Repsol Honda MotoGP rookie Marc Marquez took his second win in a row at Laguna Seca today and increased his lead over team-mate Dani Pedrosa to 16 points while poleman Sefan Bradl bagged his first-ever premier class podium.
Marquez hunted down Bradl and passed the German under brakes into the final corner and slowly pulled away to cross the line 2.3s ahead of the LCR Honda man. Bradl will have done his contract negotations the power of good with his performance this weekend.
Valentino Rossi took the final rostrum spot and was the fly in Honda's ointment as the only non-HRC bike in the top five. He got away from the line in second but Marquez passed his boyhood hero with an audacious move at the Corkscrew.
The Spaniard rode around the outside of Rossi through the left-hander and then had to take to the concrete on the wrong side of the kerb at the pair plunged downhill but he made it stick. It was a carbon copy of the move Rossi put on Casey Stoner in 2008 and afterwards the Italian joked he is going to have to patent it.
Rossi had a lonely race until the closing stages when Alvaro Bautista, on the HRC-backed Gresini Honda, tried to find a way past the Yamaha man but just couldn't find a way around the old master and finished less than a tenth of a second off the podium.
Injured title challengers Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo were next along and Cal Crutchlow was in seveth. He got to within half a second of Lorenzo but then slid backwards.
Nicky Haydn won the battle of the Ducatis, finishing eighth after he and team-mate Andrea Dovizioso had a race long battle, and trading paint on the start/finish straight with seven laps left. Hector Barbera was first of the CRT men in tenth with Colin Edwards and Danilo Petrucci completed that top three.
Britain's Bradley Smith coasted to a halt after only eight laps while Michael Laverty crashed out on the opening lap. He had gone from 20th to 15th in the opening two corners but didn't make it out of sector one on lap three.
Laguna Seca MotoGP - conditions dry
1 25 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 44'00.695 157.4
2 20 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP HONDA 44'02.993 157.3 2.298
3 16 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Yamaha Factory Racing YAMAHA 44'05.193 157.2 4.498
4 13 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini HONDA 44'05.252 157.2 4.557
5 11 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 44'09.952 156.9 9.257
6 10 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing YAMAHA 44'13.665 156.7 12.970
7 9 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 44'15.999 156.5 15.304
8 8 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team DUCATI 44'34.658 155.4 33.963
9 7 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 44'34.824 155.4 34.129
10 6 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Blusens FTR 45'03.064 153.8 1'02.369
11 5 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM Ignite Pramac Racing DUCATI 45'03.299 153.8 1'02.604
12 4 5 Colin EDWARDS USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR KAWASAKI 45'04.288 153.7 1'03.593
13 3 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Came IodaRacing Project IODA-SUTER 45'21.145 152.8 1'20.450
14 2 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing ART 44'05.885 152.2 1 lap
15 1 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Paul Bird Motorsport ART 44'15.867 151.6 1 lap
16 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Avintia Blusens FTR 44'16.857 151.6 1 lap
17 67 Bryan STARING AUS GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR HONDA 44'25.931 151.1 1 lap
18 52 Lukas PESEK CZE Came IodaRacing Project IODA-SUTER 45'06.444 148.8 1 lap
Not Classified
38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 9'51.183 153.8 25 laps
41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART 7'03.642 153.3 27 laps
14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Power Electronics Aspar ART 5'46.737 149.9 28 laps
71 Claudio CORTI ITA NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR KAWASAKI 14'27.083 44.9 29 laps
70 Michael LAVERTY GBR Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 1'33.622 138.8 31 laps
Air: 23° Ground: 49° Humidity: 48%