Rossi stops Stoner in Laguna Seca

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2008-07-21 Rossi stops Stoner in Laguna Seca
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Rossi and Stoner fighting in Laguna Seca

Valentino Rossi managed to do thing that looked impossible before race at Laguna Seca - stopped Casey Stoner, who was much faster than others, including Rossi, through all practice sessions. However, Rossi shown that pure race pace is not always enough to win the races - sometimes right tactics gives better results. Stoner was in the front of the race at the start, but this time Rossi had good start and was right behind Stoner in no time. From that point on, Rossi shown determination that we did not seen recently, attacking Stoner in most amazing places, including Corkscrew, where he almost crashed. It was obvious that Rossi had intention to break Stoner's rhythm, which he eventually did in last part of the race.

Tactics of Rossi was simple - do not let stoned in front, by any price. Duo exchanged places numerous times, riding at the pace that put incredible gap between them and others. Stoner was visibly faster than Rossi, but he was unable to find way through, and his frustration grown from the lap to lap. In lap 24, Stoner outbraked himself at the end of the main straight, flipped bike into the gravel and lost chances to catch Rossi, who won race despite all expectations. Stoner re-joined race in second place and finished, angry about way that he was stopped. After the race, Stoner Refused to shake hands to Rossi, claiming later that some of his moves were to hard and unfair.

Chris Vermeulen made his way from 3rd row to 3rd place, after having battle with Dovizioso and Hayden for few laps. Dovizioso beat Hayden for 4th place, with home hero settling in 5th. Randy de Puniet ended race in 6th place, while Toni Elias finally got decent result by finishing 7th. Wildcard Suzuki rider Ben Spies got great 8th place, in front of James Toseland. Shinya Nakano completed top finishers 10 in Laguna Seca.

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