Dani Pedrosa won an eventful German MotoGP yesterday, with reigning world champion Valentino Rossi taking fourth in his first race since breaking his leg six weeks ago.
Spaniard Pedrosa, on a Honda, came in clear of Yamaha's championship leader Jorge Lorenzo, with Australia's Casey Stoner pipping comeback king Rossi for third.
Pedrosa's win completed a clean sweep for Spain at the Sachsensring circuit near Dresden, as his fellow countrymen Marc Marquez and Toni Elias won the 125cc and Moto2 races respectively.
In the big one, only a late lunge on the final corner by Stoner denied the 98,000 spectators the remarkable sight of Rossi hobbling onto the podium on crutches.
The rider known as 'The Doctor' missed four races since his crash in Mugello 43 days ago, but even with one and a half legs in full working order, his brilliance was there for all to see as he battled with Stoner for third.
The race was marred by a three-bike pile-up on lap ten that resulted in a 30-minute delay and French rider Randy de Puniet suffering a double left leg fracture.
Pedrosa, registering his second win of the season, reflected on the interruption, saying: "When they stopped I wasn't sure about the restart. When you stop and restart it's never the same thing, but for me it was good."
Lorenzo was satisfied with his runner-up spot. "This race was a bit crazy with the crash and the restart," he said.
"Pedrosa got more pace than me, it was impossible to follow him. He's done a splendid race, so I'm happy with second place, it's very positive for the championship."
Stoner reported that he had struggled with the set-up on his Ducati. "In qualifying on Saturday we had a problem with the front end of the bike, with either too much or too little weight," he said.
"I did the best I could this afternoon. I thought Valentino was going to get me but I dragged everything I could out of my bike to get past him."
Spectacular crash
A spectacular crash in the 10th lap involving De Puniet, Alvaro Bautista and Aleix Espargaro, forced a temporary halt to this eighth leg of the 2010 season.
Honda rider De Puniet fell first, with Bautista's Suzuki clipping his wheels and Espargaro (Ducati) hot on their heels unable to take avoiding action. De Puniet's bike burst into flames.
It was the second tumble of the weekend for De Puniet, who also fell in qualifying on Saturday.
After marshalls had cleared the track of debris the race restarted half an hour later, with the riders in the positions they were in when the red flag went up.
Earlier Elias, on a Moriwaki, won the Moto2 race, with Italian duo Andrea Iannone (Speed Up) and Roberto Rolfo (Suter) in second and third.
This was the third win of the season for Elias after victories at Jerez and Le Mans, and it lifted him 42 points clear of his Swiss team-mate Thomas Luthi in the overall standings.
Marquez set the tone for Spain when winning the opening 125cc race with Japan's Tomoyoshi Koyama (Aprilia) in second and Germany's Sandro Cortese (Derbi) third.
It was the Derbi rider's fifth successive win, a feat that was last accomplished in 1997 by Rossi in the same category.
Marquez leads the riders' standings by 26 points from Pol Espargaro and 39 from third-placed Aprilia rider Nicolas Terol, an absentee yesterday after suffering an injury when crashing on the final lap in the last race in Barcelona.
Leading standings
1. Lorenzo (Yamaha) 185 points
2. Pedrosa (Honda) 138
3. Dovizioso (Honda) 102
4. Stoner (Ducati) 83
5. Hayden (Ducati) 78
6. Rossi (Yamaha) 74
7. De Puniet (Honda) 69
8. Spies (Yamaha) 67
9. Simoncelli (Honda) 49
10. Melandri (Honda) 45.