Stoner first in US

Australian Honda rider Casey Stoner stretched his lead atop the MotoGP standings late Sunday with a superb victory in the US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca Raceway.

Stoner surged past Spain’s Jorge Lorenzo on the 27th of 32 laps on the technically demanding circuit to claim the victory and take his points total to 193, 20 more than defending champion Lorenzo who had started from pole despite a spectacular crash in practice on Saturday.

Stoner’s Respol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa was third.

Stoner won in 43min 52.145sec, more than five seconds ahead of Lorenzo.

“We felt good, really good, at the end. It’s really good to come back with a race like this and show everybody that we can still win,” Stoner told reporters.

The Aussie notched his fifth victory of the season, but hadn’t won in three races since a victory at Silverstone. The 25-year-old captured the 28th MotoGP win of his career and turned the tables on Lorenzo, who beat him at Laguna Seca last year.

Italy’s Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso finished fifth behind Lorenzo’s team-mate Ben Spies.

That was good enough to keep Dovizioso third in the standings with 143 points.

The Ducatis of Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden finished sixth and seventh. Alvaro Bautista had pursued them until he crashed his Suzuki.

Marco Simoncelli and Britain’s Cal Crutchlow also failed to finish.