30/03/08 - Dani Pedrosa sent Spanish fans home on a high at the Gran Premio bwin.com de España, taking a runaway home victory and, as a consequence, the leadership of the MotoGP World Championship.

The Repsol Honda rider was starting from second on the grid, and after snatching the holeshot from poleman Jorge Lorenzo he never looked back. Fast laps from the off confirmed Pedrosa´s intentions of breaking away, and he built upon his lead to win by nearly three seconds. The win was the 22 year-old´s second victory on home soil, after last year´s race at Valencia, and makes him the first local race-winner in Jerez since Sete Gibernau in 2004. It also echoes the only blue riband category win of his mentor, Alberto Puig.

Achieving his first podium of the season, Fiat Yamaha´s Valentino Rossi reached the milestone of 100 rostrum finishes with second place behind Pedrosa. The Italian had a late mix-up at the start of the final lap, when he thought that the race was over on the home straight. Slowing down and gesticulating to his pit crew, Rossi then realised that he still had one more lap remaining, although luckily for the five-time MotoGP World Champion he did not lose positions as a result of his error.

Team-mate Lorenzo was unable to benefit from Rossi´s mistake, but had a creditable battle for second place with the Italian. Lorenzo now has two podiums in as many races in his rookie season, and lies in second place in the overall standings.

On the way up to the podium, King Juan Carlos I attempted to end the frisson between Lorenzo and Pedrosa, the two rivals for the affections of the Spanish fans, by making them shake hands. However it is clear after today's result that there are sure to be plenty more battles between the two this season.

2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden impressively finished fourth onboard his Repsol Honda RC212V after a miraculous save in turn one, whilst Loris Capirossi emerged from the battle between himself, Tech 3 Yamaha rider James Toseland and JiR Team Scot´s Andrea Dovizioso to take fifth.

The top ten was completed by San Carlo Gresini Honda´s Shinya Nakano, Rizla Suzuki star Chris Vermeulen and Kawasaki's John Hopkins with reigning World Champion Casey Stoner outside the top ten for the first time in over a season. The Australian twice ran off track during the race, on the second and twenty-second laps, and now drops down to fourth in the classification.

Retirements came from Colin Edwards and Randy de Puniet, the former starting from the front row of the grid for the second consecutive race.

250cc

Mika Kallio was the winner of a spectacular 250cc race in Jerez, taking perhaps the most unexpected victory he is ever likely to achieve. The Red Bull KTM rider looked to be on course for a third consecutive podium, behind Alvaro Bautista and Marco Simoncelli, until a final lap crash between the duo gifted the Finn a memorable triumph.

The battle of the race was precisely between the Spaniard and the Italian, as Mapfre Aspar rider and quarter litre poleman Bautista went wheel to wheel with his unpredictable Metis Gilera rival. Simoncelli was glued to the rear wheel of the home rider´s Aprilia RSA, taking the lead for only the briefest of moments. Realising that a final push was necessary, the winner of the 2004 and 2005 125cc race in Jerez tried to sneak up the inside of Bautista, with the two colliding as the latter´s engine gave out.

Kallio´s win was his third in the category, and puts him second in the World Championship. The new leader also came from an unlikely source, as Qatar racewinner Mattia Pasini moved up from tenth on the grid for second place. After his 125cc disaster last year, few could begrudge Pasini´s Spanish newfound fortune, which was augmented as he passed JiR Team Scot rider Yuki Takahashi on the home straight.

Hiroshi Aoyama completed a great day for Red Bull KTM with fourth place, ahead of Pepe Team Toth´s Hector Barbera and Lotus Aprilia front row man Alex Debon. Both paid the price for bad starts, and Debon´s day could have worsened if he hadn´t have made the most of his elbow when he looked to be crashing out.

Julian Simon, who nearly collided with Simoncelli early in the race, finished seventh, ahead of Metis Gilera´s Roberto Locatelli in a well ridden return to racing in Jerez for the latter. Aleix Espargaro and Lukas Pesek completed the top ten.

Swiss rider Thomas Luthi added to the potential podium crash count, highsiding his Emmi-Caffe Latte Aprilia when chasing Kallio with just four laps to go.


125cc

Simone Corsi took his second victory in the 125cc class at the Circuito de Jerez, beating Jack&Jones WRB team-mate Nico Terol to the chequered flag and assuming the lead in the lower cylinder class standings.

Starting from the second row of the grid, Corsi took advantage of a slow pace in the early going to sandwich himself amongst the frontrunners, and used his aggressive style and the grunt of his Aprilia RS to break away and record his first win since his maiden triumph at last year´s race in Turkey. On a more standard machine, Terol racked up his debut podium in the World Championship and a historic one-two for the Sito Pons-supported team.

After starting from pole for the second consecutive race, Polaris World´s Bradley Smith was again unable to record his first win in the class, but finished on the podium for the second time in his career after fending off the always dangerous slipstreaming of Stefan Bradl. Smith paid the price for some daring manoeuvres that didn´t quite pay off at the midway and final parts of the race, dropping him back into the trailing pack and allowing Corsi and Terol to break away.

Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing rider Bradl´s fourth place finish puts him into second place in the overall classification, with both he and Corsi displacing previous leader Sergio Gadea after the Spaniard crashed out of his home race.

Home rider Pablo Nieto was the final rider in the podium battle, with a 14 second advantage over sixth placed Stevie Bonsey in the DeGraaf Grand Prix Aprilia rider´s best result in 125cc. Scott Redding, Dominique Aegerter, Mike di Meglio and Sandro Cortese completed the top ten.

Reigning World Champion Gabor Talmacsi was the first retiree in the Gran Premio bwin.com de España, courtesy of an engine problem with his Bancaja Aspar Aprilia RSA. There were also crashes for Efren Vasquez, Pol Espargaro, Danny Webb and Joan Olive.