Stoner wins to go top of the table

MOTOR CYCLING:AUSTRALIAN CASEY Stoner splashed to victory for Honda in a wet British Grand Prix yesterday to oust world champion Jorge Lorenzo from the top of the MotoGP standings.

Yamaha’s Lorenzo, who led into the first corner, was one of several big-name fallers as riders battled through standing water and spray.

Italy’s Andrea Dovizioso was second for Honda, 15.159 seconds behind Stoner, with American veteran Colin Edwards taking an astonishing third place on the Tech3 Yamaha little more than a week after he shattered his right collarbone.

Stoner, on pole position for the fourth time this season in his 150th grand prix start in all categories, was the first Honda rider to win three races in succession since Italian Valentino Rossi in 2003.

The Australian now has 116 points to Lorenzo’s 98 and Dovizioso’s 83. Stoner was third after the first lap, with Lorenzo and then Dovizioso leading, but swiftly moved back into the lead on lap two and powered away.

“It was very, very hard,” said Stoner of the conditions. “Andrea was really confident at the start of the race but I wanted to wait for the tyres to come up to temperature. When I was behind them I pretty much got drenched.

“I got a bit of water on the inside of the visor and when I got into first place I thought it would all clear away and I’d have good vision, but for the next five laps I basically had no vision. I couldn’t see where the wet patches were, I couldn’t understand anywhere on the track where I needed to be.”

With Yamaha’s Ben Spies crashing on lap eight, team-mate Lorenzo flipped off his bike on lap nine and Honda’s Italian Marco Simoncelli falling a lap later, Stoner had a lonely ride to the chequered flag and his fourth win in six races. Even then, he still had to fight to stay on the bike.

“It was so easy (to crash). There was water in different puddles and they were getting quite a lot deeper,” he said. “That was torture. For the last seven laps I was counting down and they just took too long, my hands were freezing and I couldn’t brake properly, I couldn’t understand what brake pressure I had.” Results in Sports Round-Up