Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa is the only other MotoGP rider besides Rossi with multiple victories this season.
Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa brought 113,000 Spanish fans to their feet as he grabbed the holeshot from Casey Stoner and never looked back in a wire-to-wire victory today in the Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya. Pedrosa's win makes him two for two on Spanish soil this season, claiming the checkers in Jerez as well, and closes the gap between him and Championship Point leader Valentino Rossi to seven.
"I don't know where the pace came from. It was a fantastic race, amazing to win. I won in 125cc and 250cc here, so now to win in MotoGP is great. The other two were pushing hard. I went to a different setting than yesterday, and it worked," Pedrosa said.
Marlboro Ducati's Stoner was close early but ran wide when his rear came loose, allowing JiR Team Scot's Andrea Dovizioso to slip by. Pedrosa meanwhile ran a blistering second lap, setting a new circuit record and opening up a two-second gap. By the time Stoner got back around Dovi, there was no catching Dani P.
Stoner would then be embroiled in battle with Fiat Yamaha's Rossi, who had systematically moved through the field from ninth place. The Doctor moved into second by Lap 9, but could not shake the young Australian. Stoner would return the favor and passed Rossi on Lap 17, the two eliciting great cheers from the crowd as they continued to battle. The Championship Point leader finally passed Stoner for good on the next to last lap to claim the valuable 20 second-place points. Stoner earned the final spot on the podium for his efforts.
After Dani P checked out, the real battle was for second place.
"I think that this was quite a good race! It's a long time since we've had a good fight for the top positions like that and today it was like last year with Stoner, but for second instead of first place! I was able to come out on top this year and I am honestly very happy with today's result," Rossi said.
Satellite rider Dovizioso stayed with the front pack most of the race and equaled the best MotoGP results of his young career with a fourth-place finish. He would be followed by the Yamaha Tech 3 team of Colin Edwards and James Toseland, who duplicated their five-six finish in the last race at Mugello.
Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen finished a respectable seventh after sliding down to 14th at one point after being bumped by San Carlo Gresini's Alex De Angelis. Chris V fought his way back through the field and was closing in on sixth place on the last lap, but Toseland edged him at the line by 0.066 seconds.
De Angelis would again affect Rizla's Catalunyan results when he hit Loris Capirossi from behind, causing him to crash at high speed. Capirossi was taken to the trackside clinic where he was found to have a dislocated fracture of the fifth right metacarpus and a deep wound to his fifth right finger.
Capirossi, de Angelis and Randy de Puniet all crashed out in quick succession near the midway point of the race.
Meanwhile, Alice Ducati's Toni Elias got black flagged. After eight laps the Spanish rider, who was in a spirited battle with Marco Melandri and Anthony West at the time, saw the pit-board with the penalty for jump start too late, and during the ride through he had to stop at the end of the pit lane as he was DQed.
While he didn't win, Rossi still holds an advantage in the championship points.
1. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) 43'02.175
2. Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) +2.806
3. Casey Stoner (Marlboro Ducati) +3.343
4. Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot) +10.893
5. Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3) +16.426
6. James Toseland (Yamaha Tech 3) +21.482
7. Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) +21.548
8. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda) +22.280
9. Shinya Nakano (San Carlo Gresini Honda) +22.375
10. John Hopkins (Kawasaki Racing) +46.835
11. Marco Melandri (Marlboro Ducati)
12. Anthony West (Kawasaki Racing)
13. Sylvain Guintoli (Alice Team Ducati)
DNF - Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda), Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Gresini Honda), Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP)
Excluded -Toni Elias (Alice Team Ducati)
