Pedrosa

MANILA, Philippines -- Just two weeks after returning from injury, Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa was back on the top step of the podium at the Sachsenring after a thrilling race-long battle with Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo and current points leader and teammate Casey Stoner.

The trio dominated the race, all of them taking their turn to lead, but in the end it was Pedrosa who had the winning speed, the Spaniard crossing the finish line 1.477s ahead of Lorenzo. It was a heroic weekend’s work from the former 125 and 250 World Champion who had missed the Catalan, British and Dutch rounds with a fractured collarbone that required two operations.

Andrea Dovizioso continued his strong run of results, running with the leaders in the first half of the race and taking fourth place after a frantic battle with Marco Simoncelli who was beaten into sixth by Ben Spies at the final turn.

Stoner started the race from pole position, but played it safe in the very early stages, slipping to fourth on the first lap. Anxious to prevent his tires from overheating, Stoner was planning to save his best for last. He started moving forward on lap four, passing Pedrosa, then the next lap bettering Dovizioso and Lorenzo to take the lead, but he couldn’t break away.

Lap after lap, Lorenzo stayed close, with Pedrosa, Dovizioso and Simoncelli swapping positions right behind. Then on lap 14 Lorenzo dived inside Stoner at turn 12. The Yamaha man managed to pull a gap of six tenths in a couple of laps, Stoner apparently struggling as his RCV got lively in some of the circuit’s fast, undulating turns.

Sure enough, on lap 16 Pedrosa went past his teammate at turn one and set off in pursuit of Lorenzo. It took him just five laps to catch his fellow Spaniard, zooming ahead on the start-finish at the start of lap 22 after Lorenzo lost drive out of the final turn.

Pedrosa was in sensational form, quickly making the break, leaving the other two to dispute second place. Not surprisingly, Pedrosa was exhausted in the final stages, but the remarkably resilient 25-year-old didn’t slacken.

Only after the race did he reveal that he has been suffering from anemia, probably the result of going under the knife twice in recent weeks. This was his second win of the year and his fifth at the Sachsenring – three on MotoGP bikes and two on 250s.

The MotoGP class now heads west for this weekend’s United States Grand Prix at Laguna Seca.