Casey Stoner managed to overtake pole position starter Jorge Lorenzo to take the top podium spot at Laguna Seca. Lorenzo led the race, with Stoner behind team-mate Pedrosa and gathering speed with every lap. He passed Pedrosa on lap 18, and went past the race leader in the 26th lap.
There was no looking back for Stoner after that, and the gap between the Repsol Honda and Yamaha factory rider kept on getting wider and wider. The Aussie managed a five and a half second lead over the Spaniard as he crossed the finish line. Dani Pedrosa finished in third position.
Ben Spies from Yamaha Factory Racing overtook Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso to finish in fourth position at his home track. Andrea Dovizioso managed a place ahead of Valentino Rossi, and finished fifth.
Valentino Rossi is having one of the worst MotoGP seasons in years, and the situation doesn’t seem to be improving much. The doctor was overtaken at Laguna Seca, and finished in sixth, ahead of team-mate Nicky Hayden.
Here’s the final classification
World Championship standings
1 STONER Casey AUS 193
2 LORENZO Jorge SPA 173
3 DOVIZIOSO Andrea ITA 143
4 PEDROSA Dani SPA 110
5 ROSSI Valentino ITA 108
6 SPIES Ben USA 98
7 HAYDEN Nicky USA 94
8 EDWARDS Colin USA 67
9 AOYAMA Hiroshi JPN 63
10 SIMONCELLI Marco ITA 60
11 BARBERA Hector SPA 56
12 ABRAHAM Karel CZE 46
13 BAUTISTA Alvaro SPA 39
14 ELIAS Toni SPA 38
15 CRUTCHLOW Cal GBR 34
16 CAPIROSSI Loris ITA 26
17 DE PUNIET Randy FRA 15
18 HOPKINS John USA 6
19 AKIYOSHI Kousuke JPN 3