Casey Stoner Dominates Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix - On a brilliant sunny afternoon in the rolling yellow hills and pastures just outside of Monterey, California, Marlboro Ducati’s Casey Stoner became the first non-American rider to win the United States Grand Prix since Italian Luca Cadalora did the deed on a Yamaha in 1994. For Stoner, the 2007 MotoGP World Championship points leader, the 2007 Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix was his sixth win of the season. Following Stoner across the finish line, some 10 seconds behind, was fellow Australian racer Chris Vermeulen of the Rizla Suzuki team. Marco Melandri, fighting off the effects of a bad crash suffered during Saturday’s afternoon practice session, placed an amazing third overall (“Today, I think, was one of the best days of my life,” said Melandri after the race). Fourth after 32 laps on the 11-tunr, 2.238-mile, newly repaved Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca circuit was five-time World Champion Valentino Rossi. Fifth went to Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa.

For the Americans, the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca was abysmally disappointing. Things went wrong for the U.S. MotoGP contingent right from the onset when, at the apex of the first turn of the race, reigning World Champion and two-time Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix winner Nicky Hayden found himself swaying to the outside of the turn. Trying to correct himself, Hayden then clipped Californian John Hopkins, who was attempting to race beneath the Kentucky Kid. The collision caused Hopkins to hit the asphalt while Hayden was thrown completely out of rhythm. Both riders placed outside of the top 15.

Although Dani Pedrosa rode out front in the lead for a few turns, before the first lap was complete, Stoner, who had been the fastest rider all weekend in California, was through and racing away like a bat out of hell. Switching his balance back and forth from 52-to-58 degree angles, Stoner’s riding was a thing of beauty to the 80,000 fans in the stands or on the hillsides. With 29 laps remaining — still very early in the race — Chris Vermeulen put a pass on Pedrosa on the last corner of the circuit to inherit second. He would never be threatened throughout the course of the race. Rossi, Colin Edwards and Marco Melandri followed behind. With 26 laps to ho, American Kurtis Roberts pulled into the pits, his race over due to mechanical issues. A few laps later, Marco Melandri, heavily taped left ankle and all, passed Rossi and kept on charging.

Meanwhile, back in the pack, yet another North American wildcard entry’s day came to en end when Miguel Duhamel, way out of sorts on his borrowed Gresini Honda, decided to pull himself out of the race. “We had a fall this morning, so I had to use a backup bike,” said the French Canadian. “And my head wasn’t into it. So much so, I figured I just bring it in. I figured I might be able to get in the top 15 with all the riders falling out of the race, but I just couldn’t get my head into it and brought the bike in.” With 16 laps to go — the halfway mark — Melandri raced by Pedrosa in turn 10 and was now up into third. As the race wound down, Stoner continued to pull away, his lead up to 10 seconds over Vermeulen. At the checkered flag, it was Stoner the winner — his World Championship lead immediately bumped up to 44 points — with Chris Vermeulen second. His fist in the air, Melandri crossed the line in third, while Valentino Rossi wheelied across in fourth. Fifth went to Dani Pedrosa, sixth to Randy de Puniet, seventh to Kawasaki’s Anthony West (yet another Australian) and eight to Markato Tamada of the Dunlop Yamaha team. One American who did, in fact, experience a wonderful afternoon at Laguna Seca was young Roger Lee Hayden who rode his wildcard Kawasaki into the top 10, a fine result for the AMA regular and something for the U.S. fans to smile about.