Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa straight up defeated Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo at the Sachsenring in Germany on Sunday, the diminutive Spaniard stalking Lorenzo and passing him with 12 laps to go in the red-flag interrupted race.

From that point, Pedrosa put the hammer down and simply rode away. Third place was awarded to Marlboro Ducati's Casey Stoner with the Australian shoving his way past the intrepid Valentino Rossi in the final corner to take the position Those two riders has battled for the majority of the restarted race and it came down to the bitter end with the duo passing each other back and forth over the final few laps. And of Rossi? While he did miss the podium by one spot, his heroic ride – Rossi was returning to action for the first time since breaking his leg - only further added to his legend and mystique as perhaps the finest MotoGP rider in history.

Pedrosa's second win of the season will be a confidence builder as the MotoGP World Championship arrives at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca this coming weekend for the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix. Pedrosa won the race over Valentino Rossi in 2009.

Lorenzo's second maintains his healthy points lead, the Spaniard holding down 185 points to Pedrosa's 138.

Three riders fought tooth and nail to the last lap for fifth place with the spot ultimately going to Repsol Honda's Andrea Dovizioso over San Carlo Honda's Marco Simoncelli and Marlboro Ducati's Nicky Hayden. Those three fought over the spot for most of the second portion of the race and they took the fight to the finish line.

Dovizioso is third in the title chase with 102 points, 19 clear of Stoner. Hayden is fifth with 78 points with Rossi closing back in on 74 points.

Texan Ben Spies rode to a lonely eighth, the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha man within sight of the battle for fifth at the end after starting well back on the grid.

A big crash on the ninth lap of the original start brought out the red flag when LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet crashed in turn four. Rizla Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista and Aleix Espargaro had nowhere to go and they struck de Puniet's bike, the Honda then bursting into flames in the middle of the track. With Bautista and Espargaro escaping injury, de Puniet wasn't as fortunate as he suffered a broken leg in the crash.

MotoGP

1. Dani Pedrosa (Honda)

2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)

3. Casey Stoner (Ducati)

4. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha)

5. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda)

6. Marco Simoncelli (Honda)

7. Nicky Hayden (Ducati)

8. Ben Spies (Yamaha)

9. Hector Barbera (Ducati)

10. Marco Melandri (Honda)

Gresini Racing’s Toni Elías’ won his third race of the 2010 Moto2 season Sachsenring on Sunday the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, giving the Spaniard a stronghold on the Championship lead.

On the opening lap, a major crash involved Raffaele De Rosa (Tech 3 Racing), Héctor Faubel (Marc VDS Racing Team), Ricky Cardús (Maquinza-SAG Team), Joan Olivé (Jack&Jones by Antonio Banderas) and Lukas Pesek (Matteoni CP Racing) as the tight nature of the Sachsenring track claimed the five, the first two managing to rejoin the race. Clear of the trouble at the front were Fimmco Speed Up pair Gabor Talmacsi and Andrea Iannone, with Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) chasing them in third.

Yuki Takahashi (Tech 3 Racing) also would crash, and shortly after Simón’s participation was ended early when he slid out whilst pushing hard to keep on the tail of Talmacsi. Home rider Arne Tode (Racing Team Germany), who had qualified in second position, Alex Debón (Aeroport de Castelló-Ajo) and Sergio Gadea (Tenerife 40 Pons) also fell, with an early end to a frustrating weekend following shortly after for Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Racing).

With 11 laps remaining Elías was well on the way to recovering his start that had seen him drop from his starting position of third, charging up the order and through on Talmacsi – who started to drop as his tyres went off – with Simone Corsi (JiR Moto2) also passing. The Italian’s race ended on lap 20 however when he lost the front of his machine at turn 12 when in third position. The experienced Elías was closing in all the while on race leader Iannone and six laps from the end the Championship leader made his move, taking first position. Roberto Rolfo (Italtrans STR) was passing up the order too and went through on the by now frustrated Talmacsi, who was unable to do anything. A fantastic last-lap battle for third was played out between Rolfo and Fonsi Nieto (G22 Holiday Gym), eventually being won by the Italian, after Elías had crossed the line 3.297s clear of Iannone for his third win of the season.

Nieto took fourth, with Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) fifth and Talmacsi sixth. A fantastic ride from stand-in rider Damian Cudlin for the Tenerife 40 Pons team handed the Australian seventh.

Elías now has 136 points at the top of the standings, 42 clear of second-placed Lüthi after his DNF. Iannone moves into third, just four points off the Swiss rider thanks to his third podium of the season.