Reigning MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner has taken his third race win in a row at the Sachsenring this afternoon, finishing more than three seconds in front of Valentino Rossi with Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen third.
Stoner inherited the lead from the luckless Dani Pedrosa who, in the space of six laps had escaped with a seven and a half second lead before he crashed at turn one. It looked like the front end of his Repsol Honda aquaplaned and from there on in, he was a passenger. He looked to be unhurt, and went to the Clinca Mobile for a check-up.
Valentino Rossi came from seventh on the grid to pass Colin Edwards and Andrea Dovizioso before beginning the hunt for Stoner. However, Stoner has the field's measure once again, putting in fastest laps thoroughout the race and cruised to an easy win.
Vermeulen, who can probably lay claim to being the best wet-weather rider in the class, and therefore the world, clawed his way from 14th on the grid to claim the final podium position but was pushed all the way by Alex De Angelis.
Edwards, who was running in fifth, crashed out with 10 laps to go, while team-mate James Toseland, who had begun the race strongly scythed his way back to 11th and was lapped.
Rossi regains the MotoGP championship lead but Stoner is now only 20 points adrift in third, with Pedrosa second.
Results:
1 25 1 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 47'30.057 139.108
2 20 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 47'33.765 138.928 3.708
3 16 7 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 47'44.059 138.428 14.002
4 13 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 47'44.181 138.422 14.124
5 11 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP Honda 48'12.079 137.087 42.022
6 10 50 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team Ducati 48'16.705 136.868 46.648
7 9 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 48'34.540 136.031 1'04.483
8 8 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 48'34.645 136.026 1'04.588
9 7 56 Shinya NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 48'46.830 135.459 1'16.773
10 6 13 Anthony WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki 48'59.332 134.883 1'29.275
11 5 52 James TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha 47'41.757 133.922 1 Lap
12 4 24 Toni ELIAS SPA Alice Team Ducati 47'43.954 133.819 1 Lap
13 3 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team Honda 48'13.749 127.874 2 Lap
MotoGP World Championship points
1 Valentino ROSSI 46 Yamaha ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 187
2 Dani PEDROSA 2 Honda SPA Repsol Honda Team 171
3 Casey STONER 1 Ducati AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 167
4 Jorge LORENZO 48 Yamaha SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 114
5 Colin EDWARDS 5 Yamaha USA Tech 3 Yamaha 98
6 Andrea DOVIZIOSO 4 Honda ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP 90
7 Chris VERMEULEN 7 Suzuki AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 73
8 Nicky HAYDEN 69 Honda USA Repsol Honda Team 73
9 James TOSELAND 52 Yamaha GBR Tech 3 Yamaha 65
10 Shinya NAKANO 56 Honda JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini 64
11 Loris CAPIROSSI 65 Suzuki ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 60
12 Alex DE ANGELIS 15 Honda RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini 38
13 Toni ELIAS 24 Ducati SPA Alice Team 37
14 Sylvain GUINTOLI 50 Ducati FRA Alice Team 34
15 John HOPKINS 21 Kawasaki USA Kawasaki Racing Team 32
16 Marco MELANDRI 33 Ducati ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 32
17 Randy DE PUNIET 14 Honda FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 30
18 Anthony WEST 13 Kawasaki AUS Kawasaki Racing Team 22
19 Ben SPIES 11 Suzuki USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2
20 Tadayuki OKADA 8 Honda JPN Repsol Honda Team 2