Jorge Lorenzo cruised to a comfortable win over defending world champion Casey Stoner in the British MotoGP yesterday.
The Yamaha rider, a Britsh GP winner in 2010 when he went on to claim the title, extended his lead at the top of the champion-ship standings on the strength of this, his 42nd career success.
Stoner, who is retiring at the end of the 2012 season, narrowly managed to fend off his Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa for second place.
Aside from Lorenzo, who now leads the championship by 25 points, the feat of the race belonged to British rider Cal Crutchlow, who crashed heavily in Saturday practice and competed nursing a broken and dislocated left ankle.
Despite his injuries, the gutsy Yamaha rider finished an admirable sixth, having left his hospital bed and starting at the back of the grid after missing qualifying.
In dry conditions, Ben Spies, alongside surprise pole sitter Alvaro Bautista on the front row, shot into an early lead.
The Yamaha man was closely tracked by Stoner, with Bautista lying third and Nicky Hayden on a Ducati in fourth.
Stoner pounced on a mistake by Spies to hit the front on lap five as Lorenzo moved up to fourth and then second by lap seven of 20.
Stoner was being hard pressed by the Spaniard who in turn had acres of daylight between him and Bautista.
At the midway point to this sixth leg of the championship the front pair were treating the Silverstone crowd to a nail-biting battle, with Lorenzo eventually snatching the lead on lap 11.
Having dealt with his Australian rival, Lorenzo surged clear and raced in isolation over the closing laps to register an ultimately effortless victory.
Lorenzo though said his win had been harder than it may have appeared.
“I enjoyed it but there was also a lot of tension. I didn’t want to make mistakes to pass and had to wait a little bit to overtake,” he said.
“It was wonderful fighting with Casey... we’re having a fantastic season.”
Top positions
1. Lorenzo (Yamaha) 140, 2. Stoner (Honda) 115, 3. Pedrosa (Honda) 101, 4. Crutchlow (Ya-maha) 66, 5. Dovizioso (Yamaha) 60, 6. Rossi (Ducati) 58, 7. Bautista (Honda) 58, 8. Bradl (Honda) 51, 9. Hayden (Ducati) 49, 10. Barbera (Ducati) 37.