Stoner holds nerve

Australia's world champion Casey Stoner won the German MotoGP at wthe weekend to give Ducati its first win in the race and Australian riders their 100th in the top category.

Stoner, winning his third successive race, beat home five-time champion Valentino Rossi of Italy, on a Yamaha, while Stoner's compatriot Chris Vermeulen was third on a Suzuki.

“I have been feeling sick since Saturday morning and my concentration levels were low,” Stoner said.

“I was losing it in all different places. We were lucky to come out of this with the victory.”

Rossi, too, was delighted with the result as it saw him move 16 points ahead of Pedrosa — 187 to 171 while Stoner is third on 167.

“I am very excited about the result as it has seen me take back the overall lead,” the extrovert Italian said. “I eventually got up to a great pace and very close to Casey. These 20 points are very important.”

Pedrosa got a great start in the wet conditions which saw Stoner fail to take advantage of his pole position and drop to third after the first lap as nearly 100,000 spectators literally soaked up the atmosphere.

The Spaniard — whose compatriot Jorge Lorenzo had become the first casualty of the race on the third lap — had built up an enormous lead of over five seconds over Stoner, who had moved into second place, by the third lap.

However, his storming start came to an abrupt end with 26 laps remaining as he came off the bike and slid into a safety barrier leaving Stoner in front with Rossi hot on his tail while Vermeulen climbed into third.