Casey Stoner wins in Holland after outpointing Dani Pedrosa

CASEY Stoner moved back on top of the MotoGP table on Saturday, winning the Dutch race after a battle with teammate Dani Pedrosa.

CASEY Stoner moved back on top of the MotoGP table on Saturday, winning the Dutch race after a terrific battle with Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa at Assen.

The world champion started on pole but soon found himself behind Pedrosa before retaking the lead with nine laps remaining and surging clear to win by almost 5sec.

Italy's Andrea Dovizioso finished third ahead of fellow Yamaha rider Ben Spies, of the US.

However, the race was overshadowed by an early crash involving Alvaro Bautista and Jorge Lorenzo that denied Yamaha's world championship leader the chance of a fourth successive victory.

Lorenzo was furious after being taken out at turn one and the Spaniard was forced to watch as Stoner joined him at the top of the overall standings.

An apologetic Bautista said: "I was behind Dovizioso and I tried to go on his side and I missed the brake point.

"At the end, I arrived so fast into the corner and I tried to stop the bike to stop Lorenzo from dropping out. I'm so sorry for him."

Stoner, who also won at Assen in 2008, admitted to a strategy of tracking Pedrosa to conserve his battered body after crashing in practice the previous day.

"I didn't see the crash (involving Lorenzo), I was just focused on the front," the 26-year-old Australian told the BBC. "I decided to follow Dani because I knew we were pulling away from the rest and I needed to save every ounce of energy."

Pedrosa, who is 19 points behind Lorenzo and Stoner in the overall standings, was gracious in defeat.

"I think I used a lot of energy in the beginning," the Spaniard said. "I tried to pull away from Casey but he was very close to me all the time.

"He improved his rhythm. Basically, I think he saved some energy driving behind.

"At the end, I had some problems changing direction. I was maybe a little bit tired. I think he saw that and took advantage of it."

It was a miserable day for Valentino Rossi, with the Italian eight-time world champion ending up at the back of the field after being forced into the pits to get a new rear tyre with 10 laps remaining.

AFP