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Stoner holds off Lorenzo in Jerez

JEREZ, Spain - World champion Casey Stoner held off a determined challenge from Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo to claim victory in the second race of the 2012 season at the Spanish GP in Jerez on Sunday.

Stoner started from the second row after Saturday's rain-affected qualifying but the Australian Honda rider took advantage of the drier conditions for the race and soon snatched the lead from Spanish team mate Dani Pedrosa.

Lorenzo, another Spaniard who won the season-opener in Qatar and started from pole position again on Sunday, pursued Stoner doggedly but could not find a way past and his challenge faded on the final lap.

'A LITTLE ADVANTAGE...'

"At the beginning of the race we didn't get such a good start and it was really difficult to stay out of trouble and try to stay with the front," Stoner, 26, said in an interview with Spanish TV. "When I started to push I noticed that myself and Jorge were able to take a little bit of an advantage over the others so I continued to go and continued to push.

"It was a very, very difficult race today but to hold on for the entire race in near-enough to dry conditions was really a great day for me."

Stoner, who moved to within four points of Lorenzo in the championship standings, finished in 45min33.897 with 2010 champion Lorenzo 0.947sec behind. Pedrosa was third, just more than two seconds behind of Lorenzo, with Britain's Cal Crutchlow fourth on another Yamaha, a further half-second back.

Spaniard Pol Espargaro clinched his debut Moto2 victory in front of his home crowd earlier on Sunday in a race cut short by rain, while Italian rookie Romano Fenati showed a glimpse of his potential with a maiden Moto3 win after almost half the field crashed out.

Result of the 2012 Spanish MotoGP at Jerez
1 Casey Stoner (Australia) Honda 45min33.897
2 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 45min34.844
3 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 45min35.960
4 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha 45min36.362
5 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Yamaha 45min51.997
6 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda 45min55.292
7 Stefan Bradl (Germany) Honda 46min02.534
8 Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Ducati 46min02.766
9 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Ducati 46min08.749
10 Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati 46min09.000
11 Ben Spies (US) Yamaha 46min11.938
12 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Aprilia 46min46.625
13 Danilo Petrucci (Italy) Ioda 46min52.566
14 Mattia Pasini (Italy) Aprilia 47min03.039
15 Ivan Silva (Spain) Kawasaki 47min06.375

MotoGP points standings
1 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 45
2 Casey Stoner (Australia) Honda 41
3 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 36
4 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha 26
5 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Yamaha 22
6 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda 19
7 Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Ducati 18
8 Stefan Bradl (Germany) Honda 17
9 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Ducati 13
10 Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati 13
11 Ben Spies (U.S.) Yamaha 10
12 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Aprilia 5
13 Colin Edwards (U.S.) Suter 4
14 Danilo Petrucci (Italy) Ioda Racing Project 3
15 Randy de Puniet (France) Aprilia 3

Moto2 result
1 Pol Espargaro (Spain) Kalex 30min12.879
2 Marc Marquez (Spain) Suter 30min13.120
3 Thomas Luethi (Switzerland) Suter 30min13.362
4 Scott Redding (Britain) Kalex 30min17.293
5 Takaaki Nakagami (Japan) Kalex 30min17.716
6 Claudio Corti (Italy) Kalex 30min18.760
7 Mika Kallio (Finland) Kalex 30min19.028
8 Dominique Aegerter (Switzerland) Suter 30min19.976
9 Toni Elias (Spain) Suter 30min20.745
10 Johann Zarco (France) Motobi 30min21.559

Moto2 points standings
1 Marc Marquez (Spain) Suter 45 points   
2 Pol Espargaro (Spain) Kalex 41
3 Thomas Luethi (Switzerland) Suter 27
4 Scott Redding (Britain) Kalex 23
5 Andrea Iannone (Italy) FTR 22
6 Mika Kallio (Finland) Kalex 15
7 Esteve Rabat (Spain) Kalex 13
8 Takaaki Nakagami (Japan) Kalex 13
9 Bradley Smith (Britain) Tech 3 12
10. Claudio Corti (Italy) Italtrans Racing Team 10

Moto3 result
1 Romano Fenati (Italy) Honda 43 minutes 50.885 seconds
2 Luis Salom (Spain) Kalex 44min27.024
3 Sandro Cortese (Germany) KTM 44min27.780
4 Alex Rins (Spain) Honda 44min27.946
5 Alexis Masbou (France) Honda 44min39.921
6 Maverick Vinales (Spain) Honda 44min46.742
7 Alberto Moncayo (Spain) Kalex 44min48.390
8 Niccolo Antonelli (Italy) Honda 44min54.568
9 Hector Faubel (Spain) Kalex 45min06.236
10 Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Malaysia) KTM 45min26.535

Moto3 points standings
1 Romano Fenati (Italy) Honda 45 points
2 Maverick Vinales (Spain) Honda 35
3 Luis Salom (Spain) Kalex 33
4 Sandro Cortese (Germany) KTM 32
5 Alex Rins (Spain) Honda 19
6 Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Malaysia) KTM 16
7 Alexis Masbou (France) Honda 11
8 Miguel Oliveira (Portugal) Honda 11
9 Alberto Moncayo (Spain) Kalex 11
10 Hector Faubel (Spain) Kalex 11
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