Pedrosa celebrates his birthday with a race win in Aragon

Dani Pedrosa

In an intense battle between the two Championship contenders, it was Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa who emerged as victor, for the fourth time this season.

After an early crash in yesterday's qualifying session, Dani's team had to completely rebuild the bike to prepare for today's 23 lap race and the dominant victory was the best present for himself and his crew on his birthday weekend.

Starting from second on the grid, Dani took the lead on the seventh lap, after setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 3 (1'49.109) and running consistently in 1'49's he pulled away from Lorenzo until crossing the finish line with more than a 6 second gap. Pedrosa is now 33 points behind Lorenzo in the World Championship standings with 4 rounds remaining.

Honda lead the Constructors Championship by 6 points as they head to their home Grand Prix in Motegi, Japan. It will be confirmed next week by Honda Racing Corporation if the 2011 World Champion, Casey Stoner, will return for the next round in two weeks time, he remains 3rd in the standings with 186 points.

Race Result – Round 14
1 Dani Pedrosa 42'10.444 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Jorge Lorenzo +6.472 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
3 Andrea Dovizioso +11.047 ITA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
4 Cal Crutchlow +11.184 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5 Ben Spies +13.786 USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
6 Alvaro Bautista +28.166 SPA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
7 Jonathan Rea +32.290 GBR HONDA Repsol Honda Team
8 Valentino Rossi +44.432 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
9 Karel Abraham +57.417 CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing
10 Aleix Espargaro +58.525 ESP ART Aspar Team MotoGP
11 Randy De Puniet +59.863 FRA ART Aspar Team MotoGP
12 Hector Barbera +1'14.561 SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing
13 Yonny Hernandez +1'16.159 COL BQR-FTR BQR
14 James Ellison +1'16.580 GBR ART Paul Bird Racing
15 Michele Pirro +1'25.815 ITA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
16 Mattia Pasini +1'31.801 ITA ART Speed Master
17 Danilo Petrucci +1'42.300 ITA IODA Ioda Racing Project
18 Colin Edwards +1 lap USA SUTER NGM Mobile Forward Racing
19 Stefan Bradl DNF GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
20 David Salom DNF SPA BQR-FTR BQR
21 Nicky Hayden DNF USA DUCATI Ducati Team
Championship standings
1 Jorge Lorenzo 290 pts SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
2 Dani Pedrosa 257 pts SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Casey Stoner 186 pts AUS HONDA Repsol Honda Team
4 Andrea Dovizioso 179 pts ITA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5 Cal Crutchlow 135 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
6 Valentino Rossi 128 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
7 Alvaro Bautista 128 pts SPA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
8 Stefan Bradl 115 pts GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
9 Nicky Hayden 93 pts USA DUCATI Ducati Team
10 Ben Spies 88 pts USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
11 Hector Barbera 64 pts SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing
12 Randy De Puniet 53 pts FRA ART Aspar Team MotoGP
13 Aleix Espargaro 51 pts ESP ART Aspar Team MotoGP
14 Karel Abraham 32 pts CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing
15 Yonny Hernandez 28 pts COL BQR-FTR BQR
16 Michele Pirro 25 pts ITA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
17 Colin Edwards 22 pts USA SUTER NGM Mobile Forward Racing
18 James Ellison 19 pts GBR ART Paul Bird Racing
19 Jonathan Rea 17 pts GBR HONDA Repsol Honda Team
20 Mattia Pasini 13 pts ITA ART Speed Master
21 Danilo Petrucci 11 pts ITA IODA Ioda Racing Project
22 Ivan Silva 11 pts SPA BQR-FTR BQR
23 Toni Elías 10 pts SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing
24 Steve Rapp 2 pts USA N/A Attack Performance
25 David Salom 1 pts SPA BQR-FTR BQR
26 Franco Battaini 0 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
27 Chris Vermeulen 0 pts AUS SUTER NGM Mobile Forward Racing
28 Aaron Yates 0 pts USA N/A GP Tech