Casey Stoner won a thrilling Italian Grand Prix to bring to an end Valentino Rossi's run of seven straight victories at Mugello. The Ducati Marlboro rider also took the lead in the FIM MotoGP world championship points standings after crossing the finish line ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and his Fiat Yamaha teammate Rossi. The race started with a wet track and with pole position man Lorenzo having to change his machine after crashing on the out lap. Lorenzo also made a mess of the start as his Yamaha's rear tyre span on the grid and most of the field passed him. The critical part of the race came as riders changed from wet tyres to slicks with Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and Marco Melandri (Hayate Racing) both leading before this point. But after riders started changing to slick tyres ? Monster Tech 3 Yamaha's James Toseland was the first to switch ? it was Stoner who slowly began to take control despite having to adjust his slipping clutch during the race. One of the hardest battles Stoner had was to deal with veteran Italian rider Loris Capirossi who looked on course for at least a podium finish during the latter part of the race despite his Rizla Suzuki being down on power to his rivals on the long main straight. Capirossi eventually lost out to Dovizioso for fourth and Colin Edwards passed his teammate Toseland on the final lap to claim sixth. Eighth went to Randy De Puniet (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and there was a shock ninth for Niccolo Canepa on the Pramac Ducati. The top 10 was rounded out by Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki) who challenged for the lead earlier in the race when the circuit was still drying out. The race ended early for Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) who was left clutching his already injured hip after crashing out.
*PA Sport