Full results here.
Casey has broken the pole jinx. He was fastest in all the practice sessions, he was fastest in qualifying and he won the race easily from pole. Once he'd retaken the lead from Pedrosa - who nipped ahead from the start - it never looked like in any doubt.
Chris Vermulen made a gallant attempt to stay with the Ducati but in the end Casey was just too fast and he settled into a good second place, he's now ahead of Hopkins in the championship.
The injured Marco Melandri fought his way to third past Valentino Rossi, which has to be one of the gutsiest performances you'll ever see, badly injured he rode out of his skin. Although I'm sure Dr Costa deserves some recognition for the result too.
And Rossi... Well he got fourth; he didn't really set the world on fire. For the genius of MotoGP it was merely an OK performance. He needs to dig deeper somehow if he stands the faintest chance of keeping the championship in sight. Particularly he needs to start qualifying on the front grid consistently. I must admit that for a while I was hoping that the Bridgestone tyres were going to have a repeat of their fade at Sachsenring and I'm willing to bet Rossi hoped for the same. It was, however, not to be. The Bridgestones outperformed the Michelins.
Behind Rossi was Pedrosa in fifth; I suspect he wasn't a very happy chap after first Melandri on a satellite Honda and the Rossi got past him. To go from leading the race in lap one to fifth by the end must be somewhat demoralising.
I must say I had a good laugh at the green swarm of the Kawasaki’s in the mid field when they all came up to mug a struggling Edwards. They managed to get sixth (De Puniet), seventh (West) and tenth (Hayden). I've discovered that Roger Lee Hayden is the youngest brother of reigning champ Nicky Hayden and I think he put in good result for his first ever MotoGP race.
The new Brit chap Chaz Davies riding the second d'Antin Ducati got a big cheer from us every time he was mentioned or shown on the TV. I think he did great just to finish the race and put in some good lap times considering he's only raced on 600cc supersports before! Go Chaz!
So what of Hopkins and Hayden, both of whom were expected to do well here? Sadly they collided on turn one of the first lap. Hopkins was knocked off and even though he managed to get back on the circuit with a repaired bike, he was a good two laps behind the leaders. Hayden stayed on but the contact knackered his clutch and forced him to retire later in the race. I am so gutted for Hopkins; this really could have been a chance for a win. Sadly it just wasn't meant to be.
The worst bit of news is that now we have the mid season break... what am I going to blog about?
Casey has broken the pole jinx. He was fastest in all the practice sessions, he was fastest in qualifying and he won the race easily from pole. Once he'd retaken the lead from Pedrosa - who nipped ahead from the start - it never looked like in any doubt.
Chris Vermulen made a gallant attempt to stay with the Ducati but in the end Casey was just too fast and he settled into a good second place, he's now ahead of Hopkins in the championship.
The injured Marco Melandri fought his way to third past Valentino Rossi, which has to be one of the gutsiest performances you'll ever see, badly injured he rode out of his skin. Although I'm sure Dr Costa deserves some recognition for the result too.
And Rossi... Well he got fourth; he didn't really set the world on fire. For the genius of MotoGP it was merely an OK performance. He needs to dig deeper somehow if he stands the faintest chance of keeping the championship in sight. Particularly he needs to start qualifying on the front grid consistently. I must admit that for a while I was hoping that the Bridgestone tyres were going to have a repeat of their fade at Sachsenring and I'm willing to bet Rossi hoped for the same. It was, however, not to be. The Bridgestones outperformed the Michelins.
Behind Rossi was Pedrosa in fifth; I suspect he wasn't a very happy chap after first Melandri on a satellite Honda and the Rossi got past him. To go from leading the race in lap one to fifth by the end must be somewhat demoralising.
I must say I had a good laugh at the green swarm of the Kawasaki’s in the mid field when they all came up to mug a struggling Edwards. They managed to get sixth (De Puniet), seventh (West) and tenth (Hayden). I've discovered that Roger Lee Hayden is the youngest brother of reigning champ Nicky Hayden and I think he put in good result for his first ever MotoGP race.
The new Brit chap Chaz Davies riding the second d'Antin Ducati got a big cheer from us every time he was mentioned or shown on the TV. I think he did great just to finish the race and put in some good lap times considering he's only raced on 600cc supersports before! Go Chaz!
So what of Hopkins and Hayden, both of whom were expected to do well here? Sadly they collided on turn one of the first lap. Hopkins was knocked off and even though he managed to get back on the circuit with a repaired bike, he was a good two laps behind the leaders. Hayden stayed on but the contact knackered his clutch and forced him to retire later in the race. I am so gutted for Hopkins; this really could have been a chance for a win. Sadly it just wasn't meant to be.
The worst bit of news is that now we have the mid season break... what am I going to blog about?