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Honda takes Aragon MotoGP 2012

ARAGON, Spain - Dani Pedrosa gave himself a birthday present with a dazzling victory in the 2012 Aragon MotoGP race in Spain on Sunday.

The Spanish Honda rider, who turned 27 the previous day, came home clear of compatriot and overall series leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) while Andrea Dovizioso was third on a Yamaha a whisker ahead of team mate Cal Crutchlow.

NEAR-END FOR ROSSI

Pedrosa, who was winning his third MotoGP of the most recent four, narrowed the gap to Lorenzo in the standings to 33 points with four races to go and made up for his disastrous outing at San Marino a fortnight earlier where he went out on the first lap.

Valentino Rossi's race almost came to an abrupt end on the first lap when the Italian great tried to overtake Jonathan Rea, deputising for injured double World champion Casey Stoner, but clipped his Honda and went onto the gravel before returning at the back of the field.

Ducati's nightmare got worse as Rossi's teammate Nicky Hayden went veering off into the gravel after two laps and failed to pull up before the advertising hoardings - the impact of the collision sending him vaulting over the hoardings and into the medical centre.

BRADL CATASTOPHE

Hayden, who was already nursing a sore arm before the race, was arrived there speaking clearly and with no serious damage to his limbs. He was later given an “all clear”.

An action-packed race saw impressive German rookie Stefan Bradl move into third place on his Honda only for catastrophe to strike as he went too low on a curve and came off.

Up front, Lorenzo and Pedrosa were clear and contesting the lead.

That developed into an enthralling contest with Pedrosa overtaking his compatriot with 17 laps remaining and he pulled away with surprising ease to hold a lead of more than two seconds after 10 laps and was never in danger thereafter.
Further down the field Rossi was making up for his misjudgement by cutting through the field. With 14 laps of the 23 left he was unable to eat into Rea's lead over him and wound up eighth.

Result from 2012 Aragon MotoGP
1 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 42min10.444
2 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 42min16.916
3 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Yamaha 42min21.491
4 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha 42min21.628
5 Ben Spies (US) Yamaha 42min24.230
6 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda 42min38.610
7 Jonathan Rea (Britain) Honda 42min42.734
8 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Ducati 42min54.876
9 Karel Abraham (Czech Republic) Ducati 43min07.861
10 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Aprilia 43min08.969
11 Randy de Puniet (France) Aprilia 43min10.307
12 Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati 43min25.005
13 Yonny Hernandez (Colombia) Kawasaki 43min26.603
14 James Ellison (Britain) Aprilia 43min27.024
15 Michele Pirro (Italy) Honda 43min36.259

Riders’ championship points after 2012 Aragon MotoGP
1 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha - 290
2 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda - 257
3 Casey Stoner (Australia) Honda - 186
4 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Yamaha - 179
5 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha - 135
6 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Ducati - 128
7 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda - 128
8 Stefan Bradl (Germany) Honda - 115
9 Nicky Hayden (US) Ducati - 93
10 Ben Spies (US) Yamaha - 88
11 Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati - 64
12 Randy de Puniet (France) Aprilia - 53
13 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Aprilia - 51
14 Karel Abraham (Czech Republic) Ducati - 32
15 Yonny Hernandez (Colombia) Kawasaki - 28

2012 MotoGP qualifying times
1 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 1min49.404
2 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 1min49.492
3 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha 1min49.576
4 Ben Spies (US) Yamaha 1min49.748
5 Stefan Bradl (Germany) Honda 1min50.034
6 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Yamaha 1min50.241
7 Jonathan Rea (Britain) Honda 1min50.410
8 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Ducati 1min50.949
9 Nicky Hayden (US) Ducati 1min51.013
10 Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati 1min51.072

Result from the Motorcycling GP Aragon Moto2
1 Pol Espargaro (Spain) Kalex 40min25.260
2 Marc Marquez (Spain) Suter 40min26.707
3 Scott Redding (Britain) Kalex 40min27.003
4 Andrea Iannone (Italy) Speed up 40min27.085
5 Bradley Smith (Britain) Tech 3 40min27.453
6 Johann Zarco (France) Motobi 40min28.259
7 Simone Corsi (Italy) FTR 40min29.577
8 Jordi Torres (Spain) Suter 40min30.375
9 Claudio Corti (Italy) Kalex 40min30.779
10 Anthony West (Australia) Speed up 40min30.891
11 Thomas Luethi (Switzerland) Suter 40min31.111
12 Esteve Rabat (Spain) Kalex 40min31.808
13 Nicolas Terol (Spain) Suter 40min32.809
14 Mike Di Meglio (France) Kalex 40min39.335
15 Dominique Aegerter (Switzerland) Suter 40min42.582

Standings from the Motorcycling GP Moto2
1 Marc Marquez (Spain) Suter - 258
2 Pol Espargaro (Spain) Kalex - 210
3 Andrea Iannone (Italy) Speed up - 178
4 Thomas Luethi (Switzerland) Suter - 166
5 Scott Redding (Britain) Kalex - 131
6 Mika Kallio (Finland) Kalex - 110
7 Bradley Smith (Britain) Tech 3 - 96
8 Esteve Rabat (Spain) Kalex - 77
9 Johann Zarco (France) Motobi - 76
10 Claudio Corti (Italy) Kalex - 74
11 Dominique Aegerter (Switzerland) Suter - 74
12 Simone Corsi (Italy) FTR - 68
13 Alex de Angelis (San Marino) Suter - 61
14 Julian Simon (Spain) Suter - 42
15 Takaaki Nakagami (Japan) Kalex - 41

Results from the Motorcycling GP Aragon Moto3
1 Luis Salom (Spain) Kalex 40min56.391
2 Sandro Cortese (Germany) KTM 40min56.546
3 Jonas Folger (Germany) Kalex 40min56.753
4 Danny Kent (Britain) KTM 40min57.506
5 Efren Vazquez (Spain) Honda 40min57.551
6 Alex Rins (Spain) Honda 40min58.156
7 Louis Rossi (France) Honda 40min58.230
8 Miguel Oliveira (Portugal) Honda 40min58.363
9 Arthur Sissis (Australia) KTM 40min58.806
10 Niccolo Antonelli (Italy) Honda 40min58.978
11 Jakub Kornfeil (Czech Republic) Honda 40min59.236
12 Alessandro Tonucci (Italy) Honda 40min59.458
13 Alberto Moncayo (Spain) Honda 41min00.154
14 Niklas Ajo (Finland) KTM 41min11.290
15 Alex Marquez (Spain) Honda 41min11.432

Standings from the Motorcycling GP Moto3
1 Sandro Cortese (Germany) KTM - 245
2 Luis Salom (Spain) Kalex - 194
3 Maverick Vinales (Spain) Honda - 179
4 Romano Fenati (Italy) Honda - 120
5 Alex Rins (Spain) Honda - 106
6 Danny Kent (Britain) KTM - 83
7 Alexis Masbou (France) Honda - 81
8 Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Malaysia) KTM - 81
9 Miguel Oliveira (Portugal) Honda 74
10 Jonas Folger (Germany) Ioda - 72
11 Efren Vazquez (Spain) Honda - 70
12 Niccolo Antonelli (Italy) Honda - 69
13 Louis Rossi (France) Honda - 68
14 Arthur Sissis (Australia) KTM - 58
15 Jakub Kornfeil (Czech Republic) Honda - 58





 
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