Casey Stoner (Honda) extended his championship points lead with another dominating performance earlier today at the Aragon circuit. From pole position, Stoner took the lead during the first lap and cruised to victory by more than eight seconds over teammate Dani Pedrosa. Defending champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) finished in third.
Stoner now leads the championship by 44 points over Lorenzo. For additional details, results and points, visit the official MotoGP site.
Well as an Aussie I’m particularly enjoying the Stoner show this year. As I have said before…if it’s all the bike does that take away from Rossi all those wins on the V5 Honda – clearly the best bike by a mile at the start of the MotoGP era? No, it doesn’t – and neither does Stoners domination this year come down to the bike only. The guy is on fire, and maturing very nicely. Some people don’t like his demeanour – they said the same thing of Lawson as well.
It matters that you win – you don’t have to be “Mr Personality” as well. Doohan may have been the finest 500cc rider of all time, but he tended to let his riding do the talking.
So, it’s LESS impressive for a rider to make a win look simple by finishing with wide margin, rather than a small one. Hmmmm……..
I hear you. I’d want my Rider to try to win by as large a margin as possible but then to hold position with 5-10 seconds in hand. The desire to “lap the field” being tempered by trying to maximize the opportunity to Win the race, in order to finish First you must first finish.
I love a good dust up, half a dozen Riders hustling for a position, the lead, a Win… Makes my blood boil, I Love It! Many times, for different reasons, the race isn’t like that, I still enjoy the Race, differently. MotoGP is like Formula One, two or three teams usually have a realistic chance of a podium finish on any given weekend. It is the pinochle of two wheeled Speed on a Road Course drawing the best Riders and the most expensive Racing Motorcycles. If you have a lot of talent but are on second tier equipment it will only show relative to the other Riders on similar equipment unless it rains! WSB is usually has more entertaining Racing, Austrialian V-8 Supercars too.
Fortunately I’ve arranged my schedule in such a way that I can pursue my interests whenever I feel like it, all of my interests. I don’t have to chose, I follow MotoGP and WSB.
When we were racing we tried to not just Win, we wanted to blow them out of the water, easily, we wanted to demoralize our Competition.
I remember watching Mat Maladin Win by over 20 seconds at Ontario one year. He’d scream by and you’d wait, and wait, and wait until, finally, the rest of the Strong field came by, lap after lap, Impressive. It looked like he was trying to lap the field.
I thought I was replying to Ruefus.
Similar machines, same weight, same dimensions to the mm, same performance all so we can see 4-5 riders or more in a group every race hum…..sounds kinda like Nascar doesn’t it! This is racing at it’s truest. When machine builders have to figure out how to make more power and put it to the ground so there bikes can keep up with the faster ones and when riders need to improve there skills to compete with faster riders. How else will this sport evolve and stay at the forefront of elite racing. Even if the race is at second, third and fourth positions so what it’s still racing and as long as the other teams are having to play catch up they will keep trying to build faster machines to do so. If you want to watch the same drivers weekend after weekend go round and round in a circle all day tune into a Nascar event, I promise you won’t be disappointed!
+1… That’s why Moto 2 is such a disappointment. Spec motor, spec tire, too many regulations. I can walk out my patio door and hear 600 inline 4’s go by.
Marky I’m hoping Moto3 will have some different manufacturers and approaches….but I sure as hell wish they had made them 450s not 250s…
I think the way he rides the thing with such controlled agression is impressive. Seems Rossi is the ‘whiney biotch’ these days. What does that tell you?
“Seems Rossi is the ‘whiney biotch’ these days.”
Agree 100%
It was an impressive win, but another disappointing race for the fans. Stoner’s Honda was like it is on steroids. Did you see him pass Spies on the long straight in the first lap or two? It was like Spies was standing still.
I just hope the return to 1000’s reduces the importance of top end speed next year. Even though Lorenzo is still technically within striking distance, the championship is all but over, unless Stoner crashes and misses a couple of races.
Stoner may or may not be a ‘whiny biotch’, but he’s kicking ass all this year. And since he managed to win races on a bike that Rossi hasn’t, that says to me that he’s the superior rider. I know Rossi’s fans may disagree, and that’s fine, but the proof is right there.
Put them on similar bikes and remove all electronic nannies and let’s see them run.
Wow… Impressive victory.