Dani Pedrosa (Honda) took another win today in Motegi to close slightly the points lead in the championship enjoyed by Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) who finished second. Alvaro Bautista (Honda) finished third. Casey Stoner (Honda), in his first race back from injury, could manage no better than fifth place, as he tired during the second half of the race.
With no one currently able to challenge Jorge Lorenzo for a weekly podium spot, it is beginning to appear that he can cruise to the title with three rounds remaining. For additional details, results and points visit the official MotoGP site here.
| Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
| 1 | 25 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 162.6 | 42’31.569 |
| 2 | 20 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 162.3 | +4.275 |
| 3 | 16 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 162.1 | +6.752 |
| 4 | 13 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 161.5 | +16.397 |
| 5 | 11 | 1 | Casey STONER | AUS | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 161.3 | +20.566 |
| 6 | 10 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | GER | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda | 161.0 | +24.567 |
| 7 | 9 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 160.9 | +26.072 |
| 8 | 8 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 160.3 | +36.724 |
| 9 | 7 | 21 | Katsuyuki NAKASUGA | JPN | Yamaha YSP Racing Team | Yamaha | 160.3 | +36.794 |
| 10 | 6 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 158.2 | +1’10.729 |
| 11 | 5 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | CZE | Cardion AB Motoracing | Ducati | 157.9 | +1’15.658 |
| 12 | 4 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 157.5 | +1’22.769 |
| 13 | 3 | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | USA | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | Suter | 157.3 | +1’24.968 |
| 14 | 2 | 77 | James ELLISON | GBR | Paul Bird Motorsport | ART | 157.1 | +1’29.388 |
| 15 | 1 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | ITA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | FTR | 156.8 | +1’34.612 |
| 16 | 84 | Roberto ROLFO | ITA | Speed Master | ART | 155.8 | +1’50.853 |
People may think Lorenzo is just safely cruising to the championship, but real champions want to prove they are the fastest. Pedrosa may be the best rider to never win a championship. One more win this year and he’ ll have won twice as many races this season alone, than Hayden has won in his MotoGP career.
Just can’t believe Crutchlow ran out of gas like that. He was working so hard to get on the podium, it was crushing.
Bautista finishing within 2.5 sec. of Lorenzo is the most interesting thing about the race to me. Had he not been battling w/Cal it could’ve been closer?
Poor Cal, the battle he had with Bautista was the only interesting thing going on that race. Dani desperately needs Casey as a points buffer to catch up but doesn’t look like he can pull it off coming off that injury. Too bad.