Casey Stoner wins Laguna Seca MotoGP

Wednesday, 01 August 2012 15:41

Written by Editor

For the second straight year, the Australian left his mark on Laguna Seca and pulled out a thrilling victory in the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix on Sunday before a crowd of 52,677. He passed MotoGP points leader Jorge Lorenzo on the 21st lap and sped to his fourth victory of his final season on the world's top motorcycle circuit.  Last year, Stoner passed Lorenzo on the outside at Turn 1 on Lap 27. This time, Stoner took him on the inside at the same turn and won the 32-lap race on the twisting 2.238-mile course.
Stoner bided his time before making his move on the Spaniard.

Unlike the other leaders, Stoner had chosen softer tyres on his Honda, then had to spend much of the race trying to conserve them. He soon got past Dani Pedrosa into second place, then decided to back off to protect his tyres. He finally made his move, sensing that the tyres on Lorenzo's Yamaha were degrading.

"Jorge's bike started to slide a bit more," he said. "I knew if I could be quite close to him coming out of that turn, I could get a better run than him."Lorenzo backed off the gas slightly, and that was enough. Pedrosa finished third. The three riders stand atop the points standings, Lorenzo with 205, Pedrosa 182 and Stoner 173.