been very fast now for a few races. Once again here we lost some time during the practice trying to find the right setting and we can’t afford to keep doing this. Today we started from the third row and this meant that I had to deal with some confusion at the start and lost some time on the front riders. By the t! ime I got behind Casey my M1 was working very well and I had very good grip with my Bridgestone rain tyres; I felt very confident and I tried hard to push but there was no way to catch him at that stage, so our aim must be to start at the front from now on. Thanks to all my team and engineers; now we have to try to extend this lead in Laguna.”
Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki - 3rd
“I am very happy to be on the podium here in Germany. It was a really difficult race, as there was a lot more water than we had practised in on this circuit. I have got to give full credit to Bridgestone as they pushed me to go for a much harder compound than I wanted and it definitely worked. I really want to thank my crew as well, and the Japanese Suzuki staff, as we didn’t really have a lot of set-up in the rain but the bike worked really well. It wasn’t perfect but it was more than capable of getting me home, so I am really pleased to have put it on the podium for them as well. Let’s hope this is the start of a good run and now we are off to a track I enjoy a lot so hopefully we can move up to the top step there!”
Andrea Dovizioso - JiR Scot Honda - 5th
“This fifth place is our third consecutive fifth-placed finish, so we have to be happy. I was also the first rider on Michelin tyres, but I do not know if we made the best choice of what was available or if the competition was better than us with the wet track, but overall I am happy with the quality of work we put in this weekend. We started ‘in the dark’, as everyone saw that the practice sessions were conducted in dry conditions and we chose a hard rear tyre, which did not allow me to lean to the limit and be fully-fast with my corner speed. When Edwards caught me I didn’t let him go, and maintained contact with him until he made a mistake and fell. I want to say after this good qualifying session and good start I was I was expecting a little more. Now we go straight to Laguna Seca in the United States, which is a very ‘particular’ and unique track, one which I&rsquo! ;m very curious about as I’ve never raced there before.”
James Toseland - Tech 3 Yamaha - 11th
“That was my first wet MotoGP race and I’ve got to admit that while I feel I’ve learned a lot, it was a difficult afternoon. I got an unbelievable start and at the first corner I was fifth and nearly took fourth. I thought I was in business but pretty much straightaway I knew it was going to be difficult to try and go away with the leading group. I had a couple of moments on the opening lap and I started losing places quite quickly. The frustrating thing was I couldn’t do anything to respond. I didn’t want to push too hard because I’d seen Jorge Lorenzo crash in front of me, so I knew I wasn’t the only one struggling for rear grip. I think that coupled with a lack of experience of riding this bike in the rain made it tough. I kind of just got stuck at the pace I was running and couldn’t really go any faster. I’m not going to blame anybody because I’m having a bit of a bad period but a positive from the weekend is I feel we have taken some big strides with the set-up of the bike. I was only half-a-second off the front row and I was fourth in the warm-up, so it has not been a bad weekend. We have eliminated a lot of problems and the team has done a great job, so I am looking forward to getting back closer to where I know I am capable of being and the team is capable of being at Laguna Seca. It is a track I know well, and I go there in a positive frame of mind as always despite having this tough run."
Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda - 13th
"Today was a bit of a disaster, really. All weekend in the dry we had been going okay but conditions changed a lot for the race. I was actually glad it was raining because the bike has been working good in the rain recently, but the race turned into a disaster. The tyre choice wasn’t good and something also didn’t look right on the electronics, seems like it was a combination of problems. We came in and changed the rear tyre to a slightly different compound. Things were a lot better when I went out but I was right in the middle of everybody and I didn’t want to get in the way of people racing. We got a few points. Now it’s Laguna next weekend, so we’ll just keep pushing and hope to catch a break somewhere along the way.”
German MotoGP results
1 Casey Stoner Ducati MotoGP 47:30.057
2 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Factory 47:33.765
3 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki MotoGP 47:44.059
4 Alex De Angelis Honda Gresini 47:44.181
5 Andrea Dovizioso Honda Scot 48:12.079
6 Sylvain Guintoli Ducati d Antin 48:16.705
7 Loris Capirossi Suzuki MotoGP 48:34.540
8 Randy De Puniet Honda LCR 48:34.645
9 Shinya Nakano Honda Gresini 48:46.830
10 Anthony West Kawasaki Racing 48:59.332
11 James Toseland Yamaha Tech3 47:41.757
12 Antonio Elias Ducati d Antin 47:43.954
13 Nicky Hayden Honda HRC 48:13.749
2008 MotoGP Championship standings
1 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 187
2 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team 171
3 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 167
4 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 114
5 Colin EDWARDS USA Tech 3 Yamaha 98
6 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP 90
7 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 73
8 Nicky HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team 73
9 James TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha 65
10 Shinya NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini 64
11 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 60
12 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini 38
13 Toni ELIAS SPA Alice Team 37
14 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team 34
15 John HOPKINS USA Kawasaki Racing Team 32
16 Marco MELANDRI ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 32
17 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 30
18 Anthony WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team 22
19 Ben SPIES USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2
20 Tadayuki OKADA JPN Repsol Honda Team 2
