Frustrated Casey Stoner queries officials after crashing out of German MotoGP

CASEY Stoner was left bewildered by the marshalls who stopped him from rejoining the German MotoGP after a last-lap crash.

Casey Stoner

CASEY Stoner was left bewildered by the marshalls who stopped him from rejoining the German MotoGP after a last-lap crash that ultimately cost him the lead in the world championship.

Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa claimed victory at the Sachsenring after a race-long battle with Stoner, who crashed two turns from the finish when trying too hard to make up time lost at the beginning of the final lap.

"I was happy on the bike and felt we had a few tenths a lap over Dani and confident I could pull him back in,'' the defending world champion said.

"On the final lap, I made a mistake going into the first turn and I had to push a little more than I wanted through some of the sections but I got on to Dani exactly where I wanted and planned to make my overtake in the last corner, if I didn't have an opportunity earlier in the lap.

"I felt confident but as soon as I tried to turn in a little more, the front went.

"I'm frustrated I wasn't allowed to get up and try and score some points, the bike was perfect, but the marshalls pushed me away.''

The beneficiary was Yamaha's former champion Jorge Lorenzo, gifted the runner up spot to move clear at the top of the riders standings on 160 points.

Pedrosa climbed into second on 146 with Stoner stuck on 140, having entered the race tied with Lorenzo.

In contrast to Saturday's wet weather qualifying, a dry track greeted the field, headed by Stoner on pole, but the Australian was beaten to the first corner by Pedrosa, who started in third.

Stoner reclaimed the lead on turn nine of the opening lap, with Yamaha duo Ben Spies and Lorenzo racing in third and fourth.

Pedrosa duly passed his Honda colleague with a dozen laps remaining, but was unable to pull clear, setting up a thrilling last third of the race with Lorenzo seemingly out of the picture, eight seconds adrift.

Pedrosa cut a happy figure afterwards, saying: "At the start I wasn't comfortable because of changes to my bike.

"As I became used to all the changes I passed Casey, and was feeling good.

"Towards the end I had to fight for the win, on the last lap I was racing at my maximum.''

The ninth race in the 18-event season is this weekend at Murgello in Italy.