Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa scored a brilliant victory at Motorland Aragon last Sunday after overpowering title rival Jorge Lorenzo in the early stages.

Pedrosa triumphed at the end of what has been a complicated weekend, with rain affecting all three practice sessions, before the circuit dried out for qualifying last Saturday.

The former 125 and 250 World Champion then took a heavy tumble during the early stages of qualifying and was beaten to pole by Lorenzo.

From the start of Sunday’s race the two Spaniards were in a class of their own, quickly leaving the rest of the pack behind as they disputed the lead.

Lorenzo led the first few laps, while Pedrosa watched, waited and worked out his plan. On lap seven he moved ahead at turn 12 and although Lorenzo tried to go with him, a big moment two laps later convinced him it would be better to settle for second place.

“It’s been a tough weekend in general, with discussions about the last race with race direction and the crash in qualifying yesterday which created a lot of hard work for the mechanics," Pedrosa said.

“In the race I remained calm and was able to focus, Jorge began very fast in the early laps, but I was able to stay with him and then after a few laps I saw I could increase the pace and I passed him and tried to find my own rhythm.

I was concentrating so hard that I almost forgot that it was a race, then I realized there were only four laps to go!

I had a few issues with the clutch into the corners, shifting down, as I did yesterday, but overall the bike was working well so thanks to all my team for their hard work last night and to my fans and family for their support. This victory is for them all!” Pedrosa added.

Pedrosa’s fourth win of the year followed his DNF at the preceding San Marino Grand Prix and reduces Lorenzo’s championship lead to 33 points with four races remaining.

The 2012 MotoGP World Championship now heads east for the Japanese, Malaysian and Australian GPs on consecutive weekends. The 18th and final event takes place at Valencia on Nov. 11.