Assen MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa seizes series lead with second

Spaniard Dani Pedrosa’s distant second in Assen today moved him into the lead in the MotoGP world championship.

A fourth consecutive podium moved the Repsol Honda rider four-points clear of closest rival Valentino Rossi after the Italian slumped to 11th following a first lap tangle with Randy de Puniet.

Pedrosa briefly led on the opening lap but was powerless to prevent Casey Stoner from romping to a second successive win and he said: “I’m happy with this result because it was a difficult race and I’m happy to be in the world championship lead once again, the 20 points we got here are very important.

“We’ve struggled a little bit during practice here, but my team have worked really hard, so a big thanks to all of them. Yesterday I was able to qualify on a MotoGP front row for the first time at Assen.

“Today I did my best in the race but unfortunately we couldn’t go with Casey because he was so fast. Now we need to keep working hard because we must try to close the gap over the next few races. Sachsenring is next. We had a great win there last year and we will try to the same again this year.”