Stoner wins to pull level with Lorenzo

REUTERS: Australian Casey Stoner ran away with the Dutch TT on Saturday to go level with Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo at the top of the MotoGP championship after the Spaniard was taken out at the first corner.

Stoner’s Spanish team mate Dani Pedrosa, who led for the first 10 of the 26 laps, made it a works Honda one-two finish at the Assen circuit with Italian Andrea Dovizioso third for the Tech3 Yamaha team.

Lorenzo, who had started the day 25 points clear of world champion Stoner and was favourite to win, had his bike swept from under him when Spain’s Alvaro Bautista lost control of his Gresini Honda and slid into him.

Both Lorenzo and Stoner now have 140 points, with the Spaniard leading on race wins going into the eighth round at Germany’s Sachsenring circuit next weekend.

Stoner’s win, after securing pole position on Friday following a heavy practice crash, was his first since he announced in May that he would be retiring at the end of the season.