REIGNING champion Jorge Lorenzo rode one of the greatest rides in his career to take the victory and put his championship defense back on track at Mugello.
Overcoming a gap to race-long leader Casey Stoner, Lorenzo closed the margin and passed the Repsol Honda rider with six laps to go - closing the gap at the top of the championship table by 19 points.
In what the Spaniard calls one of his 'sweetest victories, he took advantage of Stoner's drop in pace from an issue with tyre pressure. Teammate to the Australian in the factory Honda squad, Andrea Dovizioso took second position from Stoner finishing as the top Italian at his home race.
In what was a highly pressured race, Valentino Rossi made his way through the pack from a poor qualifying position to finish in sixth position. Marco Simoncelli finally finished a race to earn some points for fifth position.
After riding amongst the top ten top Briton Cal Crutchlow was forced to retire with problems with the Brdgestone front tyre, the second race in a row that he has suffered with these issues.
Full results below:
1. Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing
2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team 0.997
3. Casey STONER AUS Repsol Honda Team 1.143
4. Ben SPIES USA Yamaha Factory Racing 8.980
5. Marco SIMONCELLI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 9.076
6. Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team 26.450
7. Hector BARBERA SPA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 28.745
8. Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team 32.043
9. Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 33.421
10. Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team 34.724
11. Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini 37.359
12. Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing 43.964
13. Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 47.654
14. Randy DE PUNIET FRA Pramac Racing Team 48.840
15. Toni ELIAS SPA LCR Honda MotoGP 1'15.199
Not Classified
Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 17 laps
